Path: ...!local-2.nntp.ord.giganews.com!Xl.tags.giganews.com!local-3.nntp.ord.giganews.com!news.giganews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 07 Apr 2025 21:59:47 +0000 Subject: Re: Rewriting SSA. Is This A Chance For GNU/Linux? Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc References: <6BidndvG26Vec236nZ2dnZfqnPadnZ2d@giganews.com> From: c186282 Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2025 17:59:45 -0400 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:78.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/78.13.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Language: en-US Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Message-ID: Lines: 82 X-Usenet-Provider: http://www.giganews.com X-Trace: sv3-bTFz6cquTwTQqwV9hF9jBQHYYchXuITcrC1mGW47xMXM0T1OC05nd6lHStEgdBZta36gPVi+ZFRR/eR!MODyBQMUSO1QoSYIzEHyXeAB5zMhBCGiy+y2aOHaJhYF7UGplc6NtkuhVomA9I+L3luxNb6GuX5E X-Complaints-To: abuse@giganews.com X-DMCA-Notifications: http://www.giganews.com/info/dmca.html X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.3.40 Bytes: 5406 On 4/7/25 4:39 PM, -hh wrote: > On 4/5/25 18:27, c186282 wrote: >> On 4/5/25 3:40 PM, The Natural Philosopher wrote: >>> On 05/04/2025 20:22, c186282 wrote: >>>> Analog ... >>> >>> Massive arrays of non linear analogue circuits for modelling things >>> like the Navier Stokes equations would be possible: Probably make a >>> better stab at climate modelling then the existing shit. >> >>    Again with analog, it's the sensitivity to especially >>    temperature conditions that add errors in. Keep >>    carrying those errors through several stages and soon >>    all you have is error, pretending to be The Solution. >>    Again, perhaps some meta-material that's NOT sensitive >>    to what typically throws-off analog electronics MIGHT >>    be made. >> >>    I'm trying to visualize what it would take to make >>    an all-analog version of, say, a payroll spreadsheet :-) > > Woogh!  That makes my brain hurt. Indeed ! However ... probably COULD be done, it's a bunch of shifting values - input to some accts, calx ops, shift to other accts ....... lots and lots of rheostats ........ I'm not gonna try it ! :-) >>    Now discrete use of analog as, as you suggested, doing >>    multiplication/division/logs initiated and read by >>    digital ... ? >> >>    Oh well, we're out in sci-fi land with most of this ... >>    may as well talk about using giant evil brains in >>    jars as computers  :-) >> >>    As some here have mentioned, we may be closer to the >>    limits of computer power that we'd like to think. >>    Today's big trick is parallelization, but only some >>    kinds of problems can be modeled that way. >> >>    Saw an article the other day about using some kind >>    of disulfide for de-facto transistors, but did not >>    get the impression that they'd be fast. I think >>    temperature resistance was the main thrust - industrial >>    apps, Venus landers and such. > > Actually, one of the things that Analog's still good at is real world > control systems with feeback loops and all the like. As long as it's pretty straightforward, analog can sometimes do it quicker and simpler. I oft wonder whether the problem of a self-balancing android might be handled better with analog feedback schemes. Of course nerves are, ultimately, 'digital' - pulses of varying rate/spacing but always the same strength. Some of the sensory stuff even gets 'compressed'/encoded before going to the brain. Every little leg hair does not its own direct nerve to the brain. > I had one project some time 'way back in the 80s where we were > troubleshooting a line that had a 1960s era analog control system, and > one of the conversations that came up was if to replace it with digital. > It got looked into and was determined that digital process controls > weren't fast enough for the line. > > Fast-forward to ~2005.  While back visiting that department, I found out > that that old analog beast was still running the line and they were > trolling eBay for parts to keep it running. Hey, so long as it works well ! > On another visit ~2015, the update:  they finally found a new digitally > based control system that was fast enough to finally replace it & did. What was the thing doing ?