Week 2 - Computers 1

Home About AC Updates AC Radio AC Blog AC Courses Forum

FAQ

Week 2 - Computers 1

< Last Thread | Next Thread >

This forum is locked: you cannot post, reply to, or edit topics.

This topic is locked: you cannot edit posts or make replies.

Forum Index > Music Technology 02 2003

Author

Thread

ben m

Joined: 15 Sep 2002
Posts: 337
Location: UK

Week 2 - Computers 1

Computers 1

Hi everyone.

This week I hope that by completing this task you will gain a better understanding of computer fundamentals. Not only is this knowledge invaluable for a Sound Engineer working in a digital environment, it is also extremely useful across many other disciplines.

Question

Please define the following terms and explain their abbreviations where relevant.
USB/USB 2.0
SCSI
Firewire
ATA/IDE

Question

What devices may be connected to these interfaces, and which have implications for the Audio Engineer?

Question

Identify the purpose of a motherboard.

Question

Explain the purposes of the following components/peripherals within a Computer, and how they would connect to a typical motherboard:

Explain the term 'Operating System', and identify the 2 main OSs' in use (name the relevant platform for these OSs')

Question

Expand the abbreviation 'GUI' and give a description of its concept and how it has evolved.

Question

Briefly describe the following:

Outline the main differences between Apple Macintosh computers and IBM compatible computers.

So, good luck and lets get started!
_________________
ben@audiocourses.com

Mon Sep 08, 2003 4:25 pm

mommi

Joined: 21 Apr 2003
Posts: 47
Location: Tallinn, Estonia

Computers 1 assignment

Hi guys,

Here is what I got togehter. You probably find traces of hurrying here. They really are. Sad

Please define the following terms and explain their abbreviations where relevant.

USB/USB 2.0 stands for Universal Serial Bus. USB is a serial interface standard for connecting external devices to the computer. USB 2.0 (Fast USB) refers to a faster standard. USB 1.1 devices can transfer data at 1.5 Mbit or 12 Mbit per second. USB 2.0 has a data transfer rate of 480 Mbit per second, while using the same cables and connectors as USB 1.1. USB supports hot plugging, meaning the devices can be attached or detached while the computer is running. The OS will then automatically notice the change. Up to 127 devices can be connected to a single USB port.

SCSI is a parallel interface standard for attaching peripheral devices to computers. There are several variations of this standard, differing from each other in bus width (8 or 16 bits) and clock rate. The fastest is Wide Ultra2 SCSI, offering data transmission rate up to 80 megabytes per second.

Firewire or IEEE 1394 is a very fast bus standard allowing for data transfer rates from 400 Mbits per second (IEEE 1394a) to 800 megabits per second (IEEE 1394b). The name Firewire is trademarked by Apple, the original developer of the technology. In addition to hot plugging support (like USB), Firewire also supports isochronous data transfer. This means data delivery within certan time constraints, which makes it ideal for transferring big amounts of data real-time.

ATA/IDE ATA, short for Advanced Technology Attachment, is a disk drive design standard where controller is integrated on the drive itself. There are several versions of ATA, starting from ATA/IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics, 16 bit interface supporting up to two drives) and ending with ATA/100 (data transfer rate up to 100 MB/s).

What devices may be connected to these interfaces, and which have implications for the Audio Engineer?
ATA/IDE interface is used for connection of mass storage devices like hard disks and CD drives. There are also SCSI hard disks, which perform better than ATA/IDE, but respectively also cost more.
External devices connect through USB, Firewire and SCSI. A variety of control devices like keyboard and mouse connect to USB, external disks can be connected either by USB or Firewire.
I would think all these devices are relevant for the Audio Engineer, as they enable us to use the computer Smile

Identify the purpose of a motherboard.
A motherboard is the main printed circuit board of a computer. It contains the CPU, BIOS (Basic Input/Output System, read-only memory containing program instructions that determine what a computer can do without accessing programs from a disk), memory, mass storage interfaces, ports and controllers for standard peripherals like keyboard and screen. It also contains expansion slots where other PCB-s can be inserted.
So a motherboard provides a framework around wchich the computer is built.

Explain the purposes of the following components/peripherals within a Computer, and how they would connect to a typical motherboard:

CPU , Central Processing Unit, is what the name indicates - the brains of a computer. It carries out calculations and executes instructions from memory. CPU sits directly into
motherboard.

RAM , Random Access Memory, is where programs are loaded for execution and where they store their operative data. Data will disappear from RAM on power-off. RAM PCB-s are inserted into slots on the motherboard.

Hard Drive magnetic disk, a mass storage device. Here the programs and their data is stored in a more permanent manner; it won't disappear on power-off. Programs will be loaded from a hard disk into RAM for execution. Programs read their data from hard disk into RAM for manipulation and, when finished, write it back to hard disk.
Hard disks connect to a typical motherboard through IDE cable which will be inserted into IDE interface. SCSI hard disks connect to SCSI interface in the same manner.

Video Card , or video adapter, is a printed circuit board that gives the computer display capabilities. It is where a monitor will be connected through a cable. Video adapter will be inserted into an expansion slot on a motherboard, typically AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port, quicker) or PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect, slower).

Sound Card , a PCB that enables a computer to input, output and manipulate sounds. Sound cards typically connect into PCI slot or are integrated into a motherboard.

CD/DVD-ROM Drive , a device for reading data from optical media - CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs. They connect through an IDE cable into IDE interface.

Modem , MODulator-DEModulator, is a device for converting digital information (from a computer) into analog form to be transmitted over telephone or cable lines. The receiving modem then at the other side converts the data back into digital form. This way two computers can exchange data over long distance. Modems can be internal (onboard), meaning inserted into expansion slots, or external, connected to the computer's serial port through serial cable.

UPS , Uninterruptible Power Source, is a device that stores energy in a battery and can supply power to the computer in case of a power outage. There are two types of UPSes.
Standby Power System or Line-interactive UPS constantly monitors voltage in the power line. If the voltage drops, it switches to battery power. The problem is that swithing to battery power takes some time, up to several milliseconds, during which the computer doesn't receive any power.
On-line UPS always provides power to the computer from it's internal source regardless of the power line's state. This kind of UPSes cost much more.
The purpose of UPSes is to allow for data save and proper shutdown of a computer. Their power doesn't last forever, typically it is some minutes. Often there is a software included with UPS that allows for automatic data save and shutdown.

Explain the term 'Operating System', and identify the 2 main OSs' in use (name the relevant platform for these OSs')
Operating system is a program to perform basic tasks like input/output to/from peripherals (from keyboard or disk/file, to monitor/printer or disk/file). OS is the most important program in a computer that allows a user to actually use the computer. It is an interface between user and computer, also between an application program and a computer. For any user-level program (application) to be executed, there must be an OS present.
As OS is a bridge between user and computer, it is written for some specific hardware platform. The two main platforms today are IBM compatible and Apple Macintosh computers. The most widespread OS family for IBM compatible computers is Microsoft Windows. Apple uses it's own Mac OS.

Expand the abbreviation 'GUI' and give a description of its concept and how it has evolved.
For a user to use a computer he/she has to communicate with it by means of an OS. The communication means giving orders like 'execute a program named foo' or 'give me a list of files in this directory'. These orders can be given by written commands (using command language) or by means of a Graphical User Interface - GUI - where a user can make selections from menus and icons by means of a pointing device (like a mouse). Although GUI is easier to learn, it also has a downside - it requires much more computing power and a good monitor, each meaning higher cost of the system. Therefore it took about ten years from the first development of a GUI system by Xerox Corporation in the 1970s until GUI became popular through Apple Macintosh.

Briefly describe the following:

a)Application - a program designed for end users. Examples are word processors, spreadsheets.
b)Machine code - set of instructions that a processor can understand; the lowest level programming language. All programs will eventually transform into this form as this is the only language a computer can understand.
c)High level language - a programming language more similar to human language and more or less independent of a particular type of computer. Programs written in higher level languages must be tranlated into machine language by means of a compilator or an interpreter. A compilator reads the program file and outputs machine code into another file. The output then can be run on a computer. An interpreter provides an environment for a high level program to run; it reads the higher level program, translates and executes it on the go.
d)Java - high level language with the goal to provide a single language for writing programs for whatever platform. To achieve this, there are both compilators and interpreters used. First, the source code (program text in Java) is translated by means of a Java compilator into intermediary form, the so-called java bytecode. Programs in the form of the bytecode are platform-independent. Then, to execute the program on a specific platform there must be java interpreter for that particular platform. An interpreter reads the bytecode, translates it into machine code and executes it.

Outline the main differences between Apple Macintosh computers and IBM compatible computers.
Uh, here I had no ideas except visual design. What I could find was a little history, saying that because IBM sold licences of ROM-BIOS to many manufactures, allowing them to manufacture IBM-like computers, there is:
a) much more hardware and software that can be used on IBM compatibles
b) lower prices for IBM compatibles

At the same time, Apple produced Macintoshes and also the OSs itself, trying hard to standardize software and hardware interfaces, which:
c) made more consistency between peripherals and between different software
d) gave more limited choice of that hardware and software
e) allowed for real Plug-and-Play long before Microsoft started it's attempts towards that

Further, as IBM compatibles spread wide and the first OSs on them (DOS - Disk Operation System) where console-based (meaning required use of a command language), attempts to build a multitasking GUI system (like Windows) have continually suffered from the need to support the so-called legacy software which often assumes it's the only program using the computer at the moment. Apple Macintosh has been a multitasking and GUI system right from the beginning.

So, shortly, Apple Macintosh is probably more reliable, more expensive to buy, cheaper to maintain, harder to find programs. IBM compatible is of a more affordable price, maybe less reliable, more costly to maintain, easier to find programs.

OK, I know that wasn't asked for. I just ran totally out of time and ideas. But the more I feel I haven't answered to this question the more I will be waiting for to read your answers, guys.

Need a good sleep now,
See you,

Tarmo

Sat Sep 13, 2003 5:42 am

mrg4u

Joined: 08 Sep 2003
Posts: 7

Computers 1

Please define the following terms and explain their abbreviations where relevant ?
USB/USB 2.0
SCSI
Firewire
ATA/IDE

USB = Universal Serial Buss USB) connects more than computers and peripherals. It has the power to connect you with a whole new world of PC experiences.USB is the solution for any PC user who has ever dreamed about an instant, no-hassle way to connect a new digital joystick, a scanner, a set of digital speakers, a digital camera, or a PC telephone to their computer.
First, USB replaces all the different kinds of serial and parallel port connectors with one standardized plug and port combination.USB connections allow data to flow both ways between the PC and peripheral. This means you can use your PC to control peripherals in new and creative ways.For example you can use your PC to tune a set of USB-compliant stereo speakers to match the acoustics of your listening environment.
USB specification version 2.0 is the next-generation peripheral connection for personal computers. It is intended as an upgrade for USB 1.1. Not only the new standard provides additional bandwidth for multimedia and storage applications but also offers Plug-and-Play capability and full backward compatibility for legacy USB devices.

SCSI

'SCSI, stands for Small Computer Systems Interface, and is often pronounced scuzy.
It is a means of connecting devices such as hard disks, tape drives, CD-Roms, Worms and erasable optical discs to a computer. Originally developed in the late 1970s by Shugart Associates as a hard disk controller called (under the name Sasi), it has evolved into Scsi 2, which can transfer data at a theoretical rate of 40Mb/sec. The idea of Scsi is that one inter-face allows the connection of many devices, losing the need for a separate interface card per individual device.

Firewire

This high-speed interface has become a hot new standard for connecting peripherals. Created in the mid-1990's, by apple computers, Firewire can be used to connect devices such as digital video cameras, hard drives, audio interfaces, and MP3 players, such as the Apple iPod, to your computer. A standard Firewire connection can transfer data at 400 Mbps, which is roughly 30 times faster than USB 1.1. This blazing speed allows for quick transfers of large video files, which is great for video-editing professionals. If 400 Mbps is still not fast enough, Apple Computer released new PowerMacs with Firewire 800 ports in early 2003. These ports support data transfer rates of 800 Mbps -- twice the speed of the original Firewire standard.

You may see Firewire referred to by its technical name, IEEE 1394, since it was standardized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. As long as your computer has PCI slots, you can purchase a PCI Firewire card to add Firewire ports to your computer.

ATA/IDE
ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) and IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) both refer to disk drive designs that integrate the controller into the drive to reduce the interface cost and to ease firmware implementation. (IDE) "Integrated Device Electronics." is the most widely-used hard drive interface on the market. The original IDE standard could only support hard drives containing up to 540 MB of data. The new standard, EIDE (Enhanced-IDE), supports hard drives with over 50 GB of data and allows for data transfer rates that are over twice as fast as the original IDE.

What devices may be connected to these interfaces, and which have implications for the Audio Engineer?

Scsi are very fast and stable drives, the audio enginner may use these for recording and saving audio information onto. Due to the nature of Scsi it is now common place for producers and enginners to save any musical information via scsi as opposed to the natural hard drive which is built into your computer so naturally wont be as stable or as reliable.
Most modern devices will now have the facility to connect to USB as standard these may include the keyboard,mouse sound modules etc. Firewire is a god send for the modern audio enginner as its speed and stability allow data to be transferred much quicker depending on what the application may be.

Identify the purpose of a motherboard?

This is the large circuit board that everything else plugs into. It carries the electrical information between the various parts as the information is processed. The various parts that may be included or plugged into it are the Modem, video card, network card, and places to plug in the mouse, keyboard, scanners, cameras, etc. These plugs are called Ports and are usually on the back of the CPU box, although many computers have some plugs in front.

Explain the purposes of the following components/peripherals within a Computer, and how they would connect to a typical motherboard ?

