> Date: Mon, 31 May 1999 13:12:04 -0600
> From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: Re: DOS GUI
> At 06:50 PM 5/31/1999 +0200, you wrote:
>> No other computers? In my vision I always see slower (486/Pentiums)
>> scatered in appropiate places with flat screens connected to them. Of
>> course they are all connected to the server.
> I doubt it, at least in the fancy homes, though the DIYers might have
> systems like that. Anyway, no chance they'd be x86 architecture, they'd at
> least be Pentiums.
I'm afraid that's heading entirely the wrong direction for any sort of
embedded machine controls - which is precisely what a "computerized
home" would need.
Certainly, a single PC master controller/server could be in the cards,
but using multiple 16 or 32-bit machines for the job is fantastic overkill
- and prohibitively expensive.
I'm reminded of a job I had in a consortium of textile and apparel
manufacturers. They recieved millions of dollars every year from the
US commerce dept. supporting their efforts to "save" these US industries
from cheap-labor Pacific-rim and Latin American/Caribbean competition.
Their big project was to make, as closely as possible, a "lights out"
apparel factory, using automation to replace workers. ( Even though
labor costs were just a small fraction of their big profits.)
A southern university wanted a piece of that funding pie, and set out
to "wire" a model factory for data collection/control. They would use
a small 386/40 MHz ( top of the line, at the time ) on EVERY sewing machine
in the place, connecting them in a huge ethernet bus. It cost them about
3 million dollars to do it.
My big boss didn't want to share the research funds, so I was tasked
to build a similar system ( but better, of course ) - with an upper
price limit of $150 per station. ( The other guys' costs ran about
$2500 per for hardware alone - no software, no salaries included.)
We did it, too - using 8-bit 8749 processors that cost $9.95 each,
mounted on a custom board we designed. The control program was
contained right in the 8749's 2k of EPROM, and it used RS-422 ( same
as your serial port, but "multi-drop" ). Total cost: $129 per station.
It wasn't anywhere near as fast - but it didn't have to be.
( When not communicating with the master controller, the processor
even kept track of a 9600 RPM sewing machine - about six times the
speed of the fastest consumer machine - and how much thread it was
using, along with the operator's piecework output. BTW - the operator
could query the main controller any time for hours worked, pieces
completed, that sort of thing... and see the responses on a small
16-line graphics LCD display. No pentiums required !)
We won the funding for that next year...
The future of "wired" homes lies in cheap, small processors suited to
specific tasks, rather than expensive, general-purpose machines.
- John T.
-- Arachne V1.5a;alpha, NON-COMMERCIAL copy, http://home.arachne.cz/
To unsubscribe from SURVPC send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
unsubscribe SURVPC in the body of the message.
Also, trim this footer from any quoted replies.
