Key fob has nRF52840l, 64 MHz ARM, 1024 KB Flash, 256 KB RAM
Apollo Guidance Computer was 2MHz, ~72 KB ROM, ~4 KB RAM
The comparison might be up to 10x different due to more efficient architecture and different MIPS/MHz ratio, but it does not change much, since the differences are so dramatic.
(This is based on links in the podcast description, which I assume what they talked about. Those pretty new keyfobs, older ones might have something like nRF24LE01, which is only 16 MHz, 18 KB Flash, 1KB RAM)
https://appleinsider.com/articles/12/10/16/lightning-cables-...
Apple makes Lightning to HDMI dongles that contain 400 MHz Samsung ARM SoCs and 256 MiB of RAM onboard.
They run frickin' Darwin.
There is more power in one of those dongles than there was in the OG iMac, and it runs a cut-down macOS. No cap.
And yes, Doom has been ported: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4XCkeN0XuqA
https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a30916315/usb-c-...
But I get your sentiment.
But finding something new slower than a 2MHz CPU is probably a challenge nowadays; even the Micro is 16MHz and can probably be overclocked a ways above that without much work or risk.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AFY2S56 - not that that is necessarily the best way to buy such a system, just showing they exist.
The HT68F001 stands out: 512 words of program flash and 16 bytes of RAM. ... can only be clocked from an internal 32 kHz oscillator. Since each instruction takes 4 cycles to execute, this results in only 8000 instructions per second!
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Something akin to: "Right now, you're carrying more computing power than what's on Voyager. And I'm not talking about your phone, I'm talking about your keyfob."
Another good one is the many little computers on cars such as the TPMS sensor in each tyre valve.
No char, double, float or long types. No arrays with more than one dimension. New creates persistent objects in something like flash with no runtime garbage collection. No String, and in fact most of java.lang.* is missing, etc.
I guess the portability of bytecode? A modern version might use WebAssembly instead which feels more suited as it’s much lower level (at least without the modern GC extensions)
It does make sense to me that automating only the bare essentials could be an intentional choice on a lunar lander. Relying on intense discipline + training of the astronauts combined with dirt-simple automation should hopefully put them in a good spot to resolve issues you couldn't predict earth-side. If you automated too much, the thing that goes wrong could be a bug IN the automation, which is obviously going to be harder to train for.
There's also power savings and weight, which I'm sure were big factors... so I can't imagine the guidance computers were great examples of the most performant compute 60s/70s had to offer.
(Also, not able to listen to the podcast right now, so if that idea gets dispelled during it, disregard me. Just basing this on what I can read over a coffee break.)
It was somewhere in between. Absolutely impressive for the physical volume and was consuming about 80% of all integrated circuits being produced at the time, but around an order of magnitude slower than the fastest computers at the time (and maybe more depending on how you want to calculate that. It's very back of the envelope).
And it did have huge amounts of automation. The modern multitasking hard RTOS was basically invented for the AGC. The pilots weren't super happy about it, but also it's generally considered that landing on the moon is essentially impossible without huge amounts of automation.
It’s like measuring national power by population, or saying that ants have “more power” than humans because ants are more numerous, have more legs and can lift more per unit of size. It’s fun to think about for about five seconds before recognizing that “power” is about capability, not abstract numbers.
If I get back to middle ages I will be smartest man on in the world - first question “so how do your mobile phones work actually and can you build one?”
Well great you can compare compute power but can you get to the LEO at least? I don’t think so.
The key fob, likewise, could be programmed to get us to LEO and probably run Doom at the same time
The first generation won't be as good as the Apollo Guidance Computer though.
jammcq•1mo ago
slicktux•1mo ago