Are they mechanical, analog, or digital, or something else? Are they powered by magic crystals, vacuum tubes or tiny transistors, or something completely different like gears, steam or water? Maybe a stone computer that is part of a monument or temple and powered by a lost magic? What materials are commonly used and does this pose any problems?

How did they figure out how to make these parts (who first gave the idea to use magic, or how was the first transistor made in your world)? How was the manufacturing process created?

Similar to another post I made before, are there operating systems? What are they like? Are they few or many? Can they be installed and used by anyone or do they need special skills? Are they tightly controlled (like Windows and MacOS) or freely usable and modifiable (like Linux and BSD derivatives)?

How common are they and how expensive? Who uses them and for what? Is it a one off/low number design (like a large powerful computer used for calculating hyperspace routes in only the largest imperial/military spacecraft) or is there a version in every home (a personal communicator for every family member of even the poorest families or at least a desk computer for each home)?

How close is the surrounding technology (are other categories similarly modern, or is everything else more medieval like)? How much do these machines fit in the surrounding world?

Are they like mainframes? What about mini or microcomputers?

What are you going for in terms of aesthetics and what were you inspired by?

Are they used in robots or vehicles?

How powerful or smart are they? Are there particular limitations?

Are they more often modifiable/"open source", or more often proprietary? To be exact, can you swap out various parts and software to make a custom machine or are they tightly controlled by a few sites which don't allow changes to be made?

Can they be built at home with the right skills or do they require large factories?

Is there an AI in any of the computers or operating systems? If so, what are they like? How powerful are they. Are they just algorithms or are they truly sentient AI (in the true sense of general artificial intelligence). Can this AI be transferred?

As for myself, I have an iron age inspired world mixed with 50s technology, where more modern technology is rarer and expensive. They may be just about able to get some use out of using vacuum tubes in the absolute wealthiest sectors and with government support, but I plan for it to have cassette futurism in a later time period with magnetic discs and tapes, electronic scrolls, CRT or similar screens, ability to be greatly modified, built in smaller more local locations at some point (the creation of the discovery of the MOS process and how they figured how to make transistors so small in the 50s-70s still boggles me), portable computers that resemble cyberdecks instead of modern smartphones, intranets, various architectures and operating systems, and even robots. I don't want to stick to the same beige boxes though. I want to play around with designs including shapes and colours that would fit in an ancient palace or fortress without looking too jarring and still being reasonable for an inworld societybto be capable of building, maybe used to send, receive and coordinate orders between stations and countries.

So, how how do you handle computers in your world if they exist? I know I asked recently about operating systems in computers of your worldbuilding, but now I'm curious about computers in your worldbuilding in general and anything surrounding them. Also sorry if this post is confusing to follow.

Lapis_Wolf