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Archive for the ‘Information Technology’ Category

Learn Morse Code

05 Apr

Have you ever wondered how Morse Code works? I hope your answer is yes, but what whould you use it for?

I believe you can never have to many tricks up your sleave. Maby, it could be a great aid for next time somebody pulls in front of you with  their car and instead of calling the person an ars*hol*, you whould go di-dah di-dah-dit di-di-dit dit di-di-di-dit dah-dah-dah di-dah-di-dit dit.  It will be better on your soul and is long enough to get all your frustration out, although you might need a memory course to remember it. :-)

Morse Code is not really difficult at all. Morse Code consist of two characters , (.) dot / dit or (-) dash / dah , that resemble a short mark and an a long mark. A short gap resembles the space between letters and a medium gap resembles the space between words.  . The image below wil assist you in learning morse code quickly. Start by remembering the top characters and make your way down. When the letter below the top one is to the right you will ad a “dit” to the character string and when it is to the left you will ad a “dah”.

E.g. “E” is to the right so it represented in morse code by “dit”. “I” is to the right from “E” so it will become “dit-dit”, but “A” is to the left from “E” so it will become “dit-dah”. “S” is to the right from “I” so it will become “dit-dit-dit”.

When “dit” is the last character in the morse code  it stays “dit” but when it is not the last character it become “di”so “I” wil be “di-dit” and “S” will be “di-di-dit”. “A” will be “di-dah”. “R” is to the right from “A” so it will become “di-dah-dit”. Get the picture?

Character Code Character Code Character Code Character Code
A · — J · — — — S · · · 1 · — — — —
B — · · · K — · — T — 2 · · — — —
C — · — · L · — · · U · · — 3 · · · — —
D — · · M — — V · · · — 4 · · · · —
E · N — · W · — — 5 · · · · ·
F · · — · O — — — X — · · — 6 — · · · ·
G — — · P · — — · Y — · — — 7 — — · · ·
H · · · · Q — — · — Z — — · · 8 — — — · ·
I · · R · — · 0 — — — — — 9 — — — — ·

Found this interesting? Read my binary explanation here.

 
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What is PDF?

19 Jun

What is PDF?

PDF ,or portable document format is a file format that was introduced for exchanging  documents between computers.

PDF was developed by Adobe in  1993 based on its Acrobat software.

PDF’s is the de facto standard for the secure and reliable distribution and exchange of electronic documents.

What can you do with PDF?

The main purpose of the PDF format is to create electronic documents that you can share via disc or via email. One of the format’s most popular uses is to convert long documentation such as help files, manuals and illustrated texts. PDFs are also easier to use as part of a ‘paperless office’, making them environmentally friendly too.

Most business today use PDF’s to exchange documents. Ebooks is another great example of the popularity and usefulness of the PDF format.

Some of it’s features:

PDF files are viewable and printable on virtually any platform — Mac OS, Microsoft® Windows®, UNIX®, and many mobile platforms.

Vital information about fonts and images is embedded in the PDF file, making it easy to ensure that a document appears in the correct format when it is opened on a different computer or operating system.  For longer documents in particular, PDF creation apps can insert bookmarks, compress high-resolution images and use Adobe Reader’s built-in search engine to scan documents for keywords and phrases.

PDF files look like original documents and preserve source file information — text, drawings, video, 3D, maps, full-color graphics, photos, and even business logic — regardless of the application used to create them.

What program should I use to view  a PDF?

Adobe Acrobat Reader is the most popular PDF software. With Adobe Reader installed the files can also be displayed in a web browser, making retrieval more convenient.  Before you click on the download first check whether or not you have it already installed as the adobe is so popular and widely used that it normally comes with a lot of software.

To create a PDF read my post: Create PDF’s from your MS Word documents using CutePDF Writer

 
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BINARY EXPLAINED

13 Jun

BINARY EXPLAINED

1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0

When you learned to count you were taught 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13 etc.

How about  if I told you there were  4 different number systems:Binary (the one computers use to store data); Decimal (the one we use);  Octal and hexadecimal.

If I told you that “1010″ in binary represents the same value as “10″ in decimal would you believe me?

For you to understand how binary works you need to understand how number systems works.

Let’s just have a quick look 125 in decimal :

NB!! Look at it as if every digit is in a column.

NOTE:  When a value is to the power 0 it equals  1

125 in decimal is representing : 1 x 100(10^2), 2 x 10(10^1) and 5 x 1(10^0),

Thus  (1 x 100) + (2 x 10) + (5 x 1) = 125

The base of a number system:

Every number system has a base.

The base of the decimal system is 10. The biggest digit that you can have in any column is 9.

The base of the binary system is 2. The biggest digit that you can have in any column is 1.

The base of the octal system is 8. The biggest digit that you can have in any column is  7.

The base of the hexadecimal system is 16. The biggest digit that you can have in any column is 15 (15 is represented  by “F” in hexadecimal).

Get it? The biggest digit that you can have in any column is 1 less than the base of the number system.

