peaceengine.com Blog

February 15, 2009
112D Digg has insulted me with its hostile behavior

Digg has finally insulted me enough that I am going to stop digging altogether for a while. I can find plenty of good articles, photos, and videos at http://www.reddit.com/ and http://www.stumbleupon.com/ and plenty of other sites that will keep me entertained and involved in community building.

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January 25, 2009 — by Lyno Sullivan

112C The Human Songbirds’ Story

While still in the womb the baby listens to the song of its mothers body. From birth the human songbird listens to the song of its parents and other humans in its midst. From infancy the human songbird listens to the song of its family and seeks to imitate that song. When the human ceases singing its song it is preparing to die.

The following letter is kind of a birthday card to my father. This blog continues the story “The words ‘honor thy father’ are important to me”

http://digg.com/people/The_words_honor_thy_father_are_important_to_me

http://peaceengine.com/blog/2008/12/06/111c-oliver-r-sullivan/

My dearest father,

Today would have been your ninety-third birthday. I miss you so very much. You were and remain an inspiration to me. It broke my heart to watch your decline of old age. I so admired your tenacity as you continued to exercise by walking even after you had your stroke. You said that exercise kept the body alive.

You said that reading and talking were essential to life. You likened the human to a songbird and said that “when the human stops singing its song it is preparing to die.” You explained it thusly.

Even while still in the womb the human listens to the song of its mothers body. From the moment of birth the human songbird listens to the song of its parents and other humans in its midst. From infancy the human songbird listens to the song of its family and seeks to imitate that song.

Human song imitation is a primal urge, begun upon birth with its first wail and unto death with its final whimper.

I once asked you to speak the sentence that best summarized the fundamental nature of human existence. You told the story of the journey of the human songbird. You taught me that the human song was of the fundamental essence of human life. I have remembered your lessons and have begun to tell your story upon the Internet, at my blog, and I have begun to promote your story at various social networking websites.

The lessons you taught me are now being taught by me through my writings. I will soon share your journals but mostly I will share with humans the lessons you taught, and that I observed, of how to live a long life of good health and enjoy an old age of dignity, in your case these together comprising a life of honor and service to humanity.

You remain the most extraordinary man I have ever known. I am so grateful that I was blessed by fate to have been your son. It is a great joy of my life to be able to sing the human song lyrics you taught me concerning mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and philosophy–the lessons you taught me concerning the application of science and technology to human life.

The story concerning the human songbird’s drive to mimicry and self-expression is a fundamental lesson of human life. It best sums up the fundamental nature of human existence.

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Saturday, January 24, 2009 — by Lyno Sullivan

112B Caught Up with Digg Shouts

My digg.com shout queue is empty right now, not by turning off shouting but, to the contrary, by keeping up with my friends’ shouts, to the best of my ability, which has become my personal policy. Please have a look below at the screen snap of my digg.com shout_queue. Notice that my end_of_queue marker is 6 days old. That means I shouted that queue marker to myself last Friday and have kept up with all my incoming shouts ever since.

[112B_11_I_am_caught_up_with_shouts]

. . . Catching Up on Stale Shouts . . .

Keeping up with my shout queue is my highest priority Digg activity during the time interval that I am on-line. When I first come on-line after a couple days absence I select the last page (the tail end) of my shout queue and delete every shout except for any shout of one of my submissions, an occasional interesting stale shout, and the last hour or two of shouts.

Recent shouts indicate friend who are probably on-line now. It would be nice if digg.com provided a decent shout_queue manager that would cleanup my queue to my personal preference. Alas, they choose not to do so leaving me to my repetitive finger, wrist, elbow, and shoulder motions.

Once I have brought my end_of_queue marker back to the page 1 (the head end) of my shout queue, I am ready to proceed with my day’s activity.

[end_of_queue marker]

************************************************
Hold on there bucky boy.
You have reached the shouts at the end of the universe
************************************************

. . . A Mouse and Keyboard Trick . . .

I have discovered that deleting the queue is best done from the top of page downward. This is done by positioning the mouse over the first “Delete” tag and clicking the mouse. That click deletes the queue item (in this case a shout) and scrolls the list upwards, thereby positioning the next queue item under the cursor.

