4 ms·

> A fully working computer that is literally the size of a credit card. Nit: A (chip) credit card is already a fully working computer :)

by lxgr 5mo ago

ZiiS 5mo ago
Only if it is inside a specially designed radio field and with no independent IO. Feels like a battery and IO justify the 'fully working' differentiation.
- IAmBroom 5mo ago
  I've never heard a definition of a computer to include its power source. IO is of course required.
  - sargstuff 5mo ago
    Think that was a early computation thing -> CRT memory[0][1] Perhaps the 'city block' heaters requiring similar sized AC condensors to provide control over Maxwell's daemon was the inspiration for the unix daemon process. Optical computing makes fuzzy computations so much easier -> outgassing[2] ------------------------------------------------------ [0] : https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-birth-of-ram https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-birth-of-ram [1] : https://bunkerofdoom.com/lit/CRT-scopes/CRT_memory/index.html https://bunkerofdoom.com/lit/CRT-scopes/CRT_memory/index.htm... [2] : https://spectrum.ieee.org/adhesive-outgassing-nasa-standards https://spectrum.ieee.org/adhesive-outgassing-nasa-standards
- lxgr 5mo ago
  Interesting philosophical question: Is a tower PC that's not plugged into anything (neither power nor a keyboard or monitor) a computer? Does computation happen if nobody can perceive it? And is a computer a computer even between two CPU cycles? > no independent IO I would challenge that! How is a smartcard different from a server in a qualitative sense? Both get all their I/O over the network. Some cards even have a display, fingerprint reader, or can blink an LED (the latter unfortunately only indiscriminately when powered up, not in response to any computation, I'm afraid).
  - Rohansi 5mo ago
    Is a bare SoC a computer? You can poke the pins to provide power and I/O. The interesting thing about this project is that this computer can function independently within a credit card sized space.
  - sargstuff 5mo ago
    asic computer doesn't have cpu cycles. So, a computer is still a computer between two cpu cycles.

> A fully working computer that is literally the size of a credit card. Nit: A (chip) credit card is already a fully working computer :)

by lxgr 5mo ago

> A fully working computer that is literally the size of a credit card. Nit: A (chip) credit card is already a fully working computer :)

ZiiS 5mo ago

Only if it is inside a specially designed radio field and with no independent IO. Feels like a battery and IO justify the 'fully working' differentiation.

IAmBroom 5mo ago
I've never heard a definition of a computer to include its power source. IO is of course required.
- sargstuff 5mo ago
  Think that was a early computation thing -> CRT memory[0][1] Perhaps the 'city block' heaters requiring similar sized AC condensors to provide control over Maxwell's daemon was the inspiration for the unix daemon process. Optical computing makes fuzzy computations so much easier -> outgassing[2] ------------------------------------------------------ [0] : https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-birth-of-ram https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-birth-of-ram [1] : https://bunkerofdoom.com/lit/CRT-scopes/CRT_memory/index.html https://bunkerofdoom.com/lit/CRT-scopes/CRT_memory/index.htm... [2] : https://spectrum.ieee.org/adhesive-outgassing-nasa-standards https://spectrum.ieee.org/adhesive-outgassing-nasa-standards
lxgr 5mo ago
Interesting philosophical question: Is a tower PC that's not plugged into anything (neither power nor a keyboard or monitor) a computer? Does computation happen if nobody can perceive it? And is a computer a computer even between two CPU cycles? > no independent IO I would challenge that! How is a smartcard different from a server in a qualitative sense? Both get all their I/O over the network. Some cards even have a display, fingerprint reader, or can blink an LED (the latter unfortunately only indiscriminately when powered up, not in response to any computation, I'm afraid).
- Rohansi 5mo ago
  Is a bare SoC a computer? You can poke the pins to provide power and I/O. The interesting thing about this project is that this computer can function independently within a credit card sized space.
- sargstuff 5mo ago
  asic computer doesn't have cpu cycles. So, a computer is still a computer between two cpu cycles.