tlhIngan De'wI'mey (was Re: KLBC)

[Steven Boozer <sboozer@midway.uchicago.edu>]

voragh: 
> We really ought to ask Maltz to explain Klingon computers to us,
> considering how dependent we are on them here on a computer mailing
list.

> He was a science officer, after all, and we all know how much they like
to
> talk about their computers!
 
quljIb:
: Knowing Klingons, they probably built in the same multiple redundancies
: that make Klingon physiology so unique. Personnaly, if given the choice
: between two computer systems, Federation and Klingon, I'd choose the
: latter; more rugged design and less prone to "energy surges" that seem
to
: plague Federation ships.

Perhaps not.  In some of the novels, Klingons have sneered at these
multiple redundancies in Federation technology considering them
unnecessary
and, probably more relevant, expensive luxuries.  I vaguely remember one
Klingon commenting on the quadruple (!) redundancies of Federation
personnel transporters, "Are they so afraid of dying?"  It does seem odd
in
view of the brak'lul {bIraqlul}.

One thing several people have remarked upon is that Klingon computers
don't
seem to use a voice interphase, unlike Federation, Vulcan and Cardassian
computers.  At least I don't think we've ever seen a Klingon computer 
speak to its operator.  (Have we ever seen a Klingon issue an oral command
to a computer aboard a Klingon ship?)  In ST3 Torg stepped onto the bridge
of the Enterprise and informed Kruge that the ship had been abandoned and
the computer was talking; he appeared to find that odd.  This may also
explain Worf's awkwardness with Data in the first year or so of TNG; as a
Klingon, the idea of having a conversation with a machine may have been a
little creepy.  
 
: Query: does Klingon have a word/phrase meaning "fishing net" or "woven
: cloth/material"? Such words/phrases would go a long way towards
describing
: computer networks.

There are no such words.  We do have {pat} "system" (once translated
"grid"
in SP3: {nuH pat} "weapons grid") and {DaH} "array, bank", both of which
are used several times in the BoP poster to refer to various
interconnected
or interrelated hardware operating as a unit.


-- 
Voragh                       
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons