Issue 6

Systems Maintenance Data Security/Recovery Computers built to specification Data Preservation Web Site Development Repairs and upgrades Off Site Backup Network Solutions Branded or Custom Laptops On Site Service Systems Inventory and Evaluation

Letter from the President:

I know the theme of the current newsletters is “basics” but I want to report on the integration of technologies in life. I just returned from a trip to Italy and Switzerland. We flew out from San Francisco to JFK and then to Rome. After 16 days in Europe we flew back via Milano Milpensa International Airport and Atlanta directly into Sacramento.

I noticed several things on the trip of interest to me and perhaps you as well regarding technology and its institution or not. Many things have changed due to the usage of technology. Security screening for one thing was quite a bit different from the last time I was out of the country in ’01. With such a common name as John Daly you have to know that somewhere there had to be a “person of interest” by the same name to our government and thereby waylaying my re-entry. Frankly, I don’t know if this is good or bad. From the Europeans’ viewpoint we have gone overboard in forcing foreign nationals to get visas, upgraded passports and requiring additional information to enter the US. Overboard to the point, as one of our Swiss friends told us, causing her company such difficulty that an international business meeting was re-located from the US to Mexico because of the restrictions and hassles related to visas.

On the plus side it only took immigration and border patrol officers 45 minutes to get me cleared to leave Atlanta. I had visions of spending days or even months in limbo at the airport because my namesake was running guns for the IRA or some such…. not to be… But I digress…. I watched 6 and half movies and listened to quite a bit of music on the airplanes’ entertainment systems. It was based on Red Hat LINUX and ran pretty well especially after a flight attendant re-booted the server on our outbound Trans Atlantic flight.

We had arranged via a travel agent all kinds of reservations, connections and ticketing, museums, etc. all done on line. Of course our very first reservation…. at the SF Airport Hyatt Regency was screwed up… due to human error. The Hyatt human had a misunderstanding of how transactions were to be moved from an older system to a newer system. Between my wife’s extraordinary ability to organize and her linguistics talents, EVERYTHING else went like clockwork. Nearly every connection was on time. All of our arrangements and reservations in Europe were always nailed. I am not saying the beds were comfortable or the hotels were perfect by any means…. We batted about .500 there.

We hauled our laptops with us. We had no problem getting internet access in hotels and other places. It cost by the hour or by the day. Typically 10-12 dollars for the day allowing us both enough time to handle our e-mail or check some question we had regarding the trip.

Technology is a big deal in Europe where it increases the quality of life. Trains with new systems were better than older ones. There was more communication. They were easy to understand and use. Autos get much better gas mileage with newer plastics and alloys. Gas was 1.72 Euro per liter for regular or at the then exchange rate (including fees) $2.45 per quart or $9.80 per gallon. We noted that it cost our Italian friends 150 Euros (approx. $225) to fill the gas tank of their Audi SUV…. 3 bucks a gallon is comparatively cheap… I guess. Everything else there was similarly expensive.

Instant changes for exchange rates were terrible of course. Because there is no longer any lag in communications re the rates of monetary exchange. Every time the dollar took a hit it came across to us instantly on purchases and money changes. That was a bit tough to take sometimes but I was not going to let it bother me on such a great trip.

We took no film based cameras this trip. Every picture we took was digital. We took lots of pictures and had lots of flash cards on which to store them. I dumped the pics onto my laptop and then backed them up immediately to another flash drive. It was instant gratification beyond belief… or instant disappointment if the picture was bad. Often I found myself taking multiple pictures as I was learning how to operate the camera and make adjustments.

One of the things that became completely obvious to me was this. On this planet you don’t go anywhere now days without it being known who you are and where you are going without extraordinary efforts otherwise.

With that, I give you our next newsletter on the Basics of Computers. Hope this is of a benefit to you.

There are some basic concepts that need to be communicated when it comes to computers. As covered in the last newsletter, the four basic functions a computer does or handles is input, processing, output and storage.

Output and Storage:

Once a computer has processed data that was input, it is now ready to output information (meaningful results) either to a display or a printer or even to a storage device.

Storage:

Computer stores information temporarily to work with, in memory—better known as RAM or Random Access Memory. It stores data in a more permanent location called a hard disk. A hard disk could be compared to a record player that can store multiple records in a stack like formation. These “records” in a hard disk are called disk platters. And just like the arm on a record player that touches the record to produce sound, a hard disk has a read/write arm that allows it to put data onto a hard disk or read from it.

But what about RAM. Well, this is just a temporary storage facility that the computer uses with the items it is currently processing. Remember, RAM is TEMPORARY. If the power to your computer goes out, everything you had in RAM disappears. If you didn’t save that document you had spent hours on, ALL WILL BE LOST. The whole concept of input, processing, output and storage can actually be illustrated with a simple analogy. In this analogy, the following items are likened: (Note for an explanation of the below terms, please see the last issue of this newsletter, which can be found on-line at www.dalycomputer.com/newsletters/issue 5.html

Hard Drive = Filing Cabinet
Memory (RAM) = Desk top

When the computer starts up, it loads all the operating system files into memory. This is like taking the type writer, carbon paper, pens and pencils you’ll be working with, and putting these onto the desk, ready to do work. Now you’re ready to work with the first file. You start Microsoft® Word, which gets loaded into memory. In the real world this is the same as going to the filing cabinet and pulling the folder for Company Creditors and putting it on the desk. Next, in the real world, you open the folder and pull out the first document you’re going to work on. This gets put onto the desk. This is akin to opening a document from the hard drive and loading it into memory and having the computer display it on the screen. To process a document, in the real world, you put a blank piece of paper into the type writer, type up your document, and when done, put a copy of it in the folder. The folder gets closed, and put back into the filing cabinet. Well pretty much the same thing happens with a computer. The document you’re word processing on the computer is being displayed on the monitor. Its contents are actually kept in memory (RAM). When you save the document, you’re writing the contents from memory to the hard drive, for later retrieval.

Computer Performance:

Have you ever noticed that sometimes your computer runs real slow? Well, drawing from the analogy given above, your desk work space is limited in size. If you started taking a lot of files and folders out of the filing cabinet and put these onto the desk, you’d run out of space to work. You’d spend a lot of time digging through papers on your desk to find that item you’re looking for. Maybe you’d put some of the files and folders into a temporary stack for later retrieval. Then later when you’d need them, you’d have to dig through the temporary stack to find the items you need. And of course your production would be impeded. Well, a computer operates much in the same way. Once memory (RAM) is full but more items need to be accessed and pulled into memory, the computer takes some of the “inactive” items currently residing in memory and stores them in a special location on the hard drive. This special location is referred to as virtual memory. The process of swapping items from memory to the hard drive and back again is a very slow process. This is because of the mechanical nature of a hard drive and the speed with which the hard drive spins. Needless to say the hard drive is much, much slower than actual memory and the CPU.

A solution to this problem is a simple one – just add more memory (in the form of a memory chip). And voila –computer efficiency is increased.

To Be Continued

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