Universal plug'n'play computers

[placid]

Is there a computer system that the Stargate teams can't network with just by using a laptop and some crocodile clips? Wraith, Ori, Goauld, Ancient, no problemo. Is the USB truly universal?

[g.o.d]

it's really universal. It's f***ed !!

[Nylon]

Yeah didnt you know Wraith hiveship computers are windows vista certified now, its all compatible.

[B O Y S C O U T]

Well as much as I'm sure you guys would rather watch a forty minute show on interfacing our computers with everyone else's, I myself do prefer the simple "plug'n'play" thing we've got going

[talyn2k1]

Imagine if it wasn't plug and play

Eps like Counterstrike would have to be two-parters, first part consists entirely of Carter trying to interface with the computers while Daniel tries to translate the controls, with O`Neill and Teal'c not really having much to do, and the second part would have to contain all the action.

Plug and play is just another one of those things that comes down to 'willing suspension of disbelief'. But considering what the Stargate is, it aint that much to believe that they can plug and play any technology. Its not the most unbelievable part of the show!!

[Dutch_Razor]

Uhm actually its compeltely logical, all computer systems are electrical based, plug the right plugs and have an interface program to send the correct electric pulses over USB and it works...

[Jimbo-DR]

The reality is that there is no way in hell that you would be able to just "plug and play" with alien technology. It has to be written in the same code with the same operating system(or at least CLOSE) for that to have any chance of working. Even on Earth where the technology is similar you can't just plug your computer into someones from China and expect them to sync up immediately. It just doens't work like that. Programming is so much more complex than they make it seem on Stargate, but the show would be worlds more boring if they didn't do it that way.

[NATIK]

Well if you think about it they have had time to learn how to interface with most of it. All done offscreen.

Ancient: They learned to interface with it before they went to atlantis, at Antarctica.

Wraith: They learned it when they got the Wraith computer thingies and with a crashed wraith dart, before they went to Hive ships.

Ori: Okay here it was pretty plug and play and not done offscreen in a way that told us it could have taken some time.

Goa'uld, when they started interfacing they had had alot of training time with items they brought back, crashed gliders and such.

There are some lesser races that was done like the Ori aswell but it has mostly been done in a way where you could explain it as them already having learned how to do it before, offscreen or onscreen.

[Jimbo-DR]

Well if you think about it they have had time to learn how to interface with most of it. All done offscreen.

Ancient: They learned to interface with it before they went to atlantis, at Antarctica.

Wraith: They learned it when they got the Wraith computer thingies and with a crashed wraith dart, before they went to Hive ships.

Ori: Okay here it was pretty plug and play and not done offscreen in a way that told us it could have taken some time.

Goa'uld, when they started interfacing they had had alot of training time with items they brought back, crashed gliders, etc, etc.

There are some lesser races that was done like the Ori aswell but it has mostly been done in a way where you could explain it as them already having learned how to do it before, offscreen or onscreen.

Yea but... it's not that simple. We would have to start off trying to decipher the language of races far advanced to our own, THEN try to decipher their COMPUTER coding languages, because there is ALWAYS tons of different computer languages, and the whole 1's and 0's thing probably wouldn't work too well. It is, like somebody just said, the suspension of disbelief type of a thing.

[IcyNeko]

Jimbo's right. As a programmer, I can completely validate his point.

Hollywood really plays up computer-related issues. In Jurassic Park, they show a "unix system" as a visual 3d floating system. Micheal chrichton hasn't the first clue what a "Unix System" really is, because in reality, native unix environment is purely text. Sure, there's user interface that can be used, but a real "hacker" doesn't use those.

Don't even get me started on the movie "Hackers".

Even the best programmer in the world would take a while to understand an alien language enough to reprogram in it. Human computers use switches and flops. Wraith use biological computers. The "electrical signal" that controls both these mechanisms isn't exactly the same, nor is the source code, if you can call it that. It'll take a long time to even figure out where to begin.

[Mister Oragahn]

Well as much as I'm sure you guys would rather watch a forty minute show on interfacing our computers with everyone else's, I myself do prefer the simple "plug'n'play" thing we've got going

Sure, like if they couldn't activate most of the computers, there would be no show, no stories to tell.

[ascendedancient42]

The part that'll really cause crap to hit the fan is kind of funny:

What if these alien computers used 10 bit bytes instead of 8?

Or what if some aliens decided to use 13 bits/byte? Ick. Now there's a mutilated Battlefield Earth joke...

The whole point is, most of our very basic assumptions about how computers work are based on how computers on Earth work.

Each new system they'd want to interface with would require mountains of research and it's own specialized hardware/software. The trick is in the cable; USB doesn't "just work" with alien tech. The cable probably has a little translator thingamajig in it.

However, I have no problem with the Ori tech working so quickly. Ori and Ancient tech probably have a lot in common at the very most basic levels.

I can also believe some of the stuff they encounter in the MW being so easily understood; after all, most advanced tech there was probably inspired by Goaul'd tech. Oh yeah, and Goaul'd tech is inspired by Ancient tech. Understanding one should make understanding the other easier.

[Syera]

In Jurassic Park, they show a "unix system" as a visual 3d floating system. Micheal chrichton hasn't the first clue what a "Unix System" really is, because in reality, native unix environment is purely text.

I remember reading that the visual interface in Jurassic Park is an actual program written for Unix... which, alas, still doesn't explain why the girl knew how to use it.

Sure, there's user interface that can be used, but a real "hacker" doesn't use those.

Real "hackers" I've known create interfaces and specialized programs for themselves to make their lives easier. However, they're generally more functional than sparkly.

Don't even get me started on the movie "Hackers".

*Snnnnnnnrrrrrk* Weirdly enough, I think the thing that gets me the most are the computer screens that light up the actors' faces.

Even the best programmer in the world would take a while to understand an alien language enough to reprogram in it. Human computers use switches and flops. Wraith use biological computers. The "electrical signal" that controls both these mechanisms isn't exactly the same, nor is the source code, if you can call it that. It'll take a long time to even figure out where to begin.

Aye. Not all electronic equipment uses the same electrical frequency - too high a frequency and something gets fried, too low a frequency and things start acting funky.

In short, you'd need an electrical transformer to go between your computer and the alien system, and you'd also need an emulator so that your computer would know what to do with the alien programming. But to make the emulator, you'd have to learn the gist of the alien programming language first. It's not impossible, but it would be pretty time-consuming.

[IcyNeko]

Hey Syera. Long time no see.

if I was as good as the worst engineer in Atlantis, I'd be a CEO of my own company in real life.

[Morrolan]

One thing you missed, Jimbo. Every intelligent species in the universe uses Linux. Well, except for Teal'c. He uses OSX. It's easy for SG-1 to interface with any computer system, alien or otherwise.

*Commence suspending belief now*