Mini Transporter ControlHow many computers have you owned in your life?  I’ve owned sixteen x86-based systems, ten PDAs running PalmOS and Windows Mobile, and eight cell phones running everything from the barebones basics to the current TouchWiz OS on my new Samsung Omnia.  As luck would have it, I’ve also had the opportunity to work on several others, from Apple computers to incredibly powerful UltraSparc-based systems.  Each of these machines have been unique in their own way and had their share of positives and negatives.  But this could be said about the software as well as the hardware.

For over half a century, we’ve had the priveledge to watch computer systems in movies evolve from ENIAC-inspired monstrosities, to powerful-yet-friendly devices seen in Star Trek.  Some have tried to take over our lives, like those in Terminator and The Matrix, while others have tried to help us enjoy more of what life has to offer.  Some have had incredibly visual interfaces, a-la Minority Report, and others have been insanely uninuitive in nature, like we’ve seen in countless TV shows.  Some we’ve loved, others we’ve hated.  Yet, at the end of the day, many of us still love to look at the various computers we see in movies and in real life to see how they’re designed and what software they run.

So, rather than just talk about my favourite designs, I’d like to pass the question to you: what is your favourite fictional computer?

The computer can be from a book, a TV show, a movie, or something else entirely.  The only thing I ask is that the system be fictional (well … fictional as of today … who knows what’ll be released tomorrow).