Why ask why?
Thanks for bringing this topic up,
Bolian Author! Very interesting.
Over the years, I have often wondered what the nature of computerization would be in TOS. I came to the conclusion that Federation starships and starbases/space stations are each what we might consider "server farms", or perhaps collections of same. Each unit, whether it be a ship or a base, houses a multi-redundant network of servers that kind dish out the sum of the Federation's military, cultural and scientific knowledge in the form of stored text, images and audio/visual playbacks. In addition, these servers can provide limited simulation, analytical and problem-solving applications as well, all on voice command.
I would imagine the bridge itself is a server farm, probably housing the ship's "master computer". ("Let That Be Your Last Battlefield")
Captain Kirk apparently has a server in his quarters so he can call up information and store it there, as well as analyze information and even play simulations. ("Mirror, Mirror") I would expect that the ubiquitous
desktop/
bedtop viewers seen constantly throughout TOS are probably microcomputers themselves, capable of accessing the ship's LAN and drawing from nearby servers. (When Scotty played Kirk's simulation in Kirk's quarters aboard the I.S.S. Enterprise, he used a data cartridge that probably served as a key for the desktop to access the simulation that was stored on Kirk's server.)
Some of the most dramatic applications of computerization in TOS were during audio/visual presentations in
courtrooms and
briefing rooms. ("Court Martial", "The Menagerie", "Wolf in the Fold", "The Lights of Zetar", to name a few.) Here, perhaps a server was necessary to keep all data and archives relevant to the case-at-hand and applicable procedures right there, right now.
Since shuttlecraft are themselves obviously a form of warp-capable space vessel, it should not be a surprise that
they apparently carry servers, if not a whole
server farm, aboard.
Why do I characterize these bulky machines as servers and server-farms? Look at it this way: the handheld units (communicators, tricorders) obviously are computers but they have limited processing abilities. (Communicators must at least contain a computer, since they obviously respond to voice commands.) The desktop/bedtop units are also obviously computers as well, as they can access more than just communications. (It's never made clear what
those clipboard-style units are; they may be the 23rd-century cross between the iPad and the MacBook Air.) There does appear to be a expectation in TOS and TNG to have all ship-board computer activity come from a single computer (or array of computers)
that occupies a whole room. This doesn't make sense in TOS or TNG, though, since it would pose a security risk (Want to disable a starship? Just find their computer room and sabotage everything in one location) and seems to be at odds with the obviously portable (and transportable) and decentralized nature of computing as seen in TOS and TNG. So where is the "core", where all the ship's information is stored? On arrays of servers, of course! And to keep this precious resource flowing so that the ship doesn't come to a screeching halt due to lack of computerized services, the server farms would be spread throughout the ship. (You wouldn't want one direct hit to disable the ship be taking out the entire "main core" in one shot, would you?)
Anyways, we seem to have a clue what a Federation starbase's I.T. department looks like, from t
he example on Starbase 11. One could imagine multiple facilities like this strategically placed throughout a starbase or starship.
So, if Chief Humbolt's work center is to be taken as a server farm / I.T. office, what are our ubiquitous bread boxes? Transportable servers, of course!
It's all speculation based on deduction, but that's the way I've come to look at it.
Thanks again for this thread.