All this would be well and good except there is an intervening confirmation window which must be OKed. The natural first instinct is to move the mouse to the “OK” and click. But hold on there. Let your body drop down into slow-motion mode and observe every action slowly. Think about alternatives.

You don’t need to use the mouse to “OK” the delete. Pressing “enter” does the same thing. The proper sequence is mouse “click” followed by keyboard “enter”.

“click,enter”
“click,enter”
“click,enter”

. . . Tabbed “digg it” Activity . . .

Those fortunate enough to be using a tabbed browser like Firefox can take advantage of another mouse and keyboard trick. After queuing up a set of tabs for digg marking, set the mouse and ctrl-f4 to close the current tab. Doing this leaves the mouse positioned to the same position as the previous screen.

“click,ctrl-f4”
“click,ctrl-f4”
“click,ctrl-f4”

Having completed this activity for current friends shouts, it is time to begin. The “Recent Activity” tab shows the results of the minimalist “click,ctrl-f4” activity just completed (see below). All is well in digg.com’s “Your Incoming Shouts” and my friends can see for themselves that I am caught up with my shouts and whether I dugg their shouts.

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Unless I am pulled away unexpectedly, I like to end each digg day by leaving me Favorites and Recent_Activity tabs looking good. Anyone can know where I am at any given moment by viewing my homepage http://digg.com/users/lynosull at digg.com and my most recent blog page at http://blog.peaceengine.com/ because those are the two places I operate consistently.

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112A Son, IBM History, and Digg — by Lyno Sullivan

For the current and following days, I plan to post blog pages for some more recent hand writings in my id™ (Inventors Diary). The following letter to my son goes back two weeks and picks up the back story at that point. The in-line URL links are for those readers wishing to be reminded of the original incidents.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

My dearest son,

Yesterday I posted the story about my 1970 design for the self-driving portable computer.

http://digg.com/design/My_First_Portable_Computer

http://peaceengine.com/blog/2009/01/09/1124-my-first-portable-computer/

On January 4, 2009 my blog website had first reached 200 unique visitors for a day. I hoped to better those stats with the writing about my portable computer. Alas, it was not to be. As always, I begin each major post by snapping a profile of beginning site traffic.

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I thought that today would be a good day to catch you up in a letter. I posted two blog entries today. Each contained a letter to IBM.

The first letter was written in 1998 concerning the adoption by IBM of the Linux operating system. The second was a letter I wrote in 1995 concerning OS2 Warp Desktop, Server, and Developer. I posted them at my blog and at digg,com.

http://digg.com/linux_unix/IBM_and_GNU_Linux_Letter_of_1998

http://peaceengine.com/blog/2009/01/10/1125-ibm-and-gnulinux-letter-of-1998/

http://digg.com/linux_unix/The_Death_of_OS2_in_1995

http://peaceengine.com/blog/2009/01/10/1126-the-death-of-os2-in-1995/

It is now 4PM and the first post, which is seven and a quarter hours later, has received forty diggs. The most recent post has received twenty diggs. after two and three quarter hours. I am tending to the shouts I receive and am, otherwise, pondering things at work.

I find the repetitive motion gaming pattern of digg.com to be relaxing. I know it to be time wasteful and yet I allow the time to pass by. I think about selling some product but what would I sell? My ego. Would it be a waste of time to set about selling my ego? Service above self is my motto. The lost service time is perhaps the biggest loss of all.

. . . RESOURCES . . .

this: http://peaceengine.com/blog/2009/01/23/112a-son-ibm-history-and-digg/
digg: http://digg.com/people/Son_IBM_History_and_Digg

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The Universal Question

Did you ever need a generic URL usable to ask your friendship network a question? This URL may be referred to whenever the body of a question requires a neutral URL vehicle for its transmission. Think of “The Universal Question” as the header of the body of the real question at hand.

http://digg.com/educational/The_Universal_Question

1128 Digg Web Service Interface

I used the “Search Digg” function to locate a web service interface to digg.com services. I got a “No results Found” response which surprised me. Does anybody know if such a thing exists? Please digg if you believe such a solution is good for the user community.

A web service interface would allow me to utilize Digg services by means of my own outside software. For example, I would utilize this capability to keep track of my friends, fans, and correspondence (Share/Shout). Whenever I wanted to bring attention to a new writing I would use the mass shouting feature of my outside package to send my bulk shouts.

