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Thread ID: 53533 2005-01-20 07:35:00 Computer used on a Boeing 747 Misty (368) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
316051 2005-01-20 07:35:00 A friend of mine who captains Boeing 747's says that he thinks that the power of the computer that the 747 uses (ie for the instrument panel etc) is only about equivalent to the old 486 PC. He says that is all that seems to be needed. Scary though !!!
Misty :eek:
Misty (368)
316052 2005-01-20 07:42:00 I wouldn't be surprised. Apparently NASA managed to get all the way to the moon with a comp about as powerful as a Commodore C64...Scary. That could all be urban myth though. Catweazle (2535)
316053 2005-01-20 07:47:00 if I remember rightly the NASA computer you talk of was more like a ZX81, 15K of ram and not much else.

with out all the crap that an OS brings in a custom solution writen for just one CPU to do just one job can be very small.
robsonde (120)
316054 2005-01-20 07:49:00 www.abc.net.au robsonde (120)
316055 2005-01-20 08:09:00 So what's all this about getting the latest and fastest? If a Commodore can get to the Moon, then where can my P4 go to!?!? :eek: ~sy~ (95)
316056 2005-01-20 08:21:00 then where can my P4 go to!?!? :eek:

At the present rate, it can go to obsolescence in 12 months .... Sad...
But cheers anyway
TonyF
TonyF (246)
316057 2005-01-20 08:36:00 A friend of mine who captains Boeing 747's says that he thinks that the power of the computer that the 747 uses (ie for the instrument panel etc) is only about equivalent to the old 486 PC. He says that is all that seems to be needed. Scary though !!!
Misty :eek:

The B747 is full of computers all for specific purposes and individually they do not have to be very powerful, they are designed to do a specific job. Why do you find it scary.
Instrument Panel you quote covers a lot of things such as Engine, Attitude, Speed, Navigation, and Auto Flight displays and they are not all controlled by the one computer and essential systems have 2 and sometimes 3 computers in case of a fault in one.

Anyone interested in the B747 Flight deck this is a good site
www.meriweather.com
You can click on switches and instruments and get info about what they do.
Safari (3993)
316058 2005-01-20 08:45:00 If you want other aircraft cockpits and aircraft information.
http://www.meriweather.com/
www.meriweather.com
Safari (3993)
316059 2005-01-20 08:52:00 We never went to the moon. Don't you watch the conspiracy shows? :rolleyes: E|im (87)
316060 2005-01-20 09:00:00 This guy (starfish.osfn.org) is my hero.

Who said the Apollo11 computer wasn't complex :P

- David
DangerousDave (697)
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