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Message no. 1
From: David Buehrer <dbuehrer@******.CARL.ORG>
Subject: Re: Plug and Play
Date: Sun, 1 Mar 1998 08:49:09 -0700
Ereskanti wrote:
/
/ Anyway, back OT...
/
/ I just realized how "drastically" oversimplified SR's view of
Matrix/Computers / has become. It took me almost a week to get ALL the
signals tweaked right and / the modem communicating correctly vs. it's
old settings. And the / Motherboard....OH MY GOD is the phrase that
comes to mind. The onboard Cache / does things I wouldn't have
expected to the runtime for the system. /

Currently manufacturers are starting to make hardware products that are
"plug and play" compatible. If you're using Win95 and you have a device
that's plug and play you don't (in theory :) have to deal with any of the
settings. Win95 is supposed to recognize it and set up automatically.

If this has become the standard in 205x SR then it probably applies
to everything. Your decker goes out and buys all the pieces and
parts, snaps everything together, turns it on, and the operating
system alters all of it's settings appropriately, and it works.

-David
--
"I'm testing my E-mail. Did you get the "E" I sent?"
--
ShadowRN GridSec: Enforcer Division
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm
Message no. 2
From: Frank Pelletier <jeanpell@****.IVIC.QC.CA>
Subject: Re: Plug and Play
Date: Sun, 1 Mar 1998 11:34:01 +0000
David Buehrer <dbuehrer@******.CARL.ORG> once wrote,

> Ereskanti wrote:
> /
> / Anyway, back OT...
> /
> / I just realized how "drastically" oversimplified SR's view of
> Matrix/Computers / has become. It took me almost a week to get ALL the
> signals tweaked right and / the modem communicating correctly vs. it's
> old settings. And the / Motherboard....OH MY GOD is the phrase that
> comes to mind. The onboard Cache / does things I wouldn't have
> expected to the runtime for the system. /
>
> Currently manufacturers are starting to make hardware products that are
> "plug and play" compatible. If you're using Win95 and you have a device
> that's plug and play you don't (in theory :) have to deal with any of the
> settings. Win95 is supposed to recognize it and set up automatically.
>
> If this has become the standard in 205x SR then it probably applies
> to everything. Your decker goes out and buys all the pieces and
> parts, snaps everything together, turns it on, and the operating
> system alters all of it's settings appropriately, and it works.
>
> -David

Well...actually..it doesn't work :) (May ten thousand demons eat Bil
Gates' cooked flesh). Whatever. I think it all boils down to the
"caliber" issue in SR Firearms. Or all those little details left out of
the Magic system (Spider is not a bug/Grounding though Quickenings/etc.).
That's the problem with all successful RPG systems... they get torn apart
by the mass of people who want to see "some of that in SR3, and some of
that, and more of that, and this explained, ad vitam eternam". If they
were to add and extrapolate on all those little details, like the
complexity of decks, We would end up with 10 sourcebooks a month, too
specialized for anyone to buy. I think they're much better off dealing with plot
lines and interresting sourcebook than coming out with "Unix for Runners
v.3.0.1"

That's an area of SR that netbooks and lists like this help fill out. Of
course, they're not canon (I'm gettin' tired of that word). But anyone
who wants more details can pretty much log on to the Archive
(http://www.interware.it/shadowrun)(I'll send you the bill later, Paolo),
or other sites of interest (Webring, TSS, Plastic Warriors, etc.) and dig
in through there. I betcha someone already thought of the little detail
you're looking for, and wrote up something. And if you don't like it...
HOUSE RULES! The be-all/ end-all of all rules discussions :)

Trinity
------------------------------------------------------
Frank Pelletier
Trinity@********.com, jeanpell@****.qc.ca
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"Life is a blur"
Message no. 3
From: Ereskanti <Ereskanti@***.COM>
Subject: Re: Plug and Play
Date: Sun, 1 Mar 1998 12:18:12 EST
In a message dated 98-03-01 10:48:40 EST, dbuehrer@******.CARL.ORG writes:

