Processor Comparison Assignment

I found a website with a great basic video that described benchmarking as technology’s way of “describing processor and system performance”… Different workloads require different system configurations,” considering both current needs and those in the future. It sounds like knowing the needs is the key factor in selecting computers. “Benchmarks are metrics used to evaluate computing performance in specific workloads.” Today, used as marketing tools, one should be aware of “needs” when choosing benchmarks best suited for each situation—watch for skewed or outdated information used for marketing products.


Like a car’s, subsystems—engine, transmission, and fuel systems, computer subsystem consist of:
1) The CPU (Central Processing Unit)—the computational subsystem that attends to calculation and program execution (single or multi-core versions)
2) The Input/Output (I/O) subsystem routes information to and from the processor (examples are the hard drive, the network interface controller and cluster interconnect)
3) The memory, which allows the computer to store and retrieve date more quickly than from hard drives)

The benchmarks I would use for heavier on-line transaction processing (TPC-C) would be a strong I/O, because database servers continually read and write large volumes of information and a balanced processor and memory performance.


This leads me to look for higher cache, DDR2 RAM because these components facilitate high-speed storage for working data and quick, easy access that students need. The benchmark information I found from the Tom’s hardware site for the Database I/O Benchmark Pattern (IOMeter 2003.05.10)—the first ranked machines are: 1) Western Digital Raptor (ranked 1162), the Western Digital Caviar SE16 (ranked 735) and 3) Samsung SpinPoint P (ranked 702). Raptor was the only one over 1000.

I have chosen these three hard drive selections from the NewEgg site because of the I/O benchmark ratings:

1st Choice:

Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFDRTL 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard Drive - Retail
Cache: 16MB
Form Factor: 3.5"
Average Seek Time: 4.6ms
Average Write Time: 5.2ms
Average Latency: 2.99ms

Your Price:$239.99

2nd Choice:

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KSRTL 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Retail
Cache: 16MB
Form Factor: 3.5"
Average Seek Time: 8.9ms
Average Write Time: 10.9ms
Average Latency: 4.2ms

Your Price:$79.99

3rd Choice:

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD502lJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Cache: 16MB
Form Factor: 3.5"
Average Seek Time: 8.9ms
Average Latency: 4.17ms
Your Price:$79.99 (retail price ?)

Blog 2 Assignment-Open Source Course Management Systems

I am not very well informed when it comes to social networks, which I think is the same as “open source course management systems." I checked into “Moodle” which was the first one to come up when I googled it. I can see how this is the up-and-coming wave in education, but I guess I am still wary of privacy issues. I took a class on Ethics and Issues in Computing and the social networking of FaceBook and MySpace came into the conversation. At that time, to sign onto FaceBook, one must first sign a contract giving them rights to use, keep, and collect one’s information—and you could not go back and change your mind. Of course, this was in the small print. And the most stunning part was they could keep collecting forever, from newspapers—anywhere—and keep this file on you indefinitely, using it at their disgression!! That is scary to me. It seems some BIG court cases would come out of selling this private information (with no way to take-back the contract I signed!)
Anyway, I checked Moodle and it has an inviting appearance, Sakai looked very confusing when I first opened it, and the edtechpost had a listing of all the open source course management systerms. If I were serious about constructing a course using a tool like this, I would definitely take the time to check out the entire list. I liket this list because it not only gave the name and web address, it tells who is the sponsor/developer of the site, what country they originate from, what type of license they use and end with notes that give extra clues about the site. I noticed that some sites were associated with Universities (but was really more of a closed system) and some sites were associated with individuals. I would tend to rely on those sites operated by legitimate universities and those in the United States, (just because I am more familiar with them and the language.)

Cedar Rapids 2008 Flood

Hi all!

Just thought I'd post a few pictures my son sent of the Cedar Rapids flood. He worked in an office down-town--his department was given the evacuation order on Wed., June 11 and was relocated in the north part of the town--also where he lives. A train bridge collapsed with train cars on it and both hospitals were evacuated. Water output for the city has been reduced to 25% so residents have been asked to conserve water usage.

My son lives in the "river hills" on the north side of town--maybe you can look toward the north and see some of the higher ground on some of the photos. I have tried to attach some "evacuation/before" and "during/after" pictures for comparison.



Before the high water- (notice the skywalks!)







Downtown--nice tree-lined streets and fancy street lights.







Houses along I-380.







Looking north--I-380 going over the Cedar River. (Can you see the higher ground where my son lives and office was relocated?







(Later)--The skywalk on the right!







Notice the tops of the trees and the street lights?

Test Blog

Wow, I never thought I would be able to make a blog so easy! I have always wanted to take a class to learn how to make a website, and this site makes this simple.