11 Aug
2004
11 Aug
'04
7:26 a.m.
On Wed, 11 Aug 2004, Paul Koning wrote:
To look at it differently -- if you handed someone a
CDROM, and a
stack of standards describing it (ISO 9660, the Red Book, etc.) but no
computer and no CDROM drive, is that person likely to have enough
information to recover the data on the disk? I expect the answer is
"no, not even close".
If they have retained sufficient technological competence
(not another "dark ages"), and IFF the need is enough to
warrant devoting enough resources to the project, then YES.
Neither a CDROM, nor a floppy drive, is a particularly
difficult item to build with appropriate facilities.
But "enough resources" might indeed be fairly extreme, and
one goal is to reduce the amount of resources needed.
'course they could always send a time traveller, and in
addition to the 5100, have him make another stop (at FRY's??)
to shop for some hardware.