How does Stargate work?

[ccdsah]

I think TPTB messed up when they introduced the seventh symbol as the point of origin 'cause I think there are about 30 something symbols on a Stargate so this means that there are about 30 points of origin = > The Stargate System consists of only about 30 planets...

Please explain this...

[Mckay_DK]

this is actually a very interesting question... the point of origin might be the same symbol at all planets... like pressing dail at the end when you call someone from your cellphone...

[Hatcheter]

I think TPTB messed up when they introduced the seventh symbol as the point of origin 'cause I think there are about 30 something symbols on a Stargate so this means that there are about 30 points of origin = > The Stargate System consists of only about 30 planets...

Please explain this...

The Milky Way galaxy Stargates have 39 symbols on them. There seems to be some gates with custom symbols on them; the two gates found on Earth had different POOs. Sometimes the teams dial six symbols, sometimes they dial seven. It's all very unexplained, or it's really a flexible system.

[kirmit]

all symbols on all stargates are the same except for one, the point of origin, this is different on every gate and is on no other gate. Therefore there can still be million of combinations and millions of gates in the milkyway.

[wise one]

CORRR... the ancients were busy at that point of time since coming to the milky way

[ccdsah]

all symbols on all stargates are the same except for one, the point of origin, this is different on every gate and is on no other gate. Therefore there can still be million of combinations and millions of gates in the milkyway.

That's not quite true
In the first episode of season 2 Daniel escaped from Apophis's ship through the gate using Earth as a point of origin which means that Apophis's gate had on it Earth's point of origin (= hence it is not unique)

IMHO TPTB compolicated themselves with the point of origin
they should have made Stargate addresses only combinations of 7 symbols...

[Turboz]

That's not quite true
In the first episode of season 2 Daniel escaped from Apophis's ship through the gate using Earth as a point of origin which means that Apophis's gate had on it Earth's point of origin (= hence it is not unique)

IMHO TPTB compolicated themselves with the point of origin
they should have made Stargate addresses only combinations of 7 symbols...

Yes, but maybe the POO simply indicates the last digit. Ming you, if that were the case it might as well have a generic symbol on every gate which symbolises "Last Icon" or something.

Some very good points raised in this thread.

-T

[Cap116]

That's not quite true
In the first episode of season 2 Daniel escaped from Apophis's ship through the gate using Earth as a point of origin which means that Apophis's gate had on it Earth's point of origin (= hence it is not unique)

IMHO TPTB compolicated themselves with the point of origin
they should have made Stargate addresses only combinations of 7 symbols...

Since he was so close to Earth, he might have been able to use the unique symbol on the DHD, the POO for that Stargate. When a stargate is on a ship and close to another planet the unique symbol used on that DHD might recognize the closest planet as the POO, despite what the symbol is meant for.

[Skydiver]

the point of origin is unique to each planet. If you look at www.rdanderson.com and go to the stargate and glyphs part you'll see addresses listed, and notice that each planet has its own unique PoO

where it gets confusing in on the production part of it and sometimes the crew doesn't take care to make or show a 'new' glyph for each planet and recycle old footage with familiar glyphs

the most glaring example of this was s4 when the sgc was using the antarctic gate whose PoO was OI yet footage still showed the /\ PoO being used because they used the same stock footage

[JoseP927]

the point of origin is unique to each planet. If you look at www.rdanderson.com and go to the stargate and glyphs part you'll see addresses listed, and notice that each planet has its own unique PoO

where it gets confusing in on the production part of it and sometimes the crew doesn't take care to make or show a 'new' glyph for each planet and recycle old footage with familiar glyphs

the most glaring example of this was s4 when the sgc was using the antarctic gate whose PoO was OI yet footage still showed the /\ PoO being used because they used the same stock footage

The Antarctic POO should be the same as the Egyptian POO since both are in close proximity to each other, unless if one or the other was imported to Earth.

[Seastallion]

I think TPTB messed up when they introduced the seventh symbol as the point of origin 'cause I think there are about 30 something symbols on a Stargate so this means that there are about 30 points of origin = > The Stargate System consists of only about 30 planets...

Please explain this...

There are in fact many thousands of Stargates, each having a unique point of origin. Each planet on which a stargate is located has a unique address composed of a combination of 6 symbols out of a potential 38 symbols. Each and every stargate has 39 symbols, 38 of which are common to all of them, but one (being the Point of Origin) that is unique to said gate.

The "7th" symbol in any given address is the point of origin symbol which ONLY acts as an initialization factor in the address to let the stargate know when the address is finished being dialed. This is because one MIGHT be dialing an 8 symbol address which would require an extra symbol not usually used. However the stargate cannot make assumptions, so it requires the PoO symbol to know when the dialing is complete.

DHD's do NOT have a Point of Origin symbol upon them, but the 'Big Red Button' upon them act as the PoO button. Only the Stargates themselves have a unique point of Origin symbol that can be used in case of manual dialings when no DHD is available. In the one case I can think of that a PoO was actually put on a DHD, it was a completely production snafu. In fact most of the confusion on this topic is a result of production snafu, just as Skydiver mentioned above.

