Workshop Day 02

I am glad some new people also read my blog, but damn no one wrote a comment, please write comments people, it takes pain to type everything, the least is ,u can appreciate.

Anyway today was very good, I got a job in a BPO, 11K salary ,kool. Today was also the second day of the workshop, and we all got a certificate too! Kool! Today we learnt about storage devices. There are three types of hard disks:

1. IDE
2. SATA
3. SCSI

IDE and SATA are used in desktop and SCSI are used for server motherboard. A server motherboard can connect to more than one processor, as there are more than one CPU socket in a server motherboard.

HARD DISK

In IDE and SATA u can connect up to 4 hard disks on motherboard. CDROM come in all three types mentioned above as it is also a type of storage device like hard disk. In SCSI there are three versions SCSI-1 supports 7 hard disks, SCSI -2 supports 15 hard disks and SCSI-3 supports upto 31 hard disks.

SCSI is hot swappable ,it means it can be removed when machine is ON, as we all can figure out our pen drive is also hot swappable. A IDE socket has 40 pins and 2 devices can be connected through IDE connector. Latest motherboards have both IDE and SATA slots. If we connect two seperate hard disks together than the master is always called C drive and slave is called D drive.

Bootstrap loader which loads the OS can communicate with C DRive only, therefore even if OS is installed on D drive important booting files are on C drives.

CPU CONNECTORS

NOw lets have a brief on all the connectors u see behind your CPU, where u connect all the wiring. First is the PS/2 connector which has two slots green one for mouse and purple for keyboard. There are some yellow colored serial ports which has 9 pins and are also called COM ports i.e. communication ports. These are the same ports which are used for connecting external modem. In serial port data is transferred in serial format and in parallel ports data is transferred as 8 bits, 16bits,etc at a time.

In new motherboards which have inbuilt modem, the modem is connected on the PCI slot. Parallel ports are used to connect devices such as printers, scanners. NOwadays everything comes with a USB connection, USB is serial and is preferred over parallel ports because USB frequency is very fast ,higher than parallel port.Same way a core 2 duo processor is faster than dual core because of higher frequency.

Continuing with the connectors behind the CPU, there is another connector of 15 pin which is used for disply device, if it is not there we need an additional add on card on motherboard for display.. Then there are the usual connectors for audio and one for gaming joystick. IN new motherboards, display,sound and network are integrated.

How to differentiate between a DDR1 and a DDR2, DDR1 has 184 pins and DDR2 pins have 240 pins. DDR3 also has 240 pins but position of slot is different.

Well this was all I learnt today , the networking part is postponed and I may not attend coz of my new job ,but for those who want to attend the workshop ,the name of institute is IACM and numbers are 26792980 and 26792043.

Thank You.

Workshop Day 01 (Hardware for Dummies)

Hi back after sometime, today I heard the good news that Truptiben , Rakeshbhai and Dhilan are coming for 90days to India, I am very excited. Well today i attended the first of 2 days workshop on hardware maintenance. I would like to share with everyone all that I learnt.

First things first ,lets list out the parts inside a CPU:

1. Switch mode power supply (SMPS)
2. Motherboard
3. Processor
4. RAM
5. Add on cards like graphics card, sound card, etc
6. Storage Device like Hard disk, CDROM, etc
7. Cooling mechanism like a fan,etc
8. Cabinet
   
9. Cables

Motherboard is a very important part of the CPU, motherboard changes according to the processor. The motherboard is used to connect all the different parts of the CPU. Every motherboard has a speed, devices cannot communicate with each other higher than the motherboard speed.

There is a CPU socket on every motherboard for the processor slot, the P3 processor is 370 pin and P4 processor is 478 pin. The latest processors like Core 2 Duo are pinless, pins are present on socket not processor. Again as I mentioned each processor requires a different type of motherboard.

BACK OF PENTIUM 3 PROCESSOR

There are 2 types of primary memory, RAM and ROM.
ROM: BIOS (Basic INput Output System) is stored in ROM. BIOS contains the following:

1. POST (Power on Self Test)
2. CMOS PRogram
3. CMOS RAM (used to save CMOS data)
4. Boot Strap Loader to load OS into memory.

ROM

There is a small chip of BIOS on motherboard. BIOS programming is done according to structure of motherboard. ROM nowadays are composed of flash memory, earlier they were semiconductor chips. The history of ROM is as follows:

* Programmable read-only memory (PROM), or one-time programmable ROM (OTP), can be written to or programmed via a special device called a PROM programmer. Typically, this device uses high voltages to permanently destroy or create internal links (fuses or antifuses) within the chip. Consequently, a PROM can only be programmed once.

BIOS

* Erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) can be erased by exposure to strong ultraviolet light (typically for 10 minutes or longer), then rewritten with a process that again requires application of higher than usual voltage. Repeated exposure to UV light will eventually wear out an EPROM, but the endurance of most EPROM chips exceeds 1000 cycles of erasing and reprogramming. EPROM chip packages can often be identified by the prominent quartz "window" which allows UV light to enter. After programming, the window is typically covered with a label to prevent accidental erasure. Some EPROM chips are factory-erased before they are packaged, and include no window; these are effectively PROM.

* Electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) is based on a similar semiconductor structure to EPROM, but allows its entire contents (or selected banks) to be electrically erased, then rewritten electrically, so that they need not be removed from the computer (or camera, MP3 player, etc.). Writing or flashing an EEPROM is much slower (milliseconds per bit) than reading from a ROM or writing to a RAM (nanoseconds in both cases), since available densities are not as great and the cost per bit is higher.

o Electrically alterable read-only memory (EAROM) is a type of EEPROM that can be modified one bit at a time. Writing is a very slow process and again requires higher voltage (usually around 12 V) than is used for read access. EAROMs are intended for applications that require infrequent and only partial rewriting. EAROM may be used as non-volatile storage for critical system setup information; in many applications, EAROM has been supplanted by CMOS RAM supplied by mains power and backed-up with a lithium battery.

o Flash memory (or simply flash) is a modern type of EEPROM invented in 1984. Flash memory can be erased and rewritten faster than ordinary EEPROM, and newer designs feature very high endurance (exceeding 1,000,000 cycles). Modern NAND flash makes efficient use of silicon chip area, resulting in individual ICs with a capacity as high as 16 GB as of 2007; this feature, along with its endurance and physical durability, has allowed NAND flash to replace magnetic in some applications (such as USB flash drives). Flash memory is sometimes called flash ROM or flash EEPROM when used as a replacement for older ROM types, but not in applications that take advantage of its ability to be modified quickly and frequently.


RAM: It stands for Random accesss memory, it is the memory used by the processor to execute the program. There are two factors of RAM, capacity and speed.

RAM CHIPS

P3 had SDRAM which has 2 notches on it.
P4 had DDR1 RAM with 1 notch on ot.

MOst of us now use DDR2 RAM and DDR3 RAM is also now introduced.

There are 2 types of RAM, SRAM and DRAM. Static and Dynamic RAM respectively. SRAM is made up of flip flops and is used as cache memory with a maximum size of 4MB. DRAM is made up of capacitors and is used in RAM chips, the primary memory. Nowadays cache memory is present in processor ,earlier it was on motherboard.

SRAM is faster and costlier than DRAM, but both are used in any given machine. Normally programs and not data are stored in cache memory.

DRAM are of 3 types SDRAM, DDRSDRAM and RDRAM. SDRAM were used in P3 with speeds having 66, 100 and 133 Mhz. DDRSDRAM are Double data rate SDRAM with speeds of 266MHz and above, DDR1, DDR2 and DDR3 come under these category. RDRAM is very expensive.


Chipset: A chipset is m ade up of a number of chips require to run a CPU like for eg. a chipset may typically contain 8088, 8086, 8255, 8259, etc chips. PRocessor, memory and graphics are controlled by chipset on motherboard. It controls flow of data.

CHIPSET

There are 2 types of chipset: GMCH (Graphic memory control hub) and ICH (input output control hub).

Well this was all I learnt in today's 2 hour workshop and I hope this must be helpful to you, you can post any comments or questions u need.

Thank You.

Carbon

Well it might not look important but Carbon is unique, we often hear Carbon Dioxide, but Carbon alone is a very precious element. Carbon is one of the oldest elements known to mankind. Carbon is a chief element in coal which we have used since years to create fire and generate heat as well as electricity.

Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the universe by mass after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen. It is present in all known lifeforms, and in the human body, carbon is the second most abundant element by mass (about 18.5%) after oxygen. This abundance, together with the unique diversity of organic compounds and their unusual polymer-forming ability at the temperatures commonly encountered on Earth, make this element the chemical basis of all known life.

There are several allotropes of carbon of which the best known are graphite, diamond, and amorphous carbon. The physical properties of carbon vary widely with the allotropic form. For example, diamond is highly transparent, while graphite is opaque and black. Diamond is among the hardest materials known, while graphite is soft enough to form a streak on paper. Diamond has a very low electric conductivity, while graphite is a very good conductor. Also, diamond has the highest thermal conductivity of all known materials under normal conditions. All the allotropic forms are solids under normal conditions but graphite is the most thermodynamically stable.

There has been a new revolution called nanotechnology ,where science tries to make everything as small as possible. I had once attended a seminar in the UK council, where I first heard about carbon nanotubes, which again involves carbon.

CARBON NANOTUBE

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are allotropes of carbon with a nanostructure that can have a length-to-diameter ratio greater than 1,000,000. These cylindrical carbon molecules have novel properties that make them potentially useful in many applications in nanotechnology, electronics, optics and other fields of materials science, as well as extensive use in arcology and architectural fields. They exhibit extraordinary strength and unique electrical properties, and are efficient conductors of heat. Inorganic nanotubes have also been synthesized.

Microsoft vs Google

The biggest experiment in the history of mankind has started ,and nothing is gonna happen to us or the universe because of it, it will only bring useful results to solve several mysteries about the universe and its origin.