The base is one of the key concepts of understanding number systems.

- Every digit in every column is a representation of a multiplication of the base to a certain power.

- The base minus 1 is the maximum digit that you can have in a column

Here is an example for every number system where every column contains the maximum digit possible : 999 (decimal), 111(binary), 7777(octal), FFFF(hexadecimal)

Let’s  analyze the process of adding 1 to 9 giving you 10 in decimal:

What happens when you add 1 to 9.?  You get ten right?

The question you must ask yourself is: Why do I write ten as “10″?

Take the image to the right. I added 1 to 9 in the first column which equals 10(the base) . I then

subtracted 10 again from the first column and added 1 to the second column. 10 is representing

that you have 1 x 10^1 and 0 x 10^0.

The value ten is represented different in every number system: In decimal it is represented by “10”(1 x 10^1 + 0 x 10^0), in binary it is represented by “1010”(1 x 2^3 + 0 x 2^2 + 1 x 2^1 + 0 x 2^0) , in octal it is represented by “12”( 1 x 8^1 + 2 x 8^0) and in

hexadecimal it is represented by “A”(10 x 16^0).

Here is an demonstration of the process of adding

1 to 99 in decimal.

You add 1 to the first column and then it adds up

to ten(base). Thus you carry 1 over to the next column and then subtract ten

again from the first column. The same process happens in the second column.

Now let’s get to binary.

Lets analyze the binary pattern “1011”:

Remember that the base of binary is 2.

1011 in binary is representing  that there is 1 x 8(2^3), 0 x 4(2^2), 1 x 2(2^1) and

1 x 1(2^0)

Thus  (1 x 8 ) + ( 0 x 4 ) + ( 1 x 2 ) + ( 1 x 1 ) = 11 in decimal representation

Here is an demonstration of the process of adding

1 to 1011(11 in decimal) in binary.

Look at the next image. Every time you get 2 in a column you subtract

the 2 again from that column and add 1 to the next column.

Is it starting to make any sense yet?

Lets look at counting in the different number systems:

( When you are counting you are adding 1 every time )

Decimal: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15 (Every time you get to ten in a column you carry 1 over and start again at 0)

Octal: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,20,21,22 (Every time you get to 8 in a column you carry 1 over and start again at 0)

Hexidecimal: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D,E,F,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,1A,1B,1C,1D,1E,1F,20 (Every time you get to 16 in a column you carry 1 over and start again at 0)

A = 10 B = 11 C =12 D = 13 E = 14 F = 15 in hexadecimal

Binary: 1,10,11,100,101,110,111,1000,1001,1010,1011,1100 (Every time you get to 2 in a column you carry 1 over and start again at 0)

In binary there are a lot of carry over ‘s because the base is so small. Look at the above binary count line marked in bold. When you added 1 to 111 to get to 1000 there were 3 carry overs:  The process looks something like this: 111+1 = 112(not a valid binary value yet – carry 1 over subtract 2 from the first column) = 120 (not a valid binary value yet – carry 1 over subtract 2 from the second column) = 200 = (not a valid binary value yet – carry 1 over subtract 2 from the third column) = 1000 (valid binary – no column has a value that is equal or greater than the base)

It is quite a complex concept to understand , but wants you have got it, it is easy!

Here is a formula for converting a decimal number into binary:

Lets take 46 for an example:

46/2 = 23 remainder  0

23/2 = 11 remainder  1

11/2 = 5  remainder  1

5/2   = 2  remainder   1

2/2 =  1 remainder  0

½   =  0 remainder  1

This process continues until the quotient is 0.

Thus 46 in decimal = 101110 in binary.

And back to decimal again (0 x 1) + (1 x 2) + (1 x 4) + (1 x 8 ) + (0 x 16) + (1 x 32) = 2 + 4 + 8 + 32 = 46

Next time somebody asks your age and you don’t want to give it away you give it to them in binary!

 
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What is my PC’s Registry?

06 Jun

Have you ever read about computer problems, or heard computer related things being discussed, only to hear about a computer’s registry? A PC registry is one of the most important aspects of a Windows computer and can very much affect its performance.

A PC’s registry contains a lot of information. In fact, just about everything you do on your computer relates to its registry in one way or another. It’s a giant database that stores loads of information regarding system info, user specs, which hardware is present and so on. Whenever a new program is installed it enters your registry. This way Windows recognizes that the application has been installed, so when you try and run the application, Windows knows exactly where to find it.

Over time a registry can become full of various errors. For example, it’s not uncommon for pieces of uninstalled software to remain in the registry. As well, some programs are made to execute on start up, these types of commands are also stored in the registry. Using these two examples, you can see just how quickly a computers registry can fill up. Without proper removal, this unused data causes congestion of sorts in your system. If your PC has too much information to plow through in order to find the correct data its looking for, your systems performance and speed can very much be affected.

