Template:Realworld Star Trek The Next Generation: 20th Century Computers and How They Worked, having had "The Official Starfleet History of Computers" as subtitle, has been an oddity among the slew of Star Trek reference books, released during the 1990s. Released by Prentice Hall in 1993 as a so-called fictional "Alpha Books" publication, it actually was a bona-fide, soft-cover, educational text book, Prentice Hall was renowned for. Nevertheless, Prentice Hall, the reputable publisher of such works and very much against their grain, released this work formatted as an in-universe Starfleet Academy educational text book, more specifically situated in the Star Trek: The Next Generation era, covering the actual history of computer technology and state of which up to, and untill the date of its release.
To enhance the experience for computer science students of it being an in-universe text book, a fictional preface of Lieutenant commander Data was included, all graphics throughout the book were based on Michael Okuda's Okudagrams, the style of writing was composed as such, and last but not least, the appendix, "Galaxy-class Starship Computer Systems", was a direct chapter four, Computer Systems, one-on-one lift from the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual. Considering the reputation of Prentice Hall, one might be excused for considering this edition as a flippant one, were it not for the quality of writing, as well as the high production value of the book, i.e. full color representation of illustrations on high grade gloss paper.
Summary
- From the back cover
- Go where you've never gone before...deep into the micro-universe inside your personal computer. The crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise leads you and 24th Century Starfleet Academy students on a fascinating journey through the interior of a 20th century PC.
- Probe the mystery of how a PC turns electricity into data that it can process, store, and transmit to other computers.
- Explore how information travels from a keyboard or mouse through the system to the monitor and printer.
- Learn what the silicon chips that make up computer memory look like and how they work.
- Investigate the software [programs] that drives the computer's operation.
- Seek out the beginnings of the information age -- cybernetics, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, fuzzy logic, and more. Compare 20th Century computer technology to the computer technology used on the Starship Enterprise.
- Excerpts of copyrighted sources are included for review purposes only, without any intention of infringement.
Contents
- Foreword, pp. IX-X
- Preface, pp. XI-XII
- Guide, pp. XIII-XVIII
- Introduction, p. XIX
- Chapter 1: Tracing the Path of the Letter 0, pp. 1-3
- Storing the Press of a Key, pp. 4-7
- Displaying a Key Press, pp. 8-9
- Printing a Key Press, pp. 10-12
- Chapter 2: The Core of the Personal Computer: The System Unit, pp. 13-15
- Inside the System Unit of a Twentieth Century PC, pp. 16-19
- A Closer Look at the CPU or Microprocessor, pp. 20-22
- The PC's Bus, pp. 23-25
- A Closer Look at RAM, pp. 26-28
- Chapter 3: A Closer Look at the Microchip, pp. 29-30
- How a Microchip Was Build, pp. 31-32
- How a Microchip Stored Information, pp. 33-36
- Chapter 4: Input Devises, p. 37
- The Keyboard, pp. 38-39
- The Mouse, pp. 40-42
- The Trackball, pp. p. 43
- Graphic Tablets, pp. 44-45
- Scanners, pp. 46-47
- Touch Screens, pp. 48-49
- Musical Interfaces, pp. 50-52
- Chapter 5: Output Devices, p. 53
- The Monitor, pp. 54-57
- Printers, pp. 58-64
- Chapter 6: Storage Devices, p. 65
- Hard Disk Drives, pp. 66-69
- How Information Was Saved to a Hard Disk, pp. 70-72
- Diskettes and Floppy Disk Drives, pp. 73-74
- CD-ROM, pp. 75-78
- Flopticals and Magneto-Optical Disks, pp. 79-81
- Tape Drivers, pp. 82-84
- Chapter 7: Data Transfer, p. 85
- Modems, pp. 86-92
- Chapter 8: Networks, p. 93
- Local Area Networks, pp. 94-97
- Network Architecture, pp. 98-100
- Wide Area Networks, pp. 101-104
- Chapter 9: Operating Systems and User Programs, p. 105
- The Role of the Operating System, , pp. 106-108
- How MS-DOS Managed Its Tasks, pp. 109-111
- How MS-DOS Managed Memory, pp. 112-117
- The Role of Software, pp. 118-120
- Popular Types of Applications, pp. 121-124
- Chapter 10: Emerging Technologies of the Late Twentieth Century, p. 125
- Robots and Cybernetics, pp. 126-128
- Artificial Intelligence, pp. 129-134
- Artificial Life, pp. 135-136
- Virtual Reality, pp. 137-138
- Fractals, pp. 139-141
- Morphing, p. 142
- Chaos, p. 143
- Nanotechnology, pp. 144-146
- Appendix: Galaxy-class Starship Computer Systems, pp. 147-152
- Index, pp. 153-161