Mind you, Toyota right now is developing a new sports coupe to compete against the Nissan Skyline (as the Infiniti G35 is known in most of the world).
Given Toyota's experience with hybrid drivetrains, I wouldn't be surprised if they come out with a sports coupe that uses a 200 bhp gasoline engine and a 100 bhp electric motor. There is hot rumors floating around that Honda's replacement for the NSX sports car will use a gasoline-electric drivetrain derived from the Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) technology used on the Civic Hybrid.
Wankel engines have historically been high polluting engines, more akin to two-stroke engines because of the design.
That's true in the past, but Mazda changed the design of the combustion chamber recently so the fuel is burned more completely. The upcoming RX-8 sports car is the first Wankel-powered vehicle to use this new design engine, and the result is a very dramatic drop in pollution levels.
Hmmm--a replacement for the MX-5 Miata that has a 100 bhp high-efficiency Wankel engine and a 40 bhp electric motor? That could be a very interesting idea indeed!:-)
However, the fact that the Prius has sold very well in the USA is proof that you don't need lots of power to be a popular seller.
Having driven a Prius, the acceleration is actually quite good--and in the right conditions 50+ miles per US gallon fuel efficiency is great.
I think once the new EPA rules on cleaner diesel fuel comes into effect in a few years we may see diesel-electric hybrids--now imagine a Toyota Corolla with a diesel-electric drivetrain getting 75 mpg and still meet Super-Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle standards!:-)
While the All-Red Route was an impressive achievement, the first transatlantic cable laid in the 1860's was a much more impressive and historically important achievement, given that it was the first time a transocean telegraph cable was attempted and it took several tries to successfully lay the cable between Ireland and Newfoundland.
What's interesting was it wasn't until the late 1950's and early 1960's that we finally achieved the technology to send voice messages on undersea cables on a large scale. Of course, today with fiber optic cables we can send even high-bandwidth data like video through these cables; a huge fraction of international Internet traffic nowadays are transmitted through these cables.
I have some concerns about a matter-antimatter propulsion system.
What happens if the matter/antimatter mix is not correct? Will we end up with something akin to that Martian from the Warner Brothers cartoons describes as a big ka-boom?
Such an explosion could make the most powerful thermonuclear device tested on Earth seem like a minor incident in comparison.
Mind you, this is actually in many ways a GOOD idea.
Given that Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP uses the memory model pioneered by Windows NT (e.g., vastly improved memory management and much more graceful recovery from program crashes), anyone running Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP or the upcoming Office 11 should run it under the versions of Windows I just mentioned. Windows 95/98/98SE/ME uses an older memory management model, one that has a bad habit of running out of system resources quickly and doesn't gracefully recover from program crashes.
Small wonder why Windows 2000 Professional is so heavily used in corporate environments nowadays.
It will be very interesting to see if the new version of SuSE Linux will support Office 11, including Office 11's XML support. Or better yet, will we see new versions of OpenOffice and StarOffice that generates XML documents that can interoperate with Office 11.
...Dual-CPU Athlon motherboards are not that easy to find in a retail store--you often have to purchase them mail order.:-(
Also, what end-user oriented software will take advantage of Intel's hyperthreading process right now? Will we have to wait for updates to CAD/CAM, drawing and image editing programs to use hyperthreading? And when will we see updates to multimedia programs such as Windows Media Player, RealOne, Quicktime, software DVD players, etc. that will take full advantage of hyperthreading? We might not see them until early 2003.
I agree with your assessments on the decline in the use of standard mouse pointers that use a ball and rollers to calculate movements.
I'm using a Logitech Wheel Mouse Optical right now and I love the fact that there's no mouse ball and rollers, which can clog up fairly quickly and can be a pain to clean.
I saw the mouse pointer designs and it appears they won't fit your hand very comfortably.
I prefer a real Microsoft or Logitech mouse pointer that does fit your hand comfortably, despite the fact the designers aren't as famous as these Japanese manga/anime artists. (smile)
I think requiring everyone to wear suit and tie is actually not that great an idea, because all that does is enforce conformity to an extreme, which can really stifle creativity, in my humble opinion. I can understand requring suit and tie for a company dealing in the financial and securities business, but not at an IT firm.
