LCARS

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Short description: Fictional computer operating system utilized in Star Trek

Template:Infobox fictional artifact

An LCARS panel from Star Trek: Voyager, similar to one shown in the third-season episode "Displaced". The colors of the backlit artwork have faded over time; the panel looks more yellow and blue in the episode.

In the Star Trek fictional universe, LCARS (/ˈɛlkɑːrz/; an acronym for Library Computer Access/Retrieval System) is a computer operating system. Within Star Trek chronology, the term was first used in the Star Trek: The Next Generation series.

Production

The LCARS graphical user interface was designed by scenic art supervisor and technical consultant Michael Okuda. The original design concept was influenced by a request from Gene Roddenberry that the instrument panels not have a great deal of activity on them.[1] This minimalized look was designed to give a sense that the technology was much more advanced than in the original Star Trek.[1]

On Star Trek: The Next Generation, many of the buttons were labeled with the initials of members of the production crew and were referred to as "Okudagrams."[2]

PADD

Close-up of a PADD, as seen in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

The LCARS interface is often seen used on a PADD (Personal Access Display Device), a hand-held computer.[3]

At seven-inch (180 mm), similarly sized modern tablet computers such as the Nexus 7, Amazon Fire, BlackBerry PlayBook, and iPad Mini have been compared with the PADD.[4][5] Several mobile apps were created which offered an LCARS-style interface.[6][7]

Legal

CBS Television Studios claims to hold the copyright on LCARS. Google was sent a DMCA letter to remove the Android app called Tricorder since its use of the LCARS interface was un-licensed. The application was later re-uploaded under a different title, but it was removed again.[8]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Michael Okuda interview". Star Trek: The Magazine 1 (7): 22. November 1999. 
  2. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named techmanual
  3. Stuart, Rick D.; Terra, John (September 1988). Star Trek: The Next Generation Officer's Manual. FASA Corporation. ISBN 1-55560-079-4. 
  4. Fung, Brian (26 July 2012). "Make It So: What Star Trek Tells Us About How to Make Tablets". The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/07/make-it-so-what-star-trek-tells-us-about-how-to-make-tablets/260337/. 
  5. Foresman, Chris (September 10, 2016). "How Star Trek artists imagined the iPad… nearly 30 years ago". Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/09/how-star-trek-artists-imagined-the-ipad-23-years-ago/. 
  6. Pascale, Anthony (April 11, 2010). "New 'LCARS' iPad Application Released". https://trekmovie.com/2010/04/11/new-lcars-ipad-application-released/. 
  7. Paul, Ryan (July 16, 2011). "Make It So: Hands-On With Official Star Trek iPad App". Wired. https://www.wired.com/2011/07/star-trek-padd-ipad/. 
  8. "Tricorder - Android Projects by Moonblink". http://code.google.com/p/moonblink/wiki/Tricorder. 

External links