“No, actually, a holotape driver isn’t necessary,” Carlos explained. “A lot of models come with them, but you don‘t necessarily need one for every-day function. It’ll just give you an error message that you can dismiss and continue on with the memory that’s already on the terminal.”
“That’s…… huh.” He furrowed his brows as he stared at the terminal, trying to figure out exactly how that worked. “So…. are there other things you can take out without the whole thing goin’ whacky? Is it safe to do that? I’m sorry, I just don’t get how you can take parts outta somethin’ and have it still work right.”
Carlos just smiled at him. “Don’t be sorry – it’s great to ask questions! Otherwise people wouldn’t learn anything new. There are a couple things that can be ignored and not affect the rest of the terminal’s main function. The ports for additional hardware, like for headsets or turrets aren’t strictly needed. Neither are the in-terminal speakers. It can even work without fans for a while, though it’d overheat and shut off without proper air flow.”
The Perfect Scientist 