Microcomputer Systems 810:023 Spring 2002

  1. TAKE HOME FINAL EXAM is now ready.

  2. Ghostbusters and problem solving/programming and troubleshooting. The seven layer model, Please Do Not Throw Sausage Pizza Away and the division of responsibilities among the layers. The battle with complexity.

  3. Do NOT get stung by network or microcomputer systems slimers! What do waggle dancing bees have to do with Networks?

  4. Multimedia assignment is due on the last day of classes. If you do it in Wright Hall, it is helpful to bring along headphones to get more out of the sound demonstrations and concepts. DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THE SOUND PART OF THIS ASSIGNMENT!

  5. Here is the Handout for 023 class from Friday class, with practice questions for quiz.

  6. Quiz two study guide, for the Wednesday, April 3rd quiz.

  7. Quiz one study guide, for the Wednesday, February 27th quiz.

  8. Codewords for error detection and error correction. THE SELF-GRADING is NOW FIXED AGAIN. Includes animation. In February, it did NOT work on cowboy, so I moved it to the faculty web server. Now, in April, it does NOT worky on the faculty web server, but it does work back on cowboy. You gotta love the unpredictability of computer networks, NOT!!!!
    New: Added a new practice question on Wednesday morning.

  9. Subnet mask practice exercises. Posted on Wednesday, February 13th.

  10. Subnet mask exercise solution, for the Wednesday, February 6th class. This is part of TCP/IP and a key to how the internet works.

  11. Here is an overview of IP numbers, binary and subnet masks. Its as easy as w.x.y.z to understand them.

  12. More binary mysteries revealed. Why 254, 252, 248, 240, 224, 192 are so common as subnet mask numbers?

Assignment due on Friday, Feb 1st, from Monday's handout: Batch files questions and IPCONFIG, TRACERT, Hops, Assoc and IP number questions, from Windows NT command prompt (cmd.exe) or Windows 2000/ME (command.exe). Aka DOS prompt.

Scanners PowerPoint presentation published to the web is a nice example. One of the assignments this semester will probably involve creating a PowerPoint presentation and publishing it to the web.
The Spring 1999 web page, the Spring 2000 web page, and the Spring 2001 810:023 web page all are useful to see what kinds of topics are covered in this class. Keep in mind, the rate of change for networks, PCs and operating systems means the class will change quite a bit in response.

Networking terms and concepts - This LAN is your LAN. Link to this for definitions you need to look up for your 1st assignment. We will have a hands-on class on Friday, January 12th in Wright 339 lab.

Spring 2002 course outline

  1. Read chapters one and two of the textbook.

    Assignment #1: Answer Review Questions for chapter one on pages 27-30 (questions 1-20) and
    for chapter two on pages 58-62 (questions 1-30). Due date: Friday, January 25th.

    Please WRITE the question and WRITE out the answer to the question, to increase your learning. 1.c. in NOT acceptable for a multiple choice question, and 22. True is NOT acceptable for a True/False question.

    Your questions can be word processed or hand-written. Either way is okay for the hard-copy printout you turn in.
    Due date: Friday, January 25th.

  2. Hands-on class on Friday, January 25th in Wright 112 lab.
There are 5 issues to consider when connecting two nodes or computers with some media like cable. They are EFERA.
Encoding, Framing, Errors, Reliability and Access are E, F, E, R, A.
Encoding
Encoding the digital data on the signals that the analog media can transmit, and decoding it back to the digital binary pattern when received.
Framing
Sentinel approach and byte count approach to know the end of a frame. Detecting the exact start of a frame is the other issue. "Not me" and "Mine" example.
Error detection
Even and odd parity. Hamming codewords.
Reliable delivery
Sliding windows. Timers and ACKs. Automatic resend after timer goes off if no ACK from destination host.
Access control
CSMA/CD and CSMA/CA and token passing we have already studied.