Routing and Routing Protocols

Objectives

• Learn what is routing
• Learn the different types of routing protocols and their Characteristics

Terms To Know

• AS - Autonomous System
• ARIN - American Registry of Internet Numbers
• RIP - Routing Information Protocol
• IGRP - Interior Gateway Routing Protocol
• OSPF - Open Shortest Path First
• LSA - Link State Advertisement

What is routing

• Routing is the process of getting from one network to another
• Routes are the directions that a packet takes to get to a destination network
• A router makes decisions based on the IP Address
• Routers in some way are connected to other routers
• All devices along the way use an IP Address
• All devices along the way use the IP Address of the destination to point the packet in the right direction
• In order to make the right decision each router must learn the direction to remote networks
• Information about existing routes and hence about the topology of the network is kept in a routing table

Types of Routing

• There are two types of routing

1. Static Routing
2. Dynamic Routing

• When static routes are assigned a network administrator manually enters information about remote routes
• Because static routes are manually configured any changes in the network topology requires the network administrator to make the necessary changes
• Dynamic routes are learnt from other routers that send regular updates to other routers about routes that it knows.
• Dynamic routes will change with the topology of the network
• As new updates are received the router will make changes to its routing table to reflect the change in the network topology

Static Routes

• Static routes are manually entered by the network administrator
• Any changes to the network topology will have to be made by the administrator
• Static routes must either be added or deleted to reflect changes in the topology.
• On small networks with few changes the administrative overhead of maintaining static routes is very low
• On larger networks with many changes the administrative cost is very high

• Static Routes can be divided into three parts

1. The network administrator configures the route
2. The router installs the route in the routing table
3. Packets are routed using the routing table

• A next hop is the address of a router that is adjacent to the router that is being considered
• The administrative distance is a measure of the reliability of a route
• A lower value for the administrative distance indicates a more reliable route.
• Static routes are many times used as backup routes
• All routes that the router uses are placed in a routing table in each router
• An administrative distance of 0 is an interface directly connected to the router

Dynamic Routing

• Dynamic routing uses a route that is installed by a routing protocol.
• The routing protocol automatically adjusts for changes in topology and traffic
• A routing protocol is the communication used between routers
• Routing protocols allow one router to share information with other routers regarding other routes that it knows as well as their proximity
• The information that the router receives is used to build the routing table

• Routing protocols are
• 1)Routing Information Protocol (RIP)
• 2)Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP)
• 3)Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP)
• 4)Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)
• Routed protocol is used to direct user traffic
• Routed protocols provide enough information in its Network Address to allow a packet to be forwarded from one host to another based on the addressing scheme.
• Examples of routed protocols are
• 1)Internet Protocol (IP)
• 2)Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX)

Routing Versus Routed Protocols

• Routing protocols create routing tables
• Routing protocol is the information a router has to move information from one router to another
• Routing protocols are used to manage the information in a database

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• Routed protocols are the network layer functionality that a router uses to direct traffic
• eg. IPX ,IP

Autonomous System

• An Autonomous system is a collection of networks under a common administration sharing a common routing strategy
• To the outside world an AS is viewed as a single entity
• The American Registry of Internet Numbers (ARIN), a Service Provider, or an Administrator assigns an identifying number to each AS

The Purpose of Routing Protocols and Autonomous System

• The goal of routing is to build and maintain the routing table
• This table contains the learned networks and the ports associated with them
• The routing protocol learns all available routes and places the best one in the routing table
• Whenever the topology in a network changes the change must be reflected in the routing table
• When all routers in the network are operating in the same Knowledgebase the network is said to have Converged

Types of Routing Protocols

• There are two types of routing protocols

1. Link State
2. Distance Vector

• The link state approach recreates the exact topology of the entire network
• This approach is also called the Shortest Path first
• The Distance Vector approach determines the distance and direction to any link in the network

Distance Vector Routing

• Distance Vector works by sending routing table from router to router
• These regular updates from router to router communicates any topology changes
• Each router receives a routing table from its adjoining router and passes this to its next in line router
• Distance Vector does not allow a router to know the exact topology of the entire network as each router only sees its neighbor router

RIP

• RIP uses distance vector algorithms to determine the direction and distance to any link in the internetwork.
• If there are multiple paths to a destination, RIP selects the path with the least number of hops.
• However, because hop count is the only routing metric used by RIP, it does not necessarily select the fastest path to a destination
• RIP v1 allows routers to update their routing tables at programmable intervals.
• The default interval is 30 seconds.

• The continual sending of routing updates by RIP v1 means that network traffic builds up quickly.
• To prevent a packet from looping infinitely, RIP allows a maximum hop count of 15.
• If the destination network is more than 15 routers away, the network is considered unreachable and the packet is dropped.
• This situation creates a scalability issue when routing in large heterogeneous networks.
• RIP v1 uses split horizon to prevent loops.
• This means that RIP v1 advertises routes out an interface only if the routes were not learned from updates entering that interface.
• It uses hold down timers to prevent routing loops.
• Hold down ignore any new information about a subnet indicating a poorer metric for a time equal to the hold down timer.

Link State Routing

• Link-state routing protocols perform in a very different way from distance vector protocols.
• Understanding the difference between distance vector and link-state protocols is vital for network administrators.
• One essential difference is that distance vector protocols use a simpler method of exchanging routing information.
• Link-state routing algorithms maintain a complex database of topology information.
• While the distance vector algorithm has nonspecific information about distant networks and no knowledge of distant routers
• A link-state routing algorithm maintains full knowledge of distant routers and how they interconnect
• The next figure outlines the characteristics of both distance vector and link-state routing protocols

Link-state routing protocol features

• Link-state routing protocols collect routing information from all other routers in the network or within a defined area of the network.
• Once all of the information is collected, each router, independently of the other routers, calculates its best paths to all destinations in the network.
• Because each router maintains its own view of the network, it is less likely to propagate incorrect information provided by any of its neighboring routers.
• Link-state routing protocols perform the following functions:
• Respond quickly to network changes
• Send triggered updates only when a network change has occurred
• Send periodic updates known as link-state refreshes
• Use a hello mechanism to determine the reachability of neighbors

• A link is the same as an interface on a router.
• The state of the link is a description of an interface and the relationship to its neighboring routers.
• Each router keeps track of the state or condition of its directly connected neighbors by multicasting hello packets.
• Each router also keeps track of all the routers in its network or area of the network by using link-state advertisements (LSAs).
• The hello packets contain information about the networks that are attached to the router.

