UNIT 2

BIOS Basic Input/Output System is the program which starts up your computer and communicates between the devices in your computer (such as your hard drive and graphics card) and the system. BIOS is normally stored in an EPROM chip (Eraseable Programmable Read Only Memory). BIOS is an integral part of your computer and comes with it when you bring it home. (In contrast, the operating system can either be preinstalled by the manufacturer or vendor or installed by the user.) BIOS is a program that is made accessible to the microprocessor on an eraseable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) chip. When you turn on your computer, the microprocessor passes control to the BIOS program, which is always located at the same place on EPROM. When BIOS boots up (starts up) your computer, it first determines whether all of the attachments are in place and operational and then it loads the operating system (or key parts of it) into your computer's random access memory (RAM) from your hard disk or diskette drive. With BIOS, your operating system and its applications are freed from having to understand exact details (such as hardware addresses) about the attached input/output devices. When device details change, only the BIOS program needs to be changed. Sometimes this change can be made during your system setup. In any case, neither your operating system or any applications you use need to be changed. Contains a series of instructions to: run POST, locate and load the operating system, an finally pass control of the computer over to that operating system - this series of instructions is known as the "Bootstrap loader" Bootstrap Loader

Also known as "BIOS control" Performs the following operations: 1. Power On Self-Tests - initialization is completed at the end of the POST 2. Finds the operating system Boot Record which is also known as the "Master Boot Record" (MBR) 3. Copies operating system Boot Record to RAM 4. Turns control of the boot process over to the Boot Record

POST Stands for Power On Self-Tests

A set of diagnostic programs loaded automatically during startup to check: 1. the CPU 2. the ROM 3. the DMA controller

4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

the Interrupt controller the system timing chip the video card expansion boards are initialized RAM is counted and tested the keyboard is tested test floppy drives check resources and boot the computer

If POST finds any errors while checking the hardware it will send a specific beep code (number of beeps, length of beep) that can help you to identify the problem POST has found. If there are any fatal errors, the boot process stops completely. If this happens, you should consult the manual that comes with the motherboard, or the manufacturer's website for the specific error beep codes for your POST. This will help with "troubleshooting" your computer - which is the process of identifying a problem so that it can be fixed. The BIOS ROM The main hardware component of the system BIOS is the system BIOS ROM itself. This is normally located in an electrically-erasable read-only memory (EEPROM) chip, which allows it to be updated through software control. This is commonly called a flash BIOS. The BIOS ROM is located in a socket on the motherboard and is relatively easy to locate because it is usually labelled with the name of the BIOS manufacturer. There is also often a version number on the chip, although the actual BIOS version within the chip may be different from what is labelled, because of the ability to flash the BIOS mentioned above. Under normal circumstances, the BIOS ROM is permanent and there is normally no reason to need to deal with it in any way. If for some reason the BIOS ROM were to become corrupted due to an aborted flash update, for example, you might find your PC left in a state where it could not be booted. In this situation, you might have to physically replace the BIOS ROM, but this is a very rare happening. What's in the ROM-BIOS? The ROM-BIOS holds a key set of programs that provides essential support for the operation of the computer. There are three main parts to the ROM-BIOS programs. The first part is used only when the computer is first turned on.; these are test and initialization programs that check to see that the computer is in good working order. This is called the power-on self-test (POST). The second and most interesting part of the ROM-BIOS are its routines. These programs provide the detailed and intimate control of the various parts of the computer, particularly the I/O peripherals. The third part of the ROM-BIOS, which applies only to the older members of the PC family made by IBM, is the build-in ROM-BASIC. This BASIC was the core of the 2

BASIC programming language, which is used either by itself or as part of the old dialect of BASIC (BASICA) that comes with IBM DOS. The new dialect of BASIC (QBasic) that comes with DOS 5.0 and later versions, does not depend on the ROM-BASIC, of course. And, the new IBM PC's don't include BASIC as part of the ROM. It simply isn't needed with DOS. What does the ROM-BIOS do? The ROM-BIOS is designed to control the hardware directly and respond to any demands that the hardware makes. This is done largely through use of ports. For the most part, all of the PC's components are controlled by commands or parameter settings sent through the ports, with each part of the circuitry having special port numbers to which it responds. Most of the exceptions to the general rule that the hardware is controlled through the ports are exactly the part of the computer that it's okay for programs to work with directly. These are the parts that ROM-BIOS doesn't have to supervise. How does the ROM-BIOS work? To start with, the ROM-BIOS is roughly divided into three functional parts. The first part of the ROM-BIOS contains the start-up routines, which get the computer going when you turn on the power. There are two main parts of the start-up routines. The first, as I mentioned a little earlier, is the power-on self-test (or POST) routines, which test to see that the computer is in good working order. They check the memory for defects and perform other tests to see that the computer isn't malfunctioning. The second part of the start-up procedure is the initialization. The initialization involves such things as creating the interrupt vectors, so that when interrupts occor the computer switches to the proper interrupt-handling routine. Initialization also involves setting up the computer's equipment. The very last part of the start-up routines in the ROM-BIOS is the boot routine, which tries to fire up DOS or any other operating system you may be using. The boot process involves the ROM-BIOS attempting to read the boot record from the beginning of a disk. The BIOS first tries drive A. If it doesn't succeed and the computer has a hard disk as drive C, it tries the hard disk. If neither disk can be read, the ROM-BIOS goes into its non-disk mode. + Normally, the ROM-BIOS can read a boot record from the disk and hands control of the computer to the short program on the boot record. The boot program begins the process of loading DOS into the computer. After the start-up routines are finished, the computer is ready to go. The other two parts of the ROM-BIOS play key roles in running the computer. These two parts are hardware interrupt handling and service handling routines. They function as two distinct but closely cooperating kinds of routines.