> Currently manufacturers are starting to make hardware products that are
> "plug and play" compatible. If you're using Win95 and you have a device
> that's plug and play you don't (in theory :) have to deal with any of the
> settings. Win95 is supposed to recognize it and set up automatically.
>
> If this has become the standard in 205x SR then it probably applies
> to everything. Your decker goes out and buys all the pieces and
> parts, snaps everything together, turns it on, and the operating
> system alters all of it's settings appropriately, and it works.
>
Ah, but Dave, here's the fun part. I -am- using Windows '95 (B or Z, who
knows) and things were NOT autorecognizing. I discovered the Com 1 and Com 3
addresses were set to the same address for some reason in the Bios and the
Modem wouldn't recognize because it was too busy trying to "dial the mouse".

This is what I mean by problems. Software can simulate "PnP/PCI" interface
abilities, but the Bios can be a problem regardless because it's "priority"
over the software.

Think of this, take your decker...

He gets a mainboard to put the MPCP and Persona Chips on, goes out and buys a
Hardening Module from his Deckmeister, a ThruPut device is exchanged with
another decker friend, and an ICCM via a second trip to the Deckmeister. When
he goes to put them all together, the ThruPut works wondeful, so wonderful in
fact, the ICCM doesn't recognize it. The Persona and MPCP chips would work
perfectly on "the board we got from a Fuchi warehouse", but NOT from this one
you got from .... MIZATSU!!! WHO THE FRAG IS MIZATSU?!?!?!?....

And that doesn't even count Memory... (giggle)...

-K
Message no. 4
From: Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject: Re: Plug and Play
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 14:35:54 +0100
David Buehrer said on 8:49/ 1 Mar 98...

> Currently manufacturers are starting to make hardware products that are
> "plug and play" compatible. If you're using Win95 and you have a device
> that's plug and play you don't (in theory :) have to deal with any of the
> settings. Win95 is supposed to recognize it and set up automatically.

Yeah, right. And then you change the settings of one of your Plug & Pray
cards because the factory settings are incompatible with those of a
non-P&P-card in your system (which is what P&P is supposed to avoid,
isn't it?), and WIndows tells you that from now on, it won't be able to
auto-configure the card because you adjusted it manually...

Okay, okay, I'll quit talking OT about OS's before this gets out of
hand... :)

> If this has become the standard in 205x SR then it probably applies
> to everything. Your decker goes out and buys all the pieces and
> parts, snaps everything together, turns it on, and the operating
> system alters all of it's settings appropriately, and it works.

By 2058, I can believe things will work fine in this department, assuming
everyone's agreed on a common standard. OTOH that seems a bit unlikely
when there are eight first-tier megacorps and several others all wanting
to have total monopoly on everything that makes them money... Perhaps UMS
includes a standard for hardware as well as software?

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html - UIN5044116
They say they know what's best for me.
-> NERPS Project Leader * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-
-> The New Character Mortuary: http://www.electricferret.com/mortuary/ <-

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version 3.1:
GAT/! d-(dpu) s:- !a>? C+(++)@ U P L E? W(++) N o? K- w+ O V? PS+ PE
Y PGP- t(+) 5++ X++ R+++>$ tv+(++) b++@ DI? D+ G(++) e h! !r(---) y?
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Message no. 5
From: Ereskanti <Ereskanti@***.COM>
Subject: Re: Plug and Play
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 09:19:38 EST
In a message dated 98-03-02 08:35:28 EST, gurth@******.NL writes:

> By 2058, I can believe things will work fine in this department, assuming
> everyone's agreed on a common standard. OTOH that seems a bit unlikely
> when there are eight first-tier megacorps and several others all wanting
> to have total monopoly on everything that makes them money... Perhaps UMS
> includes a standard for hardware as well as software?
>
I think that UMS would be the only solution actually. -IF- the Corporate
Council made some form of wide-body ruling concerning such requirements, I
could see it happening (perhaps their original member was made up of a bunch
of people that didn't like Gate's when they were younger and wanted to avoid
such mayhem and general computer chaos....???).