CPU
RAM
Hard Drive
Video Card
Sound Card
CD/DVD-ROM Drive
Modem

Central Processing Unit.
This is the guts of the computer and does the primary work of computing. All computers work on 3 primary functions: Input, Processing and Output. The CPU is the heart of the Processing stage. The CPU is mounted in a circuit board called a Motherboard.CPU's vary by speed past CPU's had designations like 386-16, 486-66, Pentium 90, Pentium II, Pentium III, etc. Current levels are Pentium IV at speeds from 1.5 Ghz to over 3.0 Ghz. AMD designates theirs as K6 or K7-1.5 to 3.0 and up. The higher the number, the faster information can be processed.

RAM
Random Access (electronic computer) Memory. These are small circuit boards with some parts called chips. These plug onto the motherboard and provide electronic workspace for the jobs being done. RAM is temporary workspace and is cleared off each time the computer is restarted.

Hard Drive
A box inside the computer that stores electronic data. The user has no access to it. It is closed and not visible from the outside. Most computers have a light that tells when the hard drive is doing something.The size of the hard drive is measured in MB or GB. The larger the number, the more data it holds.Most new computers come with 40GB to above 2000GB. In 2003, new computers are never less than 40.

Videocard
A videocard has a sepaerate proccessor and its own dedicated memory which allows the main proccessor to be more efficient on the workload, as all the graphical data is processed independently from the main processor. This allows you to process graphics at a much higher rate and an increased resolution and refresh rate.

Sound card
The soundcard is the piece of hardware where all your sounds are generated. It contains an element of both midi and audio. The soundcard contains two integrated circuits, or chips, one converts the incoming or electrical or analogue signal from the mic etc into digital information which can be understood and stored in the pc. This is called an analogue-to digital converter (ADC) . The other circuit does the complete opposite. It converts the digital information generated by the pc playing back the digital audio, back into an analogue signal that loudpspeakers understand and therefore reproduces the sound.

Modem
A device that sends and receives electronic data between computers. There are different kinds of modems. Telephone modems transfer data over telephone lines and work today at top speeds of 56,000 bits per second. Cable modems work over the coax lines that supply cable television to your house, Transfer speeds vary depending on the level of service you pay for, but the slowest cable speed is from 10 to 20 times faster than the best phone modem.

Cd/Dvd Rom Drive
This is simply the drive that cds and dvds read from via an optical laser. They connect via the ide cable through the ide interface.

Ups

UPS stands for Uninterruptable Power Supply. This is a back-up power supply that provides power to a system in the case of a drop in voltage or a power outage.

In the case of small or private systems, this usually consists of a battery power supply that will last several minutes, allowing the user to save their work and shut down the system in a proper fashion. This helps protect whatever they may have been working on and the files of any application that may happen to be running.

Explain the term 'Operating System', and identify the 2 main OSs' in use (name the relevant platform for these OSs')

This is the fundamental program that operates a computer. It provides access to input/output devices, manages system resources such as memory and files, and controls the execution of applications programs. Modern operating systems such as Windows also give a consistent "look and feel" to the user by offering functional and stylistic guidelines for applications designers. The two main operating systems are windows which is the o/s used in the worlds home pcs ( vast majority of computers) and mac users have their own o/s, simply called mac os. As technology has developed these have improved and each year new editions appear which naturally claim to be better.However many problems do occur when using these operating systems with software, and unfortunately even the computer musician will come across these conflicts. Even so as time has developed they have become far more user friendly, and are the worldwide phenomenom in most computers from day to day useage.

Expand the abbreviation 'GUI' and give a description of its concept and how it has evolved.

GUI stands for Graphical User Interface. GUI is a graphically orientated operating system as opposed to a command driven operating system. This allows greater ease of use to the average user. The simplest example of GUI, is windows, where a command driven operating sytem would be Dos. A Graphical User Interface is designed so that the user can perform tasks by using a mouse to point & click on an icon Pronounced "gooey." A type of display where you can see and point to what you want. Using the menus, windows, and icons in a GUI is much easier than typing complicated commands.

Briefly describe the following:

Application
Machine Code
High Level Language
Java

Application

A program or a group of programs designed for end users. Software can be divided into two general classes: systems software and applications software. Systems software consists of low-level programs that interact with the computer at a very basic level. This includes operating systems and utilities for managing the computer resource.
In contrast, applications software ( end user programs) includes database programs, word processors and spreadsheets etc. Comparitively speaking, applications software sits on top of systems software because it is unable to run without the operating system and utilities.

Machine code

The representation of a computer program which is actually read and interpreted by the computer. A program in machine code consists of a sequence of machine instructions (possibly interspersed with data).

High Level Language

A programming language that enables a programmer to write programs that are more or less independent of a particlular type of computer. Such languages are considered high level because they are closer to human languages, and further from machine langauge. In contrast assembly languages are considered low level because they are very close to machine languages.
The main advantage of high-level languages over low level languages is that they are easier to read, write and maintain. Ultimately programs written in a high level language must be translated into machine language by a compiler or interpreter.
Java

A new language developed by Sun Microsystems. It allows executable programs called "applets" to be distributed over the World Wide Web. An applet is written in Java and that part of the code which is system-independent is compiled; the result is called "bytecode". When a user clicks on a link which points to this bytecode, the bytecode is downloaded onto the user's machine. If the user is using an appropriate Java-aware Web browser, the browser contains an interpreter (specific to the user's machine) which interprets the bytecode and allows the user to run the applet.

Outline the main differences between Apple Macintosh computers and IBM compatible computers.

Apple macs are designed and constructed by one company. This makes them very stable and they require very little setting up. In comparison IBM Pcs are made from bits and pieces all over the place. Different manafacturers, different standards, incompatibility problems. This is why they tend to crash more often. Windows does a grand job of keeping it all together but sometimes theirs just to much going on. With a mac generally speaking you can plug in some hardware, install some software, turn on the machine and it all works. With a pc you can plug in some hardware and hope windows picks it up and fiddle about with its resource settings so that it fits in around all the other bits you have in your computer. One massive difference between the two can be seen in the range of products available. On the PC there are hundreds of pieces of software dozens of soundcards and audio cards the choice is staggering. Where as the mac does also have a wide range of software but the difference in whats available is amazing between the two.
The last thing to take into consideration is the price. Apple Macs are usually half as expensive again as a comparable PC. The software and hardware available for the Mac is similarily expensive.

Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:33 am

Fenderocks

Joined: 09 Aug 2003
Posts: 26
Location: Music City, USA

Music Technology Week 2

Computers 1 .

Please define the following terms and explain their abbreviations where relevant.
USB/USB -2.0 universal serial bus that is use to connect peripherals items
SCSI -a parallel interface standard for attaching peripheral deices to computers
Firewire -is a very fast bus standard allowing for data transfer rates from 800 megabits per second
ATA/IDE -short advanced technology attachment is a disk drive stand integrated on the drive itself

What devices may be connected to these interfaces, and which have implications for the Audio Engineer? Ata/ide is used for connection of mass storage devices like hard disks and scsi hard disks witch are faster.