Now, requiring minimum standards for business casual is more acceptable. A good clean shirt or polo-style pullover, slacks and non-sporting casual shoes as a minimum works for me.
Because you have to check your coding against five different browser designs (Internet Explorer 5.x/6.x, Netscape 4.x, Mozilla 1.x, Opera and Konqueror), that requires quite a lot of man-hours to verify your web page coding. Given that IE, Netscape 4.x and Mozilla is almost 100% of the browser market, these three browsers pretty much cover most every user out there.
Banking sites should right now be coded to support the following browsers:
Internet Explorer 5.0 and later (Windows and Mac) Netscape Communicator 4.0 to 4.79 (Windows, Mac and Linux) Mozilla 1.1 and later (Windows, Mac, and Linux, including the commercial Netscape 7.0 version)
Just these three browsers pretty much covers almost everybody on the Windows, Macintosh and Linux platforms.
Why these three browsers? IE has most of the users; Netscape Communicator 4.x has a huge base of legacy users; and Mozilla 1.1 and newer has become an emerging third de facto standard, especially since most of the latest commercial Linux distros include Mozilla 1.1.
Other programs like Opera and Konqueror have too small a user base and trying to trying to support beyond the three browsers I mentioned becomes a major webmaster maintainance nightmare.
I think given the design of Blue Gene it is by definition a variant of the Beowulf clustering concept. It probably is the most sophisticated computing system on this planet to run Linux, that's to be sure.
It'll be very interesting to see if the Japanese supercomputer manufacturers will try to match this....
I think while your concerns are currently legitimate, as flat-panel technologies improve over the next four years by 2006 flat-panel LCD's will have response times probably well under 10 milliseconds. With that much faster LCD response time compared to today's 25 ms response time for the good quality LCD monitors, motion blurring will pretty much disappear even on high-end games.
Also, by 2006 we'll see alternatives to TFT LCD's on flat-panel monitors that offer even brighter displays, CRT-speed response times, better color and even better graphics sharpness.
For one thing, both the Intel and AMD camps are heavily supporting Serial ATA, with the first motherboards that have Serial ATA connectors starting to appear on the market as I type this. Not only is the throughput going to be way higher than standard dual-conductor IDE cable connections for ATA-33/66/100/133, but because Serial ATA cable is a small rounded cable this means there are no wide flat ribbon cable connections; this makes for a much neater-looking system case interior and also means better system case cooling as a side benefit.
I expect the first CD-R/RW and DVD-R/RW drives with Serial ATA connectors to hit the market any time now.
Re:Those aren't LCDs people buy
on
LCD Round-up
·
· Score: 2
In my opinion, a 17" LCD monitor displaying in 1280x1024 native mode is just too small--many small graphical objects are difficult to read. You really want at least an 18" LCD monitor that supports 1280x1024 native mode for easier readability--but 18" LCD's are still quite expensive for the good models that sport decent fast response times.
If you're willing to stay with a 15" monitor displaying 1024x768 native mode, there are a number of superb LCD models. One I really like is the Samsung SyncMaster 152T, a model with superb graphics quality, excellent contrast and 25 ms response time, which is good enough to play most fast-moving games and DVD's with reasonable clarity; it also sports a DVI input, too.
Re:One big problem (literally) with CRT's
on
LCD Round-up
·
· Score: 2
I agree that they do cost more than regular CRT's, but wouldn't large-scale production reduce the cost pretty quickly? Besides, with today's improved manufacturing techniques, short-neck CRT's manufactured en masse shouldn't cost much more than regular CRT's.
I still think CRT manufacturers should make technological improvements that will make short-neck CRT's easier to make and align; a lot of computer users that still prefer CRT's would love to get a CRT monitor that hogs a lot less space than regular monitors.
The motion blurring issue is not as bad as it used to be. Many of the newest LCD's sport 25 ms reponse times, which pretty much eliminate screen blurring except for the fastest motion.
