TL 9 microchips?

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by whswhs

On the other hand, simple narrative descriptions will often imply actual numbers. See for example Heinlein's Starman Jones, where astrogation problems are entered into a computer by looking up the decimal numbers in a table of decimal to binary conversions and manually entering the binary numbers!

Of course in real life from 2004-2008 ot thereabouts I did mortar FDC by putting a pencil dot on a rotatable piece of lucite, rotated the lucite until it was aligned with the direction of fire, read the deflection off a vernier scal (designed in the late 1800s) printed on the board and then looked up the charge and elevation in a big book of tables. In 2008 we got handheld ballistic mortar computers, and were still required to check the results by plotting board. I then often was expected to give the fire command by talking into a unpowered bakelite handset last manufactured probably about the time you, Bill, were born which then would transmit by conductance on.a copper wire by the same technology children used to use soup cans and string for. So while Bob, Navy man that he was, was certainly far off about the specifics, he was relating something essential about the military institutional mindset.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Of course in real life from 2004-2008 ot thereabouts I did mortar FDC by putting a pencil dot on a rotatable piece of lucite, rotated the lucite until it was aligned with the direction of fire, read the deflection off a vernier scal (designed in the late 1800s) printed on the board and then looked up the charge and elevation in a big book of tables. In 2008 we got handheld ballistic mortar computers, and were still required to check the results by plotting board. I then often was expected to give the fire command by talking into a unpowered bakelite handset last manufactured probably about the time you, Bill, were born which then would transmit by conductance on.a copper wire by the same technology children used to used to use soup cans and string for. So while Bob, Navy man that he was, was certainly far off about the specifics, he was relating something essential about the military institutional mindset.

Well, yes, but the Asgard was a passenger liner, and not military at all.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Celjabba

IIRC, the actual quote was "we expected to sell 5 of those" and was followed by "we sold 20"

And it wasn't that they tough their latest computer would have all the computing power the world would ever need, but that for the use they were thinking of, there wasn't need of more at that point.
They did not foresee in how many way computer could be used, or especially personal computer...

Okay, so one of those "slightly mis-quoted and badly mis-contextualized" quotes.

Like how everyone forgets the second bit of "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one."

[Isikyus]

Given the nature of the S-curve, I tend to assume the next big technological change will come from some quarter that has nothing to do with computers - maybe genetics.

While I don't know much about it, the difference in the DNA sequencing etc. used to fight COVID, vs AIDS a few decades ago, is seems bigger than the computer advances in the same time.

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

I sometimes read this forum on a tablet or a smartphone, but I almost never attempt to post with one, it's more trouble than it's worth unless you trick it out with external keyboards, etc., more-or-less turning it into a desktop, as others have noted on-thread. When I post I usually use my desktop PC. For some purposes it's still superior to either the tablet or smartphone.

I am replying on my smartphone now. It's usable with the right setup, but definitely clunky.

[SimonAce]

Originally Posted by Rupert

Traveller didn't give sizes in real world terms, though. I understand that the authors knew that the model they used was obsolescent even when written, but felt it made for interesting game choices (do we run the improved aim software, or the improved dodge software?) Later supplements and edition went for a more abstract approach.

OTOH, in 2300AD some of those same authors did make the mistake of listing the storage size of the hand computers and their data chips (200MB, as I recall).

One thing that I remember is a comment by a guy who worked on oil rig IT. He said that he laughed at Traveller's huge computers until he saw the size of the controlling electronics on rigs. Being made to take abuse and bad weather and to control heavy machinery they themselves were very heavy and there were many boxes over the whole rig.

To the topic at hand , I always assumed that TL9 chips were pretty similar to advanced TL8 chips like those 2 NM ones the OP mentioned only stable, resistant to quantum effects and probably with a more efficient instruction set . TL10 ones are super conductor on diamond or some such.

Now 2300 AD is a post apocalypse setting (its 300 years after Twilight 2000) those sizes make some sense as they may have followed a different tech path and a lot of knowledge was lost

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by SimonAce

Now 2300 AD is a post apocalypse setting (its 300 years after Twilight 2000) those sizes make some sense as they may have followed a different tech path and a lot of knowledge was lost

Memory capacity is largely about chip size, and the 2300AD humans are mentioned as loving miniaturisation. Also, one of the adventures describes a station's computer, and it's basically ribbons laid out on the walls, working in some massively parallel way, and you add peripherals by simply stuffing the plug into a handy ribbon - the computer dynamically adjusts to make the connection work (i.e. no need to find an I/O socket, just plug directly into the computer ribbon).

This is not a culture with poor computer tech (especially as the stutterwarp needs a hefty computer to run it).