Download GST_115_ASS3_1

NAME: OKAFOR MARTINS CHINONSO.
DEPARTMENT: PETROLUEM ENGINEERING.
COURSE: GST 115(ASSIGNMENT).
LEVEL: 100.
THE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER OF COMPUTER HISTORICAL TIMELINE FROM
AGES PAST.
COMPUTER INTRODUCTION
An amazing machine! We are living in the computer age today and most of our day to day
activities cannot be accomplished without using computers. Sometimes knowingly and
sometimes unknowingly we use computers. Computer has become an indispensable and
multipurpose tool. We are breathing in the computer age and gradually computer has become
such a desire necessity of life that it is difficult to imagine life without it.
DEVELOPMENT OF COMPUTER
PRIMITIVE TRADITION:
Actually speaking electronic data processing does not go back more than just half a century i.e.
they are in existence merely from early 1940’s. In early days when our ancestor used to reside in
cave the counting was a problem. Still it is stated becoming difficult. When they started using
stone to count their animals or the possession they never knew that this day will lead to a
computer of today. People today started following a set of procedure to perform calculation with
these stones.
PRIMITIVE CALENDAR (2800BC):
The Stonehenge built around 2800BC which is located in Salisbury, England was said to be used
as an ancient calendar. This is born of man’s search and quest for better counting means than the
primitive tradition. This is also referred to as Neolithic computer, this later led to creation of a
digital counting device, which was the predecessor the first calculating device invented, was
known as ABACUS.
THE ABACUS
Abacus is known to be the first mechanical calculating device, which was used to be performed
addition and subtraction easily and speedily? This device was a first developed by the Egyptians
in the 10th century B.C, but it was given it final shape in the 12th century A.D. by the Chinese
educationists. Abacus is made up of wooden frame in which rod where fitted across with rounds
beads sliding on the rod. It is dividing into two parts called ‘Heaven’ and ‘Earth’. Heaven was the
upper part and Earth was the lower one. Thus any no. can be represented by placing the beads at
proper place.
NAPIER’S BONES
As the necessity demanded, scientist started inventing better calculating device. In thus process
John Napier’s of Scotland invented a calculating device, in the year 1617 called the Napier
Bones. In the device, Napier’s used the bone rods of the counting purpose where some no. is
printed on these rods. With these rods one can do addition, subtraction, multiplication and
division easily.
PASCAL’S CALCULATOR
In the year 1642, Blaise Pascal a French scientist invented an adding machine called Pascal’s
calculator, which represents the position of digit with the help of gears in it.
LEIBNZ CALCULATOR
In the year 1671, a German mathematics, Gottfried Leibniz modified the Pascal calculator and he
developed a machine which could perform various calculation based on multiplication and
division as well.
ANALYTICAL ENGINE
In the year 1833, a scientist form England knows to be Charles Babbage invented such a
machine. Which could keep our data safely? This device was called Analytical engine and it
deemed the first mechanical computer. It included such feature which is used in today’s computer
language. For this great invention of the computer, Sir Charles Babbage is also known as the
father of the computer. He also developed the difference engine in 1822.
GENERATION OF COMPUTER
As the time passed, the device of more suitable and reliable machine was need which could
perform our work more quickly. During this time, in the year 1946, the first successful electronic
computer called ENIAC was developed and it was the starting point of the current generation of
computer.
FIRST GENERATION
ENIAC was the world first successful electronic computer which was develops by the two
scientists namely J. P. Eckert and J. W. Mauchy. It was the beginning of first generation
computer. The full form of ENIAC is “Electronic Numeric Integrated And Calculator” ENIAC
was a very huge and big computer and its weight was 30 tones. It could store only limited or
small amount of information. Initially in the first generation computer the concept of vacuum
tubes was used. A vacuum tube was such an electronic component which had very less work
efficiency and so it could not work properly and it required a large cooling system.
SECOND GENERATION
Transistor
As the development moved further, the second generation computers knocked the door. In this
generation, transistors were used as the electronic component instead of vaccum tubes .A
transistors is much smaller in the size than that of a vaccum tube. As the size of electrons
components decreased from vaccum tube of transistor, the size of computer also decreased and it
became much smaller than that of earlier computer.
THIRD GENERATION
Integrated circuit
The third generation computers were invented in the year 1964. In this generation of computer,
IC (Integrated circuits) was used as the electronic component for computers. The development of
IC gave birth to a new field of microelectronics. The main advantage of IC is not only its small
size but its superior performance and reliability than the previous circuits. It was first developed
by T.S Kilby. This generation of computer has huge storage capacity and higher calculating
speed.
FOURTH GENERATION
Personal Computer
This is the generation where we are working today. The computers which we see around us
belong to the fourth generation computers. ‘Microprocessor’ is the main concept behind this
generation of computer.
A microprocessor is a single chip (L.S.I circuit), which is used in a computer for any arithmetical
or logical functions to be performed in any program. The honor of developing microprocessor
goes to Ted Hoff of U.S.A.
He developed first microprocessor, the Intel 4004, as he was working for Intel Corporation,
U.S.A with the use of microprocessor in the fourth generation computers, the size of computer
become very fast and efficient. It is evident that the next generation of computer i.e. fifth
generation will be developed soon. In that generation, computer will possess artificial intelligence
and it would be able to take self-decisions like a human being.
Another is the birth of World Wide Web in CERN laboratory in Zurich, Switzerland in 1990 by
Tim Berners Lee, 1992-Microsoft released Windows 3.1 and later versions Windows 95, 98, XP
etc., the introduction of servers, Apache by UNIX, Webster by Apple and Information
Interchange Server (IIS) by Microsoft, emergence of newer versions of GUI based operating
systems and highly miniaturized computers, computer systems and computing devices.
FIFTH GENERATION:
This is the present, future and beyond the future generation. Major inventions here are parallel
processing, quatum computing, AI (Artificial Intelligence), nanotechnology, PC about to be
phased out.
REFERENCES:

