Thoughts on computer compatibility... · 6:09pm Feb 12th, 2020
First, quick plug: tonight streaming KSP on Hard difficulty, Friday streaming X-COM: Long War:
http://twitch.tv/redneckgaijin (begins 7 PM Central)
Second, a Twitter post today referenced the part of The Martian where Mark Watney gets the code to manually patch the rover's software so it can understand signals sent by the Pathfinder-to-Sojourner radio link. The person making the post was saying that, in essence, the rover's software was too lean and it should have been able to accept a flash update through that link without Watney's twenty lines of code.
That's cute.
Give you an idea of the technology mismatch involved here: imagine that you, right now, right this very minute, are stranded on Mars. You have a safe habitat (for the moment) and food (for the moment), but your long-term survival is in question. And your only hope for help from Earth, help you desperately need to live until rescue comes...
... your only hope is that the computer you have in front of you (or in your hand) right this minute can communicate directly with an Apollo LM guidance computer.
THAT is how big the technology gap is, in terms of raw years, between Pathfinder and Ares.
Asking a little much of software developers, isn't it?
Clearly they need to download more magnetic core memory.
Are you telling me that old software wasn't written in ARM? I'm shocked.
Like it didn't do enough stuff? Or had very narrow and focused functionality?
I would hope that most NASA built space gear isn't run by software cobbled together using various modules along with stuff they found on the internet and then compiled into a "working" program/OS for whatever piece of technology.
The software should be purpose built from scratch and be as lean as possible. It should run everything it needs to PERFECTLY with zero errors. Nothing else. If the Rover software bluescreens, tech support is on a 15-30 minute lag over the most adverse internet connection. Can it get updates? It should be able to, but should never require them.
If the software on a piece of Mars mission gear needs an update to keep functioning there's a good chance people will be dead by the time the update gets there.
The specific problem is that 40 year old software running on 40 year old technology would have had to receive a modern update and send it to the rover. Not going to happen.
We can use emulators and such to get current computers to run and communicate with programs made 40 years ago in that program's language.
What would be near impossible would be getting 40 year old computers to communicate with modern ones in MODERN computer code.
I'm trying to (grudgingly) move from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and get it all to work.
...I sympathize with Mark Watney's struggles.
We went to the moon on a computer that makes the old Commodore 64 with 128K Ram look almost Artificially intelligent.
The Primary Program loading was done on Earth using Punched Tape in Octal.
If I remember right the read out display originaly used fairy lights...
An impressive bit of perspective. :D
Ipad in my hands right now... do I have to make THIS compatible with ANYTHING not apple!? Welp, tell my family I love them, cause I would be doomed... even if the flippin rover had a USB port...
There is considerable technology gap between Sojourner and Pathfinder Lander too:
The 8085 was launched in 1976, and Rad6000 was used first in Pathfinder mission in 1996. So it's 20 years gap.