10 comments

  • theamk 5 days ago
    TL/DL: yes, it does, and by significant amount

    Key fob has nRF52840l, 64 MHz ARM, 1024 KB Flash, 256 KB RAM

    Apollo Guidance Computer was 2MHz, ~72 KB ROM, ~4 KB RAM

    The comparison might be up to 10x different due to more efficient architecture and different MIPS/MHz ratio, but it does not change much, since the differences are so dramatic.

    (This is based on links in the podcast description, which I assume what they talked about. Those pretty new keyfobs, older ones might have something like nRF24LE01, which is only 16 MHz, 18 KB Flash, 1KB RAM)

    • antihero 1 hour ago
      That said, the lunar lander still leads the keyfob in peripherals.
    • bitwize 14 minutes ago
      Here's something to bake your noodle:

      Apple makes Lightning to HDMI dongles that contain 400 MHz Samsung ARM SoCs and 256 MiB of RAM onboard.

      They run frickin' Darwin.

      There is more power in one of those dongles than there was in the OG iMac, and it runs a cut-down macOS. No cap.

      And yes, Doom has been ported: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4XCkeN0XuqA

    • y7 1 hour ago
      I guess even a disposable vape has more computing power than the Lunar lander. (I don't know if that's more or less ridiculous than a key fob, but at least a key is not so disposable.)
      • observationist 45 minutes ago
        Car chargers for usbs, or digital thermometers, or disposable pregnancy tests - it's absurd the amount of compute that ends up even in single use or trivial products.
      • abraae 1 hour ago
        A keyfob is more analogous though - i.e. a computing device used to control a vehicle.
        • Detrytus 1 hour ago
          The keyfob was brought up by someone so they can make a clickbaity title: "A thing in your pocket has more computing power than Apollo guidance computer. And it's not your smartphone"
  • taeric 43 minutes ago
    This is actually a good example to consider why a better computing model does relatively little to enable some things. Sure, your fob has more computing complexity; the lander had far more of, well, everything else.
  • whartung 22 minutes ago
    The way I first heard this was regarding Voyager.

    Something akin to: "Right now, you're carrying more computing power than what's on Voyager. And I'm not talking about your phone, I'm talking about your keyfob."

  • dehrmann 49 minutes ago
    In fairness, the cryptography backing key fobs is likely more computationally intensive.
  • 1970-01-01 1 hour ago
    Isn't the real challenge finding anything made today that has less compute power than the lander? I challenge you to find that.
    • jerf 1 hour ago
      You can still find things like an Arduino Micro that has less ROM & RAM than the lunar lander.

      But finding something new slower than a 2MHz CPU is probably a challenge nowadays; even the Micro is 16MHz and can probably be overclocked a ways above that without much work or risk.

      https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AFY2S56 - not that that is necessarily the best way to buy such a system, just showing they exist.

    • wat10000 29 minutes ago
      That's easy. The challenge would be finding something that has less than the lander, but more than zero.
    • bhaney 19 minutes ago
      points at a tomato
  • Pwntastic 1 hour ago
    needs a [podcast] tag.

    there's no useful text content on this page

    • deepspace 39 minutes ago
      Right? And not even a way to get a transcript, that I can see. Who has an hour to listen to some dudes talk about a question that could and has been answered in a few seconds?
  • jammcq 5 days ago
    Does my key fob have more computing power than the Lunar Lander? In this episode of Runtime Arguments that just dropped today, Wolf and I dive into that question and we reveal some information that might surprise you. We had a lot of fun doing the research and we hope you enjoy it. Find it wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you enjoy it, please tell all of your friends. We'd really appreciate it.
    • slicktux 2 hours ago
      I will give it a listen! :)
  • asplake 2 hours ago
    How long until we can ask that question of USB cables?
  • coupdejarnac 1 hour ago
    Low cost ARM M series microcontrollers are ubiquitous, and they're all immensely more powerful than the lunar lander computer.
  • HPsquared 2 hours ago
    We have all these amazing technological resources and yet, houses are still out of reach for like half the population.
    • unyttigfjelltol 27 minutes ago
      I’d love to see some disruption of those markets. Let’s see … laws that promote rather than restrict development … search programs that reduce friction identifying maximum buildable area lots for sale … trading platforms for combining lots into larger developments … optimization of actual building technology … innovation in ownership and governance models…. Of course, none of those are strictly dependent on MHz.
    • wat10000 23 minutes ago
      The problem isn't the houses themselves, it's the land to put them on. Technology doesn't help much with that.
    • chrisBob 1 hour ago
      Making houses 3 orders of magnitude smaller and cheaper isn't very popular.

      But I get your sentiment.