Imperial energy production in Federation tech

[Serafina]

Well, Han and Chewie seem to be able to do the work on their own.
They may use highly sophisticated tools, but they are basically doing mechanical work - they do not need sophisticated computers/droids/whatever. No canon known to me shows that they need <technobabble>tools.

SW-Starships (and other technology) seem to be highly user-friendly. While maintenance would be difficult for ST-personell, they could propably do it. Most difficultys would occur due to lack of knowledge, but again, Han and Chewie can do it, too. And they are hardly professional technicians.

If we assume they have access to SW-reactors, we can also assume they have access to the power-conversion technology. After all, the radiation (or whatever hypermatter-reactors produce) has to be converted into electricity some way - why would you place it in a completly different location than the reactor?

Oh, and we see some electrics sparks during a repair scene in A new Hope (SW 5). me thinks.
There is no evidence that they use some kind of exotic "energy" to run their ships.
And as we do have no reason to assume they do, electricity seems reasonable.
For thermal energy, they DO use electricity ( just search for electricity).
Using different kind of power would be impratical.
Also, electronic devices (for lack of a better word) like Darth Vaders suit are affected by force lightning and simmilar overloads (R2 hitting a power outlet). While they could use electricity for small devices and <technobabble> for starship weapons, it would be impractical. They would, if they had a pressing reason, but it never gets mentioned in any canon i know.

[Batman]

Well, Han and Chewie seem to be able to do the work on their own.
They may use highly sophisticated tools, but they are basically doing mechanical work - they do not need sophisticated computers/droids/whatever. No canon known to me shows that they need <technobabble>tools.

They needed 3PO to talk to the Falcon's computer in ESB and DO explain what a hydrospanner is used for, or what an alluvial damper does.
THEY know. A Fedtech would NOT.

SW-Starships (and other technology) seem to be highly user-friendly. While maintenance would be difficult for ST-personell, they could propably do it.

As per your say so.

Most difficultys would occur due to lack of knowledge, but again, Han and Chewie can do it, too. And they are hardly professional technicians.

They most certainly ARE. They know, by education and experience, how to service that technology to the extent of their abilities, and they STILL have to routinely turn in the Falcon for more complex maintenance to people better qualified than them (like Doc Daneeka for example).
They can do the in-universe equivalent of changing a tire, installing a new radio or juryrigging a drive belt and that's it.

If we assume they have access to SW-reactors, we can also assume they have access to the power-conversion technology.

As per-you saying so.

After all, the radiation (or whatever hypermatter-reactors produce) has to be converted into electricity some way - why would you place it in a completly different location than the reactor?

This is relevant how?

Oh, and we see some electrics sparks during a repair scene in A new Hope (SW 5). me thinks.

ANH is Episode IV. And there's plenty of ways to produce sparks without involving electricity.

There is no evidence that they use some kind of exotic "energy" to run their ships.
And as we do have no reason to assume they do, electricity seems reasonable.
For thermal energy, they DO use electricity ( just search for electricity).

A pity starships don't run on geothermal energy.

Using different kind of power would be impratical.

As per-you saying so.

Also, electronic devices (for lack of a better word) like Darth Vaders suit are affected by force lightning and simmilar overloads (R2 hitting a power outlet). While they could use electricity for small devices and <technobabble> for starship weapons, it would be impractical.

As per-you saying so.

[Kythnos]

Well, Han and Chewie seem to be able to do the work on their own.
They may use highly sophisticated tools, but they are basically doing mechanical work - they do not need sophisticated computers/droids/whatever. No canon known to me shows that they need <technobabble>tools.

If memory severs Han was trained in an Imperial Academy for at least a few years. And Wookies where used as slave labor to construct the first Death Star, so as a race they had many technical skills. Add to the fact that they grew up in a universe where they had that the Tech for thousands of years. It would be like saying because I can fix cars, I can fix airplanes. Training in one field will not help much in the other

[Littlefoot]

I think the point is that if ST techs were to aquire a reactor of whatever size, they should be able to aquire either A) a technician or droid that knows the tech, or B) the technical training to use it. Why? Because it is pretty much agreed that they would never be able to steal the tech and definetly would die horrible (but at least quick) deaths if they tried to take it by force. That leaves trade, either with the Empire, the Rebels or on the black market. So if they can afford a reactor, it stands to reason they can afford other things neccesary to run and maintain it. Yes, I know, Batman. Because I say so. But the only reason this doesn't work is because you say so.