Link state versus Distance Vector

• LSA exchange is triggered by an event in the network instead of periodic updates.
• This can greatly speed up the convergence process because there is no need to wait for a series of timers to expire before the networked routers can begin to converge

• The LSAs provide updates on the state of links that are interfaces on other routers in the network.
• A router running a link-state protocol has the following features:

1. Uses the hello information and LSAs it receives from other routers to build a database about the network
2. Uses the shortest path first (SPF) algorithm to calculate the shortest route to each network
3. Stores this route information in its routing table

• Link-state routing protocols were designed to overcome the limitations of distance vector routing protocols.
• For example, distance vector protocols only exchange routing updates with immediate neighbors while link-state routing protocols exchange routing information across a much larger area.

OSPF

• Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a link-state routing protocol based on open standards.
• It is described in several standards of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
• The most recent description is RFC 2328.
• The Open in OSPF means that it is open to the public and is non-proprietary.
• OSPF is becoming the preferred IGP protocol when compared with RIP v1 and RIP v2 because it is scalable.
• RIP is limited to 15 hops, it converges slowly, and it sometimes chooses slow routes because it ignores critical factors such as bandwidth in route determination.

• OSPF overcomes these limitations and proves to be a robust and scalable routing protocol suitable for the networks of today.
• OSPF can be used and configured as a single area for small networks.
• It can also be used for large networks.
• OSPF routing scales to large networks if hierarchical network design principles are used.
• Large OSPF networks use a hierarchical design.
• Multiple areas connect to a distribution area, area 0, also called the backbone.
• This design approach allows for extensive control of routing updates.
• Defining areas reduces routing overhead, speeds up convergence, confines network instability to an area and improves performance.

• The shortest path algorithm is used by OSPF to determine the best path to a destination.
• In this algorithm, the best path is the lowest cost path.

Media Connections

Objectives

• Learn the most common LAN media
• Learn cable Specification and Termination
• Learn LAN standards

Terms to Know

• RJ Registered Jack

LAN Media

• STP cable combines the technique of Shielding, Cancellation and Twisting
• The four pairs of wire are wrapped in foil or a metallic braid
• This prevents noise from internal as well as external sources
• The cable is about 150 ohms
• While providing protection against interference it is more expensive and difficult to install

• Cat 5 This media supports throughput of up to 1000Mbps and frequency of 100MHz
• Unshielded Twisted Pair consists of four pairs of wires
• Each of the 8 wires is insulated from each other
• They are also twisted around each other
• There are strict specifications about how many twists there are to be per foot of cable
• When used as a networking medium UTP is used with either 22 or 24 gauge wire
• UTP has an impedance of 100 ohms
• When UTP is used with an RJ connector potential sources of network noise is greatly reduced
• UTP cable is more prone to electrical noise and other disturbances than other types of networking media
• UTP is now considered the fastest copper based media

Other Types of UTP

• Cat 3 This type of media has four wires and can be used in 10Mbps Ethernet or 4Mbps Token Ring. Cat 3 is still used for telephone wiring.
• Cat 4 This type of media also has four wires but provides more protection than Cat 3. It can carry signals as high as 20 MHz
• Cat 5e This is a higher grade version than cat 5.
• It has a higher twist ratio and uses more advanced methods for reducing crosstalk
• Cat 6 This type of media has four wire pairs each wrapped in foil insulation.
• Additional foil insulation covers the bundle of wire pairs and a fire resistant material covers the second foil layer.
• It supports 250 MHz and about six times the throughput of Cat 5.

• Cat 6e This is a higher grade version of Cat 6.
• It reduces attenuation and crosstalk and can exceed traditional network lengths.
• It is capable of 550 MHz and multi gigabit data rates
• Cat 7 This a twisted pair cable that is packaged with additional shielding.
• It supports data up 1GHz but requires different connectors.
• Cat 7 is uncommon to modern networks

• Fiber Optic This medium is capable of conducting modulated light transmissions.
• It is not susceptible to EMI and is capable of much higher data rates.
• Fiber Optic consists of two fibers encased in separate sheaths.
• The Optical Fiber is a hair thin glass which is very fragile.
• The hair thin glass is surrounded by a protective plastic such as Kevlar
• A stainless steel wire is sometimes included for added strength
• The light guiding parts of the fiber is usually called the core and the cladding.
• The core is usually very pure glass with a high index of refraction.
• The core is surrounded by a cladding which is glass or plastic which has a low index of refraction, this cause light to be trapped in the fiber core.
• The process is called total internal reflection and it allows the optical light to be trapped in the fiber
• Total internal reflection allows the optical fiber to act as a light pipe

Connectors

• Copper cables have two types of connectors

1. J 11
2. RJ 45

• The RJ 11 connectors are used for connecting your modem to your telephone system
• RJ 45 is used as the LAN, standard connectors
• Whenever copper is used with RJ45 this greatly reduces the amount of noise experienced on this media
• Coaxial uses the BNC (British Naval Connector) type connector
• Fiber allows the use of about ten different types of connectors
• Wireless communication is carried on by electromagnetic waves therefore their connectors are antennas
• Antennas are susceptible to electromagnetic interference as well as Radio Frequency interference

Standards and Organizations

• The OSI model standard ensures compatibility and interoperability between the different network technologies by the different companies
• Standards have ranged from fire and building codes to detailed electrical specifications and safety and performance codes
• It is important to apply local fire and safety standards along with performance standards for optimal network operation

• The standards organizations are

1. IEEE - Institute of Electrical an Electronic Engineers
2. UL - Underwriters Laboratories
3. EIA - Electronic Industries Alliance
4. TIA - Telecommunications Industry Association

• The latter two organizations issue a list of standards that you will frequently see listed as TIA /EIA standards
• The IEEE has outlined cabling requirements in its 802.3 and 802.5 specifications for Ethernet and Token Ring
• The standards for FDDI were developed by ANSI and ISO/IEC
• Underwriters Laboratories issue cabling specifications for Ethernet and Token Ring that are primarily concerned with safety standards
• The TIA/EIA standards have had the most impact on networking media standards.
• The TIA/EIA-568-A TIA/EIA-569-A are the most widely used standards for the technical performance of networking media
• Standards allow the planning of network without dictating the use of specific equipment

TIA/EIA Standards

• The TIA/EIA standards address six elements of the LAN cabling process

1. Horizontal Cabling
2. Telecommunications Closet
3. Backbone Cabling
4. Equipment Rooms
5. Work Areas
6. Entrance Facilities

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TIA/EIA 568 A

• The TIA/EIA 568 A standards define horizontal cabling as cabling that runs from a telecommunications to a horizontal cross connect
• It includes the media that runs along a horizontal pathway, the telecommunications outlet or connector, the mechanical terminations in the wiring closet and the patch cords or jumpers in the wiring closet
• This means that horizontal includes all the networking media that is used in the area that extends from the wiring closet to a workstation
• TIA/EIA-568-A contains specifications governing cable performance
• It calls for running two cables one for voice and one for data to each outlet