-K
Message no. 6
From: David Buehrer <dbuehrer@******.CARL.ORG>
Subject: Re: Plug and Play
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 07:21:29 -0700
Gurth wrote:
/
/ David Buehrer said on 8:49/ 1 Mar 98...

[snip: plug n play]

I did not want to start an OS war. I just wanted to state the basis for my
opinion :)

/ > If this has become the standard in 205x SR then it probably applies
/ > to everything. Your decker goes out and buys all the pieces and
/ > parts, snaps everything together, turns it on, and the operating
/ > system alters all of it's settings appropriately, and it works.
/
/ By 2058, I can believe things will work fine in this department, assuming
/ everyone's agreed on a common standard. OTOH that seems a bit unlikely
/ when there are eight first-tier megacorps and several others all wanting
/ to have total monopoly on everything that makes them money... Perhaps UMS
/ includes a standard for hardware as well as software?

Yeah. On the one hand there should be a certain degree of
uniformity, but you could run into problem when you try to put a
Mitsuhama card in a Fuchi deck. On the other hand they megacorps
will want to make a card that, in addition to being the best, works
for any system so they can increase their sales. A lot of catch 22
situations will probably develope <shrug>.

-David
--
"I'm testing my E-mail. Did you get the "E" I sent?"
--
ShadowRN GridSec: Enforcer Division
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm
Message no. 7
From: Ereskanti <Ereskanti@***.COM>
Subject: Re: Plug and Play
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 18:48:46 EST
In a message dated 98-03-02 09:22:54 EST, dbuehrer@******.CARL.ORG writes:

> Yeah. On the one hand there should be a certain degree of
> uniformity, but you could run into problem when you try to put a
> Mitsuhama card in a Fuchi deck. On the other hand they megacorps
> will want to make a card that, in addition to being the best, works
> for any system so they can increase their sales. A lot of catch 22
> situations will probably develope <shrug>.
>
Let's add one more thing into this potentially problematic area ... it says in
the BBB you can take a Specific System (Fuchi, MCT, Renraku, etc) as a
Specialization within Computer skills...or is that from first ed and I'm
overlapping again???

-K
Message no. 8
From: Wordman <wordman@*******.COM>
Subject: Re: Plug and Play
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 22:13:34 -0500
> I just realized how "drastically" oversimplified SR's view of
>Matrix/Computers
> has become. It took me almost a week to get ALL the signals tweaked
>right and > the modem communicating correctly vs. it's old settings. And
>the
> Motherboard....OH MY GOD is the phrase that comes to mind. The onboard
>Cache > does things I wouldn't have expected to the runtime for the system.

Jesus. Why to you people put up with this kind of crap? The PC industry is
nearly 15 years old, and still no one knows how to build them so the peices
all work together. Except Apple, oddly, which apparently is viewed as
inferior, yet is totally devoid of all of the above problems. I don't want
to start a Mac/Win debate here. I'm just saying: demand better.

As far as SR goes, I'd like to think that someone, Fuchi say, would have
set some form of standards for all this stuff. Sure, after the crash of
'29, probably a number of cyberdeck technology was invented, but that was
30 years ago. I'd imagine that in the early days of cyberdecks, say the
third generation, a bunch of upstart companies were pushing the envelope.
Some metas got together and bought some of them and then formed standards
to slaughter the rest of them. The metas would figure out something basic:
when technology exists to let people burn their own chips at home for
pennies, there hardware industry will be too competive to make much money
in. Instead, software (and perhaps really big hardware) is the money maker.

Maybe I'm just a pig-headed optimist, though.

Wordman

"I don't begrudge Microsoft their success. They've earned their success. My
problem with them is that they just make really third rate products."
-- Steve Jobs, _Triumph_of_the_Nerds

Further Reading

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Thwap!