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Building & Buying a PC

Volume I, Issue No.5 JULY, 8, 1995

http://www.buildorbuy.org/pdf/b&b005pc.pdf

GET CONNECTED-ON LINE!

On Line Communications require fax / modem hardware and fax /+modem software (communications program) to electronicallytransfer information from one location to another. Fax/ modemspeeds required-14.4 bps & 28.8 bps. Bits Per Second are usedto measure the speed of data transfer in a communications system.

communications

Data communications refers to digital transmission, and telecommunicationsrefers to analog and digital transmission, including voice andvideo.

The fax technology

fax (Facsimile)

Originally called telecopying, a fax is the communication of aprinted page between remote locations. Fax machines scan a paperform and transmit a coded image over the telephone system.

The receiving machine prints a facsimile of the original. A faxmachine is made up of a scanner, printer and modem with fax signaling.

Groups 1 and 2, used in the 1970s and 1980s, transmit at six andthree minutes per page respectively. Group 3 transmits up to 9,600baud using data compression at less than one minute per page.This speed increase led to the extraordinary rise in usage inthe late 1980s, resulting in today's most universal form of electronicmail.

Group 3 resolution is 203x98 dpi in standard mode and 203x196dpi in fine mode. Higher-speed Group 4 machines rely on all-digital(ISDN) networks which may not be prevalent until the mid 1990s.

Fax/modem

A combination fax board and data modem available as an externalunit or internally as an expansion board. This hardware includesa fax switch that routes the call to the fax or the data modem.

A fax board uses software that generates fax signals directlyfrom disk files or the screen and transmits a sharper image thanan external fax machine, which gets its image by scanning. Incomingfaxes are printed on the computer's printer.

Ways of communicating ON LINE

BBS Bulletin Board Systems

HAL-PC BBS 713-963-4100

ON LINE Services-Compuserve, America OnLine, Prodigy,GEnie and others.

The InterNet through an InterNet Service Provider using a graphicalWeb Browser (also known as the World Wide Web). HAL-PCInterNet!

The "InterNet" is made up of more than 10,000 interconnectedcomputer networks worldwide, comprised of academic, commercial,government and military networks. Originally used by the military,more than half of the InterNet today is used for academic andcommercial research. Users have access to unpublished research,journals and BBSs.

Connection to the InterNet is also available through many on-lineservices.

InterNet computers use the TCP/IP communications protocol. Atthe end of 1992, there were 1.3 million hosts on the InterNet.A host is a mainframe, mini or workstation that directly supportsthe InterNet Protocol (the IP in TCP/IP).

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