Date   : Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:15:20 +1100
From   : station240@... (paul aslin)
Subject: re BBC avilability of machines

> Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:15:26 +0100
> From: jgh@...
> To: bbc-micro@...
> Subject: Re: [BBC-Micro] re BBC avilability of machines
> 
> Raffaele Giaccio wrote:
> > Also, does anyone know how long the ROM programming lasts? I have an  
> >  eerie feeling that it was said to be eighteen years, a couple of   
> > decades ago. Last time I fired up one of my three active masters it   
> > worked well - a couple of months ago.
> 
> ROMs last indefinitely. As long as you don't expose EPROMs to sunlight
> (specifically ultraviolet) they should also last indefinitely. However,
> you're always going to get some light peeking inside the computer cases,
> but EPROMs with a label and inside a case should retain their programming
> for many decades.

Eproms are fine, your not going to get that much UV light inside a house.

The only rom I've had fail is a 1mbit MOS rom, which is a mask rom not an EPROM.