• For STP the TIA/EIA -568-A standard calls for 2 pair 150 ohm cable
• For UTP the TIA/EIA -568-A standard calls for 4 pair 100 ohm cable
• Coaxial cable is not recommended by the TIA/EIA for new network installations
• According to the standard the maximum distance for cabling runs in horizontal cabling is 90 meters
• The standard also specifies that patch cords or cross connect jumpers located at the horizontal cross connect cannot exceed 6 meters
• The cable used to connect the work area should not be more than 3 meters
• A final specification for horizontal cabling is that is that grounding should conform to TIA/EIA-607 and to any other codes applicable

local area networks

Objectives

• Introduction to different topologies
• Investigate Layer 1 devices
• Investigate the role layer 1 devices play in a network

Terms to Know

• Broadcast sending information to everyone on the network
• Token Passing Network design and Technology
• Ethernet Network design and Technology
• Host user devices connected to a network
• NIC Network Interface card
• MAU

Topologies

• Topology defines the structure of a network
• There are two types of topologies

1. Physical Topology
2. Logical Topology

• Whenever a network is designed both types of topologies will have to be considered

Physical Topology

• Physical Topology defines the actual layout of the wire
• Physical Topologies commonly used are

1. Bus
2. Ring
3. Star
4. Extended Star
5. Hierarchical
6. Mesh

Logical Topology

• The logical structure of a network is how the hosts communicate across the medium
• Logical topology also defines the path that information takes across a network
• There are two types of Logical topologies Broadcast and Token Passing
• Eg. All forms of Ethernet although connected as a star or as an extended star use a logical bus
• Eg Token Ring networks use a logical ring because information travels from one host to another in predetermined fashion although it is connected as a physical star

Broadcast Topology

• In this type of topology each host on the network sends its information to all other hosts on the network
• There is no order that the stations follow to use the network
• It is a first come first serve situation. This is how Ethernet works

Token Passing

• Token passing controls network access by passing an electronic token sequentially to each host
• Whenever a hosts receives the token it means he can use the network
• If the host has no data to send it passes the token to the other host in line for the token
• This process repeats itself until all the hosts have received the token

LAN Devices in a Topology

• Devices that connect directly to a network segment are called hosts
• Hosts can be computers, Printers, Servers and many other user devices
• Host devices can function without a network but their functionality is greatly limited
• Host devices are not part of any one layer of the OSI
• They gain physical access to the network by using a NIC
• They function at all 7 layers of the OSI
• The symbol used for hosts is normally a computer

Layer 1 Devices
Media

• The Job of the media is to carry the flow of information in the form of bits and bytes
• Networking media are considered layer 1 components of LANs
• A computer network can be built with many different media types
• There are several factors to consider when weighing the advantages of certain media these include 1)Cable length 2) Cost
• 3)Ease of installation

Layer 1 Devices
Repeater

• Two common network problems are
• 1)Too many Nodes
• 2) Not enough Cables
• The Repeater provides a simple solution
• The Maximum length for category 5 cable (Cat 5) is 100 meters
• If the length of the network is to be extended beyond 100 meters a repeater can be used
• The purpose of the repeater is to regenerate signals at the bit level so that they can travel longer distances

• Beware of the 5 -4-3 rule when extending LAN segments
• The rule states that you can have five network segments end to end, four repeaters but only three segments can have hosts on them
• A repeater has only two ports one in and one out
• Almost all repeaters found on networks today are multiport repeaters commonly known as hubs

Layer 1 Devices
Hubs

• Just as the repeater the purpose of the hub is to regenerate and retime network signals
• This is done at the bit level to a large number of hosts using a process called concentration
• A hub is also known as a multiport repeater
• There are two types of hubs Active and Passive
• Active hubs take energy from a power supply to regenerate network signals
• Passive hubs only take signals and send it out all the other ports. It does no regeneration of signals
• Another classification of hubs is Dumb or Intelligent

• A Dumb hub only allows signals to pass through without doing any management
• An intelligent hub has a console port which allows programming to manage network traffic

Layer 1 Devices
(MAU) Media Access Unit

• The MAU is a layer 1 component which is used in the Token Ring technology
• It is called a concentrator in Token Ring Circles
• It plays the same role as a concentrator but still very different from a hub. We will look at token ring technologies

Other Layer 1 Devices

• Other Layer 1 devices are connectors, Transceivers, Jacks, Patch Panels
• Transceivers are devices which change from one signal pattern to another
• eg. RJ-45 electrical to optical
• Ideally if devices are passive they should allow bits to pass through with minimal signal loss or distortion

why network

WHY NETWORKS ?

Terms To Know

• NIC - Network Interface Card
• PCI - Peripheral Component Interconnect
• PCMCIA - Personal computer Memory Card International Association

Computer Basics

• The computer is the major building block in a network
• It is important to recognize and name the major components in a computer
• Many networking components are special purpose computers
• A computer has small discrete components such as transistors and capacitors
• There are also subsystems such as CD ROM drive, CPU, floppy disk, and others

• The backplane is the large expansion board that contain sockets for expansion
• The Video and Sound cards are called expansion cards
• A parallel port is a port that is capable of transferring more than one bits simultaneously
• Parallel ports are used to connect printers and other external devices
• A serial port is able to transfer only one bit at a time
• Serial ports are becoming more popular for connecting external devices such as printers

Information flow

• Information and electrical power are constantly flowing in a PC
• It helps to understand networking by thinking of the computer as a miniature network
• All the various devices within the system communicate with each other like the nodes of a network

1. Boot instructions are stored in ROM
2. Software instructions are stored in RAM
3. RAM and ROM store data for rapid access to the CPU
4. Saved information flows from RAM
5. All information travels through the BUS

Computer Flow of Information

The NIC

• The NIC allows hosts to connect to the network and is therefore considered a key component
• The NIC is a printed circuit board that provides network communication capabilities to the computer
• It is also called a LAN adapter
• The NIC uses both a serial and a parallel connection

1. Serial to communicate with the network
2. Parallel to communicate with the computer

• Each card requires an IRQ (interrupt request ) an I/O address (input/output) and device drivers to operate

• When you select a network card consider the following 3 factors

1. The type of network (Ethernet, FDDI, Token Ring)
2. The type of media (twisted pair, Coaxial, Fiber Optic, Wireless)
3. The type of system bus (PCI, PCMCIA)

• As a network technician you will be expected to

1. remove and add NICs
2. Upgrade NICs
3. Alter settings on the NIC

Laptop Computers

• Laptop computers have become popular for the usage on networks
• Palms and PDAs are also quite popular
• The rules for choosing a NIC also applies to laptops and palmtops
• The main difference is the size of the parts
• They range from the size of a credit card to the size of a wallet
• All the parts for a laptop are of the PCMCIA type

