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Message no. 1
From: Marc Renouf renouf@********.com
Subject: Decking (request for clarification)
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 13:55:54 -0500 (EST)
On Tue, 23 Feb 1999, AlSeyMer wrote:

> 3. Decking:
> As I understand it, a cranial remote deck seems able to treat simsense
> signals. It's also my understanding that the input of a cyberdeck is a
> simsense signal. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

You're not wrong, although I tend to think that the simsense
element is pretty much the only overlap they have.

> Assuming that a decker has an access point to the Matrix rigged, no
> matter how, and has a cyberdeck at hand, could he use the ability of a
> cranial remote deck to convey simsense signals both ways to hack
> remotely ?

I guess I'm not sure what you're asking here. Are you asking if a
decker could use a drone to physically connect to the matrix, then hack
through the drone over the control channel without being physically
present at the jackpoint?
If so, then there are easier ways to do this. Probably the
easiest would be to connect your deck to either a high bandwidth radio
connection or a satlink. Then have your drone patch a similar system
into the jackpoint (something that would require the appropriate
tools/manipulators). Then the drone is out of the loop, and you don't
need to have a cranial remote deck.
If not, then could you please clarify what you're asking?

Marc
Message no. 2
From: AlSeyMer AdSM@******.be
Subject: Decking (request for clarification)
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 20:42:11 +0100
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At 19:55 23/02/99, from Marc Renouf:
> (snip)
>> Assuming that a decker has an access point to the Matrix rigged, no
>> matter how, and has a cyberdeck at hand, could he use the ability
of a
>> cranial remote deck to convey simsense signals both ways to hack
>> remotely ?
>
> I guess I'm not sure what you're asking here. Are you asking if a
>decker could use a drone to physically connect to the matrix, then
hack
>through the drone over the control channel without being physically
>present at the jackpoint?
> If so, then there are easier ways to do this. Probably the
>easiest would be to connect your deck to either a high bandwidth
radio
>connection or a satlink. Then have your drone patch a similar system
>into the jackpoint (something that would require the appropriate
>tools/manipulators). Then the drone is out of the loop, and you
don't
>need to have a cranial remote deck.
> If not, then could you please clarify what you're asking?

Clarification:
Originally, this idea was put forward by one of my players willing to
put some safe distance between his character and his deck. Discussing
the subject, we concluded that, as you implied, it is much safer to
let a drone physically establish a matrix connection, and, as it is at
the jackpoint, to use its simsense transmission capability to convey
the signals needed to do the job.
So, my question is: is such a thing possible?

Additional considerations:
IIRC it's not possible to use a cellular phone to convey simsense
signal (not enough bandwidth), and, even if the signal is to be
divided between a certain number of cellular phones, the conversions
of the signal should induce some lag, if it's even possible.
In my understanding, the radio and the cellular phone depicted in SR3
are used for the same purposes, being voice and maybe image
communication. If cell phones are no options, I don't see how radios
could be. Of course, the key words are "high bandwidth" radios, and I
don't know enough about the subject to render a radio capable of such
feat in game terms.

Hope that helps ;-)


AlSeyMer

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Message no. 3
From: Marc Renouf renouf@********.com
Subject: Decking (request for clarification)
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 15:58:30 -0500 (EST)
On Tue, 23 Feb 1999, AlSeyMer wrote:

> Originally, this idea was put forward by one of my players willing to
> put some safe distance between his character and his deck. Discussing
> the subject, we concluded that, as you implied, it is much safer to
> let a drone physically establish a matrix connection, and, as it is at
> the jackpoint, to use its simsense transmission capability to convey
> the signals needed to do the job.

Well, there's more to a decker's transmissions than just the
simsense feed. There's also the bandwidth associated with running the
various programs, issuing commands, etc. In game terms, it's the
difference between icon bandwidth and total bandwidth. I would imagine
that something like the simsense feed off a drone might not necessarily
have the same bandwith to be able to handle the signal traffic associated
with decking.
Now if the drone installed a separate piece of equipment on site
that *did* have adequate signal capabilities, then yes, it's certainly
possible. Not only is it possible, it has the potential to be quite
useful.

> Additional considerations:
> IIRC it's not possible to use a cellular phone to convey simsense
> signal (not enough bandwidth), and, even if the signal is to be
> divided between a certain number of cellular phones, the conversions
> of the signal should induce some lag, if it's even possible.
> In my understanding, the radio and the cellular phone depicted in SR3
> are used for the same purposes, being voice and maybe image
> communication. If cell phones are no options, I don't see how radios
> could be. Of course, the key words are "high bandwidth" radios, and I
> don't know enough about the subject to render a radio capable of such
> feat in game terms.

"High bandwidth" is indeed the key. The bigger your bandwidth,
the more information you can transmit in the same amount of time.
Cellular phones and basic transistor radios use a pretty limited
bandwidth, if for no other reason than to minimize signal overlap.
Simsense, which one would imagine is pretty data intensive, is going to
require a lot more bandwidth than simple audio-video transmission. When
you tack on the extra bandwidth associated with decking, isw becomes
pretty easy to see why cellular phones and standard radios won't work.
But the point remains that there must be *some* kind of radio
signal that can carry simsense. How else would decking through satellites
work, neh? So if you have a beefy enough radio, you can't crank out
enough signal to be able to deck over it.
As a rough rule of thumb (or more appropriately, an off-the-cuff,
wild-assed guess), I'd say that the rating of the radio needs to be at
least as high as the MPCP of the deck running across the link. That way,
beefier decks with better throughput require beefier radios to get the
bandwidth they need to transmit without signal degradation. And that's
how house rules are born. :)

Marc
Message no. 4
From: Mongoose m0ng005e@*********.com
Subject: Decking (request for clarification)
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 17:46:46 -0600
: But the point remains that there must be *some* kind of radio
:signal that can carry simsense. How else would decking through
satellites
:work, neh? So if you have a beefy enough radio, you can't crank out
:enough signal to be able to deck over it.

DOH. Of course, there IS one kind of radio capable of matrix
transmission- the satlink! Why not just transmit directly from one
satlink to another, if a ground link is all you want? I suppose you might
need better gain, or differnt frequencies (ones that work outside of LOS),
but the costs can't be all that hard to figure out. For certain purposes,
even a direct los dish to dish link is fine.

As an off the cuff rule of thumb, I'd add the desired flux to the MPCP
when determing the cost of a NON satlink matrix tranciever. Of course,
that would be a rating 1 device- pretty easy to jam. You'd likely want a
rating 6 or higher version... that could get very costly very fast...
which is why, I'm guessing, matrix info is normally only narrow-cast using
satlink dishes, and not broadcast.

Mongoose

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