I've seen DVD movies played back on a Samsung SyncMaster 152T 15" LCD with its 25 ms response time and it was able to play back a DVD movie with surprisingly good clarity.
I expect a number of new technologies arriving in the next 18 months that will lower the response time to the 10 ms range, which will make it possible to view DVD movies and high-end games with pretty much no perceptible motion blurring.
One big problem (literally) with CRT's
on
LCD Round-up
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
I think the biggest downside with CRT computer monitors is the fact that monitor manufacturers still haven't addressed the biggest downside of these monitors, namely the large depth of the monitor due to the way CRT's are manufactured.
I remember a few years ago Viewsonic addressed this with the A75s model, a 17" CRT monitor that had a physical depth substantially less than other 17" CRT monitors. I'm very disappointed that Viewsonic (let alone the CRT monitor industry) has not adapted the short-depth CRT concept to all their 17", 19" and 21" monitors.:-(
CRT's fast response makes them excellent for viewing fast motion graphics (e.g., high-end games and DVD playback), but monitor manufacturers should be working on shortening the depth of the tube so the monitor can fit onto desks easier.
What about ACPI support?
on
Linux 3.0
·
· Score: 2
I've heard one of the goals with the next major Linux kernel is Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) support for hot-docking of external devices and hot-swapping of devices on certain types of PCI slots.
With automatic hardware detection and configuration of peripherals in a standardized manner, maybe it might convince peripheral manufacturers to write Linux drivers en masse.
I think if Philips can resolve the issue of shock resistance and make a re-writeable disc in this new format that stores at least 3 GB, there's a better application: high-end digital still cameras.
With professional digital still cameras already going past ten megapixels in resolution, even a 1 GB IBM Microdrive in a Compact Flash Type II slot ain't going to cut it especially if you store the digital still in uncompressed.TIF format. This new drive could be perfect for professional digital still cameras, that's to be sure.
Actually, you're wrong about domestic flights out of Tokyo being out of Narita. Narita (NRT) is primarily an international airport. Domestic flights in and out of Tokyo use Haneda Aiport (HND), which is far closer to downtown Tokyo and is connected to Japan's rail network and the Tokyo subway system by a short monorail ride.
However, I haven't head anything about the latest JR trainsets being used on the Tokaido/Sanyo line runs lately--the newest JR high-speed trainsets are used on the Tohoku, Joetsu, and a few other Shinkansen lines where domestic tourist traffic is more dense.
Except for one thing: how come on many Japanese domestic routes Japan Airlines and All-Nippon Airways are flying 747's fitted with seating for nearly 600 passengers?? And there are multiple flights per day?
If you're talking under 180 minutes transit time a high-speed train makes sense, but when you're talking Tokyo to Fukuoka that same train takes nearly seven hours for a one way trip. No wonder why JAL and ANA are flying these 747's with high-density seating.
Turbine power was initially considered for the French TGV; it is the petroleum crisis in 1974 that decided them to go electric.
Of course, it also helped at that time the French government was aggressively pursuing the construction of nuclear powerplants all over the country. That made it much of practical to have TGV's to be powered by overhead cantenary wire.
However, I stated that hotel power requirements mean that there will be still some significant demand on the turbine even when the train is idle.
The final version of JetTrain will have a flywheel system to augment the generational capacity of the gas turgine engine. That means the gas turbine can be smaller, which means lower noise and additional fuel savings.
The problem with stringing up overhead cantenary wiring is that if you're too far away from the electric power source its gets exorbitantly expensively to power up and maintain; that was one reason why the Milwaukee Road railroad abandoned their electric locomotives over the Rockies in 1974. In Europe and Japan, because of the higher population density it's much easier to hook up overhead cantenary wiring to the local electric grid. I can just see a large fraction of the cost of the California HSR system is the cost of installing, maintaining and getting power for the overhead cantenary wiring. Besides, they're not exactly beautiful in design, and that will guarantee the NIMBY crowd will oppose such installations in scenic areas.
I think you're basing your assessments on the old United Aircraft Turbotrains and the even older GE Big Blow locomotives that Union Pacific Railroad ran during the 1950's and 1960's.