Identify the purpose of a motherboard. A motherboard is the main printed circuit board of a computer
The motherboard is the main component of the computer also referred to as main boards, a carryover from mainframes. They allow drives, video and sound cards, modem, USB’s, pretty much everything in the computer to function via this circuit board.
Explain the purposes of the following components/peripherals within a Computer, and how they would connect to a typical motherboard:
CPU -central processing unit
RAM random -access memory, how fast you computer will really go
Hard Drive -a mass storage device, where you save
Video Card -a video adapter, that allows all graphics of computer to operate
Sound Card -enables you to input output and manipulate sounds.
CD/DVD-ROM -Drive device for reading data
Modem -a device for converting digital data through the telephone or cable lines
UPS -uninterruptible power source

Explain the term 'Operating System', and identify the 2 main OSs' in use (name the relevant platform for these OSs') It is like the captain of a ship. It allows the computer to run installed programs and for all installed components to operate. To run basic tasks like input and output to monitor or printer. red hat Linux, Mac, Windows '98, ME, NT, Win 2000, Unix, IBM's OS/2

Expand the abbreviation 'GUI' and give a description of its concept and how it has evolved.
GUI - where a user can make selections from menus and icons by means of a pointing device (like a mouse). The communication means giving orders like 'execute a program
Briefly describe the following:
a)Application – a program designed for end users
b)Machine code - set of instructions that a processor can understand; the lowest level programming language
c)High level language - a programming language more similar to human language and more or less independent of a particular type of computer
d)Java - high level language with the goal to provide a single language for writing programs for whatever platform

Outline the main differences between Apple Macintosh computers and IBM compatible computers.

IBM-like computers, there is:
a) much more hardware and software that can be used on IBM compatibles
b) lower prices for IBM compatibles

At the same time, Apple produced Macintoshes and also the OSs itself, trying hard to standardize software and hardware interfaces, which:
c) made more consistency between peripherals and between different software
d) gave more limited choice of that hardware and software
e) allowed for real Plug-and-Play long before Microsoft started it's attempts towards that

Further, as IBM compatibles spread wide and the first OSs on them (DOS - Disk Operation System) where console-based (meaning required use of a command language), attempts to build a multitasking GUI system (like Windows) have continually suffered from the need to support the so-called legacy software which often assumes it's the only program using the computer at the moment. Apple Macintosh has been a multitasking and GUI system right from the beginning.

Sun Sep 14, 2003 9:44 am

ben m

Joined: 15 Sep 2002
Posts: 337
Location: UK

Good work so far people.
A few things I'd like to point out briefly;

ATA133 is available with burst speeds of 133Mbps.
Newer versions of IDE/ATA are also available known as Serial ATA (SATA).

quote:
What devices may be connected to these interfaces, and which have implications for the Audio Engineer?

Of special importance here are the newer external soundcards/converters etc that offer connectivity over firewire/USB etc. Loot at companies such as MOTU who manufacture such interfaces.

quote:
Outline the main differences between Apple Macintosh computers and IBM compatible computers.

Good work here on the whole but also think of the CPUs used in each.
There will be a question on that this week.

On the whole a good standard so far although only 3 people have so far replied.

cheers,
ben m
_________________
ben@audiocourses.com

Sun Sep 14, 2003 6:35 pm

Albow

Joined: 02 Sep 2003
Posts: 27
Location: Spain

Computers assignment

High everyone, had an absolute MARE this weekend as not all the files I had been working on at work (out-of-hours of course;)) on Unix-based systems converted to Windows after mailing them. So I've rushed together half the answers over again. I'll go back to the files I've stored on the system at work and if they are much better than what I've put below then I'll post them later on.

Cheers,

Alan

Please define the following terms and explain their abbreviations where relevant.
USB/USB 2.0

Universal Serial Bus - usually used for low volume serial Input/Output devices such as mice or keyboards / modems. These are hot-swappable ie can be removed or inserted while the system is on without causing any disruption to the system

USB 2.0 is otherwise known as firewire and is the next generation of serial bus transfer technology with data transfer speeds of 40 times that of original USB. It can daisy chain together up to 63 peripherals in a tree-like structure (as opposed to SCSI's linear structure). It allows peer-to-peer device communication, such as communication between a scanner and a printer to take place without using system memory or the CPU. It is designed to support plug and play (system recognition without installing drivers) and hot-swapping . Its six-wire cable is not only more convenient than SCSI cables but can supply up to 60 watts of power, allowing low-consumption devices to operate without a separate power cord.

SCSI

Small Computer Systems Interface - used to connect various internal and external devices. A SCSI host adapter is a PCI (Peripheral Components Interface) card which attaches to a system's motherboard via its PCI slots. Up to 8 External devices can connect to one scsi host adapter card.
SCSI evolved through versions 1,2 and 3 which progressively increased its data transfer speed through larger scsi bus capacity.

ATA/IDE

5 or so years ago, when SCSI was an expensive commodity, Integrated Drive Electronics or AT attachment interface was developed as a cheaper alternative by Compaq. This was used basically to attach the system board to its internal hard disk drive via a ribbon cable and IDE controller. In these systems the IDE controller would take care of the cdrom and floppy drives. IDE supports 2 hard drives EIDE, 4, which is half that of the scsi bus. IDE has fallen away as the interface of choice in PCs as the price of SCSI has come down and as SCSI has evolved to provide faster transfer rates. This in turn is now happening to SCSI as Fibre Channel devices provide faster performance still.

What devices may be connected to these interfaces, and which have implications for the Audio Engineer?

Tape Drives, CD / DVD ROM drives and writers, hard drives, disk arrays, mice and keyboards. It will be essential to know about these devices firstly to be aware of the technological possibilities open to the engineer, and secondly to know how they can be used to manipulate and store digital files, and what limitations exist to data access and system performance

Identify the purpose of a motherboard.

The motherboard (or system board) is the most important electronic circuit in the computer. It provides media of communication (buses) between the CPU and all the other devices in the system. All other parts in the system either connect directly to or onto the motherboard or connect externally to IO cards which are themselves housed in motherboard slots. This is true of PCs. In bigger systems such as servers, a component may be connected to a sister board which itself is connected to the motherboard. Very high-end servers may have several system boards inter-connected to a back plane or several centreplanes.

Explain the purposes of the following components/peripherals within a Computer, and how they would connect to a typical motherboard:

CPU
Central Processing Unit
This is connected directly to the motherboard and is accompanied either by a fan or heat sink to ensure that it is kept cool. It is square or rectangular in shape. It will slot in either by pushing it into its slot, by resting it on the slot and pushing down a connected lever to ensure it is attaches securely, or by a series of torque screws on each corner which must be fastened in a pre-determined order, to a specified torque pressure. The CPU contols the computer's activity by interacting with and directing all the other devices of the computer. Its actions are dictated by the software installed on the computer

RAM
Random Access Memory is the primary memory of the PC. It holds instructions and data in use by the Operating System and Sotware Applications before they are passed on to the CPU. It is found in wafer-like "sticks" inserted into slots on the system board.