[Serafina]

About the power-conversion (converting whatever SW-reactors are emitting into electricity).

We are talking about: "What if the Federation had access to SW-reactors? Could they use it in their ships?".
They have to get the reactors somehow. They have three ways to achieve this:
-Steal it. There are lots of small starfighters with hypermatter-reactors.
-Find a derelict vessel.
If they can do this, they can also aquire the power-conversion. Why?
Well, it is most likely "part of the reactor". While this may not be correct in a technical way, the reactor and the power-conversion are most likely located next to each other. They HAVE to be if a hypermatter-reactor is emitting any kind of radiation.
Saying "they can aquire the reactor, but not the power-conversion" is like saying "they can aquire my graphic card, but not my sound card". If they have access to one, they have access to the other - because they are located next to each other.
If you want to say they are not located next to each other, there has to be a reason. We have good real life reasons for them to be.

If they aquire the technology by buying stolen blueprints, they would propably aquire the power conversion, too. Like buying a PC but not a monitor (if you do not already have one).

If memory severs Han was trained in an Imperial Academy for at least a few years. And Wookies where used as slave labor to construct the first Death Star, so as a race they had many technical skills. Add to the fact that they grew up in a universe where they had that the Tech for thousands of years. It would be like saying because I can fix cars, I can fix airplanes. Training in one field will not help much in the other

Ok, those are good reasons why fed-techs would have problems. But those are problems you CAN solve: Once you have the technology, you can also figure out how to use it (if you have enough time and spare parts, and do not blow yourself up). If they are testing it for 10, 15 years they would propably know enough to handle hypermatter reactors (not how to BUILD them, how to USE them and do maintenance).
Of course, as we know the federation, they would propably say "hey, we have fancy new technology - lets do our fist tests on a full-fledged starship, not in a boring lab".

Is still think that SW-technology tends to be user-friendly. If only because it is very advanced and established tech, they would TRY to make it user-friendly (compare todays computers with computers 30 years ago).

[Kythnos]

Ok, those are good reasons why fed-techs would have problems. But those are problems you CAN solve: Once you have the technology, you can also figure out how to use it (if you have enough time and spare parts, and do not blow yourself up). If they are testing it for 10, 15 years they would propably know enough to handle hypermatter reactors (not how to BUILD them, how to USE them and do maintenance).
Of course, as we know the federation, they would propably say "hey, we have fancy new technology - lets do our fist tests on a full-fledged starship, not in a boring lab".

Ok I agree they would be able to acquire the knowledge needed given enough time studying it. My point was that Han and Chewie where not homeless bums that happened to steal/acquire a ship and magically had the skill and knowledge to fly and fix it.

Is still think that SW-technology tends to be user-friendly. If only because it is very advanced and established tech, they would TRY to make it user-friendly (compare todays computers with computers 30 years ago).

I am not sure if “user friendly” means what you think it means.
Yes lets compare computers between now and 30 years ago, today computers are very common and anyone can “use” one. 30 years ago computers where very rare and programming one was a skill that few people had. So how many people today can program a computer amazingly the number is still very low, even thought the numbers of computers has grown so that most people have them in their house, and how many of those people truly understand how the programming language is translated into 1 and 0 that the computers really understands? The Technology has reach a level where people do not need to know how a computer works to use one, the tech runs itself to the benefit of the person using it. (For example I have a decent knowledge of small engine repair and there was a time when I could work on my car without much help. That is no longer true as modern cars are more and more controlled by a computer than mechanics. They maybe user friendly, but not to a real mechanic, they are great for parts changers the computer tell them what part need to be changed and they do it. The machine tells them what to replace not why, which means the problems keep coming back. This is not a problem in a through away society, where items are replaced and not fixed.) How many people can replace or add items to their computer, most people take it to a shop for such things even thought most items are plug and play.
Now Star Trek is user friendly if you woke up tomorrow in a star trek ship you could ask the computer how to do anything, you just don’t see that in Star Wars.

