On Thu, 21 Jun 2001, Brian Hechinger wrote:
> another oddity, is all the similar chips that i would guess are memory aren't
> the normal black, they are "CPU color" (can't think of a better way to explain
> it, think the color of a 486 or a MIPS chip) with raised black bits in the
> middle.

 yes, theyre in ceramic packages and not plastic packages. this was more
common in those days, and has slowly gotten less common as time went on. 
the ceramic costs more, of course, was is/was only used where its greater
resistance to heat was needed or anticipated to be needed. 
isildur