How Do I Make My Printer Wireless?
Many consumers today are looking to expand their home wireless network and add additional printing capability. Having the freedom to use your home desktop or laptop anywhere in your house and then printing without the worry of connecting to a device is a reality today with the right equipment and setup.
There are many ways to configure your device to print wirelessly. Each has its own pros and cons and the costs vary accordingly. Some scenarios are based on your existing setup (for example, if your printer has networking built-in). From my experience, there are four main methods of connecting a printer to a home-based wireless network.
Printer Sharing Setup - If you already have a printer connected to a computer that you want to share, it’s easy to setup your Windows or Mac based computer with printer sharing. Then, anyone on your wireless network can print to your shared printer. The downside to this setup is that the computer must remain on because it’s acting as a print server. The upside is that it’s nearly free if you already have a computer and printer setup to print locally. It can become difficult if you’re using an older Windows based system (98/ME), but it is possible.
Wireless Router Setup – There are many routers available today that include a USB port. This allows you to connect a USB only printer to a wireless network quickly. The downside to this scenario is that most consumers already have a wireless router and don’t need another one. You also need to setup the printer and router where your Internet comes into the home. This can be somewhat limiting depending on where your cable or phone comes in.
Wireless Print Server - The most popular option in sharing a printer wirelessly is by purchasing a wireless print server. Most major electronics companies produce different models and have varying degrees of compatibility. For example, the wireless kit provided by HP only works with HP printers, which can be limiting if you upgrade to a different brand down the road. Getting a printer up and working using a wireless print server can be somewhat difficult if you are very unfamiliar with general networking. Most manufactures include a setup program to make the process easier though.
Built-in Wireless Printer Setup - If you’re in the market for a new printer, check to make sure that wireless connectivity is built-in. Most information transmitted to printers is a relatively small amount so 802.11b and 802.11g speeds are plenty fast. The newer 802.11n standard adds a lot to the price tag and isn’t worth the extra money unless you print huge graphics files most of the time. There are many manufactures that offer wireless printers. Usually the model number includes a “w” at the end for those printers that have wireless functionality. Be sure to double check the specifications before purchasing.
The New Wave of Digital Fabric Printing Technology
Historical review in textile printing
Textile printing is a method by which fabrics are printed in various colors, arts and designs. It is a very old art developed and created on fabrics in Egypt during 5000 B.C. Fabrics also found printed in Greek during 4th century. B.C, also it is noted that printing blocks were sourced from India in 5th century. B.C. During that time, France acknowledged as popular center of this type of cloth production and printing. Japan was popular for adding stencil work in wood by making blocks and further by pasting dies and prints it in fabrics.
In the Mid-15th Century, with the invention of printing press by John Gutenberg there was a drastic change seen in printing technology and textile printing. After practicing by William Caxton in England, there was a remarkable widespread seen in relief printing technology in 1476. In sixteen and seventeen century with the export of spices, India became major provider of printing fabrics and products, like calico, pajama, gingham, dungaree, chintz and khaki according to the requirement of European countries. Then by the efforts by Grant, Thomas Bell and many printers, with the invention of wood block (1760), copper block (1770) and copper roller (1797) printing technology in the eighteenth century, especially the trend of cotton printing spread, still it can be seen at the Toile de Jouy Museum.
The history of fabric printing in Dartford goes away with Augustus Applegath’s acceptance of a silk printing works in the town and it sustained until 1865 when James Keymer established a new fabric printing works on the banks of the River Darent. In 1907 Samuel Simon was used a fabric printing system in which the designs were shaped from stencils through screen printing machines. In 1940′s first photographic stencil was built up by Colin Sharp. After development of computers, the printing process and its developments geared up in their colors.
Development in last two decades
With the improvement in the printing technology, color inkjet printers played an important role in digital fabrics for the consumer market in the late 1980s. That time Canon and Hewlett-Packard became leaders in the printing technology. Canon‘s Bubble Jet printers were received so acceptance in the market. Again latest technology geared up in their improvement with the existence of a large format color inkjet printer – the Iris printer in the 1990s, but that technology was not considered as ideal tool for the fabrics due to light sensitive color problem, rather it was accepted for paper printing.
