Why Not Use PC To Make Glass Cockpit?

Never the less, its a vehicle traveling at mach 25 and uses laptops as the
human interface to manage attitude, thrusters, environmental control and
life support, communications, electrical power and robotic systems.

Gig Giacona wrote in message ...
Well Ted, that's hardly a cockpit and I doubt the space station is going to
have to navigate in the clouds anytime soon or with anybody on board.



The Space Station uses IBM 760xd laptops for their glass cockpit.


http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/...l/sts105-304-0
25.html


http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/.../iss002e5478.h
tml


http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/.../iss003e5552.h
tml

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=213


http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk65...study09186a008
00b53b6.shtml

Ted wrote:
Never the less, its a vehicle traveling at mach 25 and uses laptops as the
human interface to manage attitude, thrusters, environmental control and
life support, communications, electrical power and robotic systems.

and gets bombed with tons of lots of radiation that destroys many
electrical components.

Gerald

I looked at several of the links.. I didn't see anywhere that said it was
using those thinkpads for manuvering.
"Ted" wrote in message
ink.net...
Never the less, its a vehicle traveling at mach 25 and uses laptops as the
human interface to manage attitude, thrusters, environmental control and
life support, communications, electrical power and robotic systems.

Gig Giacona wrote in message ...
Well Ted, that's hardly a cockpit and I doubt the space station is going
to
have to navigate in the clouds anytime soon or with anybody on board.



The Space Station uses IBM 760xd laptops for their glass cockpit.


http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/...l/sts105-304-0
25.html


http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/.../iss002e5478.h
tml


http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/.../iss003e5552.h
tml

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=213


http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk65...study09186a008
00b53b6.shtml

Ted wrote:

The Space Station uses IBM 760xd laptops for their glass cockpit.


http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/...5-304-025.html


The pictures show astronauts using what appears at first-glance to be a
conventional laptop[0] computer in the space station. The way the stuff
is arranged in the pictures would imply that they're using them for
"desktop" computing tasks -- instead of as a real-time life-critical device.

As a professional systems administrator, I fully endorse the use of
desktop/laptop computers for desktop/laptop computing tasks. In fact,
my ability to eat depends on other people finding such tools to be
valuable! :-)

-Luke

[0] According to the spaceref article, though, the hardware has been
redesigned a bit and thoroughly tested to make sure that it's be better
suited to space than a consumer laptop. The deep review of information
about the hardware (look at every chip on every board) & software
(review the source for obvious brain-deadness) and the testing is what
most folks probably wouldn't have the time (or motivation?) to do
properly in a homebrew device.