SR4 describes a Commlink as a do-everything gadget: GPS, media player, hacking machine, gaming computer, camcorder, and even a phone.

But what software/apps does the OS come with?

Is there a calculator app with at least as many scientific functions as those of Windows' integral calculator?
A basic painting/drawing package like MS Paint?
Is it reasonable that there'd be a basic encyclopedia, akin to wikipedia, that someone could reference while outside of a wireless network?

And would it be reasonable to find these files for free on the Matrix or for a nominal charge?

Half related question: what sort of dice bonus would a set of reference texts give to a memory/knowledge check, if any?

It doesn't come with anything. Those applications are covered by the basic packages available in SR4A on page 232. The Pro User Program Suite costs 600¥ and comes with Analyze 4, Browse 4, Control 2 and Edit 4. There's also Basic User and Basic packages available for a bit less, and they're only available when you purchase the commlink. If you want those programs afterwards, you have to pay the full retail cost which would be 1,300¥ for the same ratings. A "Wikipedia" would be considered a Datasoft with the quality of it being reflected in its rating, though Browse gives you access to all the public search engines out there while you're on a live connection.


I've often wondered that myself. I love datasofts, but they seem pretty useless outside of having a library to use Browse on when you don't want to log online.

I suppose the Edit program can be a generic stand-in for an enormous amount of software packages used today. It can edit anything from video to text, which means having a wide, wide range of functions. Spreadsheets to artistic stuff.

Maybe I could simulate a generic "library datasoft" (if that's not redundant) as a knowledge skill(soft) of 1 in most common technical, academic, and pop culture fields.

We've always gone under the assumption that your basic fluff items are included. So yes (IN MY GAME!), it comes with a full suite of minor games, applications (alarm clock, calculator, notepad, etc), etc, all of which are available when you are offline as well. The way we looked at it, if the iPhone has it, a commlink damned well better have it.

I like to spend a few BPs to buy 100-500 rating 6 datasofts. That should constitute a nice basic library.

As for calculations: I don't really get the point of a Math SPU implant - your commlink should be able to do that. If you've got ab DNI, that should cover it just fine.

Maybe you should apply a very "cloud" interpretation to the library thing though. People will think you're strange if you want an offline database, because the online ones are just that good. (Never mind that for shadowrunners offline has major benefits.)

+1 up to +3

HougH!
medicineman

That's the typical AR bonus, yes.

It's annoying that this doesn't really work all that well with Datasoft ranks (1-6) though.

as a GM I give that +1 to +3 (also -1 to -3) in all Situations alike,wether Magic,Fighting,Social,Competition,etc

HeyaHeyaHeya
Medicineman

IMO, a Commlink is like Mathematica or Excel - it can only crunch your math if you can set up the problem. A fancier calculator isn't going to give you bigger bonus if you don't know the math to begin with, and it won't help you apply that math to problems.

The Math SPU is like a broadly applicable knowsoft. It not only calculates for you, but gives you bonus dice in dozens of technical fields - it is apparently able to plug directly into the thought processes of the user, so its use is transparent. The user just feels like he's better at math, able to set up problems better, solve them promptly, etc., not that he's typing out math problems in an implanted calculator. (Or that's the impression I got from the early fluff on the Math SPU and Encephalon.)

I suppose you could put it that way, yes. But OTOH, isn't that what a DNI linked to a commlink is for too?

More than basic! I maintain a pretty well-stocked reference library, and if you chose well, several hundred authoritative volumes - rating 6! - would cover a huge, huge amount of condensed human knowledge. Very nice idea.


I'd say the commlink can do the same functions, but not as fast, because it's not using a dedicated coprocessor to perform the functions. Now, if you reversed the rules for "implanting electronics," you could easily figure out the projected cost to have a Math SPU installed in your commlink, instead of in your head...unless they're both in your head, in which case the effect is the same, anyway.

Your commlink could be a smartgun link, too, since it should be able to calculate trajectories and so on, but a stock unit won't have the hardware or software to perform that function: this might be a little silly - general purpose processing mills are becoming more the norm, and ballistics calculations aren't that complex - but there are advantages to dedicated systems. Still, a totally valid point on your part.

A DNI doesn't necessarily interface at such a deep level. It's a hands free means of issuing conscious commands and consciously paying attention to some linked piece of hardware. Type an email in your head; order a smartlink to eject a clip; check your biofunctions via biomonitor; type in an equation into a calculator program; watch a recorded trid show - all done in your head, rather than by physical keyboard or physical display. It's augmented reality bypassing the sensory and motor nerves and plugging straight into the relevant cortices of your brain, but just as conscious and deliberate as typing on physical keyboards or watching physical displays.

The Math SPU (and Attention Coprocessor, and Encephalon) are unconscious systems. With an attention coprocessor, you're simply more aware - you could follow TV closely while typing an in-depth response on Dumpshock. While DNI might make an augmented reality window open in your head to show the TV (no better at expanding your awareness than looking at the TV with your own eyes), the attention coprocessor seamlessly expands the amount of stuff you can pay attention to. Similarly, Math SPUs seamlessly appear like a boosted mathematical ability. The problem just seems easier to solve, and the precise answer appears quickly in your head, just like when you solve a simple math problem on your own. Encephalons are more generic processors that augment problem solving further than Math SPUs.

Look at it from the rules and build up the fluff explanation from there:

If you put a math program, or math knowsoft, into a Commlink, do you get math bonuses to any tests related to mathematical operations, from engineering to hacking and electronic warfare? No.

If you put a math SPU in your head, you do get those bonuses. There's something different than a mere DNI link to a fancy calculator in the Math SPU.

Moreover, while you can put widgets like orientation systems and radar sensors into armor, commlinks, and cyberlimbs, the Math SPU (and attention coprocessor, and encephalon) always use essence. That says there's some deeper connection there, IMO.

I'm sure there are other explanations, but whatever explanation you settle on, I'd start from the evidence (rules and fluff) and try to build an explanation that fits them rather than working from a theory back to the evidence.