Starting Over: A FOSS proposal for a new type of OS for a new type of computer -Liam Proven

[Phiwise_]

First, what went wrong:
The Circuit Less Traveled: Investigating some alternate histories of computing

Second, how it happened:
Generation Gaps: A heretical history of computing

Finally, a crazy idea to fix it:
Starting Over: A FOSS proposal for a new type of OS for a new type of computer

I always enjoy reading more about looking-glass tech like this. Anyone else, or am I just unusual that way?

 

[Arnox]

I think the (hardware) tech that's interested me the most lately is CPUs using photons instead of electricity. https://www.findlight.net/blog/photon-cpu-processors-data/

This would effectively kill our dependence on silicon (which is long overdue if you ask me) and If we could get this to work, it would make even a current gen. Threadripper look like a damn paperweight.

 

[Phiwise_]

That would be cool, but to my understanding it's not even clear if such processors will work at this point. Only a lot of research dollars from a very rich company or VC can really change that. (And people wonder why Intel's always begging for handouts...)

That's what I like most about this proposal. Resurrecting the Smalltalk Machine is something a random collection of strangers on the internet could conceivably get done on their own, akin to how Linux exploded. Even down to building new instruction sets, today's mature emulators and FPGAs make prototyping available on a shoestring budget. Our industry's been way more uniform than it needs to be for way too long. People like to say the 8-bit era or so was the Cambrian Explosion of the computer world, but surely there's even more potential material out there for at least as big of an explosion today?