How do you upgrade a tattoo computer?

[David Latapie]

Hello,

UT23 and THS:Changing Times 58 hint at tattoo computers. How would you rationalise upgrading the hardware? Surgery seems prohibitive to me. FPGA?

[Celjabba]

Painfully ?

More seriously, you could assume that when a computer is printed, the edge of the print have printed circuitry to interface with upgrade. So, as long as you have room for more tattoo, it would work.

If not, or if you decide the print was not designed to be upgradeable, I think you are looking at a destroy and reprint. Which probably mean some sort of surgery.

The THS one only have part of the circuitry printed. So, you can decide that some upgrade only affect the outside components, and don't need to modify the tattoo.

Hope this help

Celjabba

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by David Latapie

Hello,

UT23 and THS:Changing Times 58 hint at tattoo computers. How would you rationalise upgrading the hardware?

I wouldn't. Get a new tattoo/computer. "Printed" is a form of unitary/integrated cosntruction. There is no motherboard, much less one with expansion slots.

[David Latapie]

This is why I considered FPGA and reconfigurable computing (motherboard is just a "technical detail).

Alright, so not such a good idea for the IT enthusiast, more like a recreational tattoo like today's tattoo. IT enthusiasts would take the (distributed) virtual interface implant route instead.

Thanks.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by David Latapie

This is why I considered FPGA and reconfigurable computing (motherboard is just a "technical detail).

This might be possible with printed computers but your computer's innate capacity remains what it was before rearrangement. You just re-arrange what it's being used for. If there were unused areas that you pulled into service then your computer wasn't being used to its' fullest before.

Incidentally, I would downgrade the performance of a reconfigurable computer. You're trading efficiency for flexibility.

It might be possible to add to your tattoo computer's capacity by turning your tat of a tiger to one of a lion, a tiger, a bear and a little girl going "oh my!" but this wouldn't really change the tiger section of the tat. Actually to get the 10x increase in storage you'd probably have to a get yourself a whole menagerie (10x surface area).

[David Latapie]

I expected something like this. Thanks for confirmation. Surgery seems like unavoidable for upgrades.

[wellspring]

Originally Posted by David Latapie

I expected something like this. Thanks for confirmation. Surgery seems like unavoidable for upgrades.

You could always hand-wave it using nano-reassemblers or some such. But I think the popular web series Red Versus Blue covered the key points in a simple, but elegant bulleted list in one of the Public Service Messages a few years ago.

[David Latapie]

Originally Posted by wellspring

But I think the popular web series Red Versus Blue covered the key points in a simple, but elegant bulleted list in one of the Public Service Messages a few years ago.

Care to be more specific?

[wellspring]

Originally Posted by David Latapie

Care to be more specific?

By all means... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2pSt2gACrc

RvB was big in the mid 2000's, but your mention of post-tatoo remorse brought it all back. Bonus points if your implanted tatoo AI looks like the Milli Vanilli logo.

[Anaraxes]

I agree with Celjabba. A tattoo computer designed to be expanded would have "connectors" printed on the edges to bring out whatever busses are needed. New tattos would be adjacent to the existing one, and would add more processors, memory, etc.

Just being "printed" doesn't mean you can't expand it, even more than having printing some words on a page means you can't add more text underneath.

This actually leads to a cool mental visual for me, as the tats extend over more and more surface area, leading to more and more power. Some people will want to show off their vast array of hardware. Then there's the grizzled oldster covered in tats, but it's all old stuff -- and with no space left for a modern upgrade, poor guy.


If the technological leap between upgrades is big enough, the fact that your old tattoo is still operational may be somewhat uninteresting. If, for example, your new tattoo is 10 times as powerful as the old one, then you have at best 11 times the performance in total. With enough difference, you might just consider the new a replacement and forget about the old one if you don't like to keep track -- but players can always find a use for the extra little edge. If the difference is small, then it's certainly worth keeping track.