#even using it to substitute some of the enemies in the hunter's nightmare so they could have given more effort to laurence

[jinxie-117]

they should've recycled the cleric beast as a regular enemy tbh

[workrockin]

Remembering the days we spent chasing congalala, understanding lifi and taking a look at Intel's AX200 wireless card

Summer is at its peak, Rain is around the corner. Soon the heavy clouds will leak, So says my trusty informer.

Between you and me as you might have perceived, but nevertheless I will come out and say it in clear terms, to remove any remaining doubt, that I’m no expert in wireless technology. The whole thing seems to me quite astonishing infact. There lies a box in the corner holding a wand. You (s)witch it on and it will send you data over the air. What sorcery is that?

However many people have pointed out to me that it is no magic. On the contrary it is a phenomenon that has been studied scientists,verified by engineers and regulated law makers. It is very much real. So I take their word for it and believe in it myself.

But technology changes so quickly. Just as we have broken the gigabit barrier in wifi a new invention has come up. LiFi or Light Fidelity a new form of communication that promises something even more incredible. To use visible light for wireless transmission. Our readers demand to know its status. We scramble for answers.

And before we could satisfactorily answer one query more questions are raised. It is in these trying times we come to accept our limitations. However we don’t let that stop us. After many hours of reading arcane specifications and trying to make sense of this rapidly progressing world of communication technology we present our thoughts to you on the matter, hoping that you’ll be so kind as to pardon the inconsistencies and factual errors that may have mistakenly crept in despite the most careful efforts of a tired staff.

What happened to LiFi technology?

Thank you for A2A. Light is an electromagnetic wave. It is already the most dominant form communication in both wireless and wired varieties. Fiber optic communication which powers today’s internet broadband service uses light. Wireless communication such as wifi [1] and Bluetooth use electromagnetic spectrum of light. TV remotes have used IR waves for switching channels.

So there is precedent in using light waves for communication in modern world.

LIFI intends to use visible light signals for wireless communication. Note the emphasis on visible light. We are not talking about radio waves here. We mean light we can see. Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow,Orange and Red. Including UV and IR (IR as we have noted has already had a very successful implementation in remote controls for TV )

The idea is good. But the implementation is going to be tricky because of following reasons

Client support. Even if you build base stations for wireless visible light communication how are you going to get users to use them? Lot of work needs to be done in this area. There is however no reason that signals can’t be transformed from visible light to other already supported mediums like wifi to provide communication.

Visible light affects humans. So the intensity of light must be kept low. At lower intensities will the technology reduce to point to point communication? If so what happens to roaming devices? These are the questions I have not found answers to. Considering the negative press that 5G is getting for its millimeter wave , the use of UV in LIFI is going to be a PR nightmare. I can already hear cries from beauty experts on how LIFI is damaging their skin!

LIFI positions itself as a short range communication medium. That gives it protection against hackers. [2] At short range, lets say within room how can it be cheaper than a near free Ethernet cable that has universal support? Especially in the industrial application where LIFI aims to reduce electromagnetic interference. The easiest/cheapest way is to use wired communication. I might care about aesthetics in my hotel lobby. But in a workplace I want something reliable and well supported. If LIFI had increased distance transmission capacity say more than 70 M then it would have been a better substitute.

So to answer your question. LIFI is promising. But like every new invention LIFI needs to overcome technological, economical and marketing challenges. These things will take time. I’m sure that it will find a niche that will transform into a big industry. But its going to take time.

Talking about niches there’s one upcoming technology called optical computing [3](utilized in what is known as a photonic computer) that could replace electronic circuits. At the moment fiber optic cables are used to transmit light. In an optical computer therefore it would make sense that fiber optic cables would form the data transfer medium.

Here lifi technology could be utilized. In a controlled environment like inside of a CPU case you can benefit from all the positives of visible light communication while experiencing none of the negatives.

[1] Is LIFI a substitute for WIFI? https://www.quora.com/Is-LiFi-a-...

[2] “The light waves cannot penetrate walls which makes a much shorter range, though more secure from hacking, relative to Wi-Fi.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li-Fi

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_computing

What was your amazing experience with wireless technology?