[Darth Wong]

They have to get the reactors somehow. They have three ways to achieve this:
-Steal it. There are lots of small starfighters with hypermatter-reactors.

And there are lots of cars with internal combustion engines. Does this mean you could stick the engine from a modern car onto a primitive horse-drawn wagon and it would just work? All you'd have is a wooden wagon with a big heavy engine sitting on it.

-Find a derelict vessel.
If they can do this, they can also aquire the power-conversion. Why?
Well, it is most likely "part of the reactor". While this may not be correct in a technical way, the reactor and the power-conversion are most likely located next to each other. They HAVE to be if a hypermatter-reactor is emitting any kind of radiation.

That's utter horseshit. First, you're assuming that the power is already being converted into something they can use. Second, you're assuming that the power conversion part of the system is intact and functional, even though it's a derelict.

Saying "they can aquire the reactor, but not the power-conversion" is like saying "they can aquire my graphic card, but not my sound card". If they have access to one, they have access to the other - because they are located next to each other.

And yet, I can demonstrate quite easily that it is possible for someone to grab a graphic card out of a computer but not the sound card. In fact, I cannot even remove the sound card from my computer at all; it's built onto the motherboard. And neither of them would be any use to me if the motherboard is non-functional and I don't understand the interfaces.

If you want to say they are not located next to each other, there has to be a reason. We have good real life reasons for them to be.

If they aquire the technology by buying stolen blueprints, they would propably aquire the power conversion, too. Like buying a PC but not a monitor (if you do not already have one).

More horseshit. If you had ever seen real engineering blueprints in your life, you would know that you can't figure out the support technologies from them, for the simple reason that many of the most critical components are typically listed in a Bill 0f Materials, with no attached documentation explaining how they work or even precisely how they are designed.

Ok, those are good reasons why fed-techs would have problems. But those are problems you CAN solve: Once you have the technology, you can also figure out how to use it (if you have enough time and spare parts, and do not blow yourself up). If they are testing it for 10, 15 years they would propably know enough to handle hypermatter reactors (not how to BUILD them, how to USE them and do maintenance).

You can't refute the various arguments raised against this claim by simply saying it.

Is still think that SW-technology tends to be user-friendly. If only because it is very advanced and established tech, they would TRY to make it user-friendly (compare todays computers with computers 30 years ago).

And try to imagine someone taking a modern high-end graphics card and using it ... 30 years ago. How about 100 years ago?

[Lord Revan]

to add to what Mike said, even assuming SW convert their power into something ST ships can use, any reactor from a derelict would likely be in less then optimal condition so would probably need at least partial rebuild. Let assume that in addition to the reactor feds have gotten hold of blueprint for the reactor, now in all likelyhood you'd get parts in there that way say some thing like

power distribution computer:use preferbly Cybot Galactica, model mdsc-24390 droid brain but if one isn't avaible you can also use...

(note that as far as I know the model number isn't real but it's something I made up to illustrate a point).

now for a SW engineer this would be clear, you just buy a droid brain listed there, no big deal, but for a federation engineer this would be a really big as they cannot build a droid-brain since they don't know a thing about them and to try to jury rig a power distrubution computer would spell a disaster.

[Serafina]

And there are lots of cars with internal combustion engines. Does this mean you could stick the engine from a modern car onto a primitive horse-drawn wagon and it would just work? All you'd have is a wooden wagon with a big heavy engine sitting on it.

No - but if someone (say, an alien) wants to aquire and study an modern combustion engine, there are a lot of cars he can steal (or just take the engine from). That was the point i made.

And yet, I can demonstrate quite easily that it is possible for someone to grab a graphic card out of a computer but not the sound card. In fact, I cannot even remove the sound card from my computer at all; it's built onto the motherboard. And neither of them would be any use to me if the motherboard is non-functional and I don't understand the interfaces.

True. However, if we deassemble the computer, there could be a possiblity to aquire the soundcard. If it is completly on-board, it is not a seperate card.
There is, of course, the possiblity that SW-ships are built in a way where it is utterly impossible to remove the power-conversion (like your soundcard). So far, i know no proof for this. This does not make my assumption that it IS possible correct, of course. But, for the sake of the argumentation, i assume it is possible unless proven otherwise.