Earlier, direct printing method used for fabric with the computer and the printing is made with the computer inks; it was the time where fabric was printed using only black images or text because of the availability of only laser printers and ribbon printers and there were no color printers. In 1999 Bubble Jet Set printing technology developed, which permits fabric to be treated, amalgamated to freezer paper with an iron and then operate through an ink jet printer.
The meaning of Digital fabric/Textile Printing
The digital fabrics printing technology is existed since last decade, it emerged after 1994. It is a skill that prints the designs on fabric, immediately from your computer, without extra efforts just like printing and designing a paper. Digital textile printing is a flexible tool and a key acceptable to the vision of mass customization. It permits the user to evade the screen making process, offering the chance for quick changes to color or design elements prior to printing.
Advantages of digital fabric printing over traditional printing technology
Generally, textile printing has been operated through transferring media, such as screens and rollers. Each transferring media is designed and allocated for a specific color. A block printing and engraved copper printing are operating through these methods. A number of woodblocks that are designed in block printing give a number of colors in design. Advantage of using this type of method is that you can have three dimensional effects due to its color separation and layers, and still today rotary screen printing method is used in designing of traditional floral patterns and toile designs. Mechanical or traditional fabric printing methods some times manipulate in both way, by design aesthetics and styles, while in the field of printed textile design with the latest digital fabric printing technology it enhanced the style and meaning of printed textile design. It is a fact that the new latest methods of digital printing on fabrics have exposed new horizons to the designers and manufacturers. Digital printing methods have facilitated manufactures to make a digital sampling and have advantages of change in designs before engraving. By adopting digital printing techniques you can re-adjust conventional printing design and can able to give new looks in design.
Today, many customers are demanding fabrics to be printed with various color combinations, styles, designs, traditional designs and looks, but to co-up with these customization demands there has been a limitation to attend the entire mass market with traditional printing technology. Digital printing profits over conventional printing it provide noteworthy benefits like quick turn-around, efficient set-up and speed, economical and great flexibility, takes less time, alteration possible etc. And in today’s customer oriented market the printing technology is not limited to wearing wears; but it bounds to its limits and reaches to the requirements of trade show graphics, picture of huge fabric posters of television and movie stars, advertising purposes, flags and banners and many mores.
Unlike any traditional textile printing technology, the main benefit of digital fabric printing is in its process color application with its latest printers, software applications. Photographic and tonal graphics shaped millions of colors with Photoshop and can be printed on fabric according to the color combination requirement. Wider color scope and finer printing quality are available with the latest development of inks, color management software. In the traditional process colors of CMYK, you can have various color combination with addition of extra preset colors like orange, blue, green, and also there is availability of various type of software with these complex color combination. These preset colors reduce importance of screens or rollers for printing, and there is no need of repeat the size and other combination with no limit with color combinations in designs.
From digital textile printing technology you can have latest innovative and creative deigns like concepts of shadow, shimmering, vibration, reflection, moire, optical, translucent, netting, blurring, layering, superimposing, etc., instead of making special efforts with traditional methods of printing. Today, the printing technology developed so tremendously and became so eco-friendly, user-friendly that, even designers can make its products without taking help from textile designers.
Digital Printing Advantages
. Design achieved with greater flexibility, without the limitation of on repeat size, colors, engineered designs and gets outstanding depiction of continuous tone (photographic) images
. The digital printing equipment not requires much infrastructure and it is comparatively available in less cost
. Drastically trim down time to market the products
. It also decrease the use of water, dyes & solutions hence acts as an environmentally friendly tool
. It decreases industrial waste and print loss, provides centralize manufacturing facility
. Mass customization requirements easily available in short time
. Availability of fast greater speed of operation, high resolution / drop Size & configuration with spot colors combination or color control without lack of standards
Types of digital fabric printing technologies
There are various types of digital printing technology available in market like thermal DOD Ink jet
Piezoelectric DOD ink jet, airbrush/valve jet, electrostatic (sublimation & resin), thermal transfer, electro photography (Laser, LED), photographic development, continuous ink jet (CIJ) etc.
