> > By the way, to the person who mentioned you "pocket computer," I believe that
> > the model 1 is at or near mainframe levels of capability, pushing into the
> > supercomputer regions.
Why do you need a supercomputer in your pocket? Why isn't the pocket
computer just another "cell" of a larger computer that uses many cells
working in parallel in a cooperative network? Why do Traveller computers
resemble 1970's mainframes running MVS? By the way, I beleive that 'bis'
is a signifier from IBM mainframes (from the '70s) that means "enhanced".
> Now for my next gripe. "Fib" means "fibre-optic back-up", and is supposed to
> protect the computer against radiation damage. Firstly, a half-decent EMP would
> fry the chips, regardless of whether or not fibre-optics were being used.
If the chips were completely enclosed in a conductive, grounded shield, the
EMP could not reach them. With fibre-optic cables entering the shield, the
chips inside would be relatively safe.
> Secondly, nowadays fibre-optics are starting to be used in the main circuits,
> never mind back-ups, and for speed reasons as well as protection.
Exactly. Any computer system found in the higher tech levels of Traveller
would probably not be made of silicon. Making the entire computer out of
fibre-optic technology or something unknown right now is not that
far-fetched. This is why computers in Traveller irk me so much. Not much
imagination went into extrapolating current computer technology into the
future.
-matt
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Matt Burdick | Hewlett-Packard
[email removed] | Technical Communications Lab