Beyond the 200 friend shout limit, I find the repetitive motion of shouting to my fans to be tedious and it makes my mouse wrist very sore.

If anybody knows of a digg.com acceptable way of performing such mass operations please advise. If no such service exists, please digg this post in support of a petition to digg.com for such a web service interface solution.

Like everybody else on the Internet, digg.com must be seeking revenue. I would willingly pay a small yearly fee for such a specialized digg.com web service interface solution that runs from my computer with my copyleft’d software solution of choice.

. . . The Answer Is . . .

http://apidoc.digg.com/

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January 16, 2009, by Lyno Sullivan

1127 Coal to Liquid Fuel, Plastics, and Concrete

This document researches the important topic of the role of coal, as a strategic raw material of America’s destiny.

This survey of field work follows the process flow from the inputs of coal, bio-mass, and human waste, through the gasification process, and all the way through to the outputs of pure diesel fuel, the emergence of an associated plastics industry, concrete as a useful byproduct, asphalt for roadways, heat for industrial purposes, electricity production, and a continuing list of quantifiable benefits.

. . . The Alarm . . .

Much has been written about the USA’s growing dependence on foreign oil, the limits of oil reserves in the world, the fuel economy of today’s vehicles, and so on and so forth. Depending on who you want to believe, we’re either running out of oil at an alarming rate or technology will save us as it always has.

And there are practical considerations too. Nobody wants a flyash lake spilling over their property. Something useful must be done with the flyash–as a condition of operating permit continuance.

. . . Technology May Save Us . . .

Sometimes people are surprised to learn that we can produce gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum products out of coal. In World War II, over ninety percent of Germany’s aviation fuel and half its total petroleum came from synthetic-fuel plants. Since Apartheid days, South Africa has used a similar technology for its oil needs.
http://www.cogeneration.net/synthetic_diesel.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_fuel

. . . Coal: Key Transition Technology . . .

For obvious reasons, four hundred years gives USA a small window of opportunity to fulfill the destiny of our nation, to become a nation at peace with long-term survivability of civilization built into the design goals.

Long-term we’ll tap much of our energy needs directly from photon light capture (with storage/transmission as electron energy) by means of plasmonic surfaces, indirectly by wind energy capture, and so on and so forth. Coal is the source of energy during civilization’s transition phase from our dependence on foreign oil, to our nation’s oil production from USA coal, and then through the next few decades of science and technology fostered change, growth through time until we attain no-growth stability, ushering in the age of the continuous quality improvement of civilization.
Plasmonics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasmon
http://www.theenergyroadmap.com/futureblogger/show/1557-quantum-mechanism-breakthrough-for-thin-film-solar-and-oled-lighting-displays
http://www.nrel.gov/news/press/2008/574.html

. . . Montana Coal Seams . . .

Under eastern Montana there exists a seam of low-sulfur lignite coal sufficient to supply all of the liquid fuel needs of the United States for at least the next four hundred years.

The chief coal-producing area is the Powder River Basin, which lies in northern Wyoming and southeastern Montana. Coals of Cretaceous age are present http://www.wsgs.uwyo.edu/coalweb/library/coaltime/cret.aspx which is 144 to 66 million years ago. It is interesting to see that 66 million years ago the earth was http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Phanerozoic_Climate_Change.png experiencing a hotter climate. We know that life flourished upon earth because coal is the residue of that 66 million year old life. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geologic_temperature_record
Another useful chart of earth temperature http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:All_palaeotemps.png

. . . Liquid Fuel Output . . .

From the coal seams of USA will flow the liquid fuel supplies of our nation.

. . . Plastics Output . . .

From the coal seams of USA will flow the plastics supplies of our nation.

. . . Roadway Concrete and Asphalt . . .

From the coal seams of USA will flow the roadway surface supplies of our nation.

. . . Follow the Chemical Roadmap . . .

The best way to understand how coal gets turned into liquid fuel and plastics, is to follow the chemical flow roadmap of the physical and chemical universe.

. . . Syngas Production . . .

