BYTE the Computers of Star Trek

explores how the futuristic technology depicted in the Star Trek universe aligns with and diverges from the computing technologies of the time. It delves into the fictional devices like the ship's main computer, tricorders, and replicators, comparing them with the then-current state of computer science and technology.

[@HalfassDIY]

Used to read Byte in the 80s...never knew about this issue though. Great find !

[@edbrackin]

"The Conscience of the King" is the 13th episode of the first season and Kodos the Executioner is still alive and is an actor.

[@saramarrspellmaker9592]

Back in the days, in the ready room of the Enterprise, they used a Commodore PET as a prop. At that time I was a proud owner of one.

[@ClausB252]

Which series? Original Star Trek predated the PET. Next Generation came a decade after PET. Are you referring to a Trek movie? Edit: I found it. Wrath of Khan.

[@Sgt_Glory]

@@ClausB252 Yeah it's on a desk in Kirk's apartment. But it's ambiguous if it's part of his antique collection or if he actually uses it.

[@choppergirl]

5:10 That's my sister on page 172 It took her like 50 years to finally get a computer with enough power she was finally satisfied with (Threadripper w/ 384gb RAM). It's way bigger than mine. I'll leapfrog her with my next build. My first antique ultralight airplane I bought off of ebay for $38 was designed by Volmer Jensen, and if you know Star Trek, then you know who Volmer Jensen was. After building the NCC-1701 in the Smithsonian, he pivoted to building a couple of plexiglass waterproof underwater movie camera housings for Disney.

[@daves2001]

Kodos the Executioner and Anton Karidian are from the episode The Conscience of the King

[@ClausB252]

BYTE was the best!

[@stephenwilliams2421]

That wasn't PI to the 29th power. It was "Compute pi to the last digit" and then the article directs you to footnote # 29 ...which probably says that PI doesn't have a last digit because it is a non-repeating and non-terminating number.

[@ClausB252]

Enterprise computer: all known facts. Internet: all known opinions.

[@geoffk777]

According to Google, 1e+22 bits is equal to 1,250,000,000 Terabytes or exactly 10,000,000 Petabytes. Even by 2024 standards, this is a lot of storage and searching and recovering data from it in seconds is non-trivial.

[@chrissmith7669]

I had that issue. I wish I’d kept it