I don't see a problem with 'fabbers39; as Tim points out. It does alleviate
the issue of spares to some degree like circuit boards and such.
For Traveller organic substances are clearly off limits but Traveller was
in it prime in the 80s and they tried as best they could to make a decent
game given what was 'known39; at the time. And as is so often the case
science simply learns more, engineers find ways to use the knowledge and
products get made which makes things printed in the yonder years outdated.
But on a practical note I would only allow it in a Traveller game is the
player's earned it that way the ability to 'fab' stuff cheaply is a boon
for the operation of their ship or stuff. But mind you this won't mitigate
the need for yearly maintenance as even nuclear submarines still need major
ports to do overhaul for large systems.
On Wed, Feb 12, 2014 at 7:48 AM, Tim O'Reilly <> wrote:
>
>
> that's also a point but since traveler is such a hand-wavium anyways let's
> "assume" (a truly dangerous word) and say that this has become practice,
> and that such code is hard to find - not impossible, but truly difficult.
> And to remove it without destroying the program would require some high
> powered computer skills - available for a price I'm sure discounts
> available to the "connected," etc., etc.
> OTOH going back to the 3d printer, such a fabrication module or "fabber" /
> exists in 1a. real life machine shops with differing capabilities whether
> in a town or on a ship. Repair ships have better, and more extensive
> capabilities than the run of the mill vessel.
>
> 1b. Some shops are more geared for one product line than another, and to
> switch requires more extensive re-tooling - the 3d printer tech only
> advances this to a degree the size limitation being the primary restriction
> for them.
>
> 2. the use of fabbers also exist in the realm of SF and what we see now,
> may become common in such a future - Star Trek food production and its
> mishaps being one area of several with wide possibilities.
> regards
>
>
>
> On Wednesday, February 12, 2014 6:12 AM, Mario Butter <
> > wrote:
>
>
> If this "shutdown date" is not documented and agreed to by the customer,
> I would consider this unethical and borderline fraudulent. It's nothing
> short of extortion. As a software engineer, I would never put code like
> this into a client's software, and I would let the powers that be know
> about any that I find (I have - and removed them; other companies have been
> sued because of these).
>
> --
> Mario
>
> http://mario.silent-tower.org/
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 12, 2014 at 6:27 AM, Ian Wilson <>wrote:
>
>
> Hi,
> The real issue in all this maybe cost, and to a degree copyright.
> The Traveller universe works differently in regard to its commercial
> relationships with individual planets. The Imperium strives to make no
> world truly independent and self sustaining.
> So would it be commercially viable for a starship crew to 3D print or cnc
> cut their own firearms, against a world of 3 billion who make nothing but
> shotguns and carbines.
> A slobbering tale to add with reference to computer boards etc. I work in
> telecoms, a company I work along side brought several telephone exchanges
> via another company. With the supplier they had a maintence package (all
> normal industry stuff). To save some money they decided to unofficially
> drop the support package. Unknown to the the supplier had fitted a date
> code into its software, which when the maintence was performed was reset.
> Predictably the date expired at 4pm on a Friday afternoon, all the
> exchanges shut down, much to the duty on calls misery.
> The point being when being pursued by star destroyers, the last thing you
> need is copyright issues with your jump drive :-) due to dodgy parts.
> Ian
>
>
>
>
>
>
--
If the world was fair then every bad thing that has ever happened to you
would have been deserved.
the issue of spares to some degree like circuit boards and such.
For Traveller organic substances are clearly off limits but Traveller was
in it prime in the 80s and they tried as best they could to make a decent
game given what was 'known39; at the time. And as is so often the case
science simply learns more, engineers find ways to use the knowledge and
products get made which makes things printed in the yonder years outdated.
But on a practical note I would only allow it in a Traveller game is the
player's earned it that way the ability to 'fab' stuff cheaply is a boon
for the operation of their ship or stuff. But mind you this won't mitigate
the need for yearly maintenance as even nuclear submarines still need major
ports to do overhaul for large systems.
On Wed, Feb 12, 2014 at 7:48 AM, Tim O'Reilly <> wrote:
>
>
> that's also a point but since traveler is such a hand-wavium anyways let's
> "assume" (a truly dangerous word) and say that this has become practice,
> and that such code is hard to find - not impossible, but truly difficult.
> And to remove it without destroying the program would require some high
> powered computer skills - available for a price I'm sure discounts
> available to the "connected," etc., etc.
> OTOH going back to the 3d printer, such a fabrication module or "fabber" /
> exists in 1a. real life machine shops with differing capabilities whether
> in a town or on a ship. Repair ships have better, and more extensive
> capabilities than the run of the mill vessel.
>
> 1b. Some shops are more geared for one product line than another, and to
> switch requires more extensive re-tooling - the 3d printer tech only
> advances this to a degree the size limitation being the primary restriction
> for them.
>
> 2. the use of fabbers also exist in the realm of SF and what we see now,
> may become common in such a future - Star Trek food production and its
> mishaps being one area of several with wide possibilities.
> regards
>
>
>
> On Wednesday, February 12, 2014 6:12 AM, Mario Butter <
> > wrote:
>
>
> If this "shutdown date" is not documented and agreed to by the customer,
> I would consider this unethical and borderline fraudulent. It's nothing
> short of extortion. As a software engineer, I would never put code like
> this into a client's software, and I would let the powers that be know
> about any that I find (I have - and removed them; other companies have been
> sued because of these).
>
> --
> Mario
>
> http://mario.silent-tower.org/
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 12, 2014 at 6:27 AM, Ian Wilson <>wrote:
>
>
> Hi,
> The real issue in all this maybe cost, and to a degree copyright.
> The Traveller universe works differently in regard to its commercial
> relationships with individual planets. The Imperium strives to make no
> world truly independent and self sustaining.
> So would it be commercially viable for a starship crew to 3D print or cnc
> cut their own firearms, against a world of 3 billion who make nothing but
> shotguns and carbines.
> A slobbering tale to add with reference to computer boards etc. I work in
> telecoms, a company I work along side brought several telephone exchanges
> via another company. With the supplier they had a maintence package (all
> normal industry stuff). To save some money they decided to unofficially
> drop the support package. Unknown to the the supplier had fitted a date
> code into its software, which when the maintence was performed was reset.
> Predictably the date expired at 4pm on a Friday afternoon, all the
> exchanges shut down, much to the duty on calls misery.
> The point being when being pursued by star destroyers, the last thing you
> need is copyright issues with your jump drive :-) due to dodgy parts.
> Ian
>
>
>
>
>
>
--
If the world was fair then every bad thing that has ever happened to you
would have been deserved.