More horseshit. If you had ever seen real engineering blueprints in your life, you would know that you can't figure out the support technologies from them, for the simple reason that many of the most critical components are typically listed in a Bill 0f Materials, with no attached documentation explaining how they work or even precisely how they are designed.

I did NOT say that they somehow, magically, figure out the power-conversion technology form the reactor blueprints.
But if they can buy/steal the reactor blueprints, it is possible that they can also buy/steal the power-conversion blueprints. There is the possibility that they fail doing this, but thats speculation.

Btw, your assumption that i never saw a engineering blueprint is utterly correct. But i know what a blueprint is, and that it is impossible to magically figure out how to build something completly different with it.

You can't refute the various arguments raised against this claim by simply saying it.

Hm, i will concede my error - given my lack of knowledge, i do not claim enough cedibility to justifiy if they can figure it out or not.

And try to imagine someone taking a modern high-end graphics card and using it ... 30 years ago. How about 100 years ago?

Well, i do not think "using a grapihcs card" is a good example. How do we define "using a graphics card"?
I do not use my graphics card in the same sense as is use, say, a telephone. I use my computer, but not the graphics card (at least not directly).
Someone 30 (or perhaps even 100) years ago could propably learn how to use a modern-day computer. After all, someone without techical knowledge (say, from a poor third-world region) can do so, too.
If we are talking about "using the user-interface", that is.
If we are talking about technical stuff (like maintenace), you are correct: Someone 100 years ago had next to no chance to figure out how to assemble a modern computer (exept trial and error and lots of luck).

[Darth Wong]

Let's take a specific example of a very simple item on a Bill of Materials: PARKER HYD CYL 25HCHEBU8Ax

Question: what the fuck would a person from the 19th century do with that? All he sees on the blueprint is a vague rectangle where this part goes, and information about how to connect it to other parts of the assembly. Are you suggesting that not only will they get blueprints, but they will also get blueprints and scientific explanations of all the parts from all of the sub-contractors associated with a hugely complicated project like a spacecraft?

PS. You're still assuming that if they "study" it, they will inevitably be able to figure it out in a reasonable timeframe. You have failed to justify this assumption, and stating it several times in several ways with several different examples does not make it any more justified than before. You've conceded they can't simply use it; they must gain some understanding first, which takes us right back to the problem that their tech base must be comparable.

[Cri_Havoc]

So first off, there may be some confusion over just what is a part of the reactor. The way I figure it, it should at the very least include the actual power 'source', i.e. whatever deals with the actual hypermatter/fuel/something and whatever it is that is extracted from the hypermatter, and whatever SW tech is used to convert this into a usable energy for all the wonderful SW gadgets and gizmos (I'm not assuming here that that this energy is actually electricity, simply whatever it is SW stuff runs off. Mojo.) Now IF the output form of energy is not usable electricity (is that, in a sense, what is used in ST? I'm assuming a little here, but you'll understand what I'm getting at) then the only missing step is an energy conversion to something that can be used, which is FAR from impossible. Conversions from exotic/unfamiliar forms of energy to something useful has been demonstrated in ST, and tons or everyday SW machinery does produce forms of energy with which we ARE familiar with and can readily use as a power source. Kind of like using a TIE fighter to power your windmill (don't take me TOO seriously with that analogy, please): The fuel is converted into a potentially 'unknown' kind of energy, that energy is used in the TIE engine, and then high-velocity ions would certainly provide ample opportunity to collect energy (basically operating a second ion engine in reverse). It's just an analogy! Not too serious about the windmill!

I still don't see that the technology in SW is necessarily so complex that it can't be understood with just some time. Yes, Han and Chewie have worked with this machinery for quite some time and are familiar with it, but did they have to become PHDs (or the SW equivalent) in order to do so? They are not exactly rocket scientist. I still see it as being that certain discoveries have not been made by the feds that are readily available in the SW world, in part perhaps due to the knowledge of the Force (from more skimming around different articles, I think I remember that the first hyperdrives were actually force-related, somehow.) But expose these Federation scientists to these same new discoveries, and I don't think they'll be the proverbial caveman trying to figure out quantum mechanics all over again: the science doesn't seem that hard, it's just the discovery/breakthrough that they missed, and through no necessary oversight of their own. And, the information hardly seems a secret: any astromech droid bartered for/stolen/gifted could tell you everything you want to know about maintaining the reactors, quite likely, and R2 probably has a laserjet hidden in his backside to print the 'dummy's guide to keeping your cruiser cruising'.

