Text Box: Carst Consulting Newsletter

Text Box: In my last newsletter, I talked about wires and the problems with controlling the rat’s nest that they create.  In this newsletter, I’d like to go over the different types of wires and cables and what they’re used for.  My list starts with the oldest type of port (or connector) and goes through the newest.  Serial Port -- Originally there was only the serial port on a computer, or more specifically, the big tower or box that contained the CPU – the Central Processing Unit.  This all-purpose port could connect the computer to the printer and modem.  The keyboard connected to a modified serial port.  When Microsoft© added the mouse to our arsenal, it connected to the serial port.  External modems were connected to the serial port. When internal modems were developed, the serial port or ‘com port’ was changed to an internal connection allowing the phone line to connect directly to the computer.  Some computers do not have modems because of the use of broadband.  Most desktop and a few laptops still have serial ports installed, but they are being phased out Video Port – The Video Port is the connection for your monitor.  My first computer did not have a monitor.  The

Text Box: All those wires need not confuse you.  Remember they don’t change often.

Text Box: Volume 1, Issue 7, July 15, 2005

Text Box: Passwords

Text Box: When I want to go somewhere on the Internet, I generally just type in the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) or Internet address of the site that has the information I need and hit the enter key. Unfortunately, I soon discover that I need to login to this site to access the page.  Of course, not only do I not remember the password for this site, I don’t even remember the user name for this account.  Oh yes, I wrote down the user name and password on that Post-It note.  But I’ve either lost that Post-It note, or it’s lost its sticky-noteness. Some sites use a 6 to 10 letter user name, some assign you an arbitrary user name at their discretion, and some require that you use your email address as the user name.  Password rules are often arcane and include such items as needing at least one number and at least one letter and must be at least 6 characters long. Many sites give you an opportunity to click on a forgotten user name or password button and will send the user name or password to an email address that they have on record.  I have several variations of my email address that I have used over the years and I am sure that I have forgotten which name that I used when I set up this account.  So, I try them in an order that I have fixed in my mind and keep trying until I get the message that the user name or password has been sent.  It can often be time-consuming and frustrating.  So what’s the solution to remembering passwords and keeping them safe? Password Control Program:  Norton Internet Security had a password control function included in it a generation or two ago, but dropped it when the concern for having an easily identified location for all the security on the computer in one file, even if encrypted, outweighed the convenience.  The same goes for free or nearly free password control programs that you can download from the Internet.  These, often,  can actually be spyware.  I would recommend against their use. Paper Records:  I go the same route as thousands of others.  I try not to throw away the Post-It note or the 3x5 index card or the sheet of printer paper that is under my keyboard and recopy it when I need to.  A pain, but then I guess it is better than having my computer compromised and identity stolen.  One tip:  Use a small Rolodex  -- it’s easy and convenient. One other note:  Be aware that while registering to use a site may make it convenient to access the information that it contains, you will often have to provide an email address.  This generally will increase the amount of spam or unwanted items in your inbox if you don’t read notes and either check or uncheck the little boxes with the fine print.

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Text Box: Do I really need all these passwords?

Text Box: Cables and Wires

Text Box: The keyboard shortcut this newsletter is: <Ctrl>+<C> copies the highlighted  text and <Ctrl>+<V> inserts copied text where the cursor is.  Using <Ctrl>+<X> instead of <Ctrl>+<C> will remove the text from the old location when it is pasted into the new location.

