Finished

thank you Mr. whimmer for helping me understand computers. i had a grea time in your class

Chapter 5

Section A

 Network Classification

 A description of the different area networks that are provided such as pan, nan, lan, man, and wan.

            PAN (personal area network) – is the interior connection of personal digital       devices within a range of about 30 feet and without the use of wires or cables. It’s usually used to transmit data from a computer to a PDA, a cell phone, and a             portable printer.

            NAN (neighborhood area networks) – provides connectivity within a limited      geographical area, usually spread over several buildings. This network is   becoming famous by coffee shops and computer hobbyists.

            LAN (local area network) – is a data communications network that connects     personal computers within a very limited geographical. School computer labs and             home networks are examples of LANs.

             MAN (metropolitan area network) – is a public high speed network capable of            voice and data transmission within a range of about 50 miles. Internet service           providers, cable television companies, and local telephone companies are example             of people who use MAN networks.

            WAN (wide area network) – covers a large geographical area and usually consists        of several smaller networks. The internet, nationwide banks, and multi location          superstores are classified as WANs.

LAN Standards

LAN technologies are standardized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) project 802. An IEEE designation number such as IEEE 802.3 is sometimes used to refer to a network standard in articles and advertisements. The most popular LAN standard used today is Ethernet technologies and use compatible WI-FI standards in applications that require wireless access.

Network Devices

Node- each connection point on a network 

Network Interface Card- this is needed to connect to a lan

Networked peripheral- is any device that contains network circuitry

Network attached storage- a device that connects directly to a net work

Network topology

The study of network topology recognizes five basic topologies:

• Bus topology
• Star topology
• Ring topology
• Tree topology
• Mesh topology

Bus

In local area networks where bus technology is used, each machine is connected to a single cable. Each computer or server is connected to the single bus cable through some kind of connector. A terminator is required at each end of the bus cable to prevent the signal from bouncing back and forth on the bus cable.

 

 Star

In local area networks where the star topology is used, each machine is connected to a central hub. In contrast to the bus topology, the star topology allows each machine on the network to have a point to point connection to the central hub.

Ring network topology

In local area networks where the ring topology is used, each computer is connected to the network in a closed loop or ring. Each machine or computer has a unique address that is used for identification purposes. The signal passes through each machine or computer connected to the ring in one direction. Ring topologies typically utilize a token passing scheme, used to control access to the network.

Tree

Is a blend of star and bus topology. Multiple star networks are connected into a bus configured by a backbone.

Section B

 Homepna

HomePNA is one of the leading wired home networking technologies and the choice of major service providers worldwide. The HomePNA is home networking specifications for distributing entertainment and triple play data over existing coax cables and phone wires.

Ethernet

Ethernet is a family of frame-based computer networking technologies for local area networks (LANs). The name comes from the physical concept of the ether. It defines a number of wiring and signaling standards for the Physical Layer of the OSI networking model, through means of network access at the Media Access Control protocol (a sub-layer of Data Link Layer), and a common addressing format.

Ethernet is standardized as IEEE 802.3. The combination of the twisted pair versions of Ethernet for connecting end systems to the network, along with the fiber optic versions for site backbones, is the most widespread wired LAN technology. It has been in use from around 1980^[1] to the present, largely replacing competing LAN standards such as token ring, FDDI, and ARCNET.

Section C

Bluetooth

 Bluetooth is an open wireless protocol for exchanging data over short distances (using short length radio waves) from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks (PANs). It was originally conceived as a wireless alternative to RS-232 data cables. It can connect several devices, overcoming problems of synchronization Bluetooth makes it possible for these devices to communicate with each other when they are in range. Because the devices use a radio (broadcast) communications system, they do not have to be in line of sight of each other.

Wi-Fi

A Wi-Fi enabled device such as a personal computer, video game console, mobile phone, MP3 player or personal digital assistant can connect to the Internet when within range of a wireless network connected to the Internet. The coverage of one or more interconnected access points called a hotspot can comprise an area as small as a few rooms or as large as many square miles covered by a group of access points with overlapping coverage. In addition to private use in homes and offices, Wi-Fi can provide public access at Wi-Fi hotspots provided either free of charge or to subscribers to various commercial services. Organizations and businesses such as airports, hotels and restaurants often provide free hotspots to attract or assist clients

Wi-Fi Equipment

Wi-Fi setup

UPGRADING your COMPUTER

Many times, organizations choose to upgrade computers for the wrong reasons. You can’t turn a slow computer into a fast one simply by increasing the size of a hard drive. Likewise, changing the computer’s processor may not make a crashing computer more reliable. However, upgrading your processor will significantly improve your computing experience. Knowing which upgrade is the most important and cost-effective is the first step.

Technical Expertise

Upgrading a computer’s RAM, hard drive, or processor almost always involves getting under the hood of a computer. This means that you need to know something about what you are doing to avoid causing damage. While replacing a graphics card, on the other hand, is not rocket science, it can still be a daunting (but rewarding) experience for the novice user. It’s important to carefully decide whether or not an upgrade should be made by staff. Outsourcing upgrades to a technician is another option, but that cost additional time and money.

to find more info go to homedepot.com

www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/hardware/page4789.cfm

PURCHASING A COMPUTER

I think this would be a great choice because it has 2 processor cores that let you run multiple applications simultaneously, so you can browse, send instant messages all at once. It also features Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit operating system preinstalled which provides a stable platform for word processing, web navigation, gaming, media storage and more.

Purchasing a Processor

The choice of processor is up to you and should be determined by the amount of power you will need. Most processors will be sufficient enough for basic office use and will be able to access e-mails and internet. If you would like to have a faster processor you will look to spend more money. If you are using your computer for memory and applications such as photos and graphics, you will want a faster processor.
A good processor is an Intel Duo Core Processor.

Memory or RAM

Having a decent amount of RAM in your computer will increase performance. RAM is measured by megabytes. Having a large amount of RAM will help your computer run faster and help with multiple applications being used at any given time.
The recommended amount of RAM for a computer would be approximately 512 MB.

Hard Disk Drive

Most hard disk drives provide at least 40GB space. This is generally enough for most tasks. However, if you want to work with graphics, music or large databases you should purchase a minimum of 60GB and have it installed. An 80GB HDD would be ideal. 7200-rpm drives give optimum performance whereas 8MB of cache would make it boost performance.

Optical Drives
If you have no intention on viewing DVD movies on your computer, then a CD-RW drive should do the job. Each CD-RW drive has three speeds mentioned for it – recordable speed, rewritable speed and read speed. The minimum your drive should have is 40x recordable speeds, 12x rewritable speed and 40x read speed. There should be at least a 2MB buffer for CD-RW drives.

Monitor

When you purchase you new monitor you have choices of everything, including how big your monitor may be. The size of the monitor is up to you and will depend on what you will be using it for. If you are using this new computer for graphics you may want a larger monitor so that you can see what you are working on. Then again, if you just want a large monitor and you can afford it then get it, the bigger the better, they are really pretty neat

infinitycomputerrepair.com/computer-articles/Purchasing-a-New-Desktop-Computer/115/

Router

A Router is a device that forwards data packets along  networks. A router is connected to at least two networks, commonly two LANs or WANs or a LAN and its ISP’s network. Routers are located at gateways, the places where two or more networks connect. Routers use headers and forwarding tables to determine the best path for forwarding the packets, and they use protocols such as ICMP to communicate with each other and configure the best route between any two hosts. Very little filtering of data is done through routers.

For more info