Fortunately, if you've read Bombardier's web page, JetTrain has been designed with the following in mind:
1. The train is designed to meet the very strict FRA requirements for crash survivability, requirements that are actually stricter than those in much of Europe.
2. The JetTrain locomotive uses far more modern gas turbine engines than the old Turbotrain. Remember, Turbotrain was built during the 1960's; with 30 years of research and development since then derived from developing quieter, more fuel efficient and less-polluting jet engines for the commercial aircraft industry since 1970, Pratt & Whitney today can deliver a gas turbine engine for the JetTrain that will use much less fuel, spew out way less exhaust emissions and generate far less noise than the old Turbotrains.
3. Because JetTrain is a clean sheet design, it won't have to owe anything to current diesel-electric locomotive technology, technology that emphasizes more on initial pulling power for heavy trains. Remember, the entire JetTrain trainset uses the latest in materials technology to keep the weight down while still meeting FRA safety standards.
If Bombardier can demonstrate it can properly cool the hot exhaust from the gas turbine engine so it doesn't become a fire/high-temperature hazard to nearby objects, JetTrain with its potential 155 mph (250 km/h) top speed could be just the train for a number of Amtrak routes here in the USA. Already, Amtrak is in the process of upgrading the Chicago to Detroit corridor to handle trains in excess of 100 mph; JetTrain would be a natural for this route. And since Amtrak's Southwest Chief long-distance train between Chicago and Los Angeles runs mostly on AT&SF railroad trackage (which was rated for 100+ mph operation back in 1937!), imagine a JetTrain variant of the Southwest Chief going between Los Angeles and Chicago in under 36 hours! (That is faster than the record for this route set by the Santa Fe Super C freight train in the late 1960's.)
While having high-speed electric trains with overhead wiring is nice, you're forgetting that setting up all that catenary wiring is exorbitantly expensive, especially when you also have to tie in that wiring into the local electrical grid. And don't forget the NIMBY crowd that might not be too thrilled by the installation of all that wiring for various reasons.
I think if Bombardier can work out the bugs on JetTrain, it may become the primary form of locomotion for high-speed rail in the USA, mostly because you can skip out on the expensive overhead catenary wiring installation.
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Mind you, Toyota right now is developing a new sports coupe to compete against the Nissan Skyline (as the Infiniti G35 is known in most of the world).
Given Toyota's experience with hybrid drivetrains, I wouldn't be surprised if they come out with a sports coupe that uses a 200 bhp gasoline engine and a 100 bhp electric motor. There is hot rumors floating around that Honda's replacement for the NSX sports car will use a gasoline-electric drivetrain derived from the Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) technology used on the Civic Hybrid.
Wankel engines have historically been high polluting engines, more akin to two-stroke engines because of the design.
:-)
That's true in the past, but Mazda changed the design of the combustion chamber recently so the fuel is burned more completely. The upcoming RX-8 sports car is the first Wankel-powered vehicle to use this new design engine, and the result is a very dramatic drop in pollution levels.
Hmmm--a replacement for the MX-5 Miata that has a 100 bhp high-efficiency Wankel engine and a 40 bhp electric motor? That could be a very interesting idea indeed!
However, the fact that the Prius has sold very well in the USA is proof that you don't need lots of power to be a popular seller.
:-)
Having driven a Prius, the acceleration is actually quite good--and in the right conditions 50+ miles per US gallon fuel efficiency is great.
I think once the new EPA rules on cleaner diesel fuel comes into effect in a few years we may see diesel-electric hybrids--now imagine a Toyota Corolla with a diesel-electric drivetrain getting 75 mpg and still meet Super-Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle standards!
While the All-Red Route was an impressive achievement, the first transatlantic cable laid in the 1860's was a much more impressive and historically important achievement, given that it was the first time a transocean telegraph cable was attempted and it took several tries to successfully lay the cable between Ireland and Newfoundland.
What's interesting was it wasn't until the late 1950's and early 1960's that we finally achieved the technology to send voice messages on undersea cables on a large scale. Of course, today with fiber optic cables we can send even high-bandwidth data like video through these cables; a huge fraction of international Internet traffic nowadays are transmitted through these cables.