Software

• Software is also essential to the running of your computer and your network
• After the hardware is setup the software must be installed and configured
• You will be required to

1. Select the NIC software configuration
2. Input the correct TCP/IP address
3. Adjust the display if necessary
4. Install and setup the browser
5. Perform other tasks when necessary

The Web Browser

• A browser is a software that interprets Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
• A web browser acts on behalf of the user by

1. Contacting a web server
2. Requesting information
3. Receiving information
4. Displaying results on the screen

• There are special file types that standard web browsers are not able to display
• To view these files you must configure your browser to use plug-in applications
• These applications work in conjunction with the browser to launch the program required to view the special files
• Flash is a example of a plug-in by Macromedia that plays multimedia files

Information Translation

• The computer can only understand binary
• It must translate information into binary and then from binary present it in a form that you can understand
• In binary there are only 2 numbers, 1 and 0
• We are used to the decimal system of numbers
• This system has ten digits 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
• The computer also uses Hexadecimal to store addresses
• This system of counting has 16 digits
• 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D,E,F
• As a network professional you are required to understand these number and be able to translate between them
• When your computer shows a number with a 0x at the front of it that number is in Hexadecimal

Why Networks are important

• All networks offer advantages relative to using a standalone computer.
• Most importantly networks enable multiple users to share devices
• Sharing devices also saves time
• It is faster for co-workers to share data over a network than to put it on removable storage and transfer it from machine to machine
• Another advantage of networks is that they allow you to manage, or administer on multiple computers from a central location

• Without a network you would have to walk around and install software on each computer
• With a network you can manage and manipulate computers around the world
• Businesses depend on their networks to stay competitive

Math For A Digital Age

• When working in the computer industry, it is important to understand the terms that are used.
• Whether reading the specifications about a computer system, or talking with another computer technician, there is a rather large dictionary of terms that should be known.
• The following are terms that the technician should know and understand

Bit

• –The smallest unit of data in a computer.
• A bit can take the value of either one or zero.
• A bit is the binary format in which data is processed by computers.

Byte

• –A unit of measure that is used to describe the size of a data file, the amount of space on a disk or other storage medium, or the amount of data being sent over a network.
• One byte consists of eight bits of data.

nibble

• –Half a byte or four bits.

kilobyte (KB)

• – 1024, or approximately 1000, bytes.

kilobytes per second (kBps)

• – A measurement of the amount of data that is transferred over a connection such as a network connection.
• kbps is a data transfer rate of approximately 1,000 bytes per second.

kilobit (Kb)

• – 1024, or approximately 1000, bits.

kilobits per second (kbps)

• – A measurement of the amount of data transferred over a connection such as a network connection.
• kbps is a data transfer rate of approximately 1,000 bits per second.

Megabyte (MB)

• – 1,048,576 bytes, or approximately 1,000,000 bytes.

Megabytes per second (MBps)

• – A common measurement of the amount of data transferred over a connection such as a network connection.
• MBps is a data transfer rate of approximately 1,000,000 bytes or 106 kilobytes per second.

• Note: A common error is confusing KB with Kb and MB with Mb. A capital B indicates bytes while a lower case b indicates bits.
• Similarly, multipliers greater than one are capitalized and multipliers less than one are lower case.
• For example, M=1,000,000 and m=0.001.
• Remember to do the proper calculations when comparing transmission speeds that are measured in KB with those measured in Kb.
• For example, modem software usually shows the connection speed in kilobits per second, such as 45 kbps.
• However, prominent browsers display file-download speeds in kilobytes per second.
• Therefore, the download speed with a 45-kbps connection would be a maximum of 5.76-kBps.

Hertz (Hz)

• – A unit of frequency measurement.
• It is the rate of change in the state, or cycle, in a sound wave, alternating current, or other cyclical waveform.
• Hertz is synonymous with cycles per second, and it is used to describe the speed of a computer microprocessor.

Megahertz (MHz)

• – One million cycles per second.
• This is a common measurement of the speed of a processing chip.

Gigahertz (GHz)

• – One billion cycles per second.
• This is a common measurement of the speed of a processing chip.
• Note: PC processors are becoming faster all the time.
• The microprocessors used on PCs in the 1980s typically ran under 10 MHz, and the original IBM PC was 4.77 MHz.
• In the start of the year 2000, PC processors approached the speed of 1 GHz, and approached 3.0 GHz as of the year 2002.

• It is also important that the technician has an understanding of making calculations
• There are two forms of calculations that a technician must understand

1. Binary
2. Decimal
3. Hexadecimal

• Binary calculations are base 2
• In this number format there are only two numbers 1 & 0
• In the Decimal number format there are 10 numbers
• This is the format we use for every day calculations
• In the Hexadecimal number format there are 16 numbers

Binary

• An example of a binary number is 1001110101000110100101.
• It is important to remember the role of the digit 0.
• Every number system uses the digit 0.
• However, note that whenever the digit 0 appears on the left side of a string of digits, it can be removed without changing the string value.
• For example, in Base 10, 02947 is equal to 2947. In Base 2, 0001001101 is equal to 1001101.

• Another important concept when working with binary numbers is the powers of numbers.
• The numbers 2² and 2³ are examples of numbers represented by powers.
• These examples are spoken as “two to the zero” and “two to the third”.
• The power is the number of times that a value must be multiplied by itself.
• For example, 2° = 1, 2¹ = 2, 2²= 2 x 2 = 4, 2³= 2 x 2 x 2 = 8.
• Taking powers is commonly confused with simple multiplication For example, 24 is not equal to 2 x 4 = 8. However, 24 is equal to 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 16.

Decimal System

• In Base 10, powers of ten are used. For example, 23605 in Base 10 means 2 x 10,000 + 3 x 1000 + 6 x 100 + 0 x 10 + 5 x 1.
• Note that 100 = 1, 101= 10, 102= 100, 103= 1000, and 104 = 10,000.
• A decimal number can be expressed in terms of powers of 10 such as 100, 101, 102, and so on.
• However, the actual value of a decimal number should be expressed in the expanded form of the powers such as 1, 10, 100, and so on.

Hexadecimal

• The Base 16, or hexadecimal, number system is used frequently when working with computers because it can be used to represent binary numbers in a more readable form.
• The computer performs computations in binary.
• However, there are several instances when a computer binary output is expressed in hexadecimal to make it easier to read.
• One way for computers and software to express hexadecimal output is using “0x” in front of the hexadecimal number.
• Whenever “0x” is used, the number that follows is a hexadecimal number.
• For example, 0x1234 means 1234 in Base 16. This would typically be found in a router configuration register.

• Base 16 uses 16 characters to express numerical quantities.
• These characters are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, and F.
• An “A” represents the decimal number 10, “B” represents 11, “C” represents 12, “D” represents 13, “E” represents 14, and “F” represents 15.
• Examples of hexadecimal numbers are 2A5F, 99901, FFFFFFFF, and EBACD3.
• The hexadecimal number B23CF is equal to 730,063 in decimal format as shown in Figure

Signals

• The computer will always be inputting, outputting and processing signals
• The signals may take one of two forms

1. Analog Signals
2. Digital Signals

• Analog signals are in the form of voltages from the power supply or input from the modem
• Signals within the computer are digital
• Any signal that travels around within the internal circuits of the computer is digital
• Digital is in the form of 1and 0
• In mathematics it is called binary
• Think of 0 (zero) as representing “off” and 1 as representing “on”.
• Voltage is never digital

Computer Logics

• Computers are built from various types of electronic circuits.
• These circuits depend on what are called AND, OR, NOT, and NOR logic gates.
• These gates are characterized by how they respond to input signals.
• There are only three primary logic functions. They are AND, OR, and NOT:

AND gate

• – If either input is off, the output is off.

OR gate

• – If either input is on, the output is on.

NOT gate

• – If the input is on, the output is off.
• The same is true of the opposite

Computer BIOS

BIOS

Terms to Know

• Learn the basics about BIOS
  
• Learn how the BIOS helps the computer run
  
• Understand 16, 32 and 64 bit operation
  
• Learn about POST
  
• Understand CMOS
  

What is the BIOS

• BIOS, in computing, stands for Basic Input/Output System or Basic Integrated Operating System.
  
• BIOS refers to the software code run by a computer when first powered on.
  
• It is low level software that controls the system hardware and acts as an interface between the OS and the Hardware.
  
• The BIOS is therefore the drivers all of them
  
• The BIOS serves as the link between the Hardware and the software
  

History of the BIOS

• In earlier computers the BIOS was burned into one or more chips and placed on the motherboard
  
• When the OS loaded, all the drivers were already preloaded in the ROM and thus the system ran smoothly.
  
• This system prevented any new hardware from being added
  
• As the requirements of systems grew new BIOS requirements was needed
  

Adapter Cards

• One system of adding more BIOS was by means of adapter cards
  
• These cards eg. Video Cards had on board ROMs that contained the needed drivers
  
• The Motherboard ROM was preprogrammed to check a predetermined area of memory to find any adapter card ROMs
  
• If any was found they were added to the functionality of the existing ROM
  
• This worked well as long as it was an IBM product that was being used
  
• If the product was not an IBM device it would not work
  

IO.SYS

• If the products did not have an adapter card then a file called IO.SYS was used to load them into file
  
• A scheme was devised by which the IO.SYS file was checked during the early stages of startup
  
• The IO.SYS file checked another file called CONFIG.SYS which specified any additional drivers to be loaded to support new Hardware
  
• CONFIG.SYS and any drivers was placed on the Boot Drive
  
• The Boot Drive is any area from which the OS is loaded. Typically a disk.
  
• These drivers were loaded into RAM and linked with the rest of the BIOS so they could be called on when necessary
  
• At this point the BIOS was made of programs located at three physical places
  

1. Motherboard
   
2. Adapter Cards
   
3. Boot Drive
   

• When the OS or an application needed to communicate with a particular piece of Hardware it sent out a subroutine called a System-Of-Software Interrupt that identified the particular driver with which it wanted to communicate
  
• The combination of Motherboard BIOS, Adapter Card Bios, and Drivers loaded from disk contributed to the BIOS as a whole
  

Firmware

• The portion of BIOS located on chips whether on the motherboard or on Adapter Cards is called firmware
  
• Firmware is a name given to software loaded on chips rather than on disks
  
• When a system is turned off all the information loaded in RAM is lost but those loaded in Nonvolatile ROM would remain
  
• Each time a computer is turned on all the drivers have to be loaded into Volatile RAM
  
• Firmware is a 16 bit type software
  
• Systems today are 32 and 64 bit systems therefore the 16 bit drivers are only called on to start up the computer
  
• After startup the 32 or 64 bit drivers are loaded shutting down all the 16 bit drivers
  
• This is typically so in Windows 2000 and XP
  

(HAL) Hardware Abstraction Layer

• Windows 2000 and XP have a large database of drivers loaded with its OS
  
• These drivers are loaded during startup and used to communicate with the various pieces of hardware
  
• These drivers are 32 bit in nature
  
• With the upcoming 64 bit OS all the drivers in HAL will have to written in 64 bit functionality
  
• This database of drivers is called the Hardware Abstraction Layer
  

Layered Design

• A computer system can be defined as a series of layers some hardware some software
  
• It can be broken down into basically four layers
  

1. Hardware layer
   
2. The BIOS layer
   
3. Operating System layer
   
4. Application program layer
   

The Motherboard BIOS

• Although the motherboard BIOS is associated with Hardware it is in fact software but it is stored on a chip
  
• This BIOS usually contains all the drivers for the basic system
  
• Items it may have are Keyboard, floppy drive, CDROM, parallel and serial port drivers
  
• Any drivers that are not necessary for startup are stored on the hard drive and loaded during startup
  
• Some drivers must be active at startup and are thus preloaded in the system and becomes active once the power is turned on
  

Adapter Card BIOS

• Some adapter cards have their own BIOS installed on them
  
• The size of their BIOS is larger than the size that the motherboard can accommodate
  
• Many of these devices are critical to the process of starting up
  
• Cards that almost always have their own BIOS are Video, SCSI, Network, Floppy or ATA upgrade cards
  

CMOS

• Sometimes the BIOS may be confused with the CMOS RAM in a system
  
• The setup program in the BIOS is used to set and store configuration in the CMOS
  
• They are in fact two separate components
  
• The BIOS on the motherboard is stored on a fixed ROM chip
  
• On the motherboard is a chip called the RTC/NVRAM (Real Time Clock/Nonvolatile RAM)
  
• It is a digital clock with a few extra bits thrown in
  
• This is where the BIOS setup program is located
  
• It is called the CMOS chip because it is made of CMOS
  

POST

• When you turn on your computer the Motherboard BIOS does a POST (Power On Self Test)
  
• It tests all the system components needed for startup to se if they are functional
  
• If everything is functioning you typically get a single beep and the system starts
  
• A list of different beep signals will indicate various types of hardware problems
  
• Different BIOS manufacturers will have different beep codes
  
• Major BIOS manufacturers are AMI, Phoenix, Award
  

Types of ROM

• There are generally four types of ROM
  
• ROM
  
• PROM
  
• EPROM
  
• EEPROM
  
• Modern systems use EEPROMs because they can be erased in the socket without removing them from the board
  
• This process is called flashing your BIOS
  

Multimedia

Objectives

• The student will learn about the basic hardware including video cards, computer displays, and media file formats used in multimedia
  
• This module provides information on how to install or upgrade video and sound cards, including the configuration of drivers and software.
  
