Computing in Vekllei

Part of the technology series of articles.

This article is about computing in Vekllei, but most of these technologies are available world-over

Computers are used to subsidise rather than multiply productivity in Vekllei. This does not mean that they do not make commerce or industry more efficient, or open new means of communication between people – only that they are understood foremost as a social benefit that enables the more idealistic features of the Floral Period and its functional moneylessness. Vekllei is working towards participatory work, and computers are among the dream’s most valuable means in which it is being realised.

Overview #

Vekllei uses optical computers in a range of industrial and commercial applications, which contributes to the increasing automation of the Commonwealth workforce. Contemporary computing, known as the photo-electric generation, relies on optical technologies developed by the U.S. military in the 1980s, and were subsequently revolutionised by holographic memory by the U.K. in the 2030s. Vekllei computer science inherits much of its technology database from the U.K. through the Twin Electric research programme, and has contributed significantly to the efficiency and reliability of holographic data storage.

Vekllei has several computer manufacturers, including Votraitey Electrics and National Machines.¹ Votraitey provides commercial imaging services for holographic memory, particularly the DataPlex Photovolumes, and National Machines construct photo-electric mainframes suitable for enterprise-scale networking. The home of Vekllei computer science is the National Photonic Laboratories at Commonwealth University, with industrial research contributed by the CSRE. The Commonwealth aims to be independent of foreign-made components and circuitry by the end of the century.

Computing in Vekllei happens at a civic or industrial scale, and rarely interacts with individuals for personal purposes. Most ordinary Vekllei people interact with computers through work or in schools and libraries, where they serve data-lookup and communication purposes. Civilian life in Vekllei is decidedly analogue.

Operation #

All programmable Vekllei computers use photo-electric circuits² instead of electric transistors and semiconductors. In a Vekllei photo-electric computer, micro-lasers are produced by a wafer made up of mirrors and a cavity to perform digital computations. In place of silicon transistors are photonic crystals called Syncretic Crystal Mechanisms, which reflect light at different wavelengths and form an optical integrated circuit.

Devices called spatial light modulators³ moderate the intensity and phase of light beams passing through these circuits. The processed light is then stored as holograms within crystals as a form of digital memory. These holographic crystals, called Photovolumes, can be written and read in parallel, allowing instant access to records in a networked computer system. Most computers contain a protected archive system that duplicates and write-protects data.

Processing architecture in Vekllei computers differs substantially from conventional designs:

• Parallel operations occur naturally through optical interference, allowing multiple calculations simultaneously
• Nonlinear signal processing enables complex operations using optical phenomena rather than sequential logic gates
• Holographic storage provides instant random access to any data point without sequential searching
• Ternary logic exploits optical computing’s natural ability to represent three states rather than two

Because photo-electric computers require large processing elements to facilitate nonlinear computing and its unique signal-processing devices, computers in Vekllei are heavily centralised and are not found in households. Most large industrial and commercial enterprises maintain a single room-sized ‘Master Computer’ that networks satellite terminals concurrently.

Ternary Logic Systems #

Main article: Common Assembly Language

Rather than binary logic, in which a state is interpreted as either true or false by a processor, Vekllei computers use ternary logic. There are three digits that can represent a state, which are called trits:

• +: positive, otherwise represented as +1
• o: zero, otherwise represented as 0
• -: negative, otherwise represented as -1

Since Vekllei uses optical computers, its systems are naturally able to interpret three different states through wavelength, phase or polarisation differences. In low-level programming, trits are assigned alphabetic mnemonics for basic functions:

ADD → +++
SUB → ---
MOV → +--
JMP → +0+

Optical ternary computers allow simplified and parallel computing, and make certain arithmetic operations more efficient, especially those involving negative numbers. The ternary system also reduces the number of logic gates required for complex operations compared to binary systems.

Automatic Asset Commands #

Some centralised industries consolidate master computers into specialised photo-electric systems called Automatic Asset Commands. These room-sized installations coordinate fleets of mobile robots through continuous radio transmission, allowing centralised control of hundreds or thousands of droids simultaneously.

Famous examples include:

• Automatic Train Control, which automates CommRail operations and coordinates robots that service trains and maintain infrastructure
• Commonwealth Archives Master Computer, which maintains written records of all items in several archival Photovolumes at the Commonwealth Central Archives
• Municipal Service Commands, which coordinate street maintenance droids, refuse collection and public infrastructure robots across urban areas
• Factory Asset Commands, which manage industrial robot fleets in automated production facilities

These systems require dedicated processing cores that cannot be interrupted by other tasks, ensuring robots never freeze waiting for computer attention. The parallel operation capabilities of photovolume memory systems enable simultaneous control by storing each robot’s status in parallel-accessible crystal structures.

Public Access and Networking #

All Vekllei people can access computers through public libraries, universities and some schools. These facilities are networked into the National Bulletin System (NBS), a digital bulletin board that allows real-time communication, content sharing and electronic mail. The National Bulletin System forms part of the Vekllei Public Intranet, which can be accessed through terminals found in many schools, post offices and libraries.

The Vekllei government and large businesses also maintain their own intranets for use among staff. Computer subcultures exist in Vekllei and participate in unsanctioned network access through home-built relays and primitive hobby computers, a practice known as ‘phreaking.’

The Public Intranet is anonymous, but terminals signal their hardware address to the public mainframe, which allows users to specify the location of others. The NBS displays these addresses as postcodes by default.

Display technology uses calligraphic displays⁴, which allow primitive vector graphics. Most Vekllei file systems, including the Public Intranet, are text-only and use the VEKSCOPE character encoding standard. The vector displays produce sharp text and simple geometric shapes but cannot render complex images or photographs, which must be accessed through physical prints or specialised imaging terminals.

Data Infrastructure #

The size, speed and accessibility of data storage in Vekllei means that more data than ever is recorded and preserved, making Vekllei one of the most recorded societies in history. Government archives, business records, scientific data and public communications all flow into vast photovolume storage arrays maintained by centralised computing facilities.

As the site of the Atlantic Telephone and Data Exchange, Vekllei also handles tremendous amounts of trans-Atlantic data regeneration and processing. Undersea cables terminate at facilities in Oslola and Comet, where optical computers route communications between the Americas and Europe. This strategic position has made Vekllei essential to global telecommunications infrastructure.