Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2023 April 27

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April 27

Trying to remember name of MS-DOS game

I'm trying to remember the name of an old MS-DOS game from the late 1980s or early 1990s. The game probably had CGA graphics. As I remember the player flew a fighter aeroplane and had to shoot enemy vehicles. The plot of the game was probably that the player was fighting a terrorist organisation. The levels were named after Greek letters, Alpha, Beta, Gamma and so on. It had a pseudo-3D view where one half of the screen showed the scene from above and one half showed it from the side. This allowed the player to move virtually in three directions. Does anyone remember the name of this game? JIP | Talk 01:05, 27 April 2023 (UTC)

• I think I found this game by myself. It is apparently Flightmare by Peter Adams, made in 1984. See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPEq4K3Qe0U JIP | Talk 09:44, 27 April 2023 (UTC)

Question about house Ethernet hub/data panel box

In our current house, for Ethernet, the cable goes to the modem/router and from there I run Ethernet cables to the computers in that room. I also run an Ethernet cable to the wall, which sends Ethernet to other rooms.

We are looking into a newly built house that has an Ethernet hub, a.k.a. data panel box. I don't really understand how this new system works. Does the cable, fiber, or whatever go into the data panel box, and it distributes the Ethernet from there? Does this eliminate the need for a modem/router? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 20:15, 27 April 2023 (UTC)

It's hard to tell without pictures. A common arrangement is a small patch panel, where each socket in the panel is connected to a socket in each room of the house. A network switch is placed near the patch panel, as is a modem. A cable is run from the modem to the switch. For each room that is to have Ethernet service, a cable is run from the switch to the patch panel. So if you decide to provide Ethernet to the living room, kitchen, and primary bedroom, you would have three cables between the switch and the patch panel.

Of course, many new laptops are built with WiFi in mind, and don't even have an Ethernet socket. So you might decide to not use the patch panel at all. Jc3s5h (talk) 20:32, 27 April 2023 (UTC)

I don't have any photos because this is a house we are considering to be built. I use desktops with Ethernet almost exclusively over a laptop with WiFi. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 21:05, 27 April 2023 (UTC)