Syngas (from synthesis gas) is the name given to a gas mixture that contains varying amounts of carbon_monoxide and hydrogen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syngas

One aspect of the overall material and energy flow system of turning eastern Montana lignite coal into liquid fuel is the coal gasification and production of syngas. Please study the following diagram and take note of the syngas flow.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/IGCC_diagram.svg

Now take note of the picture in its true context. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_Gasification_Combined_Cycle

. . . Gasification Process . . .
There is a large body of documents from the 1920’s through the present day which are important for researching and understanding the history and development of the Fischer-Tropsch and related processes. The purpose of this site is to make these documents available in electronic media and in a centralized location. http://www.fischer-tropsch.org/

. . . Oxygen Supply . . .

In the syngas flow diagram notice the system which removes oxygen from the air. That oxygen is fed into the gasifier ensuring clean combustion of the coal.

Another alternative source of oxygen is the electrolysis of water, for example, by means of electricity from wind turbines and the direct current power grid.

. . . Nitrogen Supply . . .

Nitrogen is a by product of the oxygen separation from air. Nitrogen has its uses, in fertilizer, for example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertilizer

. . . Hydrogen Supply . . .

Hydrogen is a far more useful by product because it can be bonded with carbon, forming polymers used in the plastics industry. Given recent concern about releasing carbon into the atmosphere, bonding the carbon with hydrogen in plastics makes more sense that bonding it with oxygen and releasing the carbon as carbon dioxide.

. . . Carbon-dioxide . . .

In terms of balanced science, one must accept the truth that plants breathe in carbon-dioxide and breathe out oxygen, as part of photosynthesis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis

Therefore, it makes sense that during times of global earth warmth, when more of the earth’s surface is covered with plants, a carbon-dioxide rich atmosphere is conducive to the quick expansion of plant life, which traps the carbon-dioxide exhaled by animal life and generated by human life.

. . . Carbon Supply . . .

It becomes obvious that carbon, being naturally a solid may be supplied by means of coal from the ground, carbon-dioxide from the air, carbon from the bio-mass of life, and carbon recycling of plastics.

. . . Plasma Furnace Recycling Front End . . .

Ahead of the coal gasification facility exists a plasma furnace based recycling system capable of recycling everything by reducing matter back to its elemental form from which matter cools back to solidity.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/10/02/dow-corning-to-install-50-million-plasma-recycling-system/

. . . Gasification . . .

Gasification is a thermo-chemical process in which carbonaceous (carbon-rich) feedstocks such as coal, petro-coke, or biomass are converted into a gas consisting of hydrogen and carbon monoxide (and lesser amounts of carbon dioxide and other trace gases) under oxygen depleted, high pressure, high-heat and/or steam conditions. The resulting gaseous compound is called Syngas.
http://fossil.energy.gov/programs/powersystems/gasification/howgasificationworks.html

In the case of eastern Montana lignite coal, its high water content means that the coal slurry supply needs less outside water coming into the rod mill. Raw sewage and agricultural bio-mass can be mixed with the coal feed stock. Such a system affords a community a full spectrum recycling solution for its carbon supply.

. . . Flyash Cement and Other Uses. . .

Fly ash is one of the residues generated in the combustion of coal. Pollution control equipment mandated in recent decades now require that it be captured prior to release. In the US is commonly used to supplement Portland cement in concrete production.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_ash

Technology finds other creative uses for coal fly ash.
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/546859/

. . . dimethyl-ether (DME) . . .

Dimethyl ether is the organic compound with the formula CH3OCH3. The simplest ether, it is a colorless gas that is a useful precursor to other organic compounds and an aerosol propellant. Dimethyl ether is also promising as a clean-burning hydrocarbon fuel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyl_ether
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DME_Process_diagram.jpg

Syngas can be directly converted to DME using the Liquid Phase Dimethyl Ether Synthesis (LP-DME) process developed at the University of Akron in conjunction with Electric Power Research Institute. This direct one-step conversion of syngas-to-DME can then be an ideal front end for further conversion to diesel. http://www.netl.doe.gov/publications/proceedings/97/97cl/peng.pdf

. . . DME is Pure Diesel . . .

DME is a promising fuel in diesel engines,[4] petrol engines (30% DME / 70% LPG), and gas turbines owing to its high cetane number, which is greater than 55 compared to diesel, which is 40–53.[5] Only moderate modification are needed to convert a diesel engine to burn DME.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyl_ether#Fuel

. . . DME Converts to Plastic . . .

A polymer is a large molecule (macromolecule) composed of repeating structural units typically connected by covalent chemical bonds. While polymer in popular usage suggests plastic, the term actually refers to a large class of natural and synthetic materials with a variety of properties and purposes. Well-known examples of polymers include plastics and proteins.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic

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digg: http://digg.com/general_sciences/Coal_to_Liquid_Fuel_Plastics_and_Concrete

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1126 The Death of OS2 in 1995

Perhaps it was the death of OS2 that moved IBM in the direction of Linux. Maybe OS2 would have prevailed over Microsoft’s Windows, had IBM taken this letter’s advice in 1995. Who can know for certain.

August 9, 1995
206 S. 5th. St.
Stillwater, MN 55082

Lou Gerstner, Chairman
IBM Corporation
Old Orchard Rd.
Armonk, NY 10504

Dear Mr. Gerstner:

I would like to present the strategy that IBM should follow to attain the best chance at prevailing over Microsoft. Microsoft is planning to release Windows 95 on August 24. IBM needs to make announcements on or before August 23rd and on August 24th to coincide with Microsoft’s release of Windows 95. IBM’s objective is to announce something so revolutionary that the average consumer will halt or slow down any plans to upgrade to Windows 95.

Please review the enclosed announcement suggestion. I have much that I could have explained and I have many supporting ideas. However, I chose to keep this letter short. Thank you for any attention you might give to this idea. If you ask, I would be honored to share my thinking on any matter. With my signature at the bottom of this page, I hereby give this idea freely to IBM Corp. and claim no rights thereto.

Yours truly,

Lyno Sullivan

[ATTACHMENT]

Make the following announcements to coincide with Microsoft’s release of Windows 95.

Announce on or before August 23 that:

IBM plans a major product announcement on August 24th, 1995 concerning new plans for our OS/2 Warp product family. IBM will announce a revolutionary packaging, pricing, and support strategy that will change the market. IBM’s announcement will create immediate consternation and confusion among our competitors. We advise you to sit back and watch the show for the next few months. As a consumer, you will love what IBM announces. You will find no reason to choose any other provider of your computer software. I ask only that you remember, when the dust finally settles, that it was IBM that brought you this market innovation.

Announce on August 24th that:

IBM will soon deliver a new $100 product license called “Warp Desktop.” This license will give you the right to use everything in IBM’s current and future desktop product line. The license fee of $100 is payable yearly. For the initial fee you will receive the current release of the common desktop core which will include the basic operating system plus full multi-media capability and connectivity features for LAN, tele-commuting, and Internet. Provided that you keep the license in force, this $100 yearly fee is guaranteed for 10 years with only adjustments for inflation. Because CD-ROM capacity is too small to contain everything, IBM has created Warp Desktop Personality CD-ROM discs. For example, there is a CD-ROM for the home user, another for the business user, another for the student, and other similar discs. Most people will find one Warp Desktop Personality disc to be sufficient for all their needs. These additional Profile CD-ROMS are priced at $10 each. At any time that your license is active you will be able to order a current core disc or any disc in the Warp Desktop Collection for a $10 cost. These Personality discs contain the fully featured applications that you would expect. There are no hidden charges and there are no more powerful products that will cost extra. These discs contain the best that IBM has to offer.

In addition, IBM will deliver a new $1,000 product license called “Warp Server.” This license will give you the right to use everything in IBM’s current and future server product line on a single server. This $1,000 license fee is payable one time. An additional $200 fee is payable yearly. The same $10 per disc fee applies to the Warp Server Collection. This offering includes all products necessary to connect to any desktop running any of the popular desktop systems, to any micro-computer or mini-computer server running any of the popular network operating systems, and to any IBM mainframe.

Finally, IBM will deliver a new $500 product license called “Warp Developer.” This license will give you the right to use everything in IBM’s current and future developer support product line. This $500 license fee is payable one time. An additional $100 fee is payable yearly. The same $10 per disc fee applies to the Warp Server Collection. These tools will provide a developer with everything necessary to develop applications and multi-media documentation and training for Warp Desktop, Warp Server, and Warp Developer.

You might have noticed that I didn’t mention printed documentation manuals. That is because IBM is committed to providing documentation on the CD-ROM. The Warp Desktop will contain a context sensitive, multi-media help facility. You will be able to purchase printed manuals but most will find them unnecessary.

