> From: "Hotze" <photze(a)batelco.com.bh>
> Subject: Is this possible? (Storage) (Off-topic?)
>
> Sorry, but this has been bugging me for quite some time. In Star Trek, they
> use "Isolinear" based memory circuts to store information in both the short
> and long term. So, from the looks of it, it's some kind of crystal, and can
> transmit it's data very quickly, and with no moving parts, so I'm guessing
> that it's similiar to today's RAM. Now, for the hard part: It can hold
> entire encyclopedia's in tiny amounts. In one episiode, they had nanites,
> little robot-bugs that could hold "gigabytes of information," and were
> microscopic. Furthermore, in some episodes, they find Chodak and T'Kon
> ruins, between 900,000 to 700,000 years old, with half or more of the data
> intact.
> Was crystaline storage ever attempted like this? Is it possible?
> Feasable?
A few years back I read a facinating article on holographic storage systems.
Where the medium was a 'slide sized' wafer and was recorded and read
holographically using a laser beam. Being holographic in nature the denisty
was way more then magnetic disc or CD. That was the closest that I've read to
Star Trek like storage.
--
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Larry Anderson - Sysop of Silicon Realms BBS (300-2400bd) (209) 754-1363
Visit my Commodore 8-Bit web page at:
http://www.goldrush.com/~foxnhare/commodore.html
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
>At 12:18 PM 4/12/98 -0700, you wrote:
>>A few years back I read a facinating article on holographic storage
systems.
>>Where the medium was a 'slide sized' wafer and was recorded and read
>>holographically using a laser beam. Being holographic in nature the
denisty
>>was way more then magnetic disc or CD. That was the closest that I've
read to
>>Star Trek like storage.
>
>There was a nice feature in Scientific American a few years back about
>holographic storage. Early 1995 i believe, possible 96.
I remember last summer, there was something in CNN about Berkley (or one
of those California universities that you'd associate with
computers/technology) Developing a blue laser. This could radically change
everything, including DVD.
Ciao,
Tim D. Hotze
At 12:18 PM 4/12/98 -0700, you wrote:
>A few years back I read a facinating article on holographic storage systems.
>Where the medium was a 'slide sized' wafer and was recorded and read
>holographically using a laser beam. Being holographic in nature the denisty
>was way more then magnetic disc or CD. That was the closest that I've read to
>Star Trek like storage.
There was a nice feature in Scientific American a few years back about
holographic storage. Early 1995 i believe, possible 96.
Adam
( Adam Fritzler afritz(a)iname.com )
http://afritz.base.org/
>>The soviets always had comparable technology, but were limited by
>>inefficient manufacturing and logistics. Those only exposed to western
>>design philosophy tend to belittle soviet engineers because of the
>>seemingly crude appearance of their equipment, but they had to meet
>>vastly different product requirements. Their export market was the
>>underdeveloped third world, no infrastructure at all. When your target
>>market is some place like Mongolia, Eritrea or South Yemen you have an
>>entirely different set of design parameters. There is no Radio Shack
>>down the corner, no parts store in town, no UPS delivery service. Even
>
>Why Radio Shack when you have BFI? I can just imagine a fried US
>made cell phone flying into a third-world bonfire...that sure would
>stink. Another reason why Russian products were build to last was,
>very simply, because if you trash your phone, you'd have to get on
>a two-month waiting list to get another one.
See? That's my biggest complaint about the Soviets. They gave communism a
bad name. The USSR, in my opinion, wasn't a true communism any more than
Rome was a democracy after they had "dictators for life." Nice try, but a
true communism would be the opposite. Everyone would have everything, if
humans worked on an equal basis. That's why communisms don't work with
people: They'res a few rotten apples in every barrell.
Also, look at Soviet technology and people as a whole. Even though
MiG's did use vaccum tubes, they were still considered a threat, when
equipped with Soviet pilots.
As for the technology, I'll say that it wasn't behind the US, but rather
on a path that we didn't follow, and so it looked like they were behind us.
BTW, I'm guessing that with a $20,000 A2 clone, the avreage Dmitri didn't
get one in the USSR.
Tim D. Hotze
>
>Max Eskin wrote:
>
>> All right, I have taken this for a while, but no more. This ignorance
>> about Soviet technology and abilities is ridiculous. I think you
>> people have kept your anti-communist opinions along with you IBM
>> 704s.
