[Giant Fossil Penguin]

So, with the release of gadgets such as the iPhone and, now, the iPad, I feel that we're getting closer to what a Dataslate might be/look like.

To me, a 'slate would have to have some sort of touch-sensitive screen, wireless ability (maybe even some sort of Noospheric connection:shok, and probably the ability to physically connect to other devices; maybe the ability to 'dock' with other 'slates/logic engines/machine spirits, possibly able to plug other data-storage devices into it.

So what do you reckon? Are Humans of the Imperium still using their Blackberries and iPods, or have they moved on to something that is infinitely more advanced? Would it be 3D, neurally interfaced or something else?

GFP

 

[TheSpore]

well considering how the 41st millinuem is not the advanced i wouldnt be suprised at all

 

[Azezel]

I picture them as about the size of a paperback, around a quarter-inch thick, with a monochrome greenscreen (like an old BBC or the legendary IBM 5151). It has a touchscreen, frontlit for use in bright light and full wireless capability - essentially unlimited storage and a fairly robust design.

It's mostly limited to displaying text and still images, though in the Ciaphas Cain books, Cain's slate can be linked to the systems in a command Chimera and display an overview of the battlefield based on auspex and whatnot.

 

[joechip]

I picture them as about the size of a paperback, around a quarter-inch thick, with a monochrome greenscreen (like an old BBC or the legendary IBM 5151). It has a touchscreen, frontlit for use in bright light and full wireless capability - essentially unlimited storage and a fairly robust design.

It's mostly limited to displaying text and still images, though in the Ciaphas Cain books, Cain's slate can be linked to the systems in a command Chimera and display an overview of the battlefield based on auspex and whatnot.

In the novel Cain's Last Stand Ciaphas also mention's that his students use their Dataslates to play Regicide(40k equivalent of Chess) and look at porn. Good to know that even in the grim darkness of the far future teenagers still love video games and porno! :biggrin:

 

[Bakunin]

It's possible that data slates use the same technology as blackberries and iPads. But I think its also best to continue to apply, to all 40K technology, the note that Rick Priestly put at the back of Rogue Trader (40K 1st edition).

"The book contains few descriptions of how specific items are used or function- it is enough within the context of the game that the item has the effects attributed to it. This has been a delibrate policy throughout the rules. The main reason for this is simply that the age of the imperium is not a technically inclined age, to have included descriptions of 'head up displays', 'computer links' etc. would of given the wrong impression... the age of the imperium lies more than forty thousand years in the future at a stage when those head up displays and computers are about as innovative as stone circles. What sicentific knowledge persists from the dark age of technology is far above and beyond anything we can imagine from the perspective of the 20th. century. That understanding lies only with a select few- the Adeptus Mechanicus- The Tech Priests of the Imperium. Even their knowledge is somewhat debased and the popular image of technology can be compared to that of witchcraft in medieval times."

As such, this explains the Imperiums lack of technical development and also means anything is possible with out haveing to worry about how it fits in with our current understanding of physics. Data slates might work along the same principles as blackberries, or might work in completely different ways. The user wouldn't have any idea how they worked, but would only care that they gave the information (or porn) that was desired at the moment they were being used.