DOD Ink jet fabric printing method: DOD Ink jet printing method bring a drop of ink or dyes only when needed for printing that is why it is called drops on demand ( DOD ), i.e. it works on the principal “only when and where required in the design” . This system works as environment friendly, because of its “no paste, no waste “method, and the complete color reaches to the fabric.
Piezoelectric DOD ink jet fabric printing method: It uses electrostatic forces for arrangement and spraying of micro drops of inks or dyes in fabric printing. Here high voltages are applied to piezoelectric crystals for producing directional current. The advantage of using this methods are it formulation directional ink, where inks not heated , hence less expensive, printing heads works at its cycles per second and provides high resolution by applying small drop size of inks or dyes.
Electrostatic Sublimation Transfer Printing : Sublimation is a method whereby a solid dyes turns exactly into a gas without passing through a liquid state, can be transferred to a fabric (e.g. polyester) and re-solidify as a solid color again. Dye sublimation is a two-step process that needs additional equipment to the electrostatic printers for dye-sub. Also it requires a special paper for heating at the heat press; electrostatic printer. It is also called sublimation transfer printing. These inks or dyes can be printed onto paper from either a silkscreen process or from printers attached with ribbons with the sublimation inks. These papers then can transmit images onto fabrics.
Direct ink jet transfer method: The direct ink jet transfer method is direct transfer, or printing directly onto fabric with an inkjet printer. This process expensive and the fabrics require to be coated in order to effectively allow the inks or dyes.
Continuous ink jet fabric printing method: The ink is constantly pushed out of the ink channel by a pump by a nozzle attached with a PZT material and it generates an “ink-jet”. Using an electrical power on the PZT material, the nozzle shakes, breaches the ink jet into droplets of ink and used for printing fabrics. Continuous ink jet fabric printing method also available with its binary hertz operation and multi-deflection system.
Software application in digital fabric printing: For digital fabric printing Color management Systems (CMS, Calibration), Raster Image Processor (RIP), printer driver software, design lay out software (CAD), etc are widely used.
Development in printing equipment
At present Ichinose ImageProofer, Stork Amethyst, Dupont Artistri2020, Mimaki TX2-1600, Encad, NovaJet 880, Zimmer Chromotex, ColorSpan, FabriJet, Aprion Magic, Leggett and Platt Virtuetc, Imaje-Osiris, Reggiani DReAM, Robustelli Mona Lisa, Leggett & Platt UV-dye, Mimaki TX2 & TX 3 etc latest printers or equipment with their developed brand name or version are widely using for getting effective results.
Latest digital inks: Today most fabric printers or manufacturers uses reactive & acids in various colors, dispersed inks, finishing inks for light, color, pigments etc. Ink specialist such as Ciba Specialty Chemicals, DuPont, Dystar ( BASF), CHT, Lyson, Brookline, ECS and Kimberly Clark have developed digital form of conventional dyes such as reactive, acid, disperse and pigment. These inks permit printers to make prints on their specific type of fabrics.
According to Ray Work of DuPont, the worldwide market for textile chemicals is at $22 billion, of which around 36% is dyes and pigments. Finishing and coatings includes 38%. A foremost improved, according to Work, is that now almost every type of fabric can be digitally printed by ink jet, be grateful to progress in inks
For DuPont Artistri 2020 Printer DuPont Artistri 700 Series Ink is (acid dye ink chemistry) used for Nylon, Nylon/Lycra, Silk, Wool. For Polyester, Nylon, Nylon/Lycra processing disperse dye ink is used, for Cotton, Polyester, Cotton/Poly Blends, Viscose/Rayon Linen, Nylon*, Nylon/Lycra, Silk, Wool pigmented ink chemistry available. DuPont Solar Brite Ink is used especially for active wear, swimwear, intimate apparel, flags and accessories.