Wikieducator- History of computer development.

History of computer from Abacus to iPhone.

Invitation to information technology.
2. MY VISIT TO THE ICT UNIT (COLLEGE 1/2ND FLOOR/C 17).
List of ICT devices I found there.

Hub

The server computer

The client computers

Switch

Bridge

Repeater

Router

Gateway

IEEE standard for WIFI

Brouter(bridge router)

Multiplexer

Network interface controller(NIC)

Some many cables including networking cables like RJ 45/RJ 11 connectors.
The aesthetics and surrounding of the ICT unit:

The place is well wired to avoid the problem of outbreak of fire and also there is fire
extinguisher at strategic areas in case of any fire outbreak.

The computers there are covered after use for protection.

The place is located in a strategic point to avoid the problem of power surge or low
voltage.

The location is at a good point from the problem of network barriers.

There are so many sockets for easy plugging of any device and cables are coated to avoid
shocks.

The room has enough computers to ensure that the students enjoy the lecture and learn
faster.

There is also proper ventilation of the room and installed air condition to avoid
suffocation.

The computers are well arranged in order to promote orderliness in the room.

Above all there are laid down rules and regulations which guide the activities in the ICT
unit.
ASSIGNMENT 2:
Write a short note on the term Connectivity hardware devices and explain the examples of
it.
Connectivity hardware, also known as network equipment or computer networking devices, are
physical devices which are required for communication and interaction between devices on a
computer network. Specifically, they mediate data in a computer network. Units which are the
last receiver or generate data are called hosts or data terminal equipment.
Connectivity devices may include gateways, routers, network bridges, modems, wireless access
points, networking cables, line drivers, switches, hubs, and repeaters; and may also include
hybrid network devices such as multilayer switches, protocol converters, bridge routers, proxy
servers, firewalls, network address translators, multiplexers, network interface controllers,
wireless network interface controllers, ISDN terminal adapters and other related hardware.
The most common kind of networking hardware today is a copper-based Ethernet adapter which
is a standard inclusion on most modern computer systems. Wireless networking has become
increasingly popular, especially for portable and handheld devices.
Other networking hardware used in computers includes data centre equipment (such as file
servers, database servers and storage areas), network services (such as DNS, DHCP, email, etc.)
as well as devices which assure content delivery.
Taking a wider view, mobile phones, PDAs and even modern coffee machines may also be
considered networking hardware. As technology advances and IP-based networks are integrated
into building infrastructure and household utilities, network hardware will become an ambiguous
term owing to the vastly increasing number of "network capable" endpoints.
Hub
A hub works in the physical layer of the OSI model. It is basically a non-intelligent device, and
has no decision making capability. What a Hub basically does is take the input data from one of
the ports and broadcast the information to all the other ports connected to the network .There is a
lack of security in the Hub. The Network Hubs are out dated and are out of the market.
Repeater
A repeater is a device similar to the Hub, but has additional features. It also works in the Physical
layer. The repeaters are used in places where amplification of input signal is necessary. But, the
kind of amplification done by the repeater is different from the regular amplification by
amplifiers. The regular amplifies everything fed into it. That means, if the input signal has noise
induced into it, both the desired signal and noise signal are together amplified. But, in the case of
a repeater, it regenerates the input signal, and amplifies only the desirable signal. Hence, the
noise component of the signal is eliminated.
The repeaters are necessary since, during the transmission of the signals over long distances, the
signal has attenuation, delay distortions and noise, which lead in loss of data. Hence, in order to
prevent this, the regenerative repeaters are used. Hence, the repeater regenerates the faded signal.
In addition, it has all the features of a Hub. One common problem between the repeaters and the
Hubs are that only one transmission can take place on the network at a particular time. If multiple
devices transmit data simultaneously, there will be data collision.
Switch
A switch is an intelligent device that works in the data link layer. The term intelligent refers to
the decision making capacity of the Switch. Since it works in the Data link layer, it has
knowledge of the MAC addresses of the ports in the network. Simultaneous data transfer is
possible in a switch. Also, Hub divides bandwidth, but a Switch does not. It is also to be noted
that a switch is a secure device, because it sends information only to the desired destinations, and
also certain security features such as firewalls can be implemented in the Switches.
Bridge
A bridge is also a device which works in the Data Link Layer, but is more primitive when
compared to a switch. Initial bridges were used to connect only 2 LAN’s, but the most recent
ones perform similar operation as the switches. It also works on the principle of transfer of
information using the MAC addresses of the ports. It can be noted is that the normal ADSL
modem can be connected via bridging also. The only difference is that, when bridging is used,
each time the device has to be connected to the internet; it has to dial to the internet and establish
a connection. Also, a bridge alone cannot be used to connect to the internet, because, the bridge
works in the Data Link Layer, and has no knowledge of the IP Addresses, which are used in the
Internet.
Router
Any computer can be connected to the internet via MODEM, which performs the Modulation and
