popularmechanics.com — NASA scientists trying to find out what went wrong during last week's repair of the Hubble Space Telescope find themselves dealing with 486 processors and other outdated computer technology. But sometimes, mission managers say, simple is good when you're out in space—as long as you know how to talk to decades-old computers.
Oct 24, 2008 View in Crawl 4
bartpietersOct 26, 2008
*puts a sock in it*Yeah you are right, too quick to make a joke. Thanks!
reyalpOct 26, 2008
I smell a copy/paste from Slashdot
lunarbunnyOct 26, 2008
I hear they need to use a different type of RAM that's much more expensive as well, as typical DRAM is not resistant to radiation and can cause errors.
Closed AccountOct 26, 2008
Somebody read (and comprehended) the article
dunnixOct 27, 2008
@robbh66Hmmm, Interesting... So your saying that nasa should keep using out of date hardware _and_ software? Why? Because its simple? Reliable? I just fail to understand what the point of the original argument was? 486 architecture is simple thus it should never be replaced, even when the positives of doing so are so obvious... and that includes never re-writing 20+ year old software?Its very easy to say some one just looked things up on wikipedia, even when I was just trying to argue the "precise" point, by pointing out that there are newer architectures that are more precise by definition.The 64bit architecture is something you learn in programming 112... It's not a hard concept to grasp.
dunnixOct 28, 2008
Clearly, the above argument was not about whether they should upgrade the hubble, more about using older tech because its simple. Is comparing the hubble telescope to your cannon is moronic? Is your cannon an orbiting telescope? Does it gather data and transmit it back to earth?You have misunderstood... I'm sorry. And yes Programming 112 is a community college class, teaching a concept I guess you don't get. Or maybe you just like to hang out on Digg calling people morons.Don't worry, I don't take it personally it looks like most of your past comments are negative. I'll just carry on thinking your a bad person.