Hard Drive
Whereas RAM temporarily holds data before passing it on, The hard drive is used to store data, permanently if required, onto disk platters which are broken up into sectors and tracks. The hard drive is a mechanical device which reads data on the tracks with a mechanical arm. It is connected through an IDE or SCSI interface internally or externally through which data is written to or read from the hard disk.

Video Card
In order to output data to a visual device, a video card is needed to provide anything above basic ascii characters. This may be connected to the motherboard (on-board), or more commonly nowadays, plugged in to a PCI slot on the motherboard. They may have their own RAM, cache and microprocessor as they deal with ever-increasingly complex graphical images and movement.

Sound Card
A sound card will provide data to be converted to sound and enjoyed through speakers either on-board or connected to the sound card, as they would be to a HiFi system. The better quality sound cards will also have built in components such as the video card to reproduce clearer and widely varying sound patterns in digital format.

CD/DVD-ROM Drive
The CDROM drive reads from Compact Disc media which universally uses a file system called HSFS (High Sierra File System) to read from the CD and reproduce it's contents to either display its files for the user to read / listen /or watch, or to install its content onto the hard drive to reprogram the system to add a program application.

Modem
This is the device that enables a system to connect to other systems by a telephone line. It is most common for a user to connect to the telephone network via a modem and from there to the wolrdwide web through a server network.

UPS

This is an Uninterruptable Power Supply. This is essential for any systems that require constant uptime. It would be able to provide power to the system for a period of time in the event of a mains power failure.

Explain the term 'Operating System', and identify the 2 main OSs' in use (name the relevant platform for these OSs')

The Operating System is the program by which the user will issue commands for the system to execute. The user will do this through simply a command line, or through a multi-application graphical user interface such as Windows.

Expand the abbreviation 'GUI' and give a description of its concept and how it has evolved.

Graphical User Interface is the tool with which the user can manipulate programs in the OS. This has evolved from nothing more than a prompt from which the user would type out commands, to all-singing, all-dancing applications such as Cubase which actually reconstructs a recording studio in graphical output. The user can then issue commands to the system by clicking on the objects s/he recognises from the graphical display.

Briefly describe the following:
a)Application

An application is either part of the OS, or is imported into the OS to perform particular tasks on the system. For example Word for Windows is a Windows application that enables the user to perform the specific task of word processing documents.

b)Machine code is the lowest-level computer programming language. It consists of binary instructions that are coded so that the system does not need to further translate to carry out the commands.

c)High level language

This is a computer-programming language that resembles the English Language. An example of this would be Cobol. Looking at a Cobol script, a non-technical person would be able to pick out certain things that the programmer wanted from the program as it contains words in English that a set out in a logical fashion to issue commands. This is in contrast to a language such as C which consists of a series of mathematical constructs which would be practically impossible for someone to understand had they not learned the language.

d)Java

Java is a programming language created by Sun Microsystems (who I work for [!]) and is used to program "applets" which are downloaded from the net onto the user's host machine and run programs on that machine.

Outline the main differences between Apple Macintosh computers and IBM compatible computers.

We could also refer to the differences between Macs and PCs.
PCs come bundled with Windows, which is a DOS-based OS. Macs tend to use MacOS which is a Unix-based OS.
PC's use a 32 or 64 bit data bus architecture whereas Macs use 128-bus architecture. This makes them far more capable for programs which need a lot of processing power such as high-resolution graphical applications. You have to imagine then that for processing bulky audio/video/audio-visual files the Mac would be the preferred option.
Macs are more expensive than PCs.

Sun Sep 14, 2003 10:34 pm

indigojf

Joined: 03 Aug 2003
Posts: 12

Please define the following terms and explain their abbreviations where relevant.
USB/USB 2.0
USB stands for Universal Serial Bus. USB is a standard used for connecting peripheral devices to your computer. USB 2.0 is an updated standard with an increased data transfer speed (USB operates at about 1.5Mb/sec or 12Mb/sec, while USB 2.0 operates at 480Mb/sec). USB 2.0 is also backward compatible.

SCSI
SCSI stands for Small Computer Systems Interface. It's also a standard used for peripheral devices.

Firewire
Firewire is yet another standard for peripheral devices. It's also known as IEEE1394. It can operate at speeds up to 400Mb/sec.

ATA/IDE
ATA and IDE are drive controllers. ATA stands for Advanced Technology Attachment and IDE stands for Integrated Drive Electronics.

What devices may be connected to these interfaces, and which have implications for the Audio Engineer?
With all of these different standards, you can connect almost anything. Hard drives, keyboards, mic, joysticks, cameras, and even microphone preamps. If an audio engineer is using a PC or Mac based setup, they'd probably run into all of these technologies at one point or another. For example, one might want to use a ProTools setup that connects to your PC or Mac with Firewire. You would be recording the music/sound onto a hard drive controlled by IDE, ATA, or even SCSI.

Identify the purpose of a motherboard.
The motherboard is essential to the operation of a computer. Everything connects to a slot or port on the motherboard, whether it be AGP, PCI, IDE, or whatever. The motherboard lets your seperate pieces of hardware work with each other.

Explain the purposes of the following components/peripherals within a Computer, and how they would connect to a typical motherboard:

CPU
CPU stands for Central Processing Unit. It is the brain of your computer. CPUs connect directly to the motherboard.

RAM
RAM stands for Random Access Memory. This is where data is stored on its way to being processed in the CPU. You are limited to using only the type of RAM that your motherboard supports, which can be determined by the type of slot found on it. It's always best to check the motherboard's user manual to be sure that you're buying or installing a compatible type.

Hard Drive
Hard Drives are a type of permanent storage device. You store all of your vital system and program files on a hard drive so that they can be read by the CPU. They are connected by ATA, IDE, or sometimes SCSI. Now you can even have removable hard drives that connect to your computer with Firewire or USB.

Video Card
Video Cards are cards with memory that is used in the rendering of both 2D and 3D graphics. They connect to your motherboard via a PCI or AGP slot.

Sound Card
Sound Cards connect to the computer by PCI slots, but sometimes a motherboard will have sound included (on-board sound). They add sound inputs and outputs to your computer. The available connections and featues vary greatly from card to card.

CD/DVD-ROM Drive
CD and DVD-ROMs are drives that let you access information on CD and DVD removable media, respectively. They connect to your computer through IDE.

Modem
Modem stands for modulator/demodulator. A modem takes digital data from your computer and converts it into analog data so that it can be transmitted over telephone lines. It also converts analog data being received through phone lines back into digital data.

UPS
UPS stands for Uninterruptable Power Supply (or Source). Their purpose is to protect your computer (and other devices connected to the UPS) from data loss and other unwanted effects caused by a sudden power outage. Using a UPS ensures that you will be able to save your data and prepare for shutdown properly.

Explain the term 'Operating System', and identify the 2 main OSs' in use (name the relevant platform for these OSs')
Operating Systems manage all available resources on a computer and provide the user with a means of accessing them in an effective manner. The two most popular operating systems are Windows and Mac OS. Windows runs on IBM compatible computers, but you need a Macintosh computer to run Mac OS.

