One of the suites - cyberlogician, I think - has three datajacks.

Is that because each datajack can only have a single knowsoft plugged in at a time?

Or do you allow multiple softs to be plugged into the same jack simultaneously?

If so, what's the need for three of them?

Connecting to multiple comlinks/nexi/machines/vehicles at once. I mean: sure you can just have one comlink and command from there... but fluffwise it's just cool having some dude have multiple thick cables in the head, connecting him to different ports in the room. (That's what makes him a REAL spider, sitting in a net *g*)

I think it's mostly a holdover from previous editions. The ubiquitous Wireless Everywhere (and Skinlink) didn't exist back then, nor was there the free interoperability of devices through the commlink.

So if you had three jacked devices you needed to use at the same time, you had to have three datajacks to plug them all in.




-k

Honestly, you can plug chips into basically any device, and you can get anything that comes on a chip in a no-chip version. Datajacks have only one purpose: connect a wire.

The question remains: I buy a datajack.

I don't want to jack into a sim module, I don't want to wear trodes, I want my knowsofts hidden and directly fitted...

I now have the moral equivalent to a fiber optic jack in the back of my head, and maybe alongside it a nifty little USB equivalent slot. How many knowsofts can I slot simultaneously?

As many as you care to, and why are they on chips anyway?

Because my core rulebook tells me that I have to interface with knowsofts by way of a simsense unit or a DNI...

Right. That's the same as most AR and all VR. You're not slotting the matrix, are you? BTLs are available (perhaps predominant) as direct downloads now, too. Also… trodes!

SR4A p330: "Software can be purchased online or on hardcopy chip."

Physically, one at a time - if you have a single USB port and plug an USB key into it you cannot plug that nifty external hard disk without removing the key first !

But if the chips you slot allow it's content to be copied to the internal memory of the datajack and used after it's removal you can "chain-slot" them to load several of them.

Your commlink has a chipjack (one or more), as well.

Another reason multiple datajacks might be useful is if you're packing guns with trigger-removal modifications. If you don't want the gun to be wireless, and also don't have the leeway to use up a weapon mod slot for skinlink, having datajack cables is useful. The access points don't NEED to be coming from your head and the fiber optic cable also can double as a lanyard in a pinch.

Other than that, I'd say it's mostly flavor, as technically speaking any DNI uses a datajack has can be done better with skinlink + trodes.

Although there is a point in one of the shadowtalk fluffs where they claim datajacks fiber optics have better bandwidth than wireless. Not that there are stats for it

There are still systems/devices that only accept wired connections, though they are a lot rarer. A buildings security system may very well be one, requiring the Spyder sit in a room deep in the bowels, physically plugged in.

Knowsofts need a DNI/Simsense connection, so would need either a datajack, internal commlink, or a 'trode net.

You could even argue that datajacks aren't truly necessary in 2072; implant a commlink, install a sim module, and access everything wirelessly.

Okay, I love the idea of chain loading softs into internal memory. Do we have any canon documentation on how much is too much? Skillwires top out at double their rating in software ratings, but we don't have any such limitations on other things.

Remember, you can store your knowsofts on your commlink.

No, there are effectively no limits on data storage or bandwidth in SR4.

Exactly: you can store *everything* on your commlink.

I hope that fiber optic lanyard is hella reinforced. Safer to get a lanyard and *add* the fiber optic to it, I'd imagine.

The last ex-military sniper I made for a player had a pair of datajacks, one for the weapon, and one for a satcomm or secondary sensor.

One for the Network, one for the independent Terminal that isn't connected to the Matrix, and one for the "FunHappyLoyalty Assurance" Machine.

"Happiness is mandatory, Citizen."

Just read some more about softs in Unwired. I begin to understand the people who stuck with older versions of the game now - wirelessly downloading software onto your comm, that feeds into your brain by way of trode nets really lacks the visceral punch of having a device mounted in your noggin that you slot microSD cards into...

It's true that it's a different kind of cyberpunk.

On that note, this is interesting (and perhaps even on-topic?): http://theatlantic.tumblr.com/post/2747352...ut-gordon-gekko

Man, I love living in the future.

Now where's my dietware? Screw the jetpacks...

Nice.

even the internal ones? *snickers*

The RAW doesn't say it doesn't (ditto for the camera, headphones, etc.). We can presume that you could slot a chip, implant the link, and use that chip forever; there is literally no reason for this, given the alternatives.

Save some essence, have it implanted in a way so you can put the chip into the jack via your ear for example . .
You'd have to keep them clean though ^^

Your better off reading the whole thing here

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/sciencen...e-is-behind-us/