I have some concerns about a matter-antimatter propulsion system.
What happens if the matter/antimatter mix is not correct? Will we end up with something akin to that Martian from the Warner Brothers cartoons describes as a big ka-boom?
Such an explosion could make the most powerful thermonuclear device tested on Earth seem like a minor incident in comparison.
Mind you, this is actually in many ways a GOOD idea.
Given that Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP uses the memory model pioneered by Windows NT (e.g., vastly improved memory management and much more graceful recovery from program crashes), anyone running Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP or the upcoming Office 11 should run it under the versions of Windows I just mentioned. Windows 95/98/98SE/ME uses an older memory management model, one that has a bad habit of running out of system resources quickly and doesn't gracefully recover from program crashes.
Small wonder why Windows 2000 Professional is so heavily used in corporate environments nowadays.
It will be very interesting to see if the new version of SuSE Linux will support Office 11, including Office 11's XML support. Or better yet, will we see new versions of OpenOffice and StarOffice that generates XML documents that can interoperate with Office 11.
...Dual-CPU Athlon motherboards are not that easy to find in a retail store--you often have to purchase them mail order. :-(
Also, what end-user oriented software will take advantage of Intel's hyperthreading process right now? Will we have to wait for updates to CAD/CAM, drawing and image editing programs to use hyperthreading? And when will we see updates to multimedia programs such as Windows Media Player, RealOne, Quicktime, software DVD players, etc. that will take full advantage of hyperthreading? We might not see them until early 2003.
I agree with your assessments on the decline in the use of standard mouse pointers that use a ball and rollers to calculate movements.
I'm using a Logitech Wheel Mouse Optical right now and I love the fact that there's no mouse ball and rollers, which can clog up fairly quickly and can be a pain to clean.
I saw the mouse pointer designs and it appears they won't fit your hand very comfortably.
I prefer a real Microsoft or Logitech mouse pointer that does fit your hand comfortably, despite the fact the designers aren't as famous as these Japanese manga/anime artists. (smile)
I think requiring everyone to wear suit and tie is actually not that great an idea, because all that does is enforce conformity to an extreme, which can really stifle creativity, in my humble opinion. I can understand requring suit and tie for a company dealing in the financial and securities business, but not at an IT firm.
Now, requiring minimum standards for business casual is more acceptable. A good clean shirt or polo-style pullover, slacks and non-sporting casual shoes as a minimum works for me.
Because you have to check your coding against five different browser designs (Internet Explorer 5.x/6.x, Netscape 4.x, Mozilla 1.x, Opera and Konqueror), that requires quite a lot of man-hours to verify your web page coding. Given that IE, Netscape 4.x and Mozilla is almost 100% of the browser market, these three browsers pretty much cover most every user out there.
I think we have to draw the line somewhere.
Banking sites should right now be coded to support the following browsers:
Internet Explorer 5.0 and later (Windows and Mac)
Netscape Communicator 4.0 to 4.79 (Windows, Mac and Linux)
Mozilla 1.1 and later (Windows, Mac, and Linux, including the commercial Netscape 7.0 version)
Just these three browsers pretty much covers almost everybody on the Windows, Macintosh and Linux platforms.
Why these three browsers? IE has most of the users; Netscape Communicator 4.x has a huge base of legacy users; and Mozilla 1.1 and newer has become an emerging third de facto standard, especially since most of the latest commercial Linux distros include Mozilla 1.1.
Other programs like Opera and Konqueror have too small a user base and trying to trying to support beyond the three browsers I mentioned becomes a major webmaster maintainance nightmare.
I think given the design of Blue Gene it is by definition a variant of the Beowulf clustering concept. It probably is the most sophisticated computing system on this planet to run Linux, that's to be sure.
It'll be very interesting to see if the Japanese supercomputer manufacturers will try to match this....
I think while your concerns are currently legitimate, as flat-panel technologies improve over the next four years by 2006 flat-panel LCD's will have response times probably well under 10 milliseconds. With that much faster LCD response time compared to today's 25 ms response time for the good quality LCD monitors, motion blurring will pretty much disappear even on high-end games.
