posted
Our computers use bits, wich are composed of two digits: 0 and 1
Star Trek computers use quads. With a little logic, a quad could be composed of four digits: 0,1,2 and 3.
Is this canon info? If so, what the heck is the advantage of having four digits?
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posted
I don't think it's canon info at all. Trek computers measure memory in kiloquads. If a quad was as you define then 1 kiloquad would be able to store as much data as 15 bytes! Rather silly.
All the evidence points towards Trek computers still being binary in operation.
posted
Well, it sounded cool, anyways. Look, this is the first post with my status line!
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posted
What about Janeway's reference to "trinary logic" in 'Hope and Fear'?
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posted
Trek computers are not binary. Kim said in "Future's End" that it would take him a few moments to convert to "their old binary system". That said, the ep with the Binars seemed to suggest the Trek computers were still binary. And a "quad" (both kilo and giga) was just a made up unit first used with Data's storage capacity to suggest a very big unit without relating it to anything used today.
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posted
Trinary computers have a 'Yes', 'No' and a 'Maybe'. (according to White Wolf's Roleplaying game: "Mage", in this case the Technomage part).
Trinary syntax was indeed mentioned in the Voyager episode 'Hope and Fear'.
In real life: The term 'quads' was created to avoid the possibility that real computers were going to exceed the capacity of Treks computers. So they needed a none existent means of measuring the amount of data. Although Riker did mention 'bytes' in the episode with the Bynars.
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[This message has been edited by Altair (edited March 30, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Altair (edited March 30, 2000).]
posted
The Voth stated in "Distant Origin" that Voyager had a "simple binary computer system" or something like that.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Was that the ep? I know there was one where a couple people beam into a corridor on Voyager and scan a computer terminal, saying that it's binary...
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I notice that the computer technology is among the least consistent in Star Trek.
A two-state (=binary) logic is the only "logical" choice for any data storage. The smallest possible device would be a single atom that can have an excited and a basic state. This is already possible today, at least in very basic experiments, for instance quantum tunneling microscopy. Of course, one could argue that different electrons in an atom can occupy different states, maybe with a "Heisenberg compensator" Trek computers could distinguish more states, but the storage device would be much more complicated.
A three-state logic maybe useful in some data transfer (pulse modulation) techniques, in order to keep the mean value (over time) of an arbitrary signal zero. However, I don't believe this is the case in Starfleet's ODN.
There is nothing like an "old" or "new" binary system. If there is a problem of converting data, it's either an analog issue of signal levels or a matter of data decryption, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the digital system.
And now for the worst problem, the quads. The TNG people were wise to introduce this obscure unit. In 1987, a 1 gigabyte volume of the E-D computer would have been astonishing, nowadays it's ridiculous. Nevertheless, the quad figures are rising exponentially. The small isolinear chips store some kiloquads, the Enterprise-D data always counted in megaquads, Voyager needs gigaquads or even teraquads. The Galaxy was and is pretty much advanced, but has only a small fraction of the storage capacity of the Intrepid? I can't believe that.
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posted
Janeway said in "One Small Step": "We recovered over 60 TERAQUADS of information from Ares 4" Now, that's ridiculous! The only device used by 7 of 9 was a tricorder. So that means, one VOY-tricorder can store over 60 Tq! Another poosibility is that the tricorder just send data directley to the Delta Flyer, although 60 Tq for the DeltaFlyer is still nonsense.
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posted
No, the tricorder wouldn't have needed that capacity in the latter case. But the Delta Flyer would have needed it. 60 Tq+ is still too many for a mere shuttle! (Borg tech??)
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posted
It might be possible to store that much data in a tricorder. Look how hard drives have changed in the last decade. They are getting smaller and with a higher storage capacity. Now a modern PC has 10 gb and this figure is going higher. In 400 years time the amount stored will be huge.
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posted
Yes, but it doesn't make sense in Trek-terms. The amount of storage on the Enterprise is still measured in Kiloquads, while a tricorder in VOY can hold 60 TERAquads
------------------ "When You're Up to Your Ass in Alligators, Today Is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life." -- Management slogan, Ridcully-style (Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent, Discworld) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prakesh's Star Trek Site
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