Hex (Discworld)

Hex is a computer unlike any other the Disc has ever seen (which is not particularly hard since all other 'computers' on the Disc consist of druidic stone circles). Hex runs and evolves under the watchful eyes of apprentice wizard Ponder Stibbons, who becomes the IT manager at the Unseen University in the city of Ankh-Morpork because he's the only one who understands what he's talking about.

Hex is activated by initializing the GBL, which Stibbons reluctantly admits means "pulling the Great Big Lever". This releases millions of ants into a network of glass tubes that make up the bulk of Hex, hence the sticker on Hex that reads Anthill inside, a pun on Intel’s ad slogan Intel Inside. Hex "thinks" by controlling which tubes the ants can crawl through, thus allowing it to perform increasingly complex computations if enough ants are provided (i.e. if there are enough bugs in the system). Hex can be given input through a huge wooden keyboard, in analogue writing by means of a complicated mechanical eye designed by Hex itself, or vocally through an old hearing trumpet, and gives output by means of a quill on a hinged lever. It is all powered by a waterwheel covered in sheep skulls. That is, male sheep, in other words; ram.

There is also a mouse that has built its nest in the middle of Hex. It doesn't seem to do anything, but Hex stops working if it is removed. Hex also stops working (with the error message "Mine! Waah!") if the FTB (Fluffy Teddy Bear, a gift from the Hogfather) is removed. Stibbons is concerned by these signs that Hex might be alive, but insists that it only thinks it is.

Hex's long-term memory storage is a massive beehive contained in the next room.

When it is particularly busy, an hourglass comes down on a spring - another sideways reference to Windows.

Oddly, The Science of Discworld puts the name Hex in small capital letters that are the same type as when Death speaks. In The Science of Discworld 2: The Globe, Hex is written as it is here.

Inspiration

The inspiration for Hex, which evolves through seemingly unexplainable upgrades like extra cheese, a CWL (Clothes Wringer from the Laundry, for crunching numbers and other things) and "small religious pictures" (iconss), came from Pratchett`s own early experiments with unfathomable upgrades on his ZX-81.

The name is a play on the multiple meanings of the word "hex"; a hex can be a "magical spell" and also an abbreviation of "hexadecimal."

Quotes / Error messages