They are, it just takes time to update, since it gets sent over whenever the computer gets updated.That’s why Tom Paris was annoyed that the Voyager’s replicator didn’t have his preferred tomato soup ready. It was scheduled to be loaded onto the computers on Tuesday.
Patterns might be portable on storage devices, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re cross-platform, especially cross-species/technology, or maybe it would require a technical specialist to convert the pattern between systems.
I can absolutely see this being a thing in Star Trek life. You find specific versions/recipes that you like and save them to a personal data storage device, and then when you transfer to a new command you put in a request with the local IT department to have your recipes loaded into the replicator system, which takes some time because they have to review them for safety (no malicious insiders uploading weapons labeled as “grandma’s chicken soup”) and maybe convert the pattern to work on the local replicators. There’s a support ticket queue for that, submit your files and take a number, we’ll get to you when we can.
You can write the pattern yourself, but it is easy to get them wrong (Janeway managed to have it consistently produce charcoal).
Absolutely, or probably try to arrange a new meal pattern using information on previously scanned & stored items. But yeah, it would require some specific knowledge and skill to get right. In the present, you can download lots of 3D-printable objects from the Internet, or if you know how to model you can design your own - the second is a lot more complicated. Most people would probably just use existing replicator patterns.
Patterns might be portable on storage devices, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re cross-platform, especially cross-species/technology, or maybe it would require a technical specialist to convert the pattern between systems.
At least on this front, Star Trek doesn’t tend to have that much of an issue crossing between platforms. The only time problems seem to rear their head is when another completely different computing paradigm comes into play (like using biochemical computers instead of electrical).
Otherwise, there doesn’t seem to be anything technically preventing you from hooking up your Federation computers to a Cardassian mining station and have everything work more or less okay.
Oh, disagree, O’Brien complains about trying to get Federation and Cardassian technology to work together all the time. They don’t necessarily show specific scenes of what that means technically, but there are definitely interface problems.
Patterns might be portable on storage devices, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re cross-platform, especially cross-species/technology, or maybe it would require a technical specialist to convert the pattern between systems.
I can absolutely see this being a thing in Star Trek life. You find specific versions/recipes that you like and save them to a personal data storage device, and then when you transfer to a new command you put in a request with the local IT department to have your recipes loaded into the replicator system, which takes some time because they have to review them for safety (no malicious insiders uploading weapons labeled as “grandma’s chicken soup”) and maybe convert the pattern to work on the local replicators. There’s a support ticket queue for that, submit your files and take a number, we’ll get to you when we can.
Absolutely, or probably try to arrange a new meal pattern using information on previously scanned & stored items. But yeah, it would require some specific knowledge and skill to get right. In the present, you can download lots of 3D-printable objects from the Internet, or if you know how to model you can design your own - the second is a lot more complicated. Most people would probably just use existing replicator patterns.
At least on this front, Star Trek doesn’t tend to have that much of an issue crossing between platforms. The only time problems seem to rear their head is when another completely different computing paradigm comes into play (like using biochemical computers instead of electrical).
Otherwise, there doesn’t seem to be anything technically preventing you from hooking up your Federation computers to a Cardassian mining station and have everything work more or less okay.
Oh, disagree, O’Brien complains about trying to get Federation and Cardassian technology to work together all the time. They don’t necessarily show specific scenes of what that means technically, but there are definitely interface problems.