Also, by 2006 we'll see alternatives to TFT LCD's on flat-panel monitors that offer even brighter displays, CRT-speed response times, better color and even better graphics sharpness.
This is NOT RDRAM redux.
For one thing, both the Intel and AMD camps are heavily supporting Serial ATA, with the first motherboards that have Serial ATA connectors starting to appear on the market as I type this. Not only is the throughput going to be way higher than standard dual-conductor IDE cable connections for ATA-33/66/100/133, but because Serial ATA cable is a small rounded cable this means there are no wide flat ribbon cable connections; this makes for a much neater-looking system case interior and also means better system case cooling as a side benefit.
I expect the first CD-R/RW and DVD-R/RW drives with Serial ATA connectors to hit the market any time now.
In my opinion, a 17" LCD monitor displaying in 1280x1024 native mode is just too small--many small graphical objects are difficult to read. You really want at least an 18" LCD monitor that supports 1280x1024 native mode for easier readability--but 18" LCD's are still quite expensive for the good models that sport decent fast response times.
If you're willing to stay with a 15" monitor displaying 1024x768 native mode, there are a number of superb LCD models. One I really like is the Samsung SyncMaster 152T, a model with superb graphics quality, excellent contrast and 25 ms response time, which is good enough to play most fast-moving games and DVD's with reasonable clarity; it also sports a DVI input, too.
I agree that they do cost more than regular CRT's, but wouldn't large-scale production reduce the cost pretty quickly? Besides, with today's improved manufacturing techniques, short-neck CRT's manufactured en masse shouldn't cost much more than regular CRT's.
I still think CRT manufacturers should make technological improvements that will make short-neck CRT's easier to make and align; a lot of computer users that still prefer CRT's would love to get a CRT monitor that hogs a lot less space than regular monitors.
The motion blurring issue is not as bad as it used to be. Many of the newest LCD's sport 25 ms reponse times, which pretty much eliminate screen blurring except for the fastest motion.
I've seen DVD movies played back on a Samsung SyncMaster 152T 15" LCD with its 25 ms response time and it was able to play back a DVD movie with surprisingly good clarity.
I expect a number of new technologies arriving in the next 18 months that will lower the response time to the 10 ms range, which will make it possible to view DVD movies and high-end games with pretty much no perceptible motion blurring.
I think the biggest downside with CRT computer monitors is the fact that monitor manufacturers still haven't addressed the biggest downside of these monitors, namely the large depth of the monitor due to the way CRT's are manufactured.
:-(
I remember a few years ago Viewsonic addressed this with the A75s model, a 17" CRT monitor that had a physical depth substantially less than other 17" CRT monitors. I'm very disappointed that Viewsonic (let alone the CRT monitor industry) has not adapted the short-depth CRT concept to all their 17", 19" and 21" monitors.
CRT's fast response makes them excellent for viewing fast motion graphics (e.g., high-end games and DVD playback), but monitor manufacturers should be working on shortening the depth of the tube so the monitor can fit onto desks easier.
I've heard one of the goals with the next major Linux kernel is Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) support for hot-docking of external devices and hot-swapping of devices on certain types of PCI slots.
With automatic hardware detection and configuration of peripherals in a standardized manner, maybe it might convince peripheral manufacturers to write Linux drivers en masse.
I think if Philips can resolve the issue of shock resistance and make a re-writeable disc in this new format that stores at least 3 GB, there's a better application: high-end digital still cameras.
.TIF format. This new drive could be perfect for professional digital still cameras, that's to be sure.
With professional digital still cameras already going past ten megapixels in resolution, even a 1 GB IBM Microdrive in a Compact Flash Type II slot ain't going to cut it especially if you store the digital still in uncompressed
Actually, you're wrong about domestic flights out of Tokyo being out of Narita. Narita (NRT) is primarily an international airport. Domestic flights in and out of Tokyo use Haneda Aiport (HND), which is far closer to downtown Tokyo and is connected to Japan's rail network and the Tokyo subway system by a short monorail ride.
