bloom america

Chapter 185 Data CD

The core of the Xbox is almost the same as that of the Microsoft II computer. The difference lies in the memory. The memory of the Microsoft computer is several times that of the Xbox. Therefore, it is completely possible for them to simulate the system through the hardware developed by Atari.

After investigation, Catherine discovered that the other party not only developed this hardware, but also produced games for Xbox. Before that, it seemed that they were influenced by Catherine's game-tv, so they developed an arcade machine-even better than Catherine's.

morning.

This arcade machine was called "Space Hegemony", but it failed because the gameplay was too complicated.

After that, Catherine developed Xbox. The company made a comeback and started developing software for Xbox. This time the other party learned its lesson and now it has become a game manufacturer with a good reputation.

Catherine's Xbox is the only medium for home consoles. At this time, no other company has realized the benefits in this area - but Catherine thinks that they will get involved in this area soon because the sales of Xbox are so good.

What millions of users have brought about is the prosperity of game manufacturers, not to mention, the sales of Xbox are still soaring.

An emerging market has been opened, which means that more and more people want a piece of the pie.

But Catherine is not worried, because she adopted a low-price strategy from the beginning, and more importantly, she has developed heavyweight games such as "Super Mario".

For Atari, Catherine is going to observe their company's actions. If it doesn't work, Catherine will choose to acquire it directly. In this case, there will be no problems. But this incident also gave Catherine a reminder, at least

The next generation of computers and game consoles will never use the same architecture.

Fortunately, there are quite a few ordinary users who buy Microsoft II computers to play games, and fewer people buy Xbox and Microsoft II computers together, so the damage caused by this incident is not too great.

For now, Catherine's biggest headache is the error code problem in the optical drive.

The development of 16-bit CPUs is being stepped up, and it is expected that a breakthrough will be achieved by 1968 at most, and it may only take until 1969 or 1970 to be used in the Nimbus game console. However, the research on optical drives is a bit troublesome.

After all, there are far fewer talents available in this industry than in semiconductors.

"Error rate..."

Catherine suddenly had a flash of inspiration. Something came into her mind.

What if... we use the comparative reading method?

Thoughts flashed through Catherine's mind.

Yes, the bit error rate for a single piece of data is indeed too high, but what if three pieces of exactly the same data can be used for comparison and input?

In this way, even if there is an error in one piece of data, as long as there is no error in the data at the other two ends, it will be fine. In fact, the possibility of errors in both pieces of data is extremely small.

For example, the original data recorded in this area is "111", and the three recorded sectors are "110", "101" and "011" respectively. Even if it is such an error, it will be read out in the end.

The data will still be "111".

In addition, proofreading codes and error correction codes can also play a role at the same time

In this way, the probability of data errors can be minimized.

Catherine immediately verified this idea.

In this case, three laser heads are needed. These three laser heads will be installed in the optical drive in the form of an equilateral triangle. Because they are in symmetrical positions, they can completely read data synchronously.

During the computer reading process, three binary numbers are scanned, such as "1", "1", and "0". Then the optical drive will take the data of "1" and discard the "0", so

, which can greatly improve the storage stability of data.

This kind of data disc can store up to 50-70mb of data, which is enough for now.

Not only for Nimbus game consoles, such data can also be used to record software and various programs.

Although the cost of the optical drive is somewhat high, overall it is not too high. Therefore, such a plan is completely feasible and there is no problem in using it on a computer.

In this way, full-featured office software can be produced.

The storage capacity of 50MB can leave a lot of room for software development, which is very convenient for operation.

Catherine happily ran to the optical storage R&D department that had been separately integrated.

"Let's make data discs now"

Catherine's first words shocked the employees.

"Uh...Miss Edson..." The supervisor came over.

"You...you...what's your name?" Catherine suddenly remembered that she didn't quite remember the name of the technician who often introduced the progress of the VCD to her.

"My name is Rabindranath Tagore."

"Tiger. Red? This surname is really rare."

"I changed it myself. I wanted a unique name. Tiger can show my domineering power, and red can always be associated with fear."

Catherine shrugged.

"Well...Mr. Reid, our next job is to develop data discs."

Catherine gave the order.

Rhett was a little confused: "But, Miss Edson, we have been developing data discs..."

"No, I'm talking about the finished product"

Catherine patted her head, and it suddenly occurred to her that she had not explained her plan to them.

So, Catherine explained her plan.