I'd also like to point out that we sort of jumped to hypermatter reactors rather quickly, as well. SW reactors come in just about every make and model you can imagine, many which use the same principles that we see in ST. It would seem a little odd that systems are designed to run off of some strange and exotic energy form when at the same time energy can be switched to rather common energy forms as well. And, or course, this means that you don't have to be considering a hypermatter reactor in this situation, I mean, apparently a TIE fighter's solar panels with generator can generate the fuel which powers it (for some reason, this is a concept which I REALLY want to cry foul about in another thread if I find it), so with all these options, I see the Feds adopting a SW power source in their ships (WITH SOME WORK) to be a very reasonable possibility.

Still a far cry from ever letting them win the war.

[AdmiralKanos]

You haven't understood a damned thing we've said in this entire thread, have you?

[Lord Revan]

I'm I misunderstanding here or are some people (or person) suggesting adapting an alien device or parts of it using blueprints writen in alien language using unfalmiliar terminogy in a reasonble timeframe?

[open_sketchbook]

You know what? This isn't going anywhere. Let's redefine the proposition.

Lets say the Federation as of just after Nemesis and the Rebel Alliance/New Republic as of just after Endor contact each other through a small wormhole. Let's further assume, motivations aside, that the Federation sees the absurdly high power outputs available to the Rebels, do the diplomacy dance, and convince the Rebel Alliance help them adapt hypermatter technology to their vessels. The Rebels are standing by with tools, tech and engineers, and can step in to help the Federation. They walk them through the basics of hypermatter, teach them how to make the reactors work safely, how to convert the energy for their use, how to build a power grid that can handle all that, etc, over however long it might take to do so. They supply them, as they are able, with examples, samples and advice. At the end of this long road, the Federation tries the big experiment, and builds themselves an Intrepid-class, the USS Dante with a hypermatter reactor roughly equivalent to the sort that makes your average Imperial Gunboat go. Assuming they are able to scale their other technologies appropriately, what sorts of things will the Dante be able to do?

There. I think that covers it.

[Serafina]

I'm I misunderstanding here or are some people (or person) suggesting adapting an alien device or parts of it using blueprints writen in alien language using unfalmiliar terminogy in a reasonble timeframe?

Yes, i was suggesting that.
Yes, it WAS foolish.
I admitted that i do not really know how a blueprint looks (

Btw, your assumption that i never saw a engineering blueprint is utterly correct. But i know what a blueprint is, and that it is impossible to magically figure out how to build something completly different with it.

).
I have a vague idea, but no real knowledge.
Heck, i know most of have more technical knowledge than me - i was merely assuming and speculating about possiblities.

So they can NOT use the blueprints to build a reactor (even if they have the parts to do it).
This leaves two possiblities: Stealing or buying the whole device.

However, what i said about "using" the reactor would be possible. NOT doing maintenace or similar technical stuff.
Most of my last post was about "using" he reactor.

Oh, the techbase IS comparable. It is not the same, but there is less difference than between a horsecart and a car - a horsecart is using horses, while a car is using some kind of machine. They both use reactors to produce energy (propably electricity) and use that energy to run various systems (weapons, propulsion, computers etc.)

IF (this may be a big if) SW-reactors are producing electrical energy (i see no reason to assume they do not), then a ST-ship could use that energy - but only if they can use the reactor to produce electrical energy (hence the power-conversion device).

Buidling and maintenance may be a completly different story -but they could USE it.
The same way i use a computer - i do not know how to build one (i can assemble the parts, but thats not much) or most of the complex configuration/programming stuff.

After all, the question of the OP was

Could the power source used by Star Wars ships be somehow channeled into Federation ships?

. And i see no reason why they could not channel it into a ST ship - maintenance, building and understanding the science are different matters.

[Serafina]

You know what? This isn't going anywhere. Let's redefine the proposition.

