This is my first post here, so... Uh, hi.
I scanned through this thread, and there seem to be two very important points missing: Stargates dial each other once in a while to adjust for galactic shifts, and Stargates can work with or without a DHD. Here's my theory about how it works:
The seventh signal is used as a ping-back address. When you enter in the seven symbols, what's you're telling the gate network is: I want to go to this six symbol address, and I'm dialing from this point of origin. When the handshake starts -- that time when Walter announces, "Unscheduled off-world activation," but before the wormhole forms -- the distination gate is receiving a signal from the PoO gate. It takes that seventh symbol, checks its database, and makes sure that it's okay to open the wormhole. Let's not forget the fifth season episode "Red Sky," where the Stargate only worked because Carter hacked past some protocols -- Rodney mentions in "48 Hours" that there are tons of protocols in a DHD, protocols that their homebrewed system doesn't have.
The seventh, PoO symbol is important because it tells the destination gate where it's coming from. As someone pointed out in regards to Atlantis, in times of war, Ancient's could probably setup a kind of firewall to make sure they didn't get blocked from dialing out.
I'd be willing to go so far as to say that, to a stargate, the symbols aren't even true representations of addresses. They're likely akin to domain addresses ("yahoo.com", "google.com", or "gateworld.net"), something that's easier for Jaffa or preists to remember, rather than a string of numbers -- ala the numbered clicks Daniel decyphered in "There But For The Grace Of God." Most, if not all, of the Goa'uld were content in the Milkyway Galaxy, so the symbols became the star fields defacto. Considering that Stargates can be used to dial to at least two other known galaxies, and since it's highly doubtful the constellations would carry over to another galaxy, this seems more likely.
Also, in regards to someone's question about why people would press the big, red button on a DHD, see my second point above. The DHD is just an interface. Why do some websites use JavaScript to jump you to another field when you've filled one out? Why don't others? The big, red button is pretty much just an Enter key. "Press here when finished."
In closing, unlike modern telecomm systems, the Stargate network truly is a peer-to-peer network. There is no central index of addresses, Stargates can (and do) get physically moved around, and sometimes they even need a new DHD; all of these factors add weight to the necessity for a seventh PoO symbol. The destination Stargate needs a way to reference the other gate so it can act accordingly to te protocol of its DHD or other dialing system.
If you're really interested, I suggested hitting Wikipedia and checking out their article on "TCP/IP packets" and "Mesh networks" for better idea of where I'm coming from.
Originally posted by Seldini
The seventh signal is used as a ping-back address. When you enter in the seven symbols, what's you're telling the gate network is: I want to go to this six symbol address, and I'm dialing from this point of origin. When the handshake starts -- that time when Walter announces, "Unscheduled off-world activation," but before the wormhole forms -- the distination gate is receiving a signal from the PoO gate. It takes that seventh symbol, checks its database, and makes sure that it's okay to open the wormhole. Let's not forget the fifth season episode "Red Sky," where the Stargate only worked because Carter hacked past some protocols -- Rodney mentions in "48 Hours" that there are tons of protocols in a DHD, protocols that their homebrewed system doesn't have.
The seventh, PoO symbol is important because it tells the destination gate where it's coming from. As someone pointed out in regards to Atlantis, in times of war, Ancient's could probably setup a kind of firewall to make sure they didn't get blocked from dialing out.
I'd be willing to go so far as to say that, to a stargate, the symbols aren't even true representations of addresses. They're likely akin to domain addresses ("yahoo.com", "google.com", or "gateworld.net"), something that's easier for Jaffa or preists to remember, rather than a string of numbers -- ala the numbered clicks Daniel decyphered in "There But For The Grace Of God." Most, if not all, of the Goa'uld were content in the Milkyway Galaxy, so the symbols became the star fields defacto. Considering that Stargates can be used to dial to at least two other known galaxies, and since it's highly doubtful the constellations would carry over to another galaxy, this seems more likely.
Also, in regards to someone's question about why people would press the big, red button on a DHD, see my second point above. The DHD is just an interface. Why do some websites use JavaScript to jump you to another field when you've filled one out? Why don't others? The big, red button is pretty much just an Enter key. "Press here when finished."
In closing, unlike modern telecomm systems, the Stargate network truly is a peer-to-peer network. There is no central index of addresses, Stargates can (and do) get physically moved around, and sometimes they even need a new DHD; all of these factors add weight to the necessity for a seventh PoO symbol. The destination Stargate needs a way to reference the other gate so it can act accordingly to te protocol of its DHD or other dialing system.
If you're really interested, I suggested hitting Wikipedia and checking out their article on "TCP/IP packets" and "Mesh networks" for better idea of where I'm coming from.
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