Figure 1.

The service handling routines are there solely to perform work for programs by carrying out whatever services the programs need. To carry out the service requests that programs make, the ROM-BIOS has to work directly with the computer's I/O devices using ports to issue commands and send and receive data to and from various devices. The hardware interrupt handling part takes care of the independent needs of the PC's hardware. It operates separately but in cooperation with the service handling portion. Analog and digital signals The information carrying signals are divided into two broad classes; Analog Signals Analog signals are continuous electrical signals that vary in time as shown in figure 4a. Most of the time, the variations follow that of the non-electric (original) signal. Therefore, the two are analogous hence the name analog. Digital Signals Digital signals are non-continuous, they change in individual steps. They consist of pulses or digits with discrete levels or values. The value of each pulse is constant, but there is an abrupt change from one digit to the next. Digital signals have two amplitude levels called nodes. The value of which are specified as one of two possibilities such as 1 or 0, HIGH or LOW, TRUE or FALSE and so on. In reality, the values are anywhere within specific ranges and we define values within a given range. Telephone voice signal is analog. The intensity of the voice causes electric current variations. At the receiving end, the signal is reproduced in the same proportion. Hence the electric current is a MODEL but not ones voice since it is an electrical representation or analog of ones voice. 4

data signal

analog continuous (e.g., voice) continuous electromagnetic waves

digital discrete (e.g., text) sequence of voltage pulses

Used mainly internally within Used mainly for transmitting data across a computers. network. transmission transmission of analog signals without Transmission that is concerned regards to their content (the data may be with the content of the signal. analog or binary). The signals become Repeaters are used to overcome weaker (attenuated) with the distance. attenuation. A repeater recovers Amplifiers may be used to strengthen the the digital pattern from the signals, but as side effect they also boost the signal it gets, and resubmits a noise. This might not be a problem for analog new signal. data, such as voice, but is a problem for digital data. Advantages of digital transmission.

Data integrity Repeaters allow longer distances over lines of lesser quality. Capacity utilization Digital techniques can more easily and cheaply utilize, through multiplexing, available transmission links of high bandwidth. Security and privacy Encryption techniques are more readily applied to digital data Integration Simplified if digitized data is used everywhere.

CDMA technology Multiple Access The concept behind multiple access is to permit a number of users to share a common channel. The two traditional ways of multiple access are Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA). The world is demanding more from wireless communication technologies than ever before as more people around the world are subscribing to wireless. Add in exciting ThirdGeneration (3G) wireless data services and applications - such as wireless email, web, digital picture taking/sending, assisted-GPS position location applications, video and audio streaming and TV broadcasting - and wireless networks are doing much more than just a few years ago. This is where CDMA technology fits in. CDMA consistently provides better capacity for voice and data communications than other commercial mobile technologies, allowing more subscribers to connect at any given time, and it is the common platform on which 3G technologies are built. CDMA is a "spread spectrum" technology, allowing many users to occupy the same time and frequency allocations in a given band/space. As its name implies, CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) assigns unique codes to each communication to differentiate it from others in the same spectrum. In a world of finite

spectrum resources, CDMA enables many more people to share the airwaves at the same time than do alternative technologies. FDMA In Frequency Division Multiple Access, the frequency band is divided in slots. Each user gets one frequency slot assigned that is used at will. It could be compared to AM or FM broadcasting radio where each station has a frequency assigned. FDMA demands good filtering.

TDMA In Time Division Multiple Access, the frequency band is not partitioned but users are allowed to use it only in predefined intervals of time, one at a time. Thus, TDMA demands synchronization among the users.