Expand the abbreviation 'GUI' and give a description of its concept and how it has evolved.
GUI stands for Graphical User Interface. Before GUIs, a user would have to navigate an operating system using only textual commands and textual responses, having to remember each command. GUIs provide the user with items such as buttons, scroll bars, menus, etc. to creat a more userfriendly environment.The first GUIs were very simple and not much to look at, but provided users with an appreciated level of functionality. Through further development, GUIs became an integral part of the PC using experience and today it would be very uncommon to find someone who was not using a GUI on their personal PCs.

Briefly describe the following:

a)Application
An application is any program a user might run. Examples include Cubase, Adobe Photoshop, or Outlook.

b)Machine code
Machine code is the language of 0s and 1s that computers use (binary).

c)High level language
A high level language is a programming language that's easier for humans to use and understand than machine code. You would program in the high level language, then use a compiler or interpreter to translate it into usable machine code.

d)Java
Java is a multiplatform high level language used most often on the web, and recently in little games you play on your cell phone. You could play these games, and any other Java applets, on any platform for which a Java interpreter is available.

Outline the main differences between Apple Macintosh computers and IBM compatible computers.
The biggest difference between Macs and PCs, for me, is their incompatibility with each other. You cannot use Mac software on a PC or vice-versa. Sometimes this can be limiting if you are using a Mac, but recently we are seeing a lot more software ported to the Mac, especially sound related software. Also, I know that Macs use PowerPC processors, which are supposedly faster and more efficient (I've never had the chance to try one). The other big difference, then, would be the seperate hardware standards.

Mon Sep 15, 2003 3:52 pm

julesf

Joined: 31 Aug 2003
Posts: 58
Location: Southampton, UK

Sorry for the delay Ben, I had know idea that the assignment was set. Embarassed

Please define the following terms and explain their abbreviations where relevant.
USB/USB 2.0
SCSI
Firewire
ATA/IDE

USB (User serial bus) has become the standard serial interface for connecting many peripheral devices to the PC. The main advantage of USB is the ability to "hot connect & hot swap" devices at will. The initial install procedure for a USB device is normally very quick and easy. As soon as the USB device is connected to the PC or USB hub, a device that allows multiple USB devices to be connected to one PC together, the O/S recognises the device and requests it's driver source. Once the relevant drive has been loaded then future connects are transparent as the driver is automatically called for and run for the device. Virtually any device can now be obtained in USB format.

USB2 is the newer faster version of the original USB. It has much faster transfer rates and also has backward compatibility or "Legacy" support for Original USB devices.

SCSI (Small computer serial interface) SCSI or Scuzzy was the original professional high-speed data transfer interface for transferring data between devices on small computer systems. This normally is used to transfer data between PC and hard drive, but could be used to transfer data between any device that supports the SCSI protocol and connection interface. The SCSI hard drive was much faster and stable than other small computer magnetic storage media systems, although this is less valid today as other technologies have caught up. SCSI 2 followed the original SCSI which was known as SCSI Ultrawide, a version which increased the data transfer speeds by using a wider bus. Some may prefer IDE / ATA drives and adapters as opposed to SCSI as they are now as fast and are native to most PC mainboards. However SCSI is still useful when working with audio, as it is possible to transfer data between many brands of Samplers and the PC using this system. Examples: EMU ESI-range E-series, Akai-S series, and Korg Triton range.

Firewire (AKA IEEE 1394 / 1394a) Firewire was developed by Apple for the MAC platform but can be installed into a PC using a PCI to firewire interface card. The advantage of firewire apart from it's very fast data transfer speeds, (400Mbaud & 800Mbaud for 1394 & 1394a respectively). Another great advantage of this standard is the fact that the data transfer is isochronous. This means that the transfer is not restricted by specific time constraints, which makes the system ideal for transferring audio and video streams in real time. It is also "hot swappable" in a similar way to USB. Although the system was originally developed by Apple in the mid 90's it is the latest fast interface to be used in modern day PC's and Macs for interfacing systems.

ATA / IDE (Advanced technology adapter) (Integrated drive electronics) These are the current systems that are used to connect and communicate between modern day hard drives and PC mainboards. They have the drive electronics integrated into the hard drive, which improves stability and reduces cost. The original IDE drives were inherently small by today's standards just 540 MB. However EIDE (enhanced integrated drive electronics) and ATA systems allow for the very large and fast (128Gb) drives that are available today. Although they may be seen to compete against such systems as SCSI this strictly is not true. The systems have caught up with, and in certain circumstances may surpass SCSI, but were really a replacement for the old RLL and MFM interfaces found in PC AT's, XT's, and clones. The systems have got bigger, faster, and more stable, though some may still prefer the more expensive SCSI drives. In fact both drive interfaces will run together quite happily in the PC platform provided the correct SCSI adapter card is installed.

What devices may be connected to these interfaces, and which have implications for the Audio Engineer?

USB Interface is used for printers, cameras, smart storage devices, keyboards, mice, drawing tablets, in fact almost any peripheral device is available in USB format. For the Audio engineer or producer the interface can be used for connecting tactile surfaces, audio converters, and MIDI interfaces. On the whole USB is great for MIDI interfaces, such as Steinbergs Midex range. It is also good for tactile surfaces such as Steinberg's Houston or Mackie's HUI range. It is only really only used with small I/O audio interfaces and converter sets as the transfer speeds are not really high enough and Firewire serves better for this purpose.

SCSI is mainly used to connect hard drives to PC's or Samplers. Although, any SCSI compatible device may be connected to the SCSI interface. Sampler's maybe connected hard drives CD-ROM drives, PC's, Macs, or even other samplers. Devices such as the korg Triton may be connected to the PC and samples flown in to sequencers such as Cubase. As an interface for Samplers SCSI is very flexible. SCSI CD burners exist and can be used with DAW such as the Roland VS Range.

Firewire Firewire is the new standard for interfacing, more and more devices are being released that support this format. It is being used to fly video and audio into PC's and Macs from peripheral devices and is mainly used where large data transfers are required at high speed. It is possible to connect hard drives and CD burners to Laptops, PC's, and Macs using Firewire.

For the audio engineer, Firewire is mainly being used to connect high performance audio devices to PC's, Macs, and Laptops such as MOTU's 828. Using this system a high performer like the 828 can record and playback multiple channels as well as using ADAT interfacing all in real time duplex. It is a convenient high-speed hot swap connection, which is very flexible and powerful in the studio.

ATA / IDE This system ("bus") is exclusively used for connecting compatible drives to the PC mainboard. Each mainboard typically support two channels of IDE /ATA which may support two devices each. Raid adapters allow for extra drives to be added and utilised in different ways, or configurations. This may be to further improve data transfer speeds by "Striping" between two drives, or to improve data integrity by writing chunks across 6 different drives. Mirroring is also an option that allows two drives to have the same information written to them. If one unit fails, your data is still safe and integral on the second "Mirrored" drive. The devices connected to the IDE / ATA bus may be Hard drives, CD ROM drives or CD ROM Burners, all of which are essential to the audio engineer. Hard drive for streaming audio and storing projects and samples. CD-ROM drive for pulling samples into the project and for restoring previously backed up work. CD ROM burner for creating back ups and finished mastered music CD's, or work ready for professional mastering and duplicating.

