In the hardback editions of the later novels in the Dark Tower series King wrote an introduction explaining that (and I am paraphrasing) he has always wanted to write the series and that all his other books are shadows of this series, that is to say that he always kept drifting back to the world of the Dark Tower series. My favorite dark tower reference is in the Talisman's sequel Black House (co-written with Peter Straub) in which the helpful character some may say deus ex machina Parkus helps Jack break down the physhic/slave engine.
Although it is easy for King now to say that all of these connections between his work were pre-existing since these (Dark Tower Series) were some of the last novels he created, at least until he cranks out some more.
I disagree, the code that covers the "kill workers" protection usually resides in the controllers logic, the poster isn't suggesting (at least that's the way I read it) changing the machine logic but making changes to the human-machine interface or adding an OPC server to gather SCADA information. The controllers are expensive because the OEM's are gluttonous bastards most PLCs or PACs are run by very simple hardware for instance correct me if I'm wrong but the GE Fanuc 90-70 series plc only has two cpu's a general multi-processor (386) and a boolean co-processor (Motorola) with a flash area for OS storage. Now I'm not knocking the good ole 386 chipsets but I think its a misconception to think of these "industrial computers" as anything but what they are: very simple and robust devices, but the cost of the units far exceed their component parts and engineering costs. I spoke with an AB rep not long ago and he mentioned that the profit margin on PLCs are close to 800%
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In the hardback editions of the later novels in the Dark Tower series King wrote an introduction explaining that (and I am paraphrasing) he has always wanted to write the series and that all his other books are shadows of this series, that is to say that he always kept drifting back to the world of the Dark Tower series. My favorite dark tower reference is in the Talisman's sequel Black House (co-written with Peter Straub) in which the helpful character some may say deus ex machina Parkus helps Jack break down the physhic/slave engine.
Although it is easy for King now to say that all of these connections between his work were pre-existing since these (Dark Tower Series) were some of the last novels he created, at least until he cranks out some more.
I disagree, the code that covers the "kill workers" protection usually resides in the controllers logic, the poster isn't suggesting (at least that's the way I read it) changing the machine logic but making changes to the human-machine interface or adding an OPC server to gather SCADA information. The controllers are expensive because the OEM's are gluttonous bastards most PLCs or PACs are run by very simple hardware for instance correct me if I'm wrong but the GE Fanuc 90-70 series plc only has two cpu's a general multi-processor (386) and a boolean co-processor (Motorola) with a flash area for OS storage. Now I'm not knocking the good ole 386 chipsets but I think its a misconception to think of these "industrial computers" as anything but what they are: very simple and robust devices, but the cost of the units far exceed their component parts and engineering costs. I spoke with an AB rep not long ago and he mentioned that the profit margin on PLCs are close to 800%