tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post4361797256003614042..comments2024-03-27T19:38:49.490-04:00Comments on The Silicon Graybeard: Techy Tuesday - Homemade RailgunSiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-9511671924928107292015-10-31T12:25:55.948-04:002015-10-31T12:25:55.948-04:00Given the fact that most railguns are vehicle moun...Given the fact that most railguns are vehicle mounted not handheld makes this quite an achievement. <br /><br />Given that early automobiles couldn't compete with a decent horse, doesn't mean that the people building cars were misguided. It just means that all those jackasses screaming "get a horse" had no vision. <br /><br />And if this guy can do this with off-the-shelf stuff in his garage, do you thing DARPA might be able to do a bit more? In an age when there are actual hoverboards - granted they have some poor constraints as well - do you think there might be a future for railguns?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-46206525487141618932015-10-28T22:46:05.201-04:002015-10-28T22:46:05.201-04:00Just don't get too off topic. There are no pr...Just don't get too off topic. There are no processors in this thing, and nothing about the technology in it going to follow Moore's Law. It's more like batteries in electric cars: progress will be incremental and slow compared to make digital transistors smaller and faster. <br /><br />SiGraybeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-84996565052425559782015-10-28T20:00:53.338-04:002015-10-28T20:00:53.338-04:00Do not assume that I am unaware of the alternative...Do not assume that I am unaware of the alternatives. I choose to be part of the 95% for better or worse. My point is that the new CPU chips should have brought us world class computing power but it is being appropriated by the operating systems and associated software. As users we should demand better.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-42516063498854062672015-10-28T15:51:13.291-04:002015-10-28T15:51:13.291-04:00I've been running SuSE Linux since 1996.
Trie...I've been running SuSE Linux since 1996.<br /><br />Tried many others, but always came back to SuSE....drjimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05647484115197408897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-18684591618419546382015-10-28T13:10:37.317-04:002015-10-28T13:10:37.317-04:00I hate to break this to you, Anonymous on October ...I hate to break this to you, <b>Anonymous on October 28, 2015 at 12:01 PM</b>, but if you were to run something other than Microsoft or Apple, you might not have to wait so long. Ubuntu 64-bit seems to work rather well for me and a bunch of others, and there are those who swear by Linux Mint as well. There's a HUGE world out there beyond that of the left coast tech billionaires...Mark Matisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-71476168226419480362015-10-28T12:01:44.243-04:002015-10-28T12:01:44.243-04:00And yet you can have the latest PC with an i7 and ...And yet you can have the latest PC with an i7 and still find yourself sitting waiting for the damned thing to finish whatever it is it's doing. As our processor speeds have increased the demands on them have increased. My point here is most of those "demands" are not things that you the user/customer wants or needs but things that the manufacturers wanted and things that developers wanted and ultimately things that special interests and advertisers wanted. Next time you are waiting on your computer just understand it is spending billions of cycles doing someone elses bidding while you twiddle your thumbs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-92074599587954832902015-10-28T05:58:34.066-04:002015-10-28T05:58:34.066-04:00The 8086 processor, invented in 1982, executed 330...The 8086 processor, invented in 1982, executed 330,000 instructions per second. A modern Core i7 processor (not even top of the line) executes around 178 BILLION instructions per second. That means processor speed increased by a factor of 500,000 in just 30 years.<br /><br />This rail gun is not even a prototype- it is more like a proof of concept. Where will it be in 20 years?<br />Divemedichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14583007051962299381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-85412487761974776462015-10-28T01:18:20.745-04:002015-10-28T01:18:20.745-04:00Interesting, but not very practical.
Interesting, but not very practical.<br /><br />drjimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05647484115197408897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-12879140637609701912015-10-27T22:02:13.589-04:002015-10-27T22:02:13.589-04:00Edit: s/final/low/Edit: s/final/low/Backwoods Engineerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13666984602233967254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-27303934573173570492015-10-27T22:01:11.929-04:002015-10-27T22:01:11.929-04:00I've often wondered if railgun coils could be ...I've often wondered if railgun coils could be used to boost the velocity of a conventionally-fired projectile. <br /><br />I think, but haven't done the calculations, that a lot of the railgun's energy is burned in taking the projectile from a dead stop to final velocity.<br /><br />Well, normal barreled-action firearms do a good job of getting a projectile up to speed, but boosting the speed electrically would increase muzzle energy by the SQUARE of the velocity increase.Backwoods Engineerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13666984602233967254noreply@blogger.com