Traveller Mailing List ArchiveThe TML from 1987 to 1994, XBOAT, and shared files

Computers and well starports ....

A thread of 3 messages, 14 May 1992 to 16 May 1992, in the order they were sent.

#4121 Computers and well starports ....

Adam Naylor · 14 May 1992

>    ----- Transcript of session follows -----
> Connected to wrgate.wr.tek.com:
> >>> RCPT To:[email removed]
> <<< 554 [email removed]... Host metoilus not listed in WR . TEK . COM < > subdomain
> 554 [email removed]... Service unavailable
>
>    ----- Unsent message follows -----
> Received: from grivel.une.oz.au by tektronix.TEK.COM (4.1/8.0)
> 	id AA20158; Tue, 12 May 92 21:51:07 PDT
> Received: from mihi.une.oz.au by grivel.une.oz.au (4.0/25)
> 	id AA05495; Wed, 13 May 92 14:47:34 EST
> Received: by mihi.une.oz.au (5.57/Ultrix3.0-C)
> 	id AA03509; Wed, 13 May 92 14:47:33 +1000
> From: [email removed] (Adam Naylor)
> Message-Id: [email removed]
> Subject: Computers and well starports
> To: [email removed]
> Date: Wed, 13 May 92 14:47:33 EST
> X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11]
>
 Er you know you want to talk starports know (gee I cant think why any
 one will be able to flame that heh !) .

 Another question from me

 In todays terms how powerful are traveller computers in todays terms ?

 Please no scientific mumbo jumbo a scince student could only understand

 My idea was this .

 A tech 11 hand computer (about 1/5 the size of a milk container) has
 a 20 meg hard disk and 2 meg memory .

 What do you think

 "Oh and only real men talk traveller starports (and computers)"

 PS My views on cyberdecking computers, its workable, people just
 go skitz doing it . Besides the average starship computer seems to
 be fairly smart, and would HE want you sniffing through his
 underware draw doing it hmmmmmmmmm ......?

 Edmund (With michaels help)

#4139 Re: Computers

Adrian Hurt · 15 May 1992 · reply to #4121

[email removed] (Adam Naylor) writes:
>
>  A tech 11 hand computer (about 1/5 the size of a milk container) has
>  a 20 meg hard disk and 2 meg memory .

A TL 8 hand computer can have 2 meg RAM.  Talk to someone with a Psion
Series 3 or a Hewlett-Packard 95.

A TL 9, or maybe even late TL 8 hand computer will have 20 meg of something.
It won't be a hard disc as we know it, because gyroscopic effects would
make using a hard disc in a hand computer a bad idea.  (An ACR with a 20 MB
hard disc supplying both gyro-stabilisation and data on the enemy's forces
might be an idea, though. :-)  But I would not be surprised to see some
sort of chip become available, such as the next generation of Flash EPROM,
which allows that sort of storage in a hand computer.

And a TL 11 hand computer?  That would probably have at least 100 MB in
some sort of memory, be it RAM, EPROM or whatever is being used at TL 11.

- --
 "Keyboard?  How quaint!" - M. Scott

 Adrian Hurt			     |	JANET:  [email removed]
 UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!adrian     |  ARPA:   [email removed]

#4144 Re: Computers

Traveller Mailing List Mail · 16 May 1992 · reply to #4121

> Adrian Hurt [email removed]
>
> [email removed] (Adam Naylor) writes:
> >
> >  A tech 11 hand computer (about 1/5 the size of a milk container) has
> >  a 20 meg hard disk and 2 meg memory .
>
>
> A TL 9, or maybe even late TL 8 hand computer will have 20 meg of something.
> It won't be a hard disc as we know it, because gyroscopic effects would
> make using a hard disc in a hand computer a bad idea.  (An ACR with a 20 MB
[...]

Late Tech 8 or tech 9??? What about today's technology? I just read this
in the latest (May 1992 p61) issue of Network Computing:

GRiD has announced PalmPAD, the first wearable pen computer, a 2.8 pound
full-featured pen-based PC with a 6.5 inch backlit screen, 2Mb of RAM, and
a slot for a 20-Mb *solid state* "Disk Drive". molded rubber and plastic
package that can pass a three foot drop test on concrete. One cable provides
power and comm link allowing well-dressed power users to turn their belts
into expansion buses. Dubbed Belt Bus, the "LAN that is worn around your
belt" will accommodate "future belt-mounted peripherals, such as printers,
magnetic stripe readers, and batteries". The main unit's grip is hollowed
out to fit either 2,400-bps data-fax modem or a spread-spectrum radio
modem (microwave technology). Base price: US$ 2,895

				-Dan


Dan Corrin, Network Manager, Mechanical Engineering, UWO, London, Ontario
InterNet: [email removed].                                [phone removed]
TML/CZ/FrameUsers/Consim FTP site: sunbane.engrg.uwo.ca (129.100.100.12)