Firstly we discussed that you could make your own blog in glow but this would not be any use due to the fact that only you can see it and this rules out others commenting or saying that you may have misunderstood something. We went over the Using networks unit in computer systems and were told that a sheet on topics to revise for the prelim will be posted on to the blog (See last entry from Mr Stratton). This will be uploaded as a PDF file so you can save it and/or print it.
We looked at Using Networks 6.2.1 Network Hardware – the HUB found on slide 116 on Power point on higher computing found on glow website which we discussed yesterday and continued with at the start of the period. This power point can be copied from glow.

We were told that other subjects we may be studying this year have been add to glow and that we are reminded that glow is not just for higher computing.

We continued on networks and discovered that a network can still operate even if the server stops. We discussed ‘the Ping of Death’, a malformed PACKET that courses your computer to crash when it is downloading a file. We discussed the router which we started new on today on page 130 of Using Network notes. The class were reminded to look over the glossary of computer terms as they will come up often and you must know the meaning of them e.g. ISTN or ADSL – download speed is greater than upload speed. We started discussing the performance affecting the machines.

One way of improving performance is installing a better network card which can help into improving the streaming data to and from your machine.

We discussed the factors affecting performance of networks page 131. We were once again reminded to look over glossary noted as we did not know what RAID was. It actually means a Redundant Array Inexpensive Disks.

We finished off by talking about network operating systems and on topic 6.4 and finally a little about bandwidth and compressing files to fit to smaller bandwidths.

Next week we will be looking at Broadcasting.

IMPORTANT

The NAB for Software Development has been rescheduled and will take place on Wednesday of next week, the 19.1.11, during period 3.