This is one of the reasons why computers slow down over time. Generally a reformat can bring back your computer to its former glory days, however it’s a long and can be expensive process (if you take it to a shop), especially if you have very important documents that you don’t want to see deleted.

Editing the registry, however, can also be a very dangerous task if you’re not sure what you’re doing. It contains a large amount of important system data that if deleted, or altered, could cause your PC to stop working, and force you to format and start from scratch.

There are many tools out there that are safe to use,that will identify bad sectors in your registry and remove them accordingly. I am currently using Advanced System Care Free to keep my PC in shape. It is a complete PC maintenance program and it has 50 million users. To download Advanced System Care Free and get your computer running back at its peak click on the link Advanced SystemCare Free v3

 
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What is fax2email?

05 Jun

To put it simply, “fax 2 email” means sending and receiving faxes through email.

However in order to understand the technology involved better, we have to understand how various other forms of faxing work and how this form of faxing differs from them.

Originally, faxing meant sending facsimile, or a copy of a document, from one place to another through the telephone network using the agency of appliances known as fax machines. Fax machines include a scanner, a printer, and a modem. Document is first scanned by the fax machine. Then the image data resulting from the scan is converted into electronic pulses by the modem, so that they can be sent over the telephone network or Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to give its proper name, to another fax machine. Receiving fax machine converts the pulses back in to data and recreates the scanned image of the document. Finally machine’s printer will print the document.

When computers started using modems to exchange data with each other, it also became possible to send faxes directly from the computer, using software. First the document in the computer was printed to what is called a “software fax”, meaning that document was converted into data that can be understood by a fax machine. Then the modem attached to the computer sent the software fax to the receiving fax through the telephone network. Receiving fax machine printed out the document in the normal way. Computers could also receive faxes if they were connected to the telephone line and relevant software was running at the time.

Direct faxing from computers did not become popular because they had to be always connected to receive faxes. However with the wide spread adaptation of internet this problem of connectivity was solved. Solution involves the use of a fax server or a gateway always connected to the internet and the telephone network to send and receive faxes. It is this method that is known as “fax 2 email”.

Fax server receives the faxes from the telephone network and converts it into an image, usually in either TIFF or PDF format. This image along with an email containing details of the fax, such as sending fax number, time received, etc., are sent to the user’s email address. To send a fax user sends the document along with the receiver’s fax number to the fax server. The fax servers will then send the fax to the number through the telephone network.

Fax to email method is cheap since users can obtain the services of a fax server through a provider. They no longer need expensive special hardware, software or a telephone line, since they can receive and send the faxes through a normal internet connection using email. It also frees the users from being tied to the fax line since they can access email from almost anywhere. They will be able to receive faxes at any time even when they are not online.

Get your free fax2email number here.

 
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What is RSS?

04 Jun

What is RSS?

I’m sure you have seen these orange buttons on the web sometime or another, or have seen a link saying “subscribe to RSS”, but don’t have a clue of what it is? Well let me explain.

One very powerful, yet simple technology

Think of RSS like your email inbox. Whenever something happens regarding your line of work, someone fires off an email to you. RSS works on the same principle in that when content on a website changes, the RSS feed changes, and you will – depending on how you “subscribe” to the RSS feed – will be informed of the new content or changes.
The main difference between the two is that you must subscribe to RSS, so that you will only receive updates to websites you want to read, than an email, where you are going to get the new information no matter what!
The benefits of using RSS mean that you never have to visit all your favourite websites to find out if anything has changed, you just open your RSS reader, and all your feeds that have been updated, will be shown as updated, and you can then go ahead and read it – all without having to visit tons of websites!

The technical stuff

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary. It is generated in XML, which is a generic specification for data formats. There are 3 different specifications of RSS feeds, namely RSS1.0, RSS2.0 and Atom. All 3 differ slightly in their structure, but they all serve the exact same purpose of syndicating content. More details can be found over at the RSS wikipedia entry.

RSS readers

With a technology as widely adopted as RSS, there are tons of RSS Readers on the web, but in my books, there are only 2 that I can recommend. Bloglines and Google Reader.
There is one other angle to RSS readers that has popped up in the last 3 months, and that is an RSS reader built into your browser! Yes, thats right, in Firefox 2.0 and Internet Explorer 7, you can now subscribe to feeds straight from your browser, and can manage your feeds from there. Click on the feed icon in the browsers address bar, and follow the instructions. The reason I would still choose a web-based feed reader like Bloglines over your browsers built-in feed reader, is that you can access your feeds from anywhere in the world, and you are not limited to the computer that your browser is installed on.

Subscribe to my feed!

BJ’s Blog

Now that you understand RSS, how it works, and how you can subscribe to RSS feeds, subscribe to my blog’s feed. There are 2 ways of subscribing. Click on the “Posts” button in the sidebar under “Subscribe To” and select your rss feed provider or click on the RSS icon in your address bar and follow the instructions. Then whenever I write a new article here, you will be the first to know about it, using your RSS feed reader!

Here’s is to you reading more RSS feeds!
BJ Steyn

 
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