That was certainly the point of departure for the original LBB computer
rules. In the first editions there were actually rules for running all of
the individual programs, moving them in and out of the CPU from storage.
That was widely derided as "unrealistic" by the "computer experts" that
constituted much of Trav's user base and was removed. But I missed it,
because it provided something else for the players to do in allocating
finite resources, which is always going to be an issue with whatever
assets you have. Whether or not Bill Gates actually said, "no one will
ever need more than 640K of RAM," that's exactly the sort of thing that
experts say all the time because they're so deep in the trees they're not
talking about the forest.
> 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
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>
rules. In the first editions there were actually rules for running all of
the individual programs, moving them in and out of the CPU from storage.
That was widely derided as "unrealistic" by the "computer experts" that
constituted much of Trav's user base and was removed. But I missed it,
because it provided something else for the players to do in allocating
finite resources, which is always going to be an issue with whatever
assets you have. Whether or not Bill Gates actually said, "no one will
ever need more than 640K of RAM," that's exactly the sort of thing that
experts say all the time because they're so deep in the trees they're not
talking about the forest.
> 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
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>