NASA's control room flooded with Macs during Mars Curiosity landing

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  • Reply 21 of 138
    ochymingochyming Posts: 474member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by agramonte View Post


    Great picture for the next time some idiot thinks an iPad with Mickey Mouse iOS is a computer. This is what you can do with an Apple computer and a real OS.



     


     


    Please, you know that IS not true.


    Some pro people are very happy with these .apps. 

  • Reply 22 of 138
    Not surprising. In the 80s they would have used Sun SPARCs. I'm just surprised they use MacBooks instead Mac Pros. Windows at NASA? Scarier things have happened.

    Congregated @ that conference table, portable & compact is key. Imagine keeping every wireless keyboard & trackpad mated to the appropriate monitor… complete madness …
  • Reply 23 of 138
    iqatedoiqatedo Posts: 1,823member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by agramonte View Post


    Great picture for the next time some idiot thinks an iPad with Mickey Mouse iOS is a computer. This is what you can do with an Apple computer and a real OS.



    Guess that in your opinion I'm an idiot then... thanks.

  • Reply 24 of 138
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    I wonder how the Android fans feel about the HW "specs" in the Mars rovers. A 2012 rover only having 256MB RAM and a 200MHz CPU? According to the Android user mentality it couldn't possibly be a functional device.


    [LIST][*]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_embedded_computer_systems_on_board_the_Mars_rovers#Performance_comparisons [/LIST]


    "Despite the distance involved with getting rovers to Mars the data they send back still costs less per KB than SMS."

    "Frak you, China! Keep your Olympic gold medals. You can have Gym Class-level accomplishments, we just landed on Mars… again. USA #1"

    "Now that the Mars Landing is complete we can get to what's really important... How does Chick-fil-A's CEO feel about it?"

    "Curiosity: The name of the Mars rover -or- how NASA engineers look upon female genitalia?"

    "Just one more rover and NASA will have completed it's Voltron project."


    I'm all out of jokes. I'll let [B]GTR[/B] take it from here.
  • Reply 25 of 138
    quinneyquinney Posts: 2,528member


    The guy with the IBM PC is the only holdover from the Mars Surveyor program.

  • Reply 26 of 138
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member


    Not surprising.

  • Reply 27 of 138
    cvaldes1831cvaldes1831 Posts: 1,832member
    quinney wrote: »
    The guy with the IBM PC is the only holdover from the Mars Surveyor program.
    He worked on the Mars Climate Orbiter, too, right?

    ;-)
  • Reply 28 of 138
    macrulezmacrulez Posts: 2,455member


    deleted

  • Reply 29 of 138


    Check out the look on the face of the guy with the IBM Thinkpad - it shouts "What's happening, what's going on, what can you see?"

  • Reply 30 of 138
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member


    That one Sikh guy in the room must be having some mixed emotions 

  • Reply 31 of 138
    al_bundyal_bundy Posts: 1,525member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by MacRulez View Post


    If I'm reading that chart correctly, the 256MB bot was Opportunity, in 2004.


     


    Curiosity sports 2 GB RAM.


     


    Neither used Android, or even Linux, nor even iOS, so I'm not sure what the comparison is about.


     


    FWIW, you can run a full-blown Linux install on the Raspberry Pi, which, like the rover Opportunity, has only 256 MB RAM.


     


    For myself, the more interesting spec in that link was the clock speed of the embedded systems:  Curiosity runs at only 200 MHz, and Opportunity at only 20 MHz.  That's some lean, green engineering.



    car computer CPU's run around 128MHZ and play multi channel music through the stereo. according to some android fans you need a multi core CPU's just to do simple things like check email and listen to music at the same time

  • Reply 32 of 138
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member


    I am also seeing a lot of macs in schools.  I pass through Concordia university on my way to work and I see lots of macs laptops there.  I also saw a report last weeks about the students on strike in montreal and they all had macs. 


     


    Seeing lots of young people usings apple devices is a very good sign for the future.

  • Reply 33 of 138
    cvaldes1831cvaldes1831 Posts: 1,832member
    macrulez wrote: »
    If I'm reading that chart correctly, the 256MB bot was Opportunity, in 2004.

    Curiosity sports 2 GB RAM.
    No, you are reading the chart incorrectly.

    Spirit and Opportunity had 128MB RAM. Curiosity has 256MB RAM and 2GB of solid state storage (a.k.a. "disk space").

    Look at the column headers.
  • Reply 34 of 138
    macrulezmacrulez Posts: 2,455member


    deleted

  • Reply 35 of 138
    solipsismx wrote: »
    "Now that the Mars Landing is complete we can get to what's really important... How does Chick-fil-A's CEO feel about it?"

    When Chick-fil-A COO, Dan Cathy, was asked about the Curiosity rover's seemingly successful Martian landing, he said, "Those scientists would learn more exploring the Bible than some decoration God hung in the sky."
  • Reply 36 of 138
    emacs72emacs72 Posts: 356member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by agramonte View Post


    Great picture for the next time some idiot thinks an iPad with Mickey Mouse iOS is a computer. This is what you can do with an Apple computer and a real OS.



     


    i strongly suspect most people here are smart enough to realise two (2) things


     


    - OS X is viable at home and at work; there's absolutely no need to be overly anxious to prove this fact


    - NASA uses Linux as its default OS in both space and operational systems (i.e., the important stuff)

  • Reply 37 of 138
    emacs72emacs72 Posts: 356member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by al_bundy View Post


    according to some android fans you need a multi core CPU's just to do simple things like check email and listen to music at the same time



     


     


    certainly the people said those silly things in jest or in mockery of the ignorant.  i cannot believe anyone would state such things seriously.  do you have references to the actual posts?  if not, the statement above is complete hearsay.

  • Reply 38 of 138
    neo42neo42 Posts: 287member


    25 people and 5 macbooks?  Got yourself an AI article.

  • Reply 39 of 138
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,213member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by d4rkriver View Post





    When Chick-fil-A COO, Dan Cathy, was asked about the Curiosity rover's seemingly successful Martian landing, he said, "Those scientists would learn more exploring the Bible than some decoration God hung in the sky."


    Seriously?

  • Reply 40 of 138
    neo42neo42 Posts: 287member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by al_bundy View Post


    car computer CPU's run around 128MHZ and play multi channel music through the stereo. according to some android fans you need a multi core CPU's just to do simple things like check email and listen to music at the same time



     


    Surely you are not mixing the roles of engine management and media playback.  A car's ECU plays no role in music playback.  If you are referring to the microcontroller/processor in the stereo head unit to playback music-- that is a very simple and one dimensional task.  Comparing the processing ability to a tablet/smartphone is not reasonable.  Nice random android jab though.

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