• Understand Compact Disk Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) and Digital Versatile Disks Read Only Memory (DVD-ROM)
  
• Provide the student with an overview of how they work and the advantages, especially in terms of multimedia production.
  

Terms To Know

• MPEG - Motion Picture Experts Group
  
• VGA - Video Graphics Array
  
• AVI - Audio visual interleaved
  
• RAMDAC - Random Access Memory Digital- to-Analog Converter
  

What is Multimedia

• Multimedia presentations go beyond text and images to include video, animation, live situations, audience interaction, and sound.
  
• Most modern computer systems come equipped with the capability to display and create multimedia.
  
• The ability to use different types of multimedia is as much a part of the modern PC as an Internet connection.
  
• Multimedia is a term typically used to mean the combination of text, sound, and motion video. An example is the Windows Media Player.
  
• Multimedia typically means one of the following:
  
• Text and sound
  
• Text, sound, and still or animated graphic images
  
• Text, sound, and video images
  
• Video and sound
  
• Multiple display areas, images, or presentations presented concurrently
  
• Speakers or actors and props together with sound, images, and motion video
  
• Multimedia is distinguished from traditional motion pictures or movies in two ways.
  
• One is the scale of the production. Multimedia is usually smaller and less expensive.
  
• The second is the addition of audience participation or interactive multimedia.
  
• Interactive elements can include all of the following:
  
• Voice commands
  
• Mouse manipulation
  
• Text entry
  
• Touch screen
  
• Video capture of the user
  
• Live participation during live presentations
  
• Multimedia presentations are more complex than simple text-and-image presentations and are generally more expensive.
  
• Multimedia presentations can be included in many contexts, including the web, CD-ROMs, and so on.
  
• Basic development costs of a commercial multimedia production with video for commercial presentations can cost as much as $1,000 U.S. per minute of presentation time.
  
• Multimedia software can develop presentations far more reasonably than commercial video productions with the flexibility to distribute on the Web or on a CD.
  

PC Requirements To Run Multimedia

• The types of computer hardware and software necessary to develop multimedia on a PC vary.
  
• The minimum hardware requirements include a computer monitor, video accelerator card, and sound adapter card with attached speakers.
  
• The following components are used to provide visual and sound output:
  
• A microphone connected to a plug on the sound adapter card is used to input sound.
  
• CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives are common PC components used for input of multimedia.
  
• CD-RW and DVD-RW drives can be used to both read and write the media.
  
• A connection to the Internet using a network interface card or a modem is also used to provide multimedia input to the system.
  
• Streaming of audio and video is very popular.
  
• Digital still pictures and video cameras are often connected by way of standard computer ports or special card adapters.
  
• A video capture card, a special adapter card that samples and converts the images and sounds, can provide television and radio recordings and images.
  
• Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) hardware and web-based movie players are used to play movies.
  
• Computer games by way of DVD or CD require specialized hardware
  

The video adapter

• A video adapter, also called a display adapter or video board, is an integrated circuit card in a computer.
  
• Some computers will have the video adapter integrated into the motherboard.
  
• In some cases, it can also be a monitor that provides digital-to-analog conversion, video RAM, and a video controller so that data can be sent to a computer display. Eg. LCD Monitirs
  
• Today, almost all displays and video adapters adhere to the standard Video Graphics Array (VGA).
  

Video Graphics Adapter (Video Card)

• Today, almost all displays and video adapters adhere to the standard Video Graphics Array (VGA).
  
• VGA standards describe how data is passed between the computer and the display.
  
• It is responsible for the frame refresh rates in hertz and the number and width of horizontal lines.
  
• This specifies the resolution of the pixels that are created.
  
• VGA supports four different resolution settings and two related image refresh rates.
  
• In addition to VGA, most displays adhere to one or more standards set by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA).
  
• The VESA standards define how software determines the capability of a display. It also identifies resolution settings beyond those of VGA.
  
• These resolutions include the following:
  
• 800 by 600 pixels
  
• 1024 by 768 pixels
  
• 1280 by 1024 pixels
  
• 1600 by 1200 pixels
  
• What is a Display?
  A display or monitor is a computer output surface and projecting mechanism that shows text and graphic images, using one of the following:
  
• Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)
  
• Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
  
• Light-emitting diode (LED)
  
• Gas plasma
  
• Other image projection technology
  

Sound cards and speaker systems

• Most sound cards today only have the capability of directly driving low-power headphones.
  
• If external speakers are used, the output of the sound card requires additional amplification.
  
• The amplification circuitry is normally included in the external speaker units.
  
• The internal speaker system can also produce audio output and can be amplified through external audio amplifier systems for applications such as surround sound
  

Common media file formats used in multimedia applications

• There are two data-compression standards commonly used with digitized video.
  
• These are the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) and the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) compression standards. Other compression standards Intel has developed another method of data compression used with PCs called Indeo.
  
• Indeo is similar to the MPEG standard because it was designed to be a distribution format.
  
• It was primarily intended to play back compressed video files from the smallest file size possible.
  
• Later versions of this standard include the MPEG compression methods.
  
• Another compression and decompression standard supported by Video for Windows is Cinepak.
  
• This standard uses an audio visual interleaved (AVI) file format to produce 40:1 compression ratios and 30 frames per second capture, at 320 by 200 resolution.
  
• Microsoft Windows naturally supports several different compression techniques including the following:
  
• Cinepak,
  
• Two versions of Indeo
  
• Run Length Encoding (RLE) format
  
• Video 1 format
  

PCI and AGP types

• systems include an advanced Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) interface for video graphics.
  
• The AGP interface is a variation of the PCI bus design that has been modified to handle the larger data throughput associated with three-dimensional graphics.
  
• The AGP specification was introduced by Intel to provide a 32-bit video channel that runs at 66 MHz in basic 1x video mode.
  
• The standard also supports two high-speed modes that include a 2x, or 533 MBps and a 4x, or 1.07 GBps mode and 8x, or 2.1 GBps
  
• The AGP standard provides for a direct channel between the AGP graphic controller and the computer system main memory.
  
• This removes the video data traffic from the PCI buses.
  
• The speed provided by this direct link permits video data to be stored in system RAM instead of in special video memory.
  
• The system board typically has a single slot that is supported by a Pentium/AGP-compliant chipset.
  
• System boards designed for portable systems and single-board systems may incorporate the AGP function directly into the board without using a slot connector.
  