It was raining outside. Power was out. We were supposed to be attending lecture. We skipped. I turned on my psp. My friend did the same. I had the black one. His was jet blue, slim.

We were going to hunt Congalala. He was a low level monster. An ape. Quick on his feet. Fond of fart bombing his enemies. Ice was his weakness. So we crafted out ice elemental weapons. Still he was too good for us.

We died often and when we didn’t we ran out of time. You must finish a quest within 50 minutes. Or else its game over. We were novice hunters in those days. Knew little about the habitat of the beast we were hunting. Even less about the mysterious jungle in which he dwelled.

We played and played until the battery ran out. But he got the best of us. We lost all our money. Our equipment was rendered useless. Our preparation futile. The beast won every time we attempted to take him down.

That was the start of an epic 700 hour long wireless multiplayer campaign. I haven’t felt the same way about any other game since. Even now a decade later sometimes I dream about Monster Hunter.

At that time psp was a very competent multiplayer device. A 32 bit arm 9 chip powered its 802.11b wifi. Upto 16 players could play simultaneously. But most games allowed only 4. Enabling a speed of upto 11 mbps back in 2005. It was unlike anything the world had seen before. A handheld [2]multiplayer gaming device that could stream!

Monster hunter was a sensational adhoc multiplayer success. Selling a combined total of 10M copies in japan alone.

That was 11 years ago. Multiplayer games these days need internet to work . If you don’t have a fast connection or if the server is taken down you’re out of luck. I do see a change around the corner. Game streaming is becoming more common now. We’ll need different kind of devices to [1] enable this kind of gaming. Those devices will most probably be wireless. That’s the amazing experience that I’ll be looking forward to.

[1] Return of wireless adhoc multiplayer. https://workrockin.quora.com/Ret...

[2] Nintendo Switch’s wireless capabilities look extremely promising for the future of gaming (https://workrockin.quora.com/The-wireless-features-of-Nintendo-switch)

How fast is Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 wireless network adapter card?

Thank you for A2A. The chip can do 2.4 gbps but only if you’re using 5ghz channel. Otherwise 573.6 mpbs on 2.4 ghz.

To calculate speeds look at the data rates table on wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IE...

The max speed is in the lowest column (#11) on the table. As an example assume we want to calculate the max speed of 2.4 ghz.

2.4 ghz band can have a max width of 40 mhz. And according to the spec [1] we have 2 transmitters. So the max speed in 2.4 ghz band is

2*286.8 = 573.6 mbps

Similarly 5ghz band can have a max of

2 * 1.2 =2.4 gbps

Some more details on the AX200 hardware

intel launched AX200 wifi 6 chip [1] last month. It is competitively priced between $10-$17 [2] . Before we take a look at the hardware it would be good to start with a brief on wifi 6

Wifi 6 is is technically defined by 802.11ax standard. Although it works in both 2.4ghz and 5ghz bands the highest speed in 160 mhz channel is only attainable in 5ghz band. And since 5ghz has lesser range than 2.4 ghz it means that you can only enjoy the highest speed at lesser distances. [3]

Max speed on a single radio, widest (160 mhz) channel is 1.2 gbps.

Since the standard works in both 2.4 and 5ghz bands it is backwards compatible with all other wifi standards. Which means that all your wifi client devices will work with a wifi 6 access point whether they themselves support wifi 6 or not. [3]

With that out of the way lets see what chip has for us in terms of hardware

2 transmission and 2 receive radios. Which means that we get a max throughput of 1.2*2= 2.4 gbps (note the point #2 above)

Dual band support with max channel width of 160 MHZ.

Integrated support for bluetooth 5.

Not bad for its price I’d say [4].

[1] https://ark.intel.com/content/ww...

[2] When purchased in volumes of thousands. This price is only for device manufacturers. But this is also good news for consumers because they’ll be getting the latest networking technology at cheap prices.

[3] FCC has a test report for the chip in which they specify the supported modulation schemes (page 6). BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM, 256QAM. Which confirms the backwards compatibility with all wifi standards.

Note that the FCC document only measures up to 256-QAM. But intel’s product page indicates a max speed of 2.4 gbps which means that it should support 1024-QAM. I’m not sure why it is not covered in the fcc document.

https://fccid.io/PD9AX200D2L/RF-Exposure-Info/RF-Exposure-SAR-Report-4213237.pdf

[4] The actual performance that you’ll achieve will also depend upon the hardware of your system. The wireless card is mostly a peripheral and its optimal performance is contingent on the capabilities of host device.

