Most folks don't realize that back in the day a computer used to take up
enough room to fill a small house, and had a tiny fraction of the
capability of the iWatch, or whatever Apple wanted to call it. Your
everyday smartphone far exceeds the abilities of an 1980s era mainframe. I
was taking classes in Fortran, and early computer language about the time
the LBB came out.
On Fri, Jul 24, 2015 at 8:13 PM, [Traveller_TNE] <
> wrote:
>
>
> Thanks for this and the other remarks that, "as handwaves go, this isn't
> awful."
>
> I think one of the things people don't think about with computers is
> cooling. Adding in the air conditioning adds weight and space.
>
> > On Sat, Jul 11, 2015 at 1:16 PM, [Traveller_TNE]
> >>
> >> Even in 1992 we knew that the only way to rationalize their large size
> >> was
> >> immense amounts of hand-waving about interfaces and work stations,
> >> cooling, peripherals and back-up capabilities, surge protectors and UPS,
> >> etc. But mostly it was to keep some internal continuity with the LBB
> >> computers.
> >>
> > In 1992 as I recall the beefiest space rated cpu was something like a 10
> > or
> > 15 Mhz 486 produced by thick film printed with a minimum trace percentage
> > over 50%. My now ex-wife worked in a plant that that specialized in space
> > rated electronic components then. Couple that to the discussions of
> > multiple core CPUs at the time it was pretty easy to see the numbers in
> > TNE. Size is one of the big issues in Space rated electronic components
> > the
> > smaller you build the higher the error and outright failure ratios go up.
> >
> > --
> > Evyn
> >
>
>
>
enough room to fill a small house, and had a tiny fraction of the
capability of the iWatch, or whatever Apple wanted to call it. Your
everyday smartphone far exceeds the abilities of an 1980s era mainframe. I
was taking classes in Fortran, and early computer language about the time
the LBB came out.
On Fri, Jul 24, 2015 at 8:13 PM, [Traveller_TNE] <
> wrote:
>
>
> Thanks for this and the other remarks that, "as handwaves go, this isn't
> awful."
>
> I think one of the things people don't think about with computers is
> cooling. Adding in the air conditioning adds weight and space.
>
> > On Sat, Jul 11, 2015 at 1:16 PM, [Traveller_TNE]
> >>
> >> Even in 1992 we knew that the only way to rationalize their large size
> >> was
> >> immense amounts of hand-waving about interfaces and work stations,
> >> cooling, peripherals and back-up capabilities, surge protectors and UPS,
> >> etc. But mostly it was to keep some internal continuity with the LBB
> >> computers.
> >>
> > In 1992 as I recall the beefiest space rated cpu was something like a 10
> > or
> > 15 Mhz 486 produced by thick film printed with a minimum trace percentage
> > over 50%. My now ex-wife worked in a plant that that specialized in space
> > rated electronic components then. Couple that to the discussions of
> > multiple core CPUs at the time it was pretty easy to see the numbers in
> > TNE. Size is one of the big issues in Space rated electronic components
> > the
> > smaller you build the higher the error and outright failure ratios go up.
> >
> > --
> > Evyn
> >
>
>
>