Identify the purpose of a motherboard.

The Motherboard or "Main board" is a large PCB that incorporates sockets to allow all of the other necessary devices to be connected together. The Mainboard has busses running through it so as all of the devices can communicate. This also includes all of the sockets to the outside world such as USB, LPT, Serial ports, keyboard and mouse connections. There are sockets incorporated to fit RAM chips, a CPU (or two if supported) and a no of PCI slots to allow the addition of further interface cards such as firewire, modem, network card, audio card, etc. There are normally a number of jumpers to allow settings to be made for the selected configuration of CPU all though many modern main boards are able to do this automatically from the firmware BIOS. Most boards support two IDE ports for hard drive and CD ROM installation and a Port for a bootable floppy device. There is a battery to hold the BIOS memory good which saves all of the current settings. If this battery fails the system can be booted on default parameters and then the various parameters adjusted and fine tuned to get the best performance from the main board taking into account the O/S, the various devices connected, and the components installed.

Some mainboards even come complete with onboard graphics, raid, modem, sound, network adapters, however these are not the best choice for the audio engineer as they are difficult to upgrade and are generally geared towards cost effectiveness rather than performance.

Explain the purposes of the following components/peripherals within a Computer, and how they would connect to a typical motherboard:

CPU
RAM
Hard Drive
Video Card
Sound Card
CD/DVD-ROM Drive
Modem
UPS

CPU (Central Processing Unit) The CPU holds a set of instructions that allow process's to be carried out on chunks of data called bytes. The CPU collects (Inputs) a small number of bytes (I/O byte size depends on platform and O/S) form RAM and carries out processing in accordance with the running program step. The processed information is then returned to Ram (output) to be used for comparison, displayed on the VDU or for some other process dependent upon program requirements. Although all data is input and output from ram it may have been buffered there from another source such as Hard drive. The CPU is responsible for all movement of data, data processing and general house keeping and keeps the O/S running and the system stable. All processing by the CPU must be carried out in strict sequence; the system is extremely complex and relies on all aspects of the computer running as a team. The CPU uses clock cycles to carry out its routine processing tasks. Each process such as, "fetch bytes from ram" uses one cycle. Early PC's such as the XT were capable of carrying out 4.4 million cycles a second. That sounds fast, but by today's standards it is a snails pace. Modern PC, s are operating at speeds in excess of 2 thousand million cycles a second. The CPU gets very hot running at these high frequencies and requires a good heat sink and fan assembly. Some are now water cooled to prevent thermal runaway from slowing down or burning out the CPU. Generally, for audio processing and sequencing at least a 1 Ghz processor is required to enable a good number of tracks to be used with adequate power left for processing with plug ins and use of Virtual instruments.

RAM Random Access Memory. RAM is the electronic memory that holds the information ready for processing and stores the results or output of the CPU. Information ready for processing may have been buffered into the RAM from the hard drive or another source. Equally data in RAM may be written to Hard drive for permanent storage. RAM is volatile, meaning that it loses all data when the power is switched off. Therefore important data must be written to hard drive prior to system shutdown if it is to be retrieved later. The ram is managed by the O/S and divided into different sections to be used for various functions, such as VDU display, ROM area, Drive buffer area etc. The IBM PC Clone system uses Ram in a clever way to overcome the limitations of the original 16-bit bus, which was a legacy from the original machines. DRAM (dynamic random access memory) as it is known today must be fast enough to work along side the CPU. DRAM speeds are measured in Ns (nano seconds) and must be compatible with the measured ram bus frequency. Modern DDR RAM and Rhombus DRAM are faster and more efficient than the older PC133Mhz bus Ram, however they serve the same function within the system.

Hard Drive The Hard drive stores all digital data that needs to be retained. As RAM loses data when the power is shut off a permanent store is required to hold all data and application software for future use. The Hard drive also most importantly holds the O/S (Operating system) which is necessary to boot and run the computer. The hard drive works by storing data on a series of discs. Each disc is divided into clusters and sectors when the drive is formatted. Each disc also has a head that run across it and can read or write data magnetically onto the discs surface. Part of the disc holds the Partition and FAT (file allocation table) which helps the disc find data and informs the interfaces as which part of the drive is free for writing and which is used, or written to. The faster the disc can spin the faster that it is able to read and write. Typically for IDE/ATA this is 5,400Rpm or 7,200Rpm although a faster drive speed of 9600RPM has just been released for IDE / ATA. Some SCSI drives spin at 10,000Rpm. Generally for audio recording at least a 7,200 Rpm EIDE / ATA drive is required if multitracking is to be used.

Video Card The video card is an interface card that allows data from the VDU area of RAM to be displayed on the VDU screen. It may be a PCI card but more typically it will be an "accelerated graphics Port" AGP. These cards have there own CPU and can DSP independently of the CPU. This relieves the Main PC CPU of workload and allows for faster refreshing of the VDU allowing for a sharper flicker free display. These cards are good at displaying 3D imagery for gamers. Some manufactures produce cards that are more suitable for producing fast 2D graphics, these are the cards that are more suited to the audio engineer, they may also have "Dual head capability" which allows for the use of two VDU's on the same computer. This can be very useful when using the computer as a DAW. An example of this type of card would be the Matrox G450 Millennium. This card provides high performance 2D and 3D graphics, Duel head, high refresh frequency and high definition. A TFT flat screen monitor offers complete flicker free images and can help against eyestrain when working on long sessions.

Sound Card The sound card really serves two purposes. It has A-D (Analogue to digital) and D-A (Digital to analogue) converters. An analogue audio signal presented to the input of the card will be converted to a digital data stream that can be buffered directly to hard drive, and within the limitations of the system will totally represent that audio signal at the given sample rate.

When the digital stream is buffered back to the DACs of the card the analogue audio signal will be reconstructed and when input to a suitable pre amp, main amp, and speaker system should represent the original sound to Hi Fi quality. A card may have multiple ADC's / DAC's or just the one stereo set of each. Most cards allow sampling frequency to be set to one of the standards: 32Kz (Tv STD), 44.1Kz (CD Std) 48Khz (Recording STD) 96Khz (DVD Std). Generally speaking as you raise the sample rate the frequency response of the card improves. Most agree that 44.1 kHz is high enough as it effectively allows the entire audible spectrum to be recorded which are roughly 30Hz - 20000hz. Though some audiophiles present arguments to suggest that higher sampling rates improve sound quality.
High Sample rates require more hard drive storage space and present more load to the CPU so a compromise may have to be met on some large projects. Bit rate width effects the effective headroom (the magnitude of the loudest sound represented compared to the smallest measured in Decibels) This is of more consequence and will effect the dynamics of the sound. Generally speaking 20 bits is accepted as being professional, however the new standard is 24 Bits. It is likely that 32 Bit converters will be produced in the future. A 20-bit converter will have approximate effective headroom of 110 dB. As with sample rate, higher bit rate will present a heavier load to the CPU and use more disc space per second of recording.