The current process problems are, on the one hand, misreading of the laser head - this is usually the most common problem with optical drives.

But the problem now is not there, but the disc itself.

Because the optical disc is a product that has been spawned, errors are likely to occur when pressing the disc. This kind of error is almost invisible on VCD, but once a data disc is made, it will often appear.

A very headache-inducing problem.

In fact, in 1982 in Catherine's history, a 6 omb high-capacity CD was launched, but unfortunately, Catherine only has such a product now.

"indeed so."

Rhett also thought carefully.

If it is used as a game disc, especially when used on a 16-bit CPU, the capacity is actually too large and it cannot perform anything unless 3D technology is implemented. Moreover, even if 3D technology is implemented, capacity is sometimes secondary.

For example, Nintendo, which developed the Mars compression method, can completely compress a game with a capacity of 700MB on two discs onto a 64MB cartridge...

"Okay, this is our next research direction."

The technicians consciously moved to the front. They knew that this was Catherine preparing to express her thoughts.

Catherine's ideas will have a great impact on technicians every time, and at the same time bring more inspiration - most of Catherine's ideas come from the later world, and are themselves future trends.

After Catherine talked about this idea, she asked the research department to start researching it. In this way, the technical difficulty would be much easier, and it would not be too difficult to develop a data optical drive.

Back in the office, Catherine stretched her chair back, then put her feet on the table in an inconspicuous manner, and then began to think wildly.

Are optical discs, optical discs that use digital information recorded, about to appear?

The signal recorded by the laser disc, also known as LCD, is an analog signal. The processing mechanism of the analog signal means that the analog TV image signal and the analog sound signal must be modulated by FM frequency, linearly superimposed, and then limited and amplified. Limiting

The signal after the amplitude is represented by the length of the pit with a width of 0.5 microns.

The size of laser discs in history was as large as 12 inches, which is almost equivalent to 0.3 meters. It is precisely for this reason that they are unknown.

Catherine's VCD converts all image information into brightness information, which can greatly reduce the space required to record data, but it is precisely because of this that disk partitioning is what has to be done.

As for data discs, the data recording method is to turn continuous pits into "dots" one by one. The process requirements have suddenly risen to a higher level. Each dot track must be at least 1 to 2 microns wide;

The distance between tracks is 2 to 3 microns, or even more, to record data on the optical disc.

In fact, Catherine has always been a person who advocates analog methods, digital and so on, just for profit.

The only problem with analog is transmission and copying. If you take the source and play it directly, analog is absolutely superior to digital mode by 10 times the nth power.

However, it is too difficult to achieve lossless copying through simulation, and the application on optical discs is just a special case.

Just like film, the clarity of the film after copying it from the master tape has dropped by a level, and after repeated copies, the picture will become very bad. Digital videos are just some data.

, you can copy it anytime and anywhere, very convenient.

There are also problems with analog storage, which is why many old movies feel a little yellowed. For movies made since the 1990s, it is difficult to judge the year in which the movie was shot from the visual effects of a single frame.

Of course, this is not absolute.

If you can develop your own fluorescent disc, you can make lossless copies and use it for screening in movie theaters. There will be no problem at all, and the cost will be cheaper than film.

It's just a pity that Catherine is a little short of funds because she is building a laboratory recently, and she has to go to the Middle East to collect money, so the plans for the ternary computer and the fluorescent disc are just plans for the time being...

But Catherine has decided that as long as she overthrows IBM and Motorola, she will do whatever she wants.

But for now, the trend of the times is digitization, and then digital precision. When humans develop to a certain level and pursue greater visual enjoyment and better experience, they may start to pursue analog displays again.

In Catherine's view, the difference between humans and animals is probably that animals use an "analog" way to perceive the world, while humans use a "digital" way to view this space.

For example, people think that the acceleration of gravity is 9.8. Animals don't feel this way. They just rely on their own feelings, ah, that's it, good.

But things are strange again, because if you shrink to the molecular interface, the analog quantities in nature will become digital quantities.

This world is very strange, and no one knows what the origin of our world is.

"Fluorescent disc."

Catherine wrote another word in her notebook, and then made a pentagon.

This kind of CD is the trend of the future.

Just think about it, you can completely enjoy the visual enjoyment of a theater at home. Is there anything more wonderful than this?

Moreover, you can definitely take pictures of some fun things, such as Elsa taking a bath or something...

Catherine's thoughts drifted further and further away, but at this moment, the office phone rang...