OT: ILM's new computer systems

[inigma]

VR will never happen.

Holodecks will become a reality in 15 years, the first prototypes will be developed in 2008.

Tactile holodecks, however, will never become a commercial entertainment reality though.

[inigma]

Tactile holodecks will only be developed and practically usable for only large scale planetary industry, and experimental materials development. The quantum energy involved in such a device would cost more than the total output of most stars, and I would assume that such a technological development would be banned between most interstellar governments once it is perfected as a weapon.

Commercially, destroying stars will not be considered a viable option in the long run, and most likely will be a form of experimentation that is shunned and persecuted for its destructive concequences.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

I wasn't refering to ST holodecks, but to mind-machine interfaces.

[Suicide Junkie]

If you're trying to create a tactile interface, you don't want to be building your matter stuff up from pure energy.

Manipulating pre-existing atoms into the chemicals you want and then moving them to where they are needed would be much simpler.

Or forego the matter entirely; just stimulate nerves for fine tactile sensations, and use VR exoskeletons for blunt forces.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Or simply stimulate the nerves in the spinal cord to simulate all that.

[Atrocities]

150TB

Really when you think of that, its not all that big. Its like a 15o gigs by the standards of only five years ago. So in five years they will have to upgrade again.

Say what is it called once you surpase 999 TB's?

[Atrocities]

I want to share with you a phone interview I had with George Lucas about ILM's new computer.

AT
So George what are the specs on your new computer?

GL
Well let me tell ya, the main data center includes a 3,000-processor server farm, approximately 150TB of network-attached storage and a 10 Gigabit Ethernet backbone that may be the largest built by any company to date. It has some 340 10Gbit ports and supports traffic loads of 130TB per day. Power and cooling systems sit in two adjacent rooms, which helps to keep maintenance traffic out of the data center.

AT
Whooa George thats a fantastic, what are you going to use it for?

GL
Games and stuff.

[Kamog]

Say what is it called once you surpase 999 TB's?

The next prefix 10 x bigger than tera is peta, so it must be 1 petabyte (1 PB)
Now, it is 1000 TB = 1 PB, or is it 1024 TB = 1 PB ?

[Captain Kwok]

For computers it's 1024.

[Fyron]

Technically, one petabyte is 1000 terabytes, and 1 "pebibyte" (PiB) is 1000 "tebibytes" (TiB).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tebibyte