>
>My guess is that Max has a bit of Russian blood lines in him to get so
>infuriated ;-]
I was born in the USSR an came here 7 years ago
>> Although the USSR certainly had ridiculous administration, and its
>> technology was not very modern, there were many advances by the
>> soviet union, and it now has just as much technology as the US.
>
>Becuase since the breakdown of the USSR they've imported shiploads.
Prior to
>this they were banned from technological advances openly available in
the
>free world, same as the restrictions on obtaining nuclear materials and
bomb
>technology.
Well, nowadays, Windows 95 is almost as easy to get over there as
weapons-grade plutonium ;)
>> a LOT of modern programmers are Russian. Most Russian immigrants
>> I know deal with computers.
>
>If any of us had to consider dealing with jail time for low grades we'd
get
>out act together too.
Jail time? No. Loss of self-respsect? Yes. Nothing the government
can do will get people to learn well. It is a good moral foundation
that most schools here don't teach, and parents don't have time to.
Sorry for the off-topic and anti-US stuff, folks.
>
>Max, I just can't hold this back....I have socks older than that! I hit
>first grade the year JFK was shot. (please no offense, I get the same
from
>those that saw the depression - my parents) You can't judge the US's
>capabilities by a public school inventory either - most have Apple II's
in
[ON TOPIC BELOW]
I meant simply to share the only computer I ever saw in the USSR.
There was a big sign on the wall that said "Turn the computers off
before leaving!". That wasn't meant for us, but I didn't know that,
and I once turned a terminal off. I came back next time, the terminal
didn't. I guess it had volatile ROM or something. In general, I liked
those terminals. They looked very, um, handmade.
>went on. I've disarmed and unloaded stranded Soviet aircraft that were
>forced to land in Iceland for mechanical problems prior to their
repairs.
>The Fixbat, Bear, etc have had panels opened by crews that were doing
>repairs "for diplomatic reasons" while we unloaded their heavy steel
>missiles and I've seen planes as late as 1985 with vacuum tubes and
"solid
>state tubes" in their electronics bays. We had a rectifier from a radio
in a
>captured Soviet tank that made our solid state items in 1970 look like
>microprocessors.
What's wrong with vacuum tubes? You're the ones collecting them :0
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
> Hotze wrote:
> Yeah, that's why all the newest Soviet fighters and bombers
> used vacuum tubes
> even into the early 1990's. I'm sure they invented this and
Not so fast, there are very good reasons to use tubes instead of solid
state on certain types of military electronics. Look up "EMP" sometime.
This was a deliberate design decision on the part of soviet avionics
designers. They do have workable solid state devices. In fact, the
later Sukhoi and MiG models had very sophisticated interlocking radars
at the squadron level, a capability US forces do not have. Yes, overall
the US made much better avionics and electronics in general, but when it
was important enough the soviets could produce very good military
equipment. Off topic, but I much prefer Russian assault rifles to US
ones. I keep an AK47 at home, I would not trust an M16. I wouldn't
care to run a business with a Russian built computer though...
Jack Peacock
<What's wrong with vacuum tubes? You're the ones collecting them :0
In their time it was the best technology. But the answer to the question
is, too big, fragile, High power needs, lots of heat and they make lousy
high speed switches (IE binary elements).
As to EMP immunity, not much use if the memory is wiped and less help if
the system is so slow and awkward that reboots are impractical. Vacuum
tubes offer little help there.
As far as I know the Soviet Russins had technology but they were limited
in their ability to translate that to volume product. That combined with
no production capability that wasn't allocated to the military was a mess.
It wasn't for lack of bright people just a messed up system.
Allison
Starting Tuesday I have come across a few nice finds at very low prices,
here is a small sample: Televideo model 910 terminal; NCR workstation
C-256/89 no kb came with it; MicroNet ext HD; Apple tape Backup unit 40sc;
Apple modem power supply M0174; LN03R Scriptprinter Operator guide; HP85;
digital RX02 drive unit model RX02M-EA; Sun tape unit model 511; HP 9121 FD
drive unit model D; HP 82901M; HP 1615A Logic Analyzer; HP 9920A unit;
Fluke 2240B Datalogger; HP 9826; HP 86B;several old Mac KB's for model 128
and Plus; and several other items and manuals. The entire load set me back
$26. Will get around to testing these items someday. Keep Computing John