Lets say the Federation as of just after Nemesis and the Rebel Alliance/New Republic as of just after Endor contact each other through a small wormhole. Let's further assume, motivations aside, that the Federation sees the absurdly high power outputs available to the Rebels, do the diplomacy dance, and convince the Rebel Alliance help them adapt hypermatter technology to their vessels. The Rebels are standing by with tools, tech and engineers, and can step in to help the Federation. They walk them through the basics of hypermatter, teach them how to make the reactors work safely, how to convert the energy for their use, how to build a power grid that can handle all that, etc, over however long it might take to do so. They supply them, as they are able, with examples, samples and advice. At the end of this long road, the Federation tries the big experiment, and builds themselves an Intrepid-class, the USS Dante with a hypermatter reactor roughly equivalent to the sort that makes your average Imperial Gunboat go. Assuming they are able to scale their other technologies appropriately, what sorts of things will the Dante be able to do?

There. I think that covers it.

Yeah - this is, more or less, the basic question i wanted to answer - could a federation vessel use a hypermatter reactor as a power source?
They could not build one, they propably dont have the tools to do maintenance on their own, they may not understand the underlying science - but could a fed-vessel with a working hypermatter-reactor work at all?

[Batman]

There is vastly MORE difference in the tech base than between the horsecart and the car. At least both the horsecart and the car use wheels. Where talking about a century or two between horse-drawn wagon and automobile versus tens of thousands of years between Trek and Wars.
Just because both sides use devices called 'reactors' doesn't mean BEANS. We use reactors today too, and we use those to run computers, weapons etc. By your reasoning we have a tech base comparable to Star Wars.

[Lord Revan]

the thing here is that you're suggesting mating 2 peices of essentially alien (to each other) technologies with a technology gap of something around 25 000 years at least (the Galactic Republic had been around in 1 form or another for this long and it's existance pretty demands FTL capability).

this isn't exactly you trying to make a 30 year old computer to work, it's more like someone from ancient egypt trying to adapt the engine from a 2008 model car into his cart.

sure the Warp-core is sometimes called an anti-matter reactor and it produces power in some form but the similarities with Hypermatter reactors pretty much end there (those similarities being what's it called and it's purpose in the ship (aka reactor and power generation) and those are such general thing that for the purpose of this disussion they're irrelevant).

given infinite time frame I'm sure that the ST tech will figure it out, but within reasonble time frame (aka years max not millenia) there's pretty much no chance they'll make it

[Serafina]

I already said that ST could propably NOT build or study SW-tech in any reasonable amount of time.

But they propably COULD use SW-reactors to produce energy, if one one those points are true:

-SW-tech is user-friendly and rarely needs maintenace. This is a somewhat doubtfull claim. While the Millenium Falcon is
no good example that SW-tech needs lots of maintenance (it is ~60 years old and heavily modified), the fact that the
Naboo Royal Starship carried multiple astromech droids is evidence that maintenace is a regular occurence.
Of course, no sane person would want to use a starship that he can not repair at all.

-ST has some means to understand how to do maintenace to SW-tech. It is unlikely (as several people pointed out
already) that they could do so on their own.
But what if they had help? As previously suggested, what if some benevolent force from SW helps the federation to
understand SW-energy technology? Could they use the power SW-reactors produce?

AS the low-maintenace assumption is unlikely, we must use the External Help assumption.

If they have external help, i think ST-ships COULD use SW-energy technology within a reasonable timeframe (multiple years/a few decades) without replacing all of their technology (they are still using phasers, warp etc. , NOT SW-weapons/hyperdrive).
I do not see any evidence that SW-reactors are producing something different than plain, old, reliable electricity.
There is not a single mention of this in all of SW-canonh (at least, i know no mention).
And we have no reason to assume they do: They propably have better cables, capacitors, batteries etc. to handle the high power outputs. And until there is evidence that there is a physical, insurmountable obstacle that prevents such devices (or a canon evidence), we do not NEED to assume they are using something different than electricity.


Thus, if ST can somehow understand and use SW-reactors, they could run their ships with SW-reactors.