Errors simply have to be taken in stride and generally ignored. The basic operation of the gate is pretty well established at this point, despite those errors. The basic targeting mechanism that was used at the beginning of the show, borrowed from the movie, itself is flawed, and has had to be largely dispensed with by fans in the know. This was because it simply would not work for a network of stargate as described in the show. Thus a new pan-galactic targeting mechanism has had to be worked out. I have a thread specifically on this entitled "Calling all Math Wizards" when trying to come up with the best mechanism possible. I came up with one, but it is still a bit flawed. Even so it is the best anyone has come up with yet that I have seen. It also allows for many many thousands of stargates to exist each having a completely unique address that could be dialed using a DHD.

[Kingomon]

There are in fact many thousands of Stargates, each having a unique point of origin. Each planet on which a stargate is located has a unique address composed of a combination of 6 symbols out of a potential 38 symbols. Each and every stargate has 39 symbols, 38 of which are common to all of them, but one (being the Point of Origin) that is unique to said gate.

The "7th" symbol in any given address is the point of origin symbol which ONLY acts as an initialization factor in the address to let the stargate know when the address is finished being dialed. This is because one MIGHT be dialing an 8 symbol address which would require an extra symbol not usually used. However the stargate cannot make assumptions, so it requires the PoO symbol to know when the dialing is complete.

DHD's do NOT have a Point of Origin symbol upon them, but the 'Big Red Button' upon them act as the PoO button. Only the Stargates themselves have a unique point of Origin symbol that can be used in case of manual dialings when no DHD is available. In the one case I can think of that a PoO was actually put on a DHD, it was a completely production snafu. In fact most of the confusion on this topic is a result of production snafu, just as Skydiver mentioned above.

Errors simply have to be taken in stride and generally ignored. The basic operation of the gate is pretty well established at this point, despite those errors. The basic targeting mechanism that was used at the beginning of the show, borrowed from the movie, itself is flawed, and has had to be largely dispensed with by fans in the know. This was because it simply would not work for a network of stargate as described in the show. Thus a new pan-galactic targeting mechanism has had to be worked out. I have a thread specifically on this entitled "Calling all Math Wizards" when trying to come up with the best mechanism possible. I came up with one, but it is still a bit flawed. Even so it is the best anyone has come up with yet that I have seen. It also allows for many many thousands of stargates to exist each having a completely unique address that could be dialed using a DHD.

Yeah, the movie didn't do the gate right though I think got what it was saying.

There 6 codes are about where it is in the galaxy or the distance of it in space such as:
Home Dial 1532560-------goes-------new planet
home--------goes-----------1532560 dialed by New planet
But I'm not sure about it.

the Final code I understand:
6 points are dialed and the 7th symbol represents our world as in the 6 are where your going and the 7th is where you are dialing from.

The 7 in the 8 is the extra distance
Say the code is 12345670
home=0-------------Extra=7-----------------------------New Planet=123456

Where's Carter when you need her?

[Seastallion]

Yeah, the movie didn't do the gate right though I think got what it was saying.

I highly recommend my thread named "Calling all Math Wizards". It would show you precisely what I was talking about, with a lot more detail than I'm willing to submit in this thread right now.

There 6 codes are about where it is in the galaxy or the distance of it in space such as:
Home Dial 1532560-------goes-------new planet
home--------goes-----------1532560 dialed by New planet
But I'm not sure about it.

The 6 symbols in an address aren't 'codes' at all, actually. They represent actual positions in the galaxy, but are highly relative based on the order of the symbols. It isn't as though a stargate is assigned a 'combination lock' at all. It is more like entering coordinate figures. It is the reason that they can use stargate addresses on ships to find specific planets in the galaxy. If those addresses did NOT correspond to actual locations, then the addresses couldn't be used in that manner as they are in the show.

the Final code I understand:
6 points are dialed and the 7th symbol represents our world as in the 6 are where your going and the 7th is where you are dialing from.

Actually, the 7th symbol represents the gate more than it does the planet it is on. The stargate can be moved to another world, but the PoO symbol would still be valid. Nor does the PoO symbol somehow transmit information about where the stargate is coming from. It does not. The only reason the Point of Origin symbol is on the gate is in case of the necessity for a manual dial out. All it does is tell the stargate that you are ready to activate a wormhole. Nothing else. The 'Big Red Button' on the DHD represents the PoO symbol on the stargate, but it could apply to any stargate, therefore there is no need for a unique symbol on the DHD. The 'B-R-B' does just fine in that regard.

The 7 in the 8 is the extra distance
Say the code is 12345670
home=0-------------Extra=7-----------------------------New Planet=123456

Where's Carter when you need her?

Possibly, but that was only a guess that Carter was making. It might also have been to tell the stargate to use a different targeting method than is usually used for normal galactic gate travel. Given the only viable method of stargate targeting that we've been able to come up with, it is probable that the 7th symbol in an 8 symbol address does indeed alter the targeting method itself. The pan-galactic targeting system wouldn't be compatible with extra-galactic targeting.

[mizzoueng]

Just a quick thought, but if every single stargate has 1 unique symbol to represent that stargate, then why do you need to input 6 symbols at all? Wouldn't it just be easier to input 2 symbols? The destination, and the origination?

[JoseP927]

Just a quick thought, but if every single stargate has 1 unique symbol to represent that stargate, then why do you need to input 6 symbols at all? Wouldn't it just be easier to input 2 symbols? The destination, and the origination?

That would require a whole lot of symbols on a gate. Imagine a gate with thousands of glyphs instead of 39.