That sounds like a great premise for a novel. The Model T computers would
actually be quite suitable because:
- They have no moving parts, other than the keys, which has made them
incredibly robust.
- Unlike modern laptops and cell phones,
- they do not depend upon a backlight (which has a finite lifetime),
- they have no solid-state drive (which also has a finite lifetime),
and
- they require very little power. (Does anyone know how many
milliwatts a Tandy 100 uses?)
- When the system gets corrupted, they reset to a known good state
from ROM.
- They run completely cool (even though outer space is cold because
there's not much matter to sink extra heat into).
- They work instantly without any boot time.
- Easily portable and handheld.
- Even novices can write useful programs.
- The Tandy 200 has an alarm feature so it can save power by turning
itself off to wake up later.
- Astrodynamics (spaceship navigation) is a task the Model T is capable
of since it is just Newtonian physics.
- Can calculate the 2-body problem
<https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/16-346-astrodynamics-fall-2008/pages/lecture-notes/>,
so a pilot could realistically navigate manually using something like a
trisextant.
- Very slow, but possible to simulate the n-body problem
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnes%E2%80%93Hut_simulation> for
mission planning (assuming small values of n).
One downside is that these are consumer devices and do not contain milspec
rad-hard <https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4333113> ICs, so they'd
glitch when radiation hits them. You may need to handwave a bit about metal
shielding or something to explain how they'd work in outer space. However,
if the choice was between old or new consumer devices, the Model T would
win by a mile as newer chips are more densely packed with less margin for
error. (Older Z80 based computers might be even more suitable for
radiation, as NASA has shown, but that would require custom built
computers.)
If you do end up writing the story, I hope you slip in the detail that the
apparent date is forever fixed in the 20th century. The "19" is hardcoded
in the year display. It doesn't affect the programming at all, so future
generations can safely leave it as a memorial to the time when humankind
first left their home planet.
—b9
P.S. I'm greatly looking forward to buying the book just so I can take a
crack at the easter egg. ;-)
On Fri, Jul 5, 2024 at 11:37 AM J S <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hey Team,
>
> Thank you for the wonderful information. I will research Portable Computer
> Magazine for Barcode programs through the Internet Archive and look for
> good examples.
>
> Believe it or not, I got into these machines and bought the 100 and 200
> models because I wanted to see the design and styling of these machines
> firsthand. I have an idea to write a sci-fi novel of a civilization that
> goes into space using older systems mainly because they're everywhere, more
> rugged, and easier to troubleshoot. I was thinking that I could add an
> Easter egg to the book when done: a mini text adventure encoded on the
> border of chapter header pages disguised as art. Only those curious enough
> would try to read the codes and find the lines of code, which would work on
> the machines used in the book.
>
> I grew up fiddling with old PCs people were throwing out years ago and
> learning how to use them by trial and error. My first machine was a 286
> clone that I used to learn BASIC and started reading programs.
>
> Since I found it difficult to locate viable barcode programs, I thought
> I'd email your team to see if it was ever implemented versus theoretical. I
> figured, in space reams of barcodes books are more resilient than cassettes
> as a backup given electromagnetic forces.
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* M100 <[email protected]> on behalf of B 9 <
> [email protected]>
> *Sent:* Friday, July 5, 2024 11:59 AM
> *To:* [email protected] <[email protected]>
> *Subject:* Re: [M100] [m100] Odd Topic - barcode storage
>
> Hey JS, welcome to Model T computing!
>
> Greg is right, it was Portable Computer Magazine that printed the barcode
> listings, according to
> https://www.ordersomewherechaos.com/rosso/fetish/m102/web100/docs/kyocera-faq.html#b13
> .
>
> Just out of curiosity, why did you get both a 100 and 200? Are you trying
> to catch them all? If so, you've got at least three more to go (from
> Kyocera, NEC, and Olivetti).
>
> —b9
>
> P.S. Since you're just starting out, please forgive me for making one
> recommendation from personal experience: these machines lose the contents
> of their memory when you look at them funny, so backup often, either over
> a serial port <https://youtu.be/H0xx9cOe97s> or with a REX expansion.
>
> On Fri, Jun 21, 2024 at 2:51 PM J S <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Hey everyone,
>
> I had a question. And it might already be solved but I don't see an answer
> on how to do it.
>
> I'm a recent owner of both an 100 and a 200 model machines. I also have a
> barcode pen. I've seen lots of information about using it for data entry
> and business type applications but I have not seen any information on a way
> to use it to load lines of programming.
>
> Back in the old magazines you could get the printout of a BASIC program
> and type them in. I had read a long time ago about the possibility of
> converting those programs to lines of barcodes that could make programs
> easier to enter, albeit line by line.
>
> The idea would be that you would load a program that would let you scan
> those barcodes one by one and save it to a data file. That file, when
> closed could be renamed as the BA file and ran normally.
>
> Any help or ideas would be appreciated
>
>