Unrelated:
I do not think that the claim "25.000 year technology gap" is true.
Of course, there is a HUGE technology gap between SW and ST, propably thousands of years.
But then again, there is not much technical evolution during these 25.000 years - they have somewhat better droids/weapons/hyerdrives and some new technology (lightsabers), but no radical changes.
I do NOT say that there is only a small gap - i just think that the 25.000 years figure is not necessarily correct.

Edit: some spelling corrections.

[Kartr_Kana]

I do not think that the claim "25.000 year technology gap" is true.

Xim the Despot is the last recorded user of "subspace" technology. Xim was defeated before the Republic was formed 25,000 years ago. The gap does exist.

-ST has some means to understand how to do maintenace to SW-tech.

No they don't, any similar technology was discarded by the SW galaxy 25,000 years ago.

[Serafina]

Argh...either my english is worse than i thought, or you need to learn how to read.

I said "if one of those points are true". This was a "what if" question. When one of those points are given, then they could do X. Thats like saying "if i had 10 million dollars i could do X".

Second, i merely said that i do not think that the "25.000 years" figure is correct.
I even wrote that there i a HUGE technological gap. But the mere number of years is misleading, because SW had no true technological innovations (or very few of them) for at least some thousands of years - they DID improve their technology by means of better engineering, but they did not invent lots of radically new stuff - most technologys have been around for thousands of years, more or less unchanged.
A blaster is a blaser, even if one of them has superior crafting and way more power.

[Cri_Havoc]

Xim the Despot is the last recorded user of "subspace" technology. Xim was defeated before the Republic was formed 25,000 years ago. The gap does exist.

What EU books/whatever can I find this? Just curious, sounds cool.

the fact that the
Naboo Royal Starship carried multiple astromech droids is evidence that maintenace is a regular occurence.
Of course, no sane person would want to use a starship that he can not repair at all.

Really? That's the only reason we can think that they're on board? Not like all the other reasons that we saw them there for? I agree, pretty much any kind of technology will need maintenance of some kind, but as SW tech goes (that we've seen), it seems rather low-maintenance, compared to ST tech. And yes, it might not take much to get one droid who could basically tell the Feds everything they could want to know.

-ST has some means to understand how to do maintenace to SW-tech. It is unlikely (as several people pointed out
already) that they could do so on their own.

I'll speak to this once, since quite a few people are saying that the ST guys have no hope in hell of understanding the technology: The imperial academy can put out competent engineers in a relatively short period of time. Even people with no formal training/schooling appear to be quite comfortable learning SW tech just through their everyday interactions. The learning process doesn't seem that hard (especially with a little help from a familiar person or a droid/database), and the technology doesn't require AND kind of genius to work with. It seems much simpler than what it's capabilities might indicate. Moreover, we have TONS of references to Feds finding, tinkering with, understanding, repairing and using alien technology, even when it is more advanced than their own and in a different language (I'm surprised someone brought up language, that seems to be one of the smallest hurdles to overcome, even easier than figuring out what the hydrospanner does, given that it's so common in ST.) This is, in fact, the basis for plenty of the episodes and tales.

Speaking to the technology gap, I'm in agreement that it's not so much a better understanding of science that allows SW tech to be developed, just some discoveries that the Feds haven't made yet. And also, it does occur that tons of people in the SW universe can use SW tech without an understanding of the science involved, even major items, like hyperspace drives, are actually a bit of a mystery to scientist in SW: they have developed, maintained, operated and produced technology which they do not fundamentally understand.

I'm I misunderstanding here or are some people (or person) suggesting adapting an alien device or parts of it using blueprints writen in alien language using unfalmiliar terminogy in a reasonble timeframe?

Well, yes. See above, but essentially, this is how things go down in a lot of ST examples. Engineers always seem all too eager to hop over to another ship and lend a hand to work with alien and even advanced technology that they've never seen before, and the learning curve seems pretty fast.

[Serafina]

Well, what else than maintenace/repairs are astromech droids doing?
We only see the Astromechs trying to repair some damage in TPM - nothing else.

Sure, R2 is doing lots of other stuff - but R2 is not your typical astromech droid.

The fact that the Royal Yacht is not a combat ship (they do not carry a single weapon) and still carrying at least half a dozen astromechs means that they have a reason to do so - as it is not a combat ship, this will be maintenace.