Looking for someone to help you with your wifi problems? We ar ehere to help. Email us on

workrockin@gmail.com

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Happy networking!

Santiago,Chile

[casualarsonist]

Shorties - Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide (PC) review

Gotta hand it to Games Workshop, when they fling shit at the wall to see what sticks, they make sure they’re using a shit-flinging cannon. The amount of licensed games released under their banner in the last decade is insane - there are forty-five released since 2013 alone according to Wikipedia. That’s not right. It makes it nearly impossible to avoid running into the turds infesting a sea of official titles, and it’s why even the better among them are often just kind of average as opposed to outright dreck, so needless to say that it pays to be veeeery selective when looking to buy any game under the GW brand umbrella.

Thankfully, the obscenely-named Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide lies somewhere in that nebulous cluster at the better end of the library, and also stands as one of the better Left 4 Dead clones on the market (remember when it was cool to substitute a number for a word?) - the fps genre and co-op styling is a good fit for this franchise, even if it does leave it feeling conceptually uninspired. But that’s where the rich series lore and deeply evocative look com to even things out a bit, and hot damn does this game look gorgeous at times. The Victorian nightmare that is Ubersreik is a mess of towering castles, filthy streets, upturned cemeteries, and so much fucking cobblestone, which makes it a shame that an over-reliance on oppressive darkness and sickly green filters means a lot of the environments are heavily obscured. Perhaps this was to preserve frame-rates by shrouding the high level of detail in shadow - because the game will test most systems - but it means that you often spend much of your time simply following the paths without actually paying much attention to all the elements built around you.

This slight disconnect with the world is reinforced by the lack of punch in the melee combat, and what should be brutal, visceral hack-and-slash melee gameplay against hordes of disgusting, hairy ratmen, often feels like someone effortlessly waving their hands in front of hundreds of phantoms that fall down and disappear at your feet. However, the addition of ranged attacks and alternate fire modes offers a needed degree of variation, and means that your playstyle can be adapted on the fly; fights often feel scrappy and excitingly unpredictable as a result.

Particular mention should be given to the five hero characters, which, more than any other element, raise the standard of the game as a whole. While it might otherwise be a pretty and functional melee co-op game, the keen balance of the available player characters means that no matter who you’re playing as, you always feel as if you’re making a positive contribution to the efforts of your team. Whereas in L4D the usefulness of individual players ultimately comes down to who shot the most things with the guns, Vermintide’s Imperial soldier has a very distinct function from the bright wizard and the archer and the witch hunter, etc, etc. Even if you can obliterate half a dozen skaven in a single swing, you’re going to want someone hurling fireballs at your back to stop you from getting surrounded, and vice versa.

And this diversity is both fortified and complimented by the dynamic and idiosyncratic banter between each of the protagonists. Listening to the witch hunter trade barbs and begrudging compliments with the bright wizard is particularly endearing, and this demonstrated cohesiveness of your team translates to an affection for both the characters, and the invisible players behind them. So while it’s not a match for all of L4D’s strengths, Vermintide stands head-and-shoulders above it in terms of its banter and general interaction with the enemies and environment.

All this said, I haven’t felt compelled to buy the sequel, because, for all the game’s virtues, Vermintide isn’t exactly a tour-de-force. More than anything else, it feels like L4D with a Warhammer skin with poorer pacing and weapon feedback, and the small gameplay changes aren’t impactful enough to leave me hungry for more. The beauty of the L4D series is in the narrative that is built into each and every level - progressing felt like a journey and adventure and the challenge balanced and meted out so expertly that you were compelled to continue just by virtue of the level design and enemy placement - and while Vermintide does shine at times, it’s can’t boast the same across the board, and this left me ready to move on after playing a few levels at a time. Even if it were just that the swordfighting felt better, or the level design was a little stronger and serviced some kind of narrative, these changes would make all the difference in the world, but I think that for now Vermintide remains ‘one of the better Games Workshop releases’, rather than a fantastic game in its own right.

7/10