CDMA CDMA, for Code Division Multiple Access, is different than those traditional ways in that it does not allocate frequency or time in user slots but gives the right to use both to all users simultaneously. To do this, it uses a technique known as Spread Spectrum. In effect, each user is assigned a code which spreads its signal bandwidth in such a way that only the same code can recover it at the receiver end. This method has the property that the unwanted

signals with different codes get spread even more by the process, making them like noise to the receiver. Short for Code-Division Multiple Access, a digital cellular technology that uses spreadspectrum techniques. Unlike competing systems, such as GSM, that use TDMA, CDMA does not assign a specific frequency to each user. Instead, every channel uses the full available spectrum. Individual conversations are encoded with a pseudo-random digital sequence. CDMA consistently provides better capacity for voice and data communications than other commercial mobile technologies, allowing more subscribers to connect at any given time, and it is the common platform on which 3G technologies are built Though CDMAs application in cellular telephony is relatively new, it is not a new technology. CDMA has been used in many military applications, such as:

Anti-jamming (because of the spread signal, it is difficult to jam or interfere with a CDMA signal). Ranging (measuring the distance of the transmission to know when it will be received). Secure communications (the spread spectrum signal is very hard to detect).

CDMA is a spread spectrum technology, which means that it spreads the information contained in a particular signal of interest over a much greater bandwidth than the original signal. With CDMA, unique digital codes, rather than separate RF frequencies or channels, are used to differentiate subscribers. The codes are shared by both the mobile station (cellular phone) and the base station, and are called pseudo-random code sequences. Since each user is separated by a unique code, all users can share the same frequency band (range of radio spectrum). This gives many unique advantages to the CDMA technique over other RF techniques in cellular communication. FTTC Short for fiber-to-the-curb, the installation of optical fiber from a telephone switch to within 1,000 feet of a home or enterprise. Typically, coaxial cable is used to establish the connection from curb to building. Fiber to the curb" (FTTC) refers to the installation and use of optical fiber cable directly to the curbs near homes or any business environment as a replacement for "plain old telephone service" (POTS). Think of removing all the telephone lines you see in your neighborhood and replacing them with optical fiber lines. Such wiring would give us extremely high bandwidth and make possible movies-on-demand and online multimedia presentations arriving without noticeable delay. The term "fiber to the curb" recognizes that optical fiber is already used for most of the long-distance part of your telephone calls and Internet use. Unfortunately, the last part installing fiber to the curb - is the most expensive. For this reason, fiber to the curb is proceeding very slowly. Meanwhile, other less costly alternatives, such as Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line on regular phone lines and satellite delivery, are likely to arrive much sooner in most homes. 7

DSL This category of technologies are currently the fastest available right now. DSL is the superset of many technologies, where data is transmitted down your normal copper line as digital signals, because voice uses a different frequency, you can do both at once, splitters at either end split the voice and the data into separate streams. DSL technologies have a limit on the distance between the premises and your local telephone exchange, which is usually between 3KM and 5KM depending on the speed of the service you are applying for. When you connect to the Internet, you might connect through a regular modem, through a local-area network connection in your office, through a cable modem or through a digital subscriber line (DSL) connection. DSL is a very highspeed connection that uses the same wires as a regular telephone line. Here are some advantages of DSL:

You can leave your Internet connection open and still use the phone line for voice calls. The speed is much higher than a regular modem DSL doesn't necessarily require new wiring; it can use the phone line you already have. The company that offers DSL will usually provide the modem as part of the installation.

But there are disadvantages:

A DSL connection works better when you are closer to the provider's central office. The connection is faster for receiving data than it is for sending data over the Internet.

The service is not available everywhere

In this article, we explain how a DSL connection manages to squeeze more information through a standard phone line -- and lets you make regular telephone calls even when you're online.

AsymmetricalbDSL Most homes and small business users are connected to an asymmetric DSL (ADSL) line. ADSL divides up the available frequencies in a line on the assumption that most Internet users look at, or download, much more information than they send, or upload. Under this assumption, if the connection speed from the Internet to the user is three to four times faster than the connection from the user back to the Internet, then the user will see the most benefit (most of the time). Splitting the Signal and DSL Equipment There are two competing and incompatible standards for ADSL. The official ANSI standard for ADSL is a system called discrete multitone, or DMT. According to equipment manufacturers, most of the ADSL equipment installed today uses DMT. An earlier and more easily implemented standard was the carrierless amplitude/phase (CAP) system, which was used on many of the early installations of ADSL.

CAP operates by dividing the signals on the telephone line into three distinct bands: Voice conversations are carried in the 0 to 4 KHz (kilohertz) band, as they are in all POTS circuits. The upstream channel (from the user back to the server) is carried in a band between 25 and 160 KHz. The downstream channel (from the server to the user) begins at 240 KHz and goes up to a point that varies depending on a number of conditions (line length, line noise, number of users in a particular telephone company switch) but has a maximum of about 1.5 MHz (megahertz). This system, with the three channels widely separated, minimizes the possibility of interference between the channels on one line, or between the signals on different lines.