From rec.arts.startrek.tech Fri Feb 2 13:53:08 1996 From: bderksen@gpu5.srv.ualberta.ca (Bryan Derksen) Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.tech Subject: Re: Star Trek terminology for Computer Society talk Date: 31 Jan 1996 03:28:18 GMT Lines: 32 Message-ID: <4emnki$94s@pulp.ucs.ualberta.ca> References: <4el0jr$ima@news.mel.aone.net.au> Tom Worthington (tomw@acslink.net.au) wrote: : This is to request assistance with terminology for some of the : equipment portrayed in "Star Trek: the Next Generation". : I am giving a talk to the North Queensland Chapter of the Australian : Computer Society on Wednesday, 7 February 1996, in Townsville, : Australia. In the talk : I speculate that hand held clipboard sized computers, like the sized : ones used in "Star Trek - Next Generation", will be in common use in : the future. : In the talk I referred to the Star Trek units as "PADDs", but : believe that I may have the terminology wrong. Can anyone help, : preferably with a reference to a Web source, I could link to? Yes, the clipboards are PADDs (it stands for Personal Access Display Device). I mostly see them used as word processors, but according to the tech manual they have a subspace transiever assembly that links them to the ship's computer system (even on away missions) so that you could theoretically run the whole ship from one. Trivia: The extras that play background crewmembers sometimes call PADDs "hall passes". There is a mini-FAQ on Trek computer technology at http://www.ucalgary.ca/~jsbell/star_trek.html -- Bryan Derksen , Technomage-in-training http://www.ualberta.ca/~bderksen/ (PGP key available) "One of these days, milkshake! BOOM!" -The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight