Computer System Recap

In the last few ICT lessons I had my group and I put together a computer. I have been asked to write a twenty minute recap about it.

In the first lesson we learnt about the different parts of a computer, for example the CPU (Computer power use), the RAM (Random Access Memory) and the Motherboard. The CPU is like the brains of the computer. Because of the CPU you can run software and use your computer. The RAM makes the computer faster. Its task is to run things fast, but it can't remember anything, so when you Force Quit your computer all data that was temporarily in the RAM might be lost. The more RAM your computer has, the faster it will be. The Motherboard is like the name suggests the mother of all things in your computer. Everything in the case is connected to the motherboard in some way, for example with a wire or plug.

The motherboard

Of course there are a lot of other things in a computer, the power supply, the HDD, the ODD, the ventilators, a whole lot of wires, a heat sink and of course the case. The power supply, like its name suggests, provides the power for the computer to run. When you press the button, it is the first thing to start working. The HDD (Hard Disk Drive) is the memory of the computer. It is slow, but it remembers every (saved) file when you turn off the computer. It is where all software and information is stored. The ODD (Optical Disk Drive, AKA DVD-drive) is where you put in a disk of some sort to access the things stored on that disk. There are normally two ventilators. They are to keep the power supply and the CPU cool, to prevent them from exploding. All the wires connect these main components to the motherboard. The heat sink is the thing that is supposed to prevent the computer from overheating. Without it the computer would get too hot and might possibly explode. There normally is a fan for the heat sink as well. The case is obviously the thing you see on the outside, with screws, flashy buttons and vent openings. The vents and heatsink are very important because without them the computer will overheat and destroy itself.

You can test the heatsink and other components of the computer by doing a smoke test. You do this by powering up the computer and check if there goes a light from green to another color (possibly yellow) and if it smells like smoke near the computer. If it does any of these then there is something wrong and you may have to disassemble the computer again.

In the second lesson we installed a software called Ubuntu on our computers. This took quite a long time and as we spend the beginning of the lesson on finishing off our computer we had to wait the rest of the lesson for the software to install.

A very small part of the Internet. This diagram shows the connections made between browsers. 

The third lesson I was sick, but I believe the group learnt about the Internet and how to operate the software.

The next lesson my group and I made a role play about how the internet worked. We got chairs and tied them together with string to represent the connections between networks. We gave each of the chairs a name, like Google, Youtube and PCCW. A number of different people were a picture. We used one laptop with the Facebook logo on the screen. Somebody send the picture and the picture broke up in separate packets that hopped from network to network via the connections of string. They arrived in a random order at the end destination, Facebook. Each packet had a number so the recipient network would know what the picture would look like so it could put the picture together for viewing. In the real world this happens whenever you click 'Send'. And on the real internet, this whole process takes only a matter of seconds because the packets always try to find the shortest way possible.

The packets always need to hop from network to network by finding the IP adress of the hop destination.  The internet is just like a big global spiderweb with all kinds of connections intersecting, crossing and overlapping each other. This gives it the name of a global network of networks. Each one of these networks has a IP address. The things you send break up in numbered packets and hop around the networks until they find the destination IP. It is like mail being delivered by a mailman who doesn't know the way around but still needs to find the destination of the letter.

Nowadays people don't know the origins of the internet. The truth is that the Internet originated as a military experiment to make an indestructible way of communicating. It was designed to be atomic bomb proof, because an atomic bomb couldn't possibly take out all networks at once. ARPA was the corporation that funded the experiment.


Casper

Overall evaluation

In this evaluation I am evaluating, summarizing and reflecting on the animation project

Overall Evaluation                        -Media Lego stop frame animation

The test videos and the normal videos have been successful because we know what to do and thanks to the tests how to do it.

All planning had been successful until the final video had to be made and neither could film on the times the other was free.

Also, filming is a bit of a pain as we both live far away from each other . This means that travel time has to be taken into consideration, as it will take away massive amounts of valuable time. The other person seemingly never has time. In this case one always has guests, so Friday is out of option, while the other has homework during the week. The weekend would be an option, but in the weekends I have to study for the Science and Maths end of term tests. We know what and how to do it, but we just can’t seem to find a good time, place and good way of travelling to meet. The problem is also that one person can’t continue filming without the other because we both have different things needed to make the animation.

All was going all right, we were at and ahead of the schedule and the software worked well, until my partners laptop broke at the very last minute. There was no way of getting our animation back.

Summary of the project:

Good planning, good communication and hard work from both sides to meet and get it done in time. Even though we lived far apart, we used whole breaks discussing where we shall meet next and what we will do when we meet. The crashed laptop effectively cut off our communications and our wiped all of our hard work. We were planning to meet on the Saturday before the holidays so we could get it finished, but without communications planning proved impossible. One crash, at exactly the wrong moment.

Test video evaluation

I made these reviews to reflect on my test video's.

Test video #1 evaluation

The test video was really good with good timing and lighting. The lines were perfectly synchronised with the action and the set was good. There could be a bit more action though, as it took a long time before actually happened, and when it happened, it wasn’t that much (Ackbar turning around and shouting ‘IT’S A TRAP’). We could expand the set a bit and let another character say some lines as well and put in a bit more action it would be perfect.

Test Video #2 evaluation

In this test video we tested vehicle movement. We got a lego speeder and moved the background to create the illusion the vehicle was moving at high speed. It looked good, we should only add sound, more frames to make the speeder ‘go’ faster and more objects in the background, to make it more interesting. We also have to find a place to get effects (explosion as the speeder crashes into the wall).

Test video #2

A vehicle moving test. I made this to test how a vehicle can move fast. I did this by moving objects in the background, instead of making the vehicle actually move.

Test video #1

I made this test video for ICT, were I was asked to make a stop frame animation video. This is my first test video, and I'm sure it needs lots of improvement, including video and audio quality. I will include my storyboard for the real video, my evaluation and test video #2 in my next posts.

Animation

I made this animation with a few other people. It was made on my Mac. I improvised my main role during the animation making; observing my teammates and checking if everyone got something to do. The main thing my teammates did was discussing the camera point of view and who should move what. After a while of participating in this chaos, I decided to step back, make mental notes and make a strong argument later on. I didn't get into view at all, except for my hand when someone turned the camera while i was moving a chair. My role after the animating was to distribute this thing to everyone in the group, which was difficult due to oversized files. At the end one of my group members gave me an USB.
My group could have improved a lot by not trying to convince each other of their own individual ideas at the same time and even though I'm not a fan of this technique, have one leader with a final word and if necessary the authority to temporarily exclude misbehaving or distracting members and to make comments on individuals.

Bad Blogs

Blogging is a good way of sharing your knowledge with the world. But it can also go wrong. Lots of people got fired from their job because of their blogs. Which is why I want to share my knowledge about those blogs.

Most of those people blogged about their job or their social life. The mistakes you can get fired for are the mistakes most easily made. Calling people you like or really dislike certain names for example. Or blogging about your company's policies or products. Anything that can make the company look bad, even if not intended to be seen in that way, can get you and/or other persons fired. Posting pictures of yourself in uniform or people at work can also get you fired. People may put these pictures or posts on their blogs without thinking about the different perspectives of people. A picture or word can easily be misunderstood by blog readers. There are also a lot of mean people on the net, looking to hurt you just because they do not like the design of your blog.

Even though there are certain dangers in blogging, it is also a good way of sharing your personal view with the world. Good bloggers can change the way people think and help them solve problems they couldn't have solved on their own. Blogging is fun, but be cautious and careful with what you type and post!