Upgrading Video with a Video Acceleration Board

• Video Capture software is used to capture frames of television video and convert them into digital formats that can be processed by the system.
  
• One of the popular file formats for video is the Microsoft AVI format.
  
• Video capture cards are responsible for converting video signals from different sources into digital signals that can be manipulated by the computer.
  
• As in the audio conversion process, the video card samples the incoming video signal by feeding it through an analog-to-digital (A-to-D) converter.
  
• One of the jobs of the video capture card is to convert the YUV format into an RGB VGA-compatible signal.
  
• YUV is the color model used for encoding video and is different than RGB.
  
• Y is the luminosity of the black and white signal.
  
• U and V are color difference signals. U is red minus Y and V is blue minus Y.
  
• YUV is used because it saves storage space and transmission bandwidth compared to RGB.
  
• In order to display YUV data on a computer screen, it must be converted into the RGB format acceptable to the VGA card screen memory.
  
• This is done through a process known as color space conversion. An encoding circuit samples the incoming analog signal and then performs this operation.
  
• In addition to changing the format, the capture card also scales the image to fit in the defined video window on the monitor screen.
  
• The capture card video signal processor adjusts the image to the correct size by adding or removing adjacent pixels as necessary.
  
• The encoder samples the analog signal at a rate of 27 MB per second.
  
• This value becomes very important when considering that, at this rate, a 500 MB hard drive would be full in 18.5 seconds.
  
• To make the digitized video manageable and useful to the digital computer system, the signal must be compressed into smaller files
  

Installing and configuring the
video card driver and software

• After the video card has been installed and the monitor has been connected to the video card and plugged into the power outlet, it will be necessary to install the correct drivers for the video card. At this point, the Windows 9x operating systems should do the following:
  
• Detect the video card
  
• Start the system with basic VGA video drivers
  
• Ask whether to install the manufacturer video drivers
  
• The Windows 2000 operating system is even more proactive. It will do the following:
  
• Detect the new video card
  
• Tell the user that it has found the new card
  
• Automatically load its video drivers
  
• The only time that the user should need to be directly involved with the system video drivers is when Plug and Play fails or the video card is not recognized by the operating system.
  

Understanding RAMDAC

• Image information is stored and manipulated in video memory in the standard binary format of 1s and 0s.
  
• These binary patterns control the resolution and color of each pixel on the video display screen.
  
• However, monitors are analog, not digital devices.
  
• In order for the monitor to work, the digital information in the video memory must be translated into analog form for export to the monitor screen.
  
• This is the role of the Random Access Memory Digital-to-Analog Converter (RAMDAC) chip.
  
• The RAMDAC chip does the following:
  
• Reads the video memory content
  
• Converts it to analog
  
• Sends it over a cable to the video monitor
  
• The quality of this chip impacts the quality of the image, speed of the refresh rate, and maximum resolution capability. Refresh rate refers to the number of times per second that the video display screen can be redrawn.
  

video memory

• The video chip set relies on video memory to render an image.
  
• The basic element of every video image is a dot or pixel.
  
• Many dots comprise what is displayed on the monitor. Every dot has a location reserved in video memory.
  
• The maximum number of dots that can be displayed relates to the resolution.
  
• Resolution is commonly expressed as a pair of numbers.
  
• Each pair of numbers represents the maximum possible number of dots on a horizontal axis and the maximum possible number dots on a vertical axis.
  
• The basic VGA resolution of 640 by 480 means that there are 640 possible dots on the horizontal axis, and 480 possible dots on the vertical axis.
  
• Enhanced VGA has a resolution of 800 by 600 dots.
  
• Super VGA has a resolution of 1024 by 768 dots.
  
• As the resolution increases, more memory is needed to draw the image. Higher resolution will create a sharper and clearer image
  
• When an image is displayed in color or grayscale, a certain number of bits must be assigned per dot to achieve a given color depth.
  
• If more bits are assigned per dot, more colors can be presented.
  

Video BIOS

• Although the CPU issues instructions to the video card about what to draw, the CPU does not tell the video card how to draw.
  
• The video BIOS is responsible for determining how an image is to be displayed.
  
• The video BIOS provides the set of video functions that can be used by the software programs to access the video hardware.
  
• The video BIOS allows software to interface with the video chipset in much the same way as the system BIOS does for the motherboard chipset.
  
• When SVGA technology became an industry standard, incompatibilities in the different video BIOS implementations led to the development of standardized BIOS.
  

Windows XP

Introduction to XP

• Windows XP is designed as an operating system for both the home and office.
  
• Microsoft has released a number of different types of the XP operating system
  
• These include a Home Edition, a Media Center Edition, a 32-bit Professional Edition that is suitable for a large corporation or business environment, and a 64-bit Edition created for businesses with specialized and technical applications.
  
• There is also a version for the tablet PC
  

• Windows XP is built on the Windows 2000 code base, and provides the same reliability and performance.
  
• Windows XP also enhances the new features of the Windows ME operating system including System Restore, Windows Media Player, and Windows Image Acquisition.
  
• Microsoft has designed Windows XP to replace Windows 98, Windows ME and Windows 2000
  

XP Home

• Windows XP Home Edition is a less-expensive version.
  
• It is typically marketed to users and customers that use PCs in their homes and very small businesses.
  
• Windows XP Home Edition is intended for inexperienced users who do not need to connect to corporate networks and do not require the extra security options that Windows XP Professional contains
  
• Windows XP Home Edition includes many enhancements and features that are not included in Windows 2000 Professional, or any of the previous Windows 9x releases.
  
• Some of these features include improved software and hardware compatibility
  

1. simplified security such as Simple File Sharing versus Windows 2000 Sharing,
   
2. new log-on screen,
   
3. fast user switching,
   
4. enhanced multimedia support, and DirectX 8.1 multimedia libraries for gaming.
   

XP Professional

• The XP Professional operating system includes everything that the Home Edition provides
  
• It also has all the networking and security components that are required to join a Windows NT, 2000, or XP domain in a corporate network.
  
• XP Professional also includes support for high-performance hardware, such as a dual-processor motherboard.
  
• The kernel of Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional operating systems are identical.
  
• The file and folder management, web browser, and most of the system management tools and troubleshooting tools are also the same.
  
• The digital media management applications are similar
  

• Windows XP Professional contains several features that are not included in Windows XP Home Edition:
  
• Power user – The new Remote Desktop feature allows mobile users to remotely access their corporate desktop.
  
• System administrators now have the ability to remotely administer clients on a network.
  
• Automated System Recovery (ASR) aids in system recovery from a catastrophic error that might render the system unbootable.
  
• Windows XP Professional, like Windows 2000 Professional, supports dynamic disks.
  
• The Home Edition supports only the basic disk type.
  
