The Computers of Star Trek Read Online Free Page A

spaceship—and therefore the most important piece of technology in the entire Star Trek universe: the ship’s main computer system. The computer is responsible for the operation of all other systems on the ship, from life support to
navigation to entertainment. We have as our guide to this extraordinary machine the Star Trek: The Next Generation — Technical Manual, 1 whose authors compare the Enterprise computer to the nervous system of a human being. Let’s see if it’s a vision of the future.
    When analyzing a computer design, a good first step is to understand its overall structure. For example, does one computer control everything, feeding tasks to workstations? Or do many computers operate in parallel? How are all the components interconnected, and what kind of networking is used? These are basic questions. Once we know the answers, the next step is to identify the underlying modules and their interconnections. In other words, we break the general design into pieces, and then we take a look at the details. a
    The technical manual devotes only five pages to the Enterprise computer. Based on its vague and sketchy description, we’ve inferred the general design shown in Figure 2.1 .
    There are five elements here: the library computer access and retrieval software (LCARS, an acronym that you can occasionally see flash on the screen in some episodes, as if it were proprietary software); the main processing core; the micron junction links; the subspace boundary layer; and the optical data network (ODN). We’ll briefly skate through the entire system and then examine each element in detail. According to the technical manual, the LCARS “provides both keyboard and verbal interface ability, incorporating highly sophisticated artificial intelligence routines and graphic display organization for maximum crew ease-of-use.” This is a fancy way of saying that crewmembers type commands and press keys, issue voice commands (the verbal interface), and look at a computer screen. We have the equivalent of an LCARS today. Writing this chapter involved typing commands and pressing function keys. Voice recognition software can be bought over the counter at most computer stores. For a couple of months’ wages you can buy a computer with 256 megabytes of random access memory (RAM) and dual Pentium processors, that with appropriate software will render three-dimensional moving images as quickly as the LCARS screen on Star Trek. In fact, a good modern screen has crisper colors and better image resolution.

    FIGURE 2.1 Overall Ship Computer System

    As we type on our keyboard and gaze at the monitor in order, say, to write this book, the PC’s two processors work together to handle our commands. b Just as all the processors in the main processing core of the Enterprise computer handle the commands that the crew supplies.
    To back up this chapter (in case NT blows), we save it using another filename. We may backup the entire system on zip disks, CDs, or other media. The Enterprise computer, with its three main processing cores, is more like a giant IBM mainframe from the 1970s, with two mainframes providing total system backup—
in case one mainframe blows, the Enterprise crew has another ready to assume all system functions. The LCARS consoles are the equivalent of the 1970s graphic display terminals that connected to the old mainframes.
    The micron junction links shift commands from the main processing cores through a subspace boundary layer into the ODN. Again, fancy terms for things we do today (though we don’t do them at faster-than-light [FTL] speed). Let’s suppose that this chapter is ready for our editor. Our transmission choices are: print the chapter and send it to the editor in an envelope, or e-mail the chapter to him. If we choose e-mail, the Internet does the trick. In our case, we dial a phone number and establish a modem connection to our Internet service provider. Over