ITD102: Introduction to Computer Systems

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ITD102: Introduction to Computer Systems

Workbook 1: Low Level Technologies (24C1)

Tutorial 1: Introduction

Module Overview and Assignment

Your tutor will provide an overview of the first module/part of this unit: a walk-through of the workbook and assessment including: practical exercises and further work questions.

Please answer the following questions and put your answers in the boxes provided (expand as required).

Investigate three new computerised devices that were released last year, or will be released this or next year. Pick three devices which have interesting features in terms of their: hardware, operating systems/software and networking. This year’s Mobile World Congress, Consumer Electronics Show, Google and Apple events are good places to look. Try to find something interesting and novel which people are not familiar with.

Please provide well thought and complete answers to the following questions. Use critical thinking and try to be insightful: do not just repeat the marketing hype from companies or copy-paste information.

Sections discussing inappropriate technologies (i.e., technologies more than a year old) will not be graded.

1. New Technology: Interesting Hardware

a) What is the technology?

b) What does it do? How would you use it? Tell us some scenarios?

c) Briefly outline the devices interesting hardware. In what way is the hardware novel, in what way is it different, interesting or how does it revolutionise the device? If information is not publicly available, you can write about what you think – suitably justified.

2. New Technology: Interesting Software

a) What is the technology?

b) What does it do? How would you use it? Tell us some scenarios?

c) Briefly outline the devices interesting software. In what way is the software novel, in what way is it different, interesting or how does it revolutionise the device? If information is not publicly available, you can write about what you think – suitably justified.

3. New Technology: Interesting Networking

a) What is the technology?

b) What does it do? How would you use it? Tell us some scenarios?

c) Briefly outline the devices interesting networking. In what way is the networking novel, in what way is it different, interesting or how does it revolutionise the device? If information is not publicly available, you can write about what you think – suitably justified.

If there is time your tutor will ask you to present your findings to the class. Listen to the feedback you receive from your tutor and classmates and use this to improve your answers.

4. References

Provide a list of references to all material you have used.

Your written answers will be assessed after the submission.

Tutorial 2: Exploring computer hardware

Use a text prediction AI (for example, ChatGPT) to generate an answer to one the following question then identify and analyse the claims it makes. Whether or not the AI is correct about each claim you must provide references to support your assessment of its claims. Provide an overall assessment of the solution and whether it is correct. Be sure to clearly show what content has been generated and what is your response. Put your answers in the boxes provided and expand the table as required.

1. Computer Hardware

Week 2’s eContent concerns computer hardware: what is a computer, how does a computer work, what are the elements of a modern computer system and Moore’s law. These questions investigate some of the trade-offs in computer hardware and how computers are designed for different uses and Moore’s law.

Use one of the following questions as a prompt for your text generation AI of choice. Your solution should be two to three pages – there is a lot of copying and pasting. Please provide well thought-out answers; use critical thinking and try to be insightful: do not trust the AI or repeat marketing hype from companies. Remember to correctly cite and reference all material you use (http://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/cite/ ). Your answer must have a list of references and in text citations. Answers without correct referencing will not pass.

Have the AI answer one of the following questions and provide your analysis in the table on the next page:

1. Deep Learning Chips?

Several companies have produced special AI chips supporting deep learning. What is the rationale for these chips and how do they differ from a conventional CPU?

2. Slow Computers?

Moore predicted that computer hardware speed would approximately double every two years. This has slowed over the last decade. Explain the factors that have traditionally driven this exponential growth and – from a computer hardware viewpoint – discuss the technical limitations that have slowed it and potential solutions therein.

Tutorial 3: Operating Systems and Software

Use a text prediction AI (for example, ChatGPT) to generate an answer to one the following question then identify and analyse the claims it makes. Whether or not the AI is correct about each claim you must provide references to support your assessment of its claims. Provide an overall assessment of the solution and whether it is correct. Be sure to clearly show what content has been generated and what is your response. Put your answers in the boxes provided and expand the table as required.