These three product licenses cover every product now existing and yet to be developed for the Warp series. There are many more things that I would like to tell you about now but I want to keep this announcement focused. Specific product features and supporting services will be announced in the coming weeks.

. . . Commentary . . .

http://digg.com/linux_unix/The_Death_of_OS2_in_1995

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1125 IBM and GNU/Linux Letter of 1998

I believe that sometimes a man can effect change by means of a letter. In 1998 I sent the following letter to IBM. Mr. Gerstner handed the matter to an executive named Tom, who contacted me for clarification on the ideas. Perhaps my letter opened the door for IBM and perhaps it did not. Who can know such a thing for certain.

October 22, 1998
206 S. 5th. St.
Stillwater, MN 55082

Lou Gerstner, Chairman
IBM Corporation
Old Orchard Rd.
Armonk, NY 10504

Dear Mr. Gerstner:

I would like to ask for IBM’s support of my Free MN Initiative (document attached). Specifically, I would like you to consider the following IBM customer oriented strategies, and make an announcement, at a permanent web address, that I can cite in my Initiative document.

1) IBM will offer consumers the choice of a free software alternative, the GNU/Linux operating system and application suite, on its Intel based server and desktop hardware systems. Pursuant to this, please see my letter to Joel I. Klein, Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust (document attached).

2) IBM is ready to provide enterprise support for the GNU/Linux operating system, on the
servers and desktops, of any customer who desires IBM’s support.

3) IBM will disclose parts of its proprietary hardware technology, to the free software community, so that the necessary operating system drivers can be written. IBM is willing to patent and retain commercial exploitation rights over certain inventions of the free software community and, in exchange, IBM will grant a free of charge license, to the free software community, to exploit these patents and will make a 501(c)(3) donation to the Free Software Foundation, of any royalties that result from these free software community patents.

4) IBM will begin to target its Notes and enterprise software to the GNU/Linux operating system.

IBM is my one stop shopping vendor of choice in this matter. If I lose hope, by November 16, 1998, I will approach IBM’s competitors with these strategies. If IBM will support my Free MN Initiative, then I have a much better chance of prevailing at the Minnesota Legislative hearing, which I plan to request in the Spring of 1999. If you review the political climate in Minnesota, you will find that its citizens are likely to support my Free MN Initiative.

Thank you for your consideration of this innovative partnering opportunity.

Sincerely,

Lyno Sullivan

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January 8, 2009 by Lyno Sullivan
1124 My First Portable Computer

My First Portable Computer

By 1970 I had finalized the general design for my first portable electronic computer. It featured four PDP-11 computers and an electrical generator of sufficient capacity. This was to become my Rolling Home, permitting me to roll down highways, of a nomadic life filled with music, women, and everything necessary to living inside a self-driving portable computer.

In late 1969, as a Computer Science major, I had the opportunity to program the IBM 1620 computer. I remember quite well turning on the computer and waiting while the machine went through its power-on self diagnostics and startup sequence. The computer had no disk drive so everything was controlled by console switches and pre-punched eighty column cards.

Once the machine had warmed up I sat at the console and toggled my hand written bootstrap loader program into the computer, one machine instruction at a time. I pressed the Run button. The machine loaded whatever program had been placed into the card reader input tray and ran it.

The most common program I loaded was the Fortran compiler. I learned to program in Fortran on the punch card based IBM 1620. I later learned the Dartmouth Basic language on the paper and magnetic tape based DEC PDP-11 computer.

The PDP-11 computer gave me the vision of putting the computer inside a bus, along with an electric generator. I figured that would allow me to travel around the country, in my bus and with my computer.

I figured I would program the computer to drive the bus for me. I planned to ride along as co-pilot, in the driver’s seat, ready to disable the self-driving system at the push of a button. I planned to be ready to resume driving the bus whenever it encountered a situation I had not programmed it to handle.

I foresaw needing four computers: 1) for controlling the sensors and actuators used in driving the bus, 2) for listening to me program the bus to drive itself, 3) for watching the road, and 4) for decision making controlling the overall system.

I designed all of the systems but never got around to building my portable computer, for obvious reasons: lack of money, lack of a shop, abundance of the necessary affairs of life, and so on and so forth.

http://digg.com/design/My_First_Portable_Computer
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