CD / DVD ROM Drives The CD ROM (compact disc read only memory) drive provides an effective media which is mainly used to install application software. It is also a good media for storing photographs, drivers, and of course Music. Music can be stored on CD-ROM in .mp3 .wav or red book format that will play on a standard *CD player.
Its attributes are that it is easy to store and use, as the system uses optical rather than magnetic technology, it is more secure and travels more safely than equivalent magnetic media. However if you wish to store your own data to CD you will require a CD Burner, otherwise you are restricted to Using CD-ROM for read only. CD ROM CD's typically hold 650 MB of data or 74 minutes of red book audio. Slightly larger discs are available extending storage to 700Mb or 80 minutes of red book audio. DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) expands the capability of the standard CD-ROM by increasing storage to some 3Gb. Though the technology was designed mainly for the purpose of storing and playing compressed MPEG video, the system also allows for diverse formats to be read. DVD ROM drive on a computer is not really that useful to the audio engineer, however a DVD burner is ideal for backing up large projects
Which would normally require a large number of Standard CD ROMS to be use.

Modem A modem (modulator demodulator) is a device, which allows computer communication over an analogue telephone line. This may be used for Internet access, VPN (Virtual private networks), or RAS (Remote access services). In the past many protocols and baud rates have been used but today the parameters are really fixed as data stream speeds meet the limitations of the analogue phone line. The standard is now V90 or V92 that equates to 56Kbaud. The system and V coding standards was developed by "Hayes", as was the internal and external protocols for modem communication and handshakes. Analogue modems are largely being replaced by ADSL broadband which at it's lowest baud rate is approx. 10 times faster that the analogue modem at 500Kbaud. But is also available up to 2Mbaud. This standard is ideal for the audio engineer to transfer large Mp3 and .Wav files across the Internet and on private systems such as Steinbergs "Rocket Network".

UPS (uninteruptable power supply) This unit uses inverter and power smoothing circuitry to serve two purposes.
The unit will arrest mains spikes which are potentially harmful to computer system electronics and can also cause annoying "clicks" on digital platforms. As well as offering a limited back up supply in the event of a power down
(Black Out). The system will also keep a stable power supply in the event that the mains are reduced or fluctuating.
(Brown Out). Some UPS's are intelligent, and when hooked up to the relevant O/S via RS232 serial comms can transmit a "log off and shut down" message over a LAN (local area network) warning users that the power has failed. And that they only have say 10 mins before complete "black out". Whereas all stored data in RAM will be lost. Due to the lower prices of these units and the benefit they provide it is essential for the audio engineer to use one or two in the studio.

Explain the term 'Operating System', and identify the 2 main OSs' in use (name the relevant platform for these OSs')

An Operating system is a piece of software that instructs the Computer how to communicate with all of its devices and peripherals. Including devices that interact with the outside world such as keyboard, pointing device and VDU. The O/S manages memory and memory refresh, system interrupts (IRQ's) in fact everything that is operating within the system infrastructure. The CPU is often referred to as the brain of the computer, but it is the O/S that is really the brains of any system. When the O/S malfunctions or has an internal program error then the whole system collapses and comes crashing down. This is the reason behind the computer "Crash". There are two main O/S's in current use. Windows platforms (Win 98, Win 2000, Win NT, Win XP) which are the O/S's written for PC's and Mac O/S which is written exclusively for the Apple Mac. Over the years versions can change as the O/S evolves and becomes enhanced.

Expand the abbreviation 'GUI' and give a description of its concept and how it has evolved .

GUI (Graphic user interface) uses icons and a mouse (or other pointing device) to allow selection of various options in an O/S. The system, developed by Apple was designed to make computers more user friendly. The system has been adopted as a standard and is now widely used By Microsoft and Apple on all of their platforms. It is generally liked by users and makes interaction between the user and the machine a more enjoyable experience than using the old obsolete DOS based systems.

Briefly describe the following:
a) Application
b) Machine code
c) High level language
d) Java

An application is a host program that will execute on the selection of a recognised supported file and act as the host program for that file. Files that are supported by a given application are recognised by their file extension. For example, Clicking on a .Doc file in a GUI O/S such as Win 98, will invoke the execution of Microsoft Word which will then support the file and act as it's host software.

Machine code is the lowest level of programming that relies on "poking" a set of binary instruction into RAM, which are then executed (run). A slightly higher level of programming is "assembly language" which uses a program that allows the use of Mnemonics to represent the machine code instructions. This makes debugging easier rather than having to work with rows and rows of 0's and 1's.
An example of an assembly language mnemonic would be JMP "LOOP" which would instruct the program to jump to a routine called "LOOP" the machine code routine for the same instruction could look like this 1010010110100110

High level language An example of a high level language would be BASIC. Here you can use a carefully planned instruction set, which includes many instructions and commands such as: GOTO, INPUT, PRINT, GOSUB,
These allow the programmer to assembly the program in a manner that is easy to follow and debug. The system uses line numbers which simplifies the routing of the program for example "GOTO 100" instructs the program to jump to the program step at line 100. An interpreter creates (compiles) the low-level program from the high level language and moves it into RAM just before execution where it is run.

Java Java was developed by Sun Computers to allow the running of small scripted routines called "Applets" across the Internet. The main design parameter of JAVA is that it should not be platform conscious, just browser conscious therefore the scripts will run on most systems: MAC, UNIX, NT, etc. this allows many quite advanced routines to run on computers that access web sites on the Net. For Example a Java Script routine using "Cookies" may welcome you personally back to a site you have previously visited, or place a clock in the corner of your VDU.

Outline the main differences between Apple Macintosh computers and IBM compatible computers.

Apple designed the Macintosh computer system in the late 80's and then IBM brought out their PC XT.
The most profound difference is the bus architecture. The Mac has a much wider bus, 128 bit, and can move larger chunks of data at once. By comparison the PC has only a 32-bit bus and is prone to bottle necking data that can inherently slow down processing. The MAC O/S is exclusive to the MAC hardware and is said to be very efficient and stable. Due to the architecture of the MAC, the fact that it was faster than the PC, and due to it's efficient and stable operation, the MAC was preferred by professional industry such as graphic design, audio engineering, and video processing, and this is still generally true today. However due to technological advances the modern day PC has caught up and the differences in terms of speed are less noticeable today. The MAC and PC are totally non compatible so each platform is totally individual in it's own right. However the audio software industry has generally endorsed both manufactures and software is usually available written for both platforms. Though the recent take over of Logic audio by Apple has now seen this popular sequencer dropped in PC version.

Fri Sep 19, 2003 6:15 am

Forum Jump:

Jump to:

All times are GMT. The time now is Sat May 17, 2008 4:34 am

Display posts from previous: