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I imagine you could design and build such a computer (I also thought that the definition of a computer might change in 100 years so much that today's devices no

I imagine you could design and build such a computer (I also thought that the definition of a computer might change in 100 years so much that today's devices no longer fit it). Probably using only solid state components, having it completely self-contained, and having all the components built for longevity may be close to but not quite impossible. But it would be entirely unpractical for anything beyond the proof of concept, certainly not as a mass market device. The "longevity" part of every component likely sacrifices speed, power, and performance in exchange for reliability. Imagine things like much larger features in silicon, duplicated or triplicated (or more?) components and units, use of more non-integrated components, the system as a whole would incorporate far more redundancies that take space and possibly power just for the eventuality they need to take over, etc. Not to mention that testing and continuous development are challenging to say the least given the timeframe. By the time you discover your design has flaws you start over with a vastly different 100 year computer. So from all practical perspectives I can't see a 100 year old computer being built with today's tech unless we mean stuff running in hypervisors and emulators that are constantly maintained and developed over that century.

ghaff 6y ago
I imagine looking at the design of electronics that goes into space probes would be a good place to start although that's not quite the design point.
spicybright 6y ago
It might be impossible to make a 100 year computer that's practical. If we look at other "tech" built to last, I think sewing machines. Stand mixers. Cast iron pans. And I'm sure lots of industrial equipment I don't know about. None of these really changed much in the past 50 years that made it useless, and I can see these being useful for the next 50 years pretty easily. The only thing I can think of is a base computer with some interface to a breakout box that can be upgraded based on how computers work. This definitely cheats the idea of a 100 year computer, but you could have a wifi breakout board. Maybe a reader for the next storage format that's popular. Neural whatsit chip that may revolutionize computing. But, again, that's cheating. And at that point just buying modern hardware makes so much more sense.
- dghlsakjg 6y ago
  People have been adding peripherals that allow usb and SD cards to Commodore 64s. And I believe that many of the parts for a C64 are still around.
  - buran77 6y ago
    Keep in mind that the Commodore C64 is "just" 40 years old and the rate of decay is not linear. I imagine the definition of the 100 year old computer probably targets more than "survivors". The definition of the "100 year old computer" as described in the article is fuzzy and kind of a moving target. In the loosest interpretation anything can be a 100 year computer just as long as you care to maintain it for 100 years. If upgrading parts and building adapters for future technology fits that definition then you can do this with any machine, and the rest of the constraints are just artificial (like "must be offline first"). If you actually want to have as much of the original computer as possible for that century then it's no longer feasible. As I mentioned in my original comment, they simply become the ship of Theseus. Heck, my own desktop is that, starting 20 years ago with one hardware config and a Windows XP and reaching now with completely different hardware and Windows 10 with no "full reset" in between, just upgrades and updates.

ghaff 6y ago

I imagine looking at the design of electronics that goes into space probes would be a good place to start although that's not quite the design point.

spicybright 6y ago

It might be impossible to make a 100 year computer that's practical. If we look at other "tech" built to last, I think sewing machines. Stand mixers. Cast iron pans. And I'm sure lots of industrial equipment I don't know about. None of these really changed much in the past 50 years that made it useless, and I can see these being useful for the next 50 years pretty easily. The only thing I can think of is a base computer with some interface to a breakout box that can be upgraded based on how computers work. This definitely cheats the idea of a 100 year computer, but you could have a wifi breakout board. Maybe a reader for the next storage format that's popular. Neural whatsit chip that may revolutionize computing. But, again, that's cheating. And at that point just buying modern hardware makes so much more sense.

dghlsakjg 6y ago
People have been adding peripherals that allow usb and SD cards to Commodore 64s. And I believe that many of the parts for a C64 are still around.
- buran77 6y ago
  Keep in mind that the Commodore C64 is "just" 40 years old and the rate of decay is not linear. I imagine the definition of the 100 year old computer probably targets more than "survivors". The definition of the "100 year old computer" as described in the article is fuzzy and kind of a moving target. In the loosest interpretation anything can be a 100 year computer just as long as you care to maintain it for 100 years. If upgrading parts and building adapters for future technology fits that definition then you can do this with any machine, and the rest of the constraints are just artificial (like "must be offline first"). If you actually want to have as much of the original computer as possible for that century then it's no longer feasible. As I mentioned in my original comment, they simply become the ship of Theseus. Heck, my own desktop is that, starting 20 years ago with one hardware config and a Windows XP and reaching now with completely different hardware and Windows 10 with no "full reset" in between, just upgrades and updates.