You might know your IT roots if… Part Two
In the last newsletter, we started a discussion of the importance (and fun) of remembering the fundamental technology that brought us to where we are today. We also noted a “starter group” of the questions and discussion on this topic at Webtorials.
For a summertime break – while you’re claiming that it’s research – we invite you to answer these questions and to add questions of your own.
So, with appropriate apologies to Jeff Foxworthy, we continue to say, “You might know your IT roots if…”
You know what a PDU is.
You know why PDU is sometimes a preferable term in writing specifications.
You sometimes use the word “octet” instead of “byte.”
You remember SMDS.
You remember when Ethernet was a shared media.
Bonus: You know what the speed was for the shared media.
Bonus: You know what the physical form of the shared media was.
You were ever concerned about the size of packet overhead.
You can define and explain CSMA/CD.
You know what a “parity bit” is.
You can explain the significance of hitting a “Control-S” to pause an output.
Bonus: You know how to restart the transmission after a Control-S.
You know one (or more) of the reasons that a T-1 line speed was chosen as 1.544 Mbps.
You know why the standard RS-232c connector had 25 pins.
Bonus: You know the difference between the 9-pin and 25-pin connector for RS-232c.
You know what RTS and CTS were for on the RS-232c connector.
You know why RTS and CTS were used.
You know the genesis of the word “modem.”
You know the difference between “half duplex” and “full duplex.”
You can explain why anybody would ever use “half duplex.”
You know what the difference is between a “two-wire” and a “four-wire” voice circuit.
You know what the “HS” switch was on a 212a-type modem?
You know what the effect of activating the “HS” switch was.
You know what the difference is between “asynchronous” and “synchronous” operation of a modem is?
You know which two pins were needed on the RS-232c interface for synchronous transmission – and what they did.
Bonus: You can explain the advantage/disadvantage of synchronous vs. asynchronous transmission.
Let us know your answers and comments!
