How many tubes do I need?
On Friday, 1 February 2013 08:27:43 UTC+11, wrote:
I want to build a computer entirely out of tubes, and be able to download and store the entire internet on it. How many tubes do I need?
What a brilliantly difficult question you ask!. Let us assume you want to use a vacuum tube to to do what each transistor does in any present day computer. But you wish to store all existing info and tubes are not required for storage, so let us assume you only need to use tubes to access the stored data and to put all data known to man onto hard drives etc. So, let us assume you'd need the computing power found at say 20 of the largest data centres in the world, and they might contain gillions of billions of transistors. It doesn't take long to work out that all available space on this planet would have to be devoted to your project. It would take about 1,500 years to build.
There wouldn't be room to grow a McDonald's hamburger, and no room for any more potato chip factories where recycled garbage is now used to make chips for deep frying to keep you fat and unhealthy. No more room to make milk from re-cycled engine oil for your milkshakes. Forget ice-cream, because in the world you build the temperature will, er, be hot.
I wish you very good luck, and IMHO, you'd need it.
Patrick Turner.
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