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BYTEBACK
Reply to ‘insufficient memory’
I appreciate comments from Ahsan Ahmed
1. I agree with Ahsan when he says that more memory is always good but I do not agree that a typical Pakistani user, who rarely needs anything beside movies, internet, email, music and MS Office or a few simple graphics programmes, would need a lot of memory. For these applications, 128MB RAM is sufficient.
As most computer buyers here have a limited budget, it would not be a sound advice for them to spend Rs800-1000 more on SDRAM or Rs2100 more on DDR RAM to add another 128MB on their systems.
2. No doubt 1GHz Pentium III is a great machine, but what you should buy depends on your specific needs. As Ahsan himself admits, he uses a 533MHz PIII and that fulfils most of his needs. A graphics artist may need a system faster than 1GHz, but for a person who just wants to listen to music, a PII would suffice.
3. I’m surprised that on Ahsan’s system, RealJukeBox is using 190MB RAM; on mine, it uses barely 4MB. The entire RJB (version 7.0) easily fits into 10MB RAM; it can never hog as much as 190MB.
4. Ahsan has pointed out that WinXP users should have as much RAM as possible. I don’t disagree with his statement but I don’t recommend WinXP for the normal users in Pakistan. Not only is it a memory-intensive operating system, the minimum hardware it needs — the 32MB graphics card, for instance — is bound to upset the budget of most PC users. I suggest normal users should stick with Win98.
5. Combo drives are a good bargain but, again, it depends on your needs. If you want to watch DVDs and burn CDs, go ahead and buy it. But it is still expensive compared to a normal CD ROM.
6. Graphic accelerators are used by avid gamers and graphics professionals. For normal users, the AGP built on motherboards is usually enough. All of Intel’s new boards come with 32MB AGP graphics, each card retailing for Rs3,000 upwards.
7. The price for SoundBlaster Live I had given in my article was what I had got from a big shop located in SMCHS (Karachi), and I don’t think the difference in price is so big from shop to shop in this competitive environment. I would advise Ahsan to check whether he is talking about the same product, or is it something different?
8. About the SCSI drives (which use 10,400RPM): at the present cost, it is not worth putting one into a normal system; they are meant for servers, not for PCs.
UMAIR MOHSIN
jaguar@netxpress.com.pk
Some explanations
This is with refrence to “Why QoS is needed in a VoIP network?” by Hina Shakir (Jan18):
1. The diagram given is irrelevant.
2. There is no such thing as 802.1Q/p. 802 standards — also known as IEEE 802.
3. 802.1p is another VLAN and 802.1p/Q “QoS standard”.
4. The word “resources” can mean anything from protocols, bandwidth and websites to chatting software.
Besides, no one can reserve bandwidth because it does not belong to anyone. It can be dedicated.
RSVP (Resource reserVation Setup Protocol)” does not transport or act on the bandwidth or application; it is used to transport protocols like ICMP, IGMP, and routing protocols; all protocols have there priority level in the protocol stack. RSVP is giving top priority at the transport protocol stack; it is a “Simplex” Protocol. For more information on RSVP: ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2205.txt
5. DiffServ stands for differentiated services. It is the part of the process of QoS. This becomes a whole lot bigger topology and I don’t want to go into it. For more info on DiffServ: http://www.ietf.org/
html.charters/diffserv-charter.html
6. Why is article is titled “Why QoS is needed in a VoIP network?” There is no introduction of VoIP in it and no impact of QoS on a VoIP is shown in the article.
7. QoS is an abstract word which works for all, not just networks. QoS can be compared word efficiency.
8. MPLS is Multiprotocol Label Switching. it is an integration of Layer 2 and Layer 3 technologies. This mean integration of Data link layer and the network layer, respectively. Again this is also a very big topology and consist of many other protocols in it. For more info: http://www.cisco.com/univercd/
cc/td/doc/product/software/
ios120/120newft/120limit/120s/
120s5/mpls_te.htm.
AHMED HARRIS
ahmedharis@hotmail.com
Writer replies: My article was written after undergoing a lot of studies. Here are the answers to all the objections in the same order they were put up:
1. The OSI layer figure was incorporated to make readers understand that it is possible to provide QoS, in networks, on all seven layers. Check: ftp://ftp
.netlab.ohiostate.edu/pub/jain/courses/cis78899/qos_protocols/index.html
2 & 3. Any person with sound networking concepts knows that all IEEE 802 standards are used but 802.1Q or 802.1p are the most commonly used ones and these were mentioned together in my article as 802.1Q/p. Check: http://www.tml
.hut.fi/Opinnot/Tik110.551/1999/papers/08IEEE802.1QosInMAC/qos.html
4. The objection that RSVP cannot reserve bandwidth does not hold water because RFC, in document 3.8, mentions that reserving resources is actually traffic control (as mentioned in my article). Perhaps the term was misunderstood by the critic. Check: http://www-old.cs.uiuc.
edu/Dienst/UI/2.0/Describe/ncstrl.uiuc_cs/UIUCDCS-R-2000-2178
5. I agree on DiffServ and MPLS, but in the article these terms were referred to without getting into the concepts in detail as it was not required.
6. The importance of QoS in networks must be understood. Please go through these links:
—http://www-personal.
monash.edu.au/~zakis/ITEE/2001/QoS.html
— ftp://ftp.netlab.ohio-state
.edu/pub/jain/courses/cis788-99/qos_protocols/index.html
— http://www.convergedigest.com/tutorials/qos1/page5.asp
7. The article was meant only to give an overview about QoS.
8. Details on MPLS were not needed. Enough of it is available on internet and books. The objective of my article was to give an overview of everything. Maybe I should have written more on it but it doesn’t weaken the subject about which I wrote.
HINA SHAKIR