However, I haven't head anything about the latest JR trainsets being used on the Tokaido/Sanyo line runs lately--the newest JR high-speed trainsets are used on the Tohoku, Joetsu, and a few other Shinkansen lines where domestic tourist traffic is more dense.
Except for one thing: how come on many Japanese domestic routes Japan Airlines and All-Nippon Airways are flying 747's fitted with seating for nearly 600 passengers?? And there are multiple flights per day?
If you're talking under 180 minutes transit time a high-speed train makes sense, but when you're talking Tokyo to Fukuoka that same train takes nearly seven hours for a one way trip. No wonder why JAL and ANA are flying these 747's with high-density seating.
Turbine power was initially considered for the French TGV; it is the petroleum crisis in 1974 that decided them to go electric.
Of course, it also helped at that time the French government was aggressively pursuing the construction of nuclear powerplants all over the country. That made it much of practical to have TGV's to be powered by overhead cantenary wire.
However, I stated that hotel power requirements mean that there will be still some significant demand on the turbine even when the train is idle.
The final version of JetTrain will have a flywheel system to augment the generational capacity of the gas turgine engine. That means the gas turbine can be smaller, which means lower noise and additional fuel savings.
The problem with stringing up overhead cantenary wiring is that if you're too far away from the electric power source its gets exorbitantly expensively to power up and maintain; that was one reason why the Milwaukee Road railroad abandoned their electric locomotives over the Rockies in 1974. In Europe and Japan, because of the higher population density it's much easier to hook up overhead cantenary wiring to the local electric grid. I can just see a large fraction of the cost of the California HSR system is the cost of installing, maintaining and getting power for the overhead cantenary wiring. Besides, they're not exactly beautiful in design, and that will guarantee the NIMBY crowd will oppose such installations in scenic areas.
I think you're basing your assessments on the old United Aircraft Turbotrains and the even older GE Big Blow locomotives that Union Pacific Railroad ran during the 1950's and 1960's.
Fortunately, if you've read Bombardier's web page, JetTrain has been designed with the following in mind:
1. The train is designed to meet the very strict FRA requirements for crash survivability, requirements that are actually stricter than those in much of Europe.
2. The JetTrain locomotive uses far more modern gas turbine engines than the old Turbotrain. Remember, Turbotrain was built during the 1960's; with 30 years of research and development since then derived from developing quieter, more fuel efficient and less-polluting jet engines for the commercial aircraft industry since 1970, Pratt & Whitney today can deliver a gas turbine engine for the JetTrain that will use much less fuel, spew out way less exhaust emissions and generate far less noise than the old Turbotrains.
3. Because JetTrain is a clean sheet design, it won't have to owe anything to current diesel-electric locomotive technology, technology that emphasizes more on initial pulling power for heavy trains. Remember, the entire JetTrain trainset uses the latest in materials technology to keep the weight down while still meeting FRA safety standards.
If Bombardier can demonstrate it can properly cool the hot exhaust from the gas turbine engine so it doesn't become a fire/high-temperature hazard to nearby objects, JetTrain with its potential 155 mph (250 km/h) top speed could be just the train for a number of Amtrak routes here in the USA. Already, Amtrak is in the process of upgrading the Chicago to Detroit corridor to handle trains in excess of 100 mph; JetTrain would be a natural for this route. And since Amtrak's Southwest Chief long-distance train between Chicago and Los Angeles runs mostly on AT&SF railroad trackage (which was rated for 100+ mph operation back in 1937!), imagine a JetTrain variant of the Southwest Chief going between Los Angeles and Chicago in under 36 hours! (That is faster than the record for this route set by the Santa Fe Super C freight train in the late 1960's.)
While having high-speed electric trains with overhead wiring is nice, you're forgetting that setting up all that catenary wiring is exorbitantly expensive, especially when you also have to tie in that wiring into the local electrical grid. And don't forget the NIMBY crowd that might not be too thrilled by the installation of all that wiring for various reasons.
I think if Bombardier can work out the bugs on JetTrain, it may become the primary form of locomotion for high-speed rail in the USA, mostly because you can skip out on the expensive overhead catenary wiring installation.