[gurps] Internet on blue planet and like worlds

[Eduardo Alvarez]

> I am looking at internet communication that would work on
> Gurps Blue planet and like worlds
> Currently the idea I have is a packet radio (
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packet_radio ) / WIFI network
> with store and forward (
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Store-and-forward ) computers
> at each town / city
> the towns / city's have there own normal network (based
> on a Lan/WIFI of today)  to connect computer and device
> 
> i am borrowing ideas from Interplanetary Internet
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interplanetary_Internet), BBS
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_board_system) and
> fidoNet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet)
> 
> 
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Hello, Tom

The answer that follows assumes that I understood your question correctly. Mainly, "is there such a thing as the internet in Blue Planet?". Also, the answer is specific to Blue Planet.

On Blue Planet, there is a service called Commcore, and acts as internet/radio/television services. It operates via satellite communications, and it's (nearly) ubiquitous. Given Poseidon's weather pattern and propensity for storms, there are times where the signal gets cut off. There's also public access terminals to commcore in all major settlements. I understand Poseidon's commcore is independent of Earth's as there is a 35-light year gap between the planets, and even via wormhole, it would take a message one year to arrive. That being said, given the demand for long john, and incorporate interests that span all the colonies of men, I'd say there's enough two-way spaceship traffic to imagine that some sort of courier system exists (I'm thinking something akin to the X-boat service in Traveller, only unmanned).

As far as FidoNet and BBS's go, I think you'd need to do some serious reworking of the concept. In Blue Planet, one interacts with computers via voice communication and agents, similar to the ones described in Transhuman Space. as such the dynamics of communication would be very different from the ones used in BBS's.

Hope that helps some,

Eduardo Alvarez