Well today I would like to talk about two big software companies of my time Microsoft and Google. Google is a fairly new company founded in 1995 but has grown ever since. It has the famous search engine, gmail, orkut, blogger, google health and many other things. It is very popular name and has become number one company in IT industry.

Microsoft ,on the other hand was founded in 1975. In 1983 Microsoft announced the development of Windows, a graphical user interface (GUI) for its own operating system (MS-DOS) that had shipped for IBM PC and compatible computers since 1981. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates made a fortune out of this company and was the richest man in the world for quiet a while.

Microsoft had many competitors ,one of them was netscape, netscape had developed a browser netscape navigator , which became very popular until micorsoft started shipping IE with its operating system , Google has recently launced a beta version of its browser chrome.

With linux and open source gaining popularity and Bill Gates resigning, and perhaps many other reasons have made google ,the numero uno now.

Will the world end tomorrow~!

As physicists get set to recreate the Big Bang, German chemistry professor Otto Rossler predicts that their experiment will actually create a mini black hole that will suck all life and light into it and lead to the end of the world. On Wednesday, somewhere below the French-Swiss border, scientists at CERN (a European organisation for nuclear research) are getting ready to drive two beams of particles into each other at close to the speed of light in a machine called the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

This will recreate the Big Bang and answer questions about the origins of life, the universe and everything. Black hole creation Though no one really knows what 'will' happen, all sorts of theories of sudden annihilation abound.

CERN's strongest opponent Otto R, a German chemistry professor, argues that just as with the Big Bang, this experiment too will create a mini-black-hole, an intense gravitational field that will keep sucking in matter until the entire world, and all its light, is gone. To counter the bad press, a rap video on CERN is doing the rounds on YouTube.

Presumably made by the young scientists of the organisation, the video explains everything related to the project in a fun, literally off-beat way. The hugely popular video reiterates a statement made by CERN Director General Robert Aymar: "The LHC will enable us to study in detail what nature is doing all around us.

The LHC is safe, and any suggestion that it might present a risk is pure fiction." If Thursday comes And in case you wake up Thursday morning and wonder why doomsday didn't arrive, the Mayans might have an answer for you.

Mahatma Gandhi

He is called the Father of the Nation. He bought India its independence and that too without any war or violence, he did it through his weapon called satyagraha. He is such an important person in the history of India that we have his photo on every currency note. He signifies the qualities of truth, love and non violence.

Every educated Indian knows what all he has done for India's Independence, he did a lot of satyagraha, fasting and dandi march. He was born on 2nd October 1869, and every year this day is celebrated as Gandhi Jayanti and is a national holiday.

Gandhi first employed non-violent civil disobedience as an expatriate lawyer in South Africa, in the resident Indian community's struggle for civil rights. After his return to India in 1915, he set about organising peasants, farmers, and urban labourers in protesting excessive land-tax and discrimination. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, for expanding women's rights, for building religious and ethnic amity, for ending untouchability, for increasing economic self-reliance, but above all for achieving Swaraj—the independence of India from foreign domination.

Gandhi was a practitioner of non-violence and truth, and advocated that others do the same. He lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn he had hand spun on a charkha. He ate simple vegetarian food, and also undertook long fasts as means of both self-purification and social protest.

There is also a very hit bollywood film based on Gandhiji, called Lage Raho Munnabhai starring Sanjay Dutt and Vidya Balan, it is a must watch movie for those who don't know much about Gandhiji and it is also good entertainment movie.

Ganpati Bappa Morya

I was just thinking that one day, my wife and kids or may be grand kids will be able to read my thoughts in my post. I believe that Blogger ,if stays long enough could make me immortal, also it is a medium by which someone can know a person better.

Today is 3rd September 2008, Ganesh Chaturthi, all the roads of parla are filled up with decorative lightings, Mumbai celebrates Ganesha Chaturthi in a big way ,especially the lal baag ka raja ,ganesha is highly celebrated ganesha in mumbai, this year it completed its 75 years, and all the celebrities go to lal baag ka raja ,it is a very high security area.

Ganesha Festival is a day on which Lord Ganesha, the son of Shiva and Parvati, is believed to bestow his presence on earth for all his devotees.It is celebrated as it is the birthday of Lord Ganesha. The festival is observed in the Hindu calendar month of Bhaadrapada, starting on the shukla chaturthi (fourth day of the waxing moon period).

Typically, the day falls sometime between August 20 and September 15. The festival lasts for 10 days, ending on Ananta Chaturdashi. This festival is observed in the lunar month of bhadrapada shukla paksha chathurthi madhyahana vyapini purvaviddha. if chaturthi prevails on both days, the first day should be taken. Even if chaturthi prevails for complete duration of madhyahana on the second day, but if it prevails on previous day's madhyahana period even for one ghatika (24 minutes) the previous day should be taken.

Lord Ganesha is a highly celebrated God in Hindu religion, many people have His idol above of their main door, before doing any good thing we say "Ganpati Bappa Morya" ,also in a wedding we do Ganesh Puja. What more Ganesha's elder brother name is "Kartik".