If this is to be believed then PICs have been used amongst others.
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a4eb/20ca546c75f7012a63a1c4e0342a9d0cbbd5.pdf

It seems the St Jude medical devices are the ones that are were easily hackable
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/31/hacking-risk-recall-pacemakers-patient-death-fears-fda-firmware-update

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Andrew Jacobs
6502 & PIC Stuff - http://www.obelisk.me.uk/
Cross-Platform 6502/65C02/65816 Macro Assembler - http://www.obelisk.me.uk/dev65/
Open Source Projects - https://github.com/andrew-jacobs

The U.S. Navy tried that in the latter 1990s. There was a story about a warship at sea whose propulsion system was under the control of a Windows NT server. NT crashed and the engines came to a stop. The crew couldn't get the engines restarted and the ship had to be towed back to port.

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

And that's precisely what's terrifying about it.

I have nothing against optimising the performance and efficiency of mechanical systems through the judicious application of a microprocessor here and there - but you still have to be able to get the thing running again if something goes wrong, especially for warships which *by definition* are intended to go into harm's way and survive damage, preferably while still being able to give as good as she got to the enemy. In extremis, you need to be able to jury-rig a limp-home solution using baling wire and chewing gum - literally if necessary. A highly interdependent system built on a network of general-purpose PCs running a multi-gigabyte general-purpose operating system does not satisfy that requirement.

By way of example, in the Battle of the River Plate:
HMS Exeter was able to limp home to the Falkland Islands despite being so badly damaged that steering control was effected by manually winching the rudder, according to commands shouted in relay from the bridge to the aft machinery spaces. Graf Spee was effectively destroyed by a simple broken fuel line, which prevented replenishment of the "ready" fuel tank from the much larger main tanks. This relative difference in design philosophies was also seen elsewhere during the war.

Both of the ships on which I served were World War II vintage and it was clear in looking at how all the machinery worked that every effort was made to keep things going no matter what. The second ship on which I served, an Allen M. Sumner class destroyer (fast and very heavily armed), was hit by a kamikaze at Okinawa right after shooting down another kamikaze. She received extensive damage to the forward superstructure and number two main gun turret, and secondary damage to the forward boiler room and engine room (two boilers per boiler room). Steam pipes were ruptured, electrical power was disrupted and some 80 sailors were killed, with many more wounded.

Despite the heavy damage and loss of personnel, the ship was still seaworthy and was able to sail out of the immediate area to a destroyer tender for repairs. Following repairs, she made it back to Long Beach Navy Yard under her own steam, with one boiler on line and one engine. There wasn't enough steam output from the single boiler to maintain propulsion, desalinate water, run the systems required to keep the boiler fired and generate electricity, so the generators remained shut down. Because the systems needed to fire the boilers and manage steam flow to the engines were themselves operated by steam, not electricity, the ship could be sailed despite this condition.

Other examples of this thinking could be found in the gunnery, all which could be manually operated. It was possible to fire torpedoes without electricity, as well as drop depth charges. The naval architects who designed the ship knew that electrical systems would be first to be knocked out during combat, so they did their best to minimize dependence on electronics to handle the ship. That philosophy proved to be very wise.

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's been an interesting couple of months of heart contretemps. I had to undergo some more heart stuff, one procedure being a catheter ablation—two of them, actually.

In the months that had followed the implantation of the pacemaker last year, I had developed persistent arrhythmia that was causing me some grief. In February, the arrhythmia, which was a combination of atrial fibrillation (afib) and premature ventricular contractions (PVC) conspired to take me out by causing an almost complete loss of blood pressure. At one point, I went down to 62/35, which is when I ended up in a heap on the deck.

Anyhow, following the ablations, my heart stayed in rhythm for about a week and then returned to the afib and PVC routine, again putting me in the hospital. I underwent several cardioversions to try force my heart back into rhythm. The third time was literally the charm. After a few days in the hospital for observation purposes, I was discharged to cardiovascular rehab and finally sent home. I've slowly rebounded, and actually feel better than I did a year ago.


That temporary handicap placard is now a permanent one. I poop out too quickly to walk any significant distance and have been declared legally disabled. The opinion of the cardiologists who have been caring for me is it is a permanent condition. Urk!

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

Thankyou for the good news!

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http://WilsonMinesCo.com/ lots of 6502 resources
The "second front page" is http://wilsonminesco.com/links.html .
What's an additional VIA among friends, anyhow?

Thanks for the update BDD, sounds like you've been through the mill, but coming out feeling better than you had before is surely a very good thing.

Thanks for the update BDD. Hope you get back to 100% shortly. Glad to see you're back on your feet at least!

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Cat; the other white meat.

Nice that your feeling better. Let's keep the trend going.

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Bill

I'm trying!

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

The joke around the house is it takes more than a couple of doctors to kill me!

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

Good to hear/see that you're back! I know about most of those things you've been experiencing... having aging parents at 88 and 90, not a lot of fun with endless doctor visits. Hopefully you can get back to completing POC V2 (saw the updated pix, looks very nice). All the best for recovering.

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Regards, KM
https://github.com/floobydust

Thanks for the update, glad to know that you made it back from hospital again.
Good luck with your project and with trying to recover.

Nice to hear you've actually managed to gain some ground compared to a year ago!

( ps and btw: Arrhythmia, eh? For a bass player that'll be a matter of some concern! )

best regards,
Jeff

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In 1988 my 65C02 got six new registers and 44 new full-speed instructions!
https://laughtonelectronics.com/Arcana/ ... mmary.html

_________________
http://WilsonMinesCo.com/ lots of 6502 resources
The "second front page" is http://wilsonminesco.com/links.html .
What's an additional VIA among friends, anyhow?