Text Box: Newsletter Spotlight Text Box: output appeared on the printer.  In order for output to appear on a monitor (TV screen), the industry designed the video port.  Originally, the monitor only displayed a single color (not necessarily black and white).  Monitors came with white lettering on black background or green lettering or yellow lettering, etc., but only one color on a single background.  Today’s monitors can display millions of colors.  The video port is included on all desktop computers and most laptop computers for an external display capability. Parallel Port -- The serial port was slow (9600 bps), and as printers became more complex, it seemed that printing took too long.  In order to speed up the printing process, the parallel port was designed.  It could transfer data at 56K (about 60 times as fast as the serial port).  Speeds were eventually raised to 128K through the use of ‘Centronics’ connectors.  Most desktops and some laptops still have parallel ports but these, too, are being phased out. Sound wires -- Nearly every computer now has sound capabilities.  This is a single wire to a set of speakers.  This can add at least two, and sometimes three, additional wires to your rat’s nest. Ethernet -- Ethernet is used to connect computers to a hub device which allows computers to connect to each other (networking) and/or the Internet.  The original speed of an Ethernet connection was 1 Megabyte per second.  Ethernet speeds are now up to 1 Gigabyte per second (1000 Mbps), which means that 215,000 pages of text could be transferred in one second between computers connected through a hub.  All higher end machines have Ethernet ports and inexpensive add-in cards can be added to computers to put an Ethernet connection into them.  Ethernet speeds are much faster then Internet speeds, which are generally about 2 Megabytes per second or 1,000 pages of text or one high resolution picture per second. PS2 Ports – In 1987, IBM introduced the PS2 computer with its PS2 port.  This port was designed specifically for “Human Interface Devices” only (mouse and keyboard).  Although not faster, these ports used previously unused interrupts (hard connections) of the computer’s system to allow more peripheral devices to be connected at the same time.  This was necessary because we were adding more modems, printers, external drives, sound cards, joy sticks, music keyboards, network cards, scanners, etc., to our computers.  The PS2 port is still in common use today but it is being phased out.  This port is not included on some desktops and laptops because the mouse and keyboard can be connected to USB ports (see below). SCSI Port -- The SCSI port was initially used to connect additional storage drives to the computer.  It also allowed up to 7 devices to use the limited resources on the computer at the same time by controlling the input and output with a single card and ‘chaining’ the devices.  (Chaining is the process of connecting different devices to each other and having only one connect to the computer, forming a chain of components.)  The SCSI speed was 5 to 11 Megabits per second total for all components in the chain.  Eventually scanners, modems, music keyboards and even high speed printers were designed to use this new high speed connection.  Today, it is included only in computers destined to be network servers as most devices now use the USB port. FireWire (1394) port -- A decade ago, advertisements for various computers said that not all devices are easily set up.  That’s because Apple created a different high speed port on its new Macintosh computers.  Devices designed to use it could not be connected to the PCs of the era without installing a FireWire (1394) Card.    Normal FireWire speeds were 100-200 Megabytes per second but up to 400 Megabytes per second could be attained.  Because it was designed for the Mac, the FireWire was difficult to install on a PC.  Very few PCs have 1394 ports, but inexpensive cards that are equivalent to a FireWire port can be installed. You don’t need a 1394 port unless you have a video camera that uses it.  Video cameras still use them, almost exclusively, but even these are starting to have USB connectors. USB Port -- Because we were starting to have so many different devices connected to the computer, the standard computer configuration no longer was adequate.  A different type of connection was needed and a professional group, the IEEE society, came up with a port that connected to the computer in a totally new way.  This new port, the USB port, did not need to have resources specifically assigned to it and, in theory, up to 128 different devices could be connected to the computer.  At 12 Megabytes per second, the USB 1.0 port became the next generation of connector.  The USB 1.1 port could operate at 2 speeds: High speed 12 megabytes per second and low speed 1.5 megabytes per second for keyboards and mice.  It also was able to power many low power consumption devices such as PDAs, Zip Drives, and cameras.  The USB port can power these devices when they are connected to the computer and even recharge the batteries at the same time.  All computers built in the last 5 years have USB ports. USB 2.0 Port -- Because the theoretical limit of the USB port was 12 Megabytes per second, it was thought that the FireWire port would be the future.  However, the problems of setting this Mac device up in the PC seemed too difficult to overcome.  The IEEE came up with a 2.0 standard that kicked the speed of the USB port up to 480 Megabytes per second.  Maybe the USB port wasn’t so dead.  USB 2.0 ports can operate at the lower speeds that the 1.0 and 1.1 ports can use.  Most new computers have 2.0 USB ports. The USB 2.0 Port brings us up to date. In the next newsletter, we’ll talk about the latest wireless technologies that we have today, including direct connections to the Internet.

Text Box: Cables and Wires (Continued from above)

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