• Home Edition does not include the Internet Information Services (IIS) Web server software found in the Windows XP Professional Edition.
  

• Management – Windows XP Professional provides added operating system management features.
  
• The Professional Edition can be used to logon to an Active Directory domain.
  
• Group Policy for domain users can also be supported.
  
• Professional Edition also includes a change and configuration management tool known as IntelliMirror. 
  
• IntelliMirror uses policy-based Change and Configuration Management to enable user data, software, and settings to follow them throughout a distributed computing environment.
  

• IntelliMirror
  
• IntelliMirror is a set of powerful features native to Windows for desktop change and configuration management technology.
  
• IntelliMirror combines the advantages of centralized computing with the performance and flexibility of distributed computing.
  
• By using IntelliMirror in both the server and client, a user’s data, applications, and settings remain constant throughout the user’s environment.
  
• Also, administrators can use these features to perform remote installation of the Windows operating system.
  
• Windows change and configuration management provides the IntelliMirror capability by using these specific features:
  
• User data management
  
• Software installation and maintenance
  
• User settings management
  
• Remote installation services
  

• Roaming profiles – With Windows XP Professional, users have the ability to log on to any computer on the network and automatically receive their customized settings.
  
• The user profile is stored in a shared network folder.
  
• When the user logs onto a machine, the information in the folder is copied over to the hard disk of the machine being used.
  
• When the user logs off, the profile information is copied back to shared network folder.
  

• Corporate deployment – Windows XP Professional is designed for use in corporate networks, and contains support for multiple languages.
  
• XP professional also provides Sysprep support, which is used to install the operating system on multiple machines in a large or corporate network
  
• Networking features – Windows XP Professional provides added networking features that are needed when deploying the operating system in a large corporate network.
  
• These include Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), the user interface for IP Security (IPSec), SAP Agent, Client Service for NetWare, Network Monitor, and simple TCP/IP services.
  

XP Security

• Windows XP Professional contains additional security features.
  
• For example, each user in XP Home Edition is automatically assigned to the Owners local group.
  
• This group is the Windows XP equivalent of the Windows 2000 Administrator account.
  
• Anyone who logs on to a Home Edition machine will have full control of the operating system.
  
• The Backup Operators, Power Users, or Replicator groups do not exist in Windows XP Home Edition.
  
• However, the Windows XP Home Edition does include a Restricted Users group, which grants limited access to the operating system for the selected users.
  

Windows XP Professional 64-bit

• Windows XP Professional 64-bit is Microsoft first 64-bit operating system.
  
• This operating system is designed to accommodate specialized, technical applications.
  
• For example, digital content creators including digital artists, 3D animators, gaming developers, and engineers can view more complex models and simulations to improve their product.
  
• Financial applications are also benefited by the ability to calculate large sets of data in real time.
  
• Windows XP 64-Bit Edition is also designed to address the most demanding business needs of the Internet-based world including memory-intensive high-end graphics, complex mathematics, and high-performance multimedia applications.
  
• Note that 32-bit systems will continue to be the best environment for customers that use only 32-bit applications and do not work with data sets larger than 2 GB.
  
  
• A system built around an Intel Itanium 64-bit processor must be used in conjunction with a 64-bit version of Windows XP Professional.
  
• This 64-Bit Edition also takes advantage of increased floating-point performance, which is the raw number of calculations that can be processed in a given period of time using the Intel Itanium platform.
  
• Another advantage of the 64-bit Edition is the memory support .
  
• The 64-bit Edition currently supports up to 16 GB of RAM.
One terabyte of system cache and a 512 terabyte page file will also be supported as hardware and memory capabilities increase to 16 terabytes of virtual memory.

• Windows XP 64-Bit Edition provides a scalable, high-performance platform for a new generation of applications that are based on the Win64 API (Application Programmers Interface).
  
• When compared to 32-bit systems, the Win64 API architecture provides more efficient processing of extremely large amounts of data
  
• It supports up to 16 terabytes of virtual memory.
  
• With 64-bit Windows, applications can pre-load substantially more data into virtual memory to enable rapid access by the IA-64 processor
  
• A 64-bit motherboard and chip set are required for the Windows XP 64-bit Edition.
  
  
• XP Media Center Edition is a new Microsoft edition that is pre-installed only on Media Center PCs.
  
• It is designed to fulfill the needs of those users who want a powerful digital media center in their home.
  
• The media center provides users with the ability to watch live television, record TV programs, listen to digital music, view slideshows and picture albums, and play DVDs all from one location.
  
• XP Media Center is a packaged hardware and software system built on the XP Professional platform
  

• Some hardware that may make up an XP Media Center computer include:
  

1. Advanced graphics card
   
2. TV tuner to capture a cable, antenna or satellite signal and display it on the monitor
   
3. Hardware encoder to record the captured TV signal to the computers hard disk
   
4. Digital audio output that allows the digital audio of the PC to integrate into the existing home entertainment system
   
5. A Media Center remote control that communicates with the computer through an infrared sensor is also included.
   

Windows XP Features

• The Files and Settings Transfer Wizard allows the user to migrate settings and files from an old computer to a new computer
  
• The user can save settings from any 32-bit version of Windows, including Windows 95.
  
• Several options enable saved files and settings to be restored on Windows XP Home Edition or Professional Edition:
  
• Another important feature for Windows XP is the User State Migration Tool (USMT).
  
• It is similar to the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard.
  
• The USMT is used by IT administrators who are performing large deployments of Windows XP Professional in a corporate environment.
  
• USMT provides the same functionality as the wizard on a large scale for the purpose of migrating multiple users.
  

• The hardware requirements for Windows XP are dependent upon the type and number of hardware devices to be installed.
  
• Prior to installing Windows XP, ensure that the system hardware is capable of running the specific XP version.
  
• Microsoft has recommended several requirements prior to installing the Windows XP operating system:
  

1. A Pentium 233-MHz processor or faster, with 300 MHz recommended
   
2. At least 64 MB of RAM, with 128 MB recommended
   
3. At least 1.5 GB of available hard disk space
   
4. A CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive
   
5. A keyboard and a Microsoft Mouse, or some other compatible pointing device
   
6. A video adapter and monitor with Super VGA resolution of 800 x 600 or higher
   
7. A sound card
   
8. Speakers or headphones
   

• For reliability, Windows XP was built on the base code of Windows NT and Windows 2000.
  
• Code protection keeps kernel data as read-only so that drivers and applications cannot corrupt them.
  
• The device driver verifier has been enhanced as well as IP security to help protect data transmitted across a network.
  
• Since Windows is moving toward the .NET environment, Windows XP has been upgraded with smart card capabilities.
  
• Smart cards enhance software-only solutions for client authentication, interactive logon, and secure email.