This is the basis of much of what we will be doing
Definitions (from The Internet Book by Douglas Comer)
- client-server computing
is the interaction between two programs when they communicate across a network
- a program at one site sends a request to a program at another site and awaits a response
- the requesting program is the client
- assuming we are using our laptops as a client, we might want to know how laptops work
- a program at one site sends a request to a program at another site and awaits a response
- the program satisfying the request is the
server
- assuming we want to retrieve something from a server over the web, we might want to know how web servers work
client-server interaction
is the basis of distributed computing
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baseline understandings about the tools we will be using
How PCs work
advice on how to deal with problems as they come up
- The Weekly Fab 5 by Patrick Crispen, TOURBUS
- ITS agrees - New Year's Resolution #1:Protect your computer
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terminology
- is memory the same thing as storage? [notice how dated the details are in this storage article]
- what are
operating systems?
- we are familiar with Windows and Apple
- what are some of the others? Wikipedia lists lots and lots
- what does open source mean?
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email & file transfer
- Secure Shell Client is recommended for use with SILS servers
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storage space
- AFS - in the SILS lab
- FTP - reach into your files from home
- CD-RW - useful, but there are some limitations
- floppies are pretty much obsolete and have been replaced by flash memory [note, too, how dated are the details in this Wikipedia article]
- C-drive - don't store anything on your lab computers as they are periodically wiped clean
- holographic storage
- the next big thing?
- also see "Light on the horizon" in The Economist, 02 Aug 2003, pp. 66-7
- and a later story, " Rewritable Holographic Memory; A genetically engineered microbial protein could mean better data storage" by Amitabh Avasthi, Tech Review, 13 Aug 2007
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screenshots
- a tool we will use a lot
- PrtSc & ALT+PrtSc
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ergonomics
- HealthyComputing.com - advice on how to avoid ending up like someone we know
- How to use and transport your Laptop ergonomically
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