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From: jml@tw-rnd.SanDiego.NCR.COM (Michael Lodman)
Newsgroups: comp.misc,comp.os.misc,comp.arch
Subject: Re: TRON (message from the project leader)
Message-ID: <199@tw-rnd.SanDiego.NCR.COM>
Date: 10 Jul 89 17:28:08 GMT
References: <114351@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> <26118@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: jml@tw-rnd.SanDiego.NCR.COM (Michael Lodman)
Organization: NCR Corporation - Distributed Systems Lab
Lines: 25

In article <26118@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> ked@garnet.berkeley.edu (Earl H. Kinmonth) writes:
>One was Edison pushing DC over AC (the "obviously" superior
>approach). Perhaps some of the EEs can correct me, but I was under the
>impression that DC was making a comeback for power transmission due to
>semiconductor technology. 

DC is making a comeback in extremely long haul transmission lines,
partially, I believe, due to advances in switching DC converters made
in the last few years. Losses are lower on these DC lines than on AC
lines of similar length.

>Perhaps in retrospect Edison was less
>pigheaded than visionary?  He was "wrong" given the short run technical
>progress curve but not for the long?

From what I understand about Edison, he simply did not have the
background to understand the far more complex math needed to use 
AC, especially three-phase, AC circuitry. Edison is more regarded
an experimentalist than a visionary. With regard to the transmission
mode, "pigheaded" is probably an accurate description.

-- 
Michael Lodman               Mike.Lodman@SanDiego.NCR.COM
NCR Corporation  -  Distributed Systems Lab  -  San Diego
9900 Old Grove Rd.  San Diego, CA.  92131  (619) 693-5353