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"Network Queries"

A couple of questions about networks, I'm sure you can answer them for me.

First of all:

What exactly is a protocol?

Why is a protocol needed in a network?

What signal does a control bus carry & what exactly does the bus itself do?

Besides data what does the data bus carry?

Help appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Protocols are defined ways of communicating, such as http (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) or FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and are used so that all computers can communicate with each other if they support the protocol. Otherwise Windows machines and Macs wouldn't be able to communicate over the net etc.

The control bus is a bunch of wires that carry control signals. This could be a signal to start reading from RAM, or to write to RAM or a bunch of stuff.

Seeing as you have a fair few questions, you should know about Foldoc. [URL]http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/index.html[/URL]

> Besides data what does the data bus carry?
I think you mean packets. What do packets contain. Well it depends on the protocol. Ie 1 bit for start bit, 5bits of data, 1 parity bit (a form of error checking to make sure that packets are correct and haven't been corrupted) 1 stop bit = 8bits

Hopefully this is what you were meaning

Do you want me to take the final exam for you too?

Paradox: wrote:
> What exactly is a protocol?

As set of rules and instructions to allow communication between devices.

> Why is a protocol needed in a network?

If there was no 'rules' then nothing would ever be delivered. The computers need to know how to communicate between themselves.

> What signal does a control bus carry & what exactly does the bus
> itself do?

I don't know, I never learnt any of this.

> Besides data what does the data bus carry?

More data.

> Help appreciated.

Help got.

> Thanks in advance.

You're welcome.

If you've ever stuck on stuff like this, look at http://www.webopedia.com/.

Paradox: wrote:
> A couple of questions about networks, I'm sure you can answer them for
> me.
>
> First of all:
>
> What exactly is a protocol?

I believe it is like the laungage it uses to comunicate so all the componets use the same protocal, and as such speak the same language.

> Why is a protocol needed in a network?

Outherwise the componets could not talk to each other


The rest I'm unsure about, and don't hold me to the protocals either...

A couple of questions about networks, I'm sure you can answer them for me.

First of all:

What exactly is a protocol?

Why is a protocol needed in a network?

What signal does a control bus carry & what exactly does the bus itself do?

Besides data what does the data bus carry?

Help appreciated.

Thanks in advance.