1. Operating Systems

In the week 3 eContent we discussed operating systems and how they manage a computer’s hardware and applications, and how operating systems bridge the gap between applications and low-level computer hardware. This set of exercises builds on the eContent by investigating different kinds of operating systems and open-source operating systems.

Use one of the following questions as a prompt for your text generation AI of choice. Your solution should be two to three pages – there is a lot of copying and pasting. Please provide well thought-out answers; use critical thinking and try to be insightful: do not trust the AI or repeat marketing hype from companies. Remember to correctly cite and reference all material you use (http://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/cite/ ). Your answer must have a list of references and in text citations. Answers without correct referencing will not pass.

Have the AI answer one of the following questions and provide your analysis in the table on the next page:

1. Different operating systems

Compare and contrast operating systems for the following devices: smart watches, PCs and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) / drones.

2. Different operating systems

The new generations of Apple computers are based around the Apple Silicon M series (M1, M2, etc) chips. These chips are drastically different from the Intel chips that were previously utilized by apple. Discuss how the M series chips are different, the problems that this change causes for legacy software, and explain potential solutions.

Tutorial 4: Networks, Wired and Wireless Connections

Please answer 1 of your choice of the following scenarios and put your answers in the box provided. Expand the box as required.

1. Networks

The networking eContent investigated computer networking, including key concepts of networking and how TCP/IP works. These further investigation questions build on the discussion of networking technologies in the eContent. They investigate new forms of Wireless Networking and their trade-offs, and the National Broadband Network.

This week’s question is a little different. There is one question but two scenarios to choose from. Please provide written answers for one of the following scenarios. Write a maximum of one page, you can list references on a second page. Please provide well thought answers; use critical thinking and try to be insightful: do not just repeat the marketing hype from companies. Please link your answer to what we have been studying in the eContent and readings. Remember to correctly cite and reference all material you use (http://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/cite/ ). Your answer should have a list of references and in text citations.

Propose a network solution for one of the following scenarios.

Your solution must cover all of the following points:

· Choose an Internet plan – look at whistleout.com.au. Ensure that you consider price and the best value for the use-cases.

· Explain Required devices – list specific devices (products) including modems, routers, access points, switches, adapters, cabling (specific cable lengths not needed), etc as required.

· Discuss Security measures (firewalls, encryption, etc.).

· Provide a network diagram showing the layout of the network.

Propose a solution for one of the following two scenarios:

Scenario 1: Pete is setting up a network to support his twitch streaming and video production work. The network needs to support his home business as a streamer as well as provide internet access to his housemate. His main machine is a desktop computer without Wi-Fi connectivity. There are also 2 laptops in his household that are WIFI 6, a number of phones and tablets, and an assortment of internet connected devices (TV’s, gaming consoles, lights, appliances, etc). Pete regularly needs to work on large video files and uses cloud solutions to backup important files, but there is too much video content to be economically backed up using cloud solutions. Currently Pete stores all his working files and video backups on portable hard drives – 17+ TB worth! – but would like a solution that is fast and allows him to easily organise and backup important data. The solution needs to allow him and his housemate to access the internet, be secure, ideally should prioritize his business traffic, and provide fast upload times for his videos and reliable upload speed for high resolution streamed content. Pete’s network will be at 354 Bridge St, Wilsonton QLD 4350 (this is a real address chosen at random, please do not bother them).

Scenario 2: Amy is a developer that works remotely. She and her family are taking their campervan for a long trip in remote parts Australia. She wants a network setup based in the Van that will allow her and her family to access the internet whilst stopped in camp and allow her to continue to do contract work remotely. Since the network will be used for Amy’s job, reliability in remote locations is essential. The network needs to connect 3 iPads, 2 laptops, and 2 smartphones. All devices are equipped with wireless N, AC, or Wifi 6 capabilities. None of the laptops or iPads have cellular connectivity, and Amy and her partners phones are a model with renowned poor reception. New hardware will be required. You do not need to consider electrical requirements or power consumption. Hint: circumstances have changed since ChatGPT was trained.