4 ms·

Pictures three and four explain why so many sci-fi megaputers have drawers full of cards^H^H^H^H^Hchips^H^H^H^H^Hcrystals that can be pulled out and swapped aro

Pictures three and four explain why so many sci-fi megaputers have drawers full of cards^H^H^H^H^Hchips^H^H^H^H^Hcrystals that can be pulled out and swapped around in order to fix a broken AI or something.

dalke 12y ago
Agreed! It sure feels like HAL (https://henryherz.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/05-robots-hal.jpg https://henryherz.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/05-robots-hal....) I thought there was a similar style in Star Trek: The Original Series, but while they had card-loaded computers, it wasn't as an array of cards. Their hardware idiom is more like http://tosgraphics.yuku.com/topic/409/The-Type7-Console-Computers http://tosgraphics.yuku.com/topic/409/The-Type7-Console-Comp... ST:TNG has an example at http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/images/b/bd/Data_configures_isolinear_chips.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120904004429&path-prefix=en http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/images/b/bd/... but I suspect it was more directly derived from HAL than a 1960s era computer.
- xenophonf 12y ago
  It's carried over into modern sci-fi. Check out these pictures from Stargate SG-1 (which is what first popped into my mind when I saw those photos): http://en.stargate-wiki.org/wiki/images/b/b7/Tel%27tak_control_systems_crystals.jpg http://en.stargate-wiki.org/wiki/images/b/b7/Tel%27tak_contr... http://en.stargate-wiki.org/wiki/images/c/c0/Ha%27tak_Auxiliary_control_panel.jpg http://en.stargate-wiki.org/wiki/images/c/c0/Ha%27tak_Auxili... http://en.stargate-wiki.org/wiki/File:Ha%27tak_Glider_bay_door_controls.jpg http://en.stargate-wiki.org/wiki/File:Ha%27tak_Glider_bay_do... I'd love to talk to set designers on these shows to find out what their influences were. I would not be at all surprised if these kinds of props originate in the Daisy Bell scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and I would bet any money that set in 2001 was an extrapolation of the SMS card.
  - dalke 12y ago
    Here's a "logic module" from ST:Enterprise - http://www.startrekpropauthority.com/2011/10/star-trek-enterprise-logic-module.html http://www.startrekpropauthority.com/2011/10/star-trek-enter... . It's apparently from "In A Mirror, Darkly", where the Terrans from the mirror universe acquired the Constitution-class Federation starship USS Defiant. So it's definitely an homage to the 1960s series. At some point it's hard to know the specific lineage. Consider "Land of the Lost" from the 1970s, which had a control panel of colored crystals: http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20150109000245/villains/images/f/fe/Cryst2.png http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20150109000245/villains/i... They are colored crystals in an array, though unlike the scene from 2001 and the Babylon 5 images you found, these are not slotted. I'm pretty certain there's a book or web site somewhere which goes into the details of the design sense of at Star Trek.

dalke 12y ago

Agreed! It sure feels like HAL (https://henryherz.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/05-robots-hal.jpg https://henryherz.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/05-robots-hal....) I thought there was a similar style in Star Trek: The Original Series, but while they had card-loaded computers, it wasn't as an array of cards. Their hardware idiom is more like http://tosgraphics.yuku.com/topic/409/The-Type7-Console-Computers http://tosgraphics.yuku.com/topic/409/The-Type7-Console-Comp... ST:TNG has an example at http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/images/b/bd/Data_configures_isolinear_chips.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120904004429&path-prefix=en http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/images/b/bd/... but I suspect it was more directly derived from HAL than a 1960s era computer.

xenophonf 12y ago
It's carried over into modern sci-fi. Check out these pictures from Stargate SG-1 (which is what first popped into my mind when I saw those photos): http://en.stargate-wiki.org/wiki/images/b/b7/Tel%27tak_control_systems_crystals.jpg http://en.stargate-wiki.org/wiki/images/b/b7/Tel%27tak_contr... http://en.stargate-wiki.org/wiki/images/c/c0/Ha%27tak_Auxiliary_control_panel.jpg http://en.stargate-wiki.org/wiki/images/c/c0/Ha%27tak_Auxili... http://en.stargate-wiki.org/wiki/File:Ha%27tak_Glider_bay_door_controls.jpg http://en.stargate-wiki.org/wiki/File:Ha%27tak_Glider_bay_do... I'd love to talk to set designers on these shows to find out what their influences were. I would not be at all surprised if these kinds of props originate in the Daisy Bell scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and I would bet any money that set in 2001 was an extrapolation of the SMS card.
- dalke 12y ago
  Here's a "logic module" from ST:Enterprise - http://www.startrekpropauthority.com/2011/10/star-trek-enterprise-logic-module.html http://www.startrekpropauthority.com/2011/10/star-trek-enter... . It's apparently from "In A Mirror, Darkly", where the Terrans from the mirror universe acquired the Constitution-class Federation starship USS Defiant. So it's definitely an homage to the 1960s series. At some point it's hard to know the specific lineage. Consider "Land of the Lost" from the 1970s, which had a control panel of colored crystals: http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20150109000245/villains/images/f/fe/Cryst2.png http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20150109000245/villains/i... They are colored crystals in an array, though unlike the scene from 2001 and the Babylon 5 images you found, these are not slotted. I'm pretty certain there's a book or web site somewhere which goes into the details of the design sense of at Star Trek.