There IS a huge technological gap between SW and ST.
I just said that the 25.000 years figure is misleading. SW seems to have reached a "technological peak" - they can improve what they already have, try different ship designs and other stuff, but there are few new invetions (new types of weapons/shields/propulsion/scanners.) Heck, even the DS-superlaser is not "new" - it is way bigger than any superlaser built before, a great engineering feat, but not a completly new technology.

[Cri_Havoc]

Well, what else than maintenace/repairs are astromech droids doing?
We only see the Astromechs trying to repair some damage in TPM - nothing else.

Well, precisely, and not exactly. We've seen them repair (note, interestingly enough, that's not exactly the same as maintenance). But we've basically seen them act as would a crew member, operating systems (apparently they can pilot?), turning whatnot on and off and such.

Sure, R2 is doing lots of other stuff - but R2 is not your typical astromech droid.

Now, I'll admit I'm a little fuzzy on this, but R2 isn't some super-droid, is he? I think I vaguely remember something about his memory not being frequently wiped, but that doesn't seem to extend his actual abilities much over another droid, I don't think. (Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have R2 in the backseat over any other droid any given day of the week. Love the little guy.)

There IS a huge technological gap between SW and ST.
I just said that the 25.000 years figure is misleading. SW seems to have reached a "technological peak" - they can improve what they already have, try different ship designs and other stuff, but there are few new invetions (new types of weapons/shields/propulsion/scanners.) Heck, even the DS-superlaser is not "new" - it is way bigger than any superlaser built before, a great engineering feat, but not a completly new technology.

There may be a gap (I believe there probably is), but why do we believe it's so large that it can't be understood? Feds have consistently demonstrated an ability to analyze and operate equipment a fair bit more advanced than their own. And Star Wars tech does seem to operate on a few principles that simply remain "undiscovered" in ST universe, not "too complicated for them to understand/use, and that's why they can't have it", given who DOES 'understand' (and I still use that term loosely) and use the SW tech. And bigger doesn't necessarily mean it gets more and more complicated (oddly enough, we see many examples where bigger is actually less technologically difficult to achieve (hard resource wise, I know!)

[Kythnos]

Now, I'll admit I'm a little fuzzy on this, but R2 isn't some super-droid, is he? I think I vaguely remember something about his memory not being frequently wiped, but that doesn't seem to extend his actual abilities much over another droid, I don't think. (Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have R2 in the backseat over any other droid any given day of the week. Love the little guy.)

Maybe because keeping his programmed skills from all his other jobs gives him a much larger skill set to use? You are saying that a 40year old person is no smarter than a 4 year old, personally I think you are wrong.

There may be a gap (I believe there probably is), but why do we believe it's so large that it can't be understood? Feds have consistently demonstrated an ability to analyze and operate equipment a fair bit more advanced than their own. And Star Wars tech does seem to operate on a few principles that simply remain "undiscovered" in ST universe, not "too complicated for them to understand/use, and that's why they can't have it", given who DOES 'understand' (and I still use that term loosely) and use the SW tech. And bigger doesn't necessarily mean it gets more and more complicated (oddly enough, we see many examples where bigger is actually less technologically difficult to achieve (hard resource wise, I know!)

No you refuse to believe their is a gap because "you" don't want there to be. According to you the Caveman that discovered fire could understand how a Nuclear Reactor works just because both use "heat". There are 1000s of years of scientific progress between the 2 items, and you would have to fill him in on all the missing knowledge (Starting with Language to understand you then into mathematics.) Star Wars civilization has been Traveling between worlds for "Thousands of Years", Star Trek for only a few hundred, there is a massive difference between the 2 tech leveling that can not be over come with a few words of advice. Ok the more I think about it the Caveman is a Hyperbole.
Here is a better illustration:

If you took a modern Aircraft carrier and sent it back in time to December 7th 1941, with a full compliment of weapons and Crew (Sorry I could not resist the Final Countdown reference). According to you the US would be turning out Jet aircraft and missiles with in a year. When the technology to STUDY the “microchip” that runs so many of the modern systems has not been invented. In reality it would take at least 10 years before that could happen there is just too many things to build from scratch, even with all the help of the crew trained in using and repairing the Tech. And that is just 60 year difference in Technology, but I guess 1000s of years and dozens of years are all about the same.