the Demodulation operations. But, when there is more than one computer at home or in an
organization, and you have a single internet connection, you need a Router. Router is a device
which is used when multiple devices need to connect to the Internet using the same IP. Any
Internet Service Provider (ISP) provides a single IP, and especially for personal use, the IP
address is assigned dynamically. This is done because, suppose, an ISP has 1000 IP addresses, it
does not mean that it has 1000 customers. An ISP assumes that not all devices will be connected
to the internet at the same time. Hence, when a user wants to access the internet, any IP address
from the pool of IP addresses from the ISP will be assigned to connect the user to the internet.
Hence, the router does the job of connecting multiple devices in a LAN to the internet using the
same IP address. Since the router works in the Network Layer, it does forwarding on the basis of
IP addresses.
The Wi-Fi routers that are commonly used now are the IEEE 802.11 b/g standard router, which is
explained below.
IEEE 802.11
IEEE 802.11 is a standard for Wi-Fi. There are several different technologies/ generations that
have been implemented. As mentioned, the recent modems are IEEE 802.11 b/g modems. The
word b/g has the meaning as follows:
An IEEE 802.11 b standard uses 2.4GHz band and has a maximum transfer rate of 11 Mbps,
while the IEEE 802.11 g standard uses 2.4 GHz band and has maximum transfer rate of 54 Mbps.
Thus the b/g modem refers to a dual bandwidth modem, which is compatible with both the b and
g standards. The standards are mainly differentiated based on the distance and speed of data
transfer.
The more recent IEEE 802.11 N standard has the capability to provide speeds of over 100 Mbps.
It basically uses multiple wireless signals and antennas, and has increased signal intensity in
order to be able to provide network for greater distances. It employs MIMO technology, wherein
spatial encoding is used. The spatial pre-coding is done at the transmitter and the post-coding is
done at the receiver. Recently, Reliance Communications was in news for implementing MIMO
technology to improve its 3G data transfer speeds.
Brouter (Bridging Router) is a device which has two functions. Brouter acts as a router for
known protocols (known by the router and those on the network) and hence works in the network
layer. For data packets with unknown protocols, it acts as a bridge by connecting two different
networks which is the function of a bridge - and this works in the data-link layer.
Gateway
The Gateway devices work in the Transport layer and above, where the different network
technologies are implemented. A gateway is necessary when there are different technologies
implemented by the different LAN’s which are to be connected together.
In the more common example, we use a telephone network and internet networks, which works
on different technologies. The telephone network follows the ISDN, and the Internet follows the
IP. Here, different technologies are being used. In this case, the router fails to work, since the
router cannot understand the functionalities of both the networks. Hence, we require a Gateway,
which acts as a translator in communicating between the networks.
Connecting Cables
While connecting different networks, we come across different connecting cables, which are as
follows:
RJ45/ RJ 11 Connectors: The RJ45 (Registered Jack 45) cable or the Cat 5 cable, is used to
connect the two different LAN’s together. This is normally confused with the RJ11 cable, which
is used in the interconnections in the telephone network.
1. Crossover cables: Crossover cables are generally used when 2 different computers are to be
connected together. They get the name because, in these cables, a crossover is made between the
Transmitter and Receiver ports, i.e., Transmitter of one end of the cable is connected to the
Receiver port at the other end and vice versa.
2. Null Modem Cables: The null modem cables are also those which are used in connecting to
different computers to form a network. They also have a crossover, but generally, the term null
modem cables are used for RS232 standard cables.
3. Optical Fibres: The optical fibres are used when gigabit Ethernet is used, and very high rates
of data transmission is necessary.
Hybrid network devices include:
Multilayer switch: a switch which, in addition to switching on OSI layer, provides functionality
at higher protocol layers. Protocol converter: a hardware device that converts between two
different types of transmission, for interoperation. Bridge router (Brouter): a device that works as
a bridge and as a router. The Brouter routes packets for known protocols and simply forwards all
other packets as a bridge would.
Hardware or software components which typically sit on the connection point of different
networks (for example, between an internal network and an external network) include:
Proxy server: computer network service which allows clients to make indirect network
connections to other network services.
Firewall: a piece of hardware or software put on the network to prevent some communications
forbidden by the network policy. A firewall typically establishes a barrier between a trusted,
secure internal network and another outside network, such as the Internet, that is assumed to not
be secure or trusted.
Network address translator (NAT): network service (provided as hardware or as software) that
converts internal to external network addresses and vice versa.
Other hardware devices used for establishing networks or dial-up connections includes:
Multiplexer: a device that combines several electrical signals into a single signal.
Network interface controller (NIC): a device connecting a computer to a wire-based computer
network.
Wireless network interface controller: a device connecting the attached computer to a radiobased computer network.
ISDN terminal adapter (TA): a specialized gateway for ISDN.
Line driver: a device used to increase transmission distance by amplifying the signal; used in
base-band networks only.
REFERENCES:

Wikipedia-networking hardware

Tech-lightenment.blogspot.com