I hadn't really pondered the amount of infrastructure require to not make an iLittlePony little more an overpriced digital camera / pda / paperweight. I suppose I understood it better than I realized because when I wrote my short story about the robot I wrote in a lot of digital access to the net to enhance its problem solving abilities. WiFi big brain I guess.
Derek Stanley
Sent from my iPad
> On Jul 25, 2015, at 7:20 PM, [Traveller_TNE] <> wrote:
>
> The other thing about iPhones that allows them to appear small when
> actually they aren't is that they're useless without the infrastructure,
> all of the cell towers, WiFi hotspots, routers, server farms on which all
> that data is stored that is moved into and out of the apps. iPhones are a
> lot "bigger" if you factor in their proportional share of all of the
> infrastructure that allows them to do anything at all. And since Traveller
> starships can't count on a mature wireless network infrastructure in every
> system they jump into, they have to carry it all with them.
>
> > Seems everyone gets that, but thinks it's an anachronism and that they
> > should be smaller. The average iPhone is not hardened against EMP or
> > radiation, relies on ambient temperature, etc as well as planned
> > obsolescence of a couple years (similar to desktops).
> >
> > Anything built to last, especially be user serviceable and field reparable
> > is going to need to be bigger. Hardening them to take damage, redundancy,
> > even more so.
> >
> > On Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 05:42 'ret7army .'
> > [Traveller_TNE]
> > <> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >>
> >> 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
> >>> >
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >
>
>
Derek Stanley
Sent from my iPad
> On Jul 25, 2015, at 7:20 PM, [Traveller_TNE] <> wrote:
>
> The other thing about iPhones that allows them to appear small when
> actually they aren't is that they're useless without the infrastructure,
> all of the cell towers, WiFi hotspots, routers, server farms on which all
> that data is stored that is moved into and out of the apps. iPhones are a
> lot "bigger" if you factor in their proportional share of all of the
> infrastructure that allows them to do anything at all. And since Traveller
> starships can't count on a mature wireless network infrastructure in every
> system they jump into, they have to carry it all with them.
>
> > Seems everyone gets that, but thinks it's an anachronism and that they
> > should be smaller. The average iPhone is not hardened against EMP or
> > radiation, relies on ambient temperature, etc as well as planned
> > obsolescence of a couple years (similar to desktops).
> >
> > Anything built to last, especially be user serviceable and field reparable
> > is going to need to be bigger. Hardening them to take damage, redundancy,
> > even more so.
> >
> > On Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 05:42 'ret7army .'
> > [Traveller_TNE]
> > <> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >>
> >> 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
> >>> >
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >
>
>