IPv6...Anyone know anything?

I've read up enough to know the site that listed a number of v6 IP's like there is a relative comparison to 1 v4 wasn't showing it right, and they come in blocks. That's also probably more than you ever wanted to know. lol.... 

I think it may be something I use for specific tasks I want an obscure address assigned to, but other than that? It still seems a bit out of what I really need after all. 

I'd still be curious about people's impressions or reasons for using IPv6, if they have yet tho? 

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A real quick summary for people who this makes absolutely no sense at all for? The www.domainname.com which you type in to reach a website is just what people see. Computers/networks run off IP addresses or numbers that identify a computer or server. (like a mail server within a computer which may have other things running as well). IPv4 is the 255.255.255.255 format most people have seen. 4 sets that make the address. They each have meaning, but nothing anyone needs worry about for this. 

IP 4 has one little problem. Well...kinda like Y2k but this one came true. lol... Some idiot thought we'd never, ever have so many things needing IP's that the quad system wouldn't work. Plenty of numbers, for everyone...they figured. (yeah..if I had a nickle for every silly statement like that......err) The math comes to 4.295 Billion addresses, of which about 3.7 billion are able to be assigned. (The remainder are reserved ranges many computers won't even allow or accept). Sounds like all the addys the world needs eh? BIG number...back in DARPAnet days maybe. With 7 billion people breathing our oxygen with us? It's not so many now. Just about exhausted, in fact.

Now the IPv4 or 4 number set is a 32 bit address. Just know that, like earthquake strength? Measurement in bits tends to bring dramatic orders of magnitude for change as they go up or down in other measures. IPv6 is a 128 bit address and one looks like this: 2001:cdba:0:0:0:0:3257:9652. There is a longer and more proper way of showing it, and you can leave the 0's out entirely to show :: instead. Kinda typing friendly that way...err..kinda. 

IPv6 gave us a potential address pool now numbering 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456. The 340 is in the "undecillion" place, for a little piece of trivia. The whole explanation is at this site. Wikipedia expresses it as 3.4x10^38th. Another quote from that site describes the difference as now being able to assign a unique IP to every atom on the surface of the Earth, and still have enough addresses left over in IPv6 format to do the same with 100 more similar planets. 

I guess you could say that fixed that wagon REAL well this time. Even the Borg home world in Star Trek didn't have enough critters running around to use that many. 

How's that for less geeky?  :P

Sorry. Nevermind, I just discovered that jj is no longer a member there.

I'll email your paragraphs to the other fellow. Will see if he has time to respond or not.

It would help if you'd put your question again in 1-3 sentences . . . particularly asking him precisely what you'd like to know.

OK, I'll send that paragraph off in an email right away.

DONE

He's offered to answer any other questions you have on that score. He may authorize me giving you his email addy.