MovieChat Forums > The Martian (2015) Discussion > The two laptops, how does he do it ?

The two laptops, how does he do it ?

posted 3 years ago by PersistentViewer (1809)
16 replies | jump to latest

Mark has two laptops next to each other, and transfers (correct me if I'm wrong), a hexadecimal table from the one to the other.

How does he do that so instantly ? Is there laptop technology available to do that ? Or is it just CGI trickery ?

Been wondering about this for a while now.

[–] PaladinNJ (20316) 3 years ago

They're both on the same network. He probably has access to a shared drive that both laptops can access.

[–] naDaht (1087) 2 years ago

Pretty sure there's a mainframe somewhere, our at least a file server. Or you know, Bluetooth.

[–] naDaht (1087) 2 years ago

Yes, it's called "being on a LAN". It's like the internet, but just for a single room or building.

[–] footlegger (1462) 2 years ago

Plenty of ways to establish a connection between two computers even without a server or a router:
1. Crossover Ethernet patch cable
2. Ad Hoc WiFi connection
3. Bluetooth

[–] Valerian (10482) 2 years ago

Crossover cable isn't necessary because Ethernet ports on new devices reconfigure receive and transmit signals automatically.

[–] footlegger (1462) 2 years ago

Yes, for newer ethernet ports (Gigabit+), for older ones you still need a crossover cable.

[–] fooman (288) 2 years ago

WiFi

[–] bjensen4 (1281) 2 years ago

Kind of like Air Dropping a file from one Apple product to the next.

[–] Moonglum9 (10717) a year ago

Well it is somewhat in the future, so they might have new tech that they just didn't go into detail about.

[–] duckofprey (1538) a year ago

OP. Don’t forget this film takes place in 2035, 20 years after when the film was made. Computer tech evolves a lot in relative short periods of time. Heck, 20 years PRIOR to when the film was made we were using dial-up and 3.5 inch floppy disks.

[–] Abed303 (282) 7 months ago

Plus this type of functionality is practically already available. Synergy is a mouse and keyboard sharing software solution that allows a user to connect multiple computers together, even with different operating systems. It even allows for a shared clipboard to copy and paste between systems.

While it's not exactly what was shown in the movie, it's not far off, and like you said this movie is set in the future. Also, the first version of the Synergy was written in 1996, so it's not exactly cutting edge technology.

https://symless.com/synergy/features

[–] tonganprince (566) 7 months ago

The whole laptop thing bothers me.. Not so much what you're talking about, but you would think they are all password protected. How is he able to get into everyone's laptop is not believable to me.

[–] duckofprey (1538) 7 months ago

Why would computers on a military ship with a half-dozen inhabitants on very long mission to another planet in 2035 need passwords? Voice recognition would suffice and even that is not something I would expect on such a mission.

[–] tonganprince (566) 7 months ago

Rewatched again.. when he first gets left behind he logs into the HAB journal with a username and password, so my original complaint remains. :)

[–] Valerian (10482) 7 months ago

They use ssh keys to access other laptops in the WLAN.

[–] PaladinNJ (20316) 7 months ago

I would guess that any of the crew could use any of the laptops. They probably all access the same server which is where the files are kept. It would be their personal files that would be protected.