Digital textile printing technology in present market
For digital textile printing technology, there are three types of demands exists in market, which are sampling, strike-off, and mass customization.
Sampling: The sampling demand involves printing on paper and fabrics with an intimate concentration and compliance to the usual screen printing which is used for manufacturing.
Strike-off: Strike-off is a product of sample for a single, salable item for markets such as luxury, entertainment, or special events.
Mass customization: Mass customization is the third main products area and it creates an immense deal of concentration by mass customers.
The future markets: Besides the above existed segment, the digital fabric printing technology will be booming with their batch production printing and low volume demand fabric printing.
Its industry size is calculated: 300,000 Retailer “Doors” and 20,000+ Manufacturer “Doors”,
400 Companies Manufacture 80% of all apparel,
Apparel & Related Volume is $180B,
All Others’ Goods represent $36B.
Textile Printing Trends
The world wide trends: Decline in US print production, there seems growth of Asian print production and decreasing production run lengths, demand for greater design variety, demand for shorter production cycles and demand for reduced inventory risk.
Cotton is the most frequently printed material (48% of printing production), followed by cotton/polyester blends (19%), polyester (15%), and viscose (13%). From a worldwide viewpoint, other material (e.g. polyamide, polyacrylic, wool and silk) involve with a little part.
Prospecting Market
There are a range of new textile industry products you can print with digital printing, which covers wall covering, Info-banners, car covers, artworks, and flags and including museums, galleries, and exhibitors for multi disciplinary products, used in printing of education system or related products and there are many prospects for both direct and transfer digital printing e.g. for printing mouse pads ( new fabric surfaces and base materials), apparel prototyping for spot color, linking prototyping to production, and digitally-generated screens etc.
Digital textile production has been increasing at about 13% worldwide. The worldwide volume of digitally-printed textiles has been reaching about 44 million square meters by 2005. Duo to the high quality performance, in short time the availability of products, multidiscipline design, eco-friendly , cost- effective , etc advantages in digital textile printing technology, there exits a new market opportunities for this technology and it will be applicable to, backgrounds printing, scenes for theaters, film studios, photographers, music and sports events, road shows, parades, high profile catering, presidential campaigns, promotion organizers, advertising agencies, universities, churches, parties, for hanging signs, displays systems, packing, for sampling, for prototyping and new designs sampling, short run production, for interior designers to make curtains, upholstery, table cloth, bed ware etc.
The Best Printers For Cheap Ink Cartridges
There are so many printers on the market, all with varying features and benefits. So when it comes to buying a new printer it can be quite a job to sift through everything and find the right one for your needs.
The main issue for people when buying a printer is the price of the ink required to run it. Now most people fall into the trap of seeing a printer for under £50 that has all the bells and whistles on it, but soon discover that they aren’t getting such a great deal when it comes to replacing the ink cartridges So how do we overcome this problem? Well the simplest answer to this question is to do your research first before relying on what the salesman in your local PC World is trying to sell you. There are some tips you can follow to make sure you get yourself the best printer for your money.
1. When looking for a printer you want to look at the type of cartridges it takes. This information should be found in the product specifications if you are browsing online. The most cost effective printers are the types that take individual cartridges for each colour.(1 cartridge for the black and 1 cartridge for each colour) This is the most cost effective way to print as you only replace a cartridge when that specific colour runs out, Whereas printers that use just 2 cartridges to print with (1 cartridge for Black and 1 cartridge for the 3 colours) are more expensive to run as once one of the colours runs out on the colour cartridge you are effectively losing the rest of the cartridge as the prints it produces will look odd as you are missing a colour.
2. What you will soon realise when you look at the price of printers that the cheapest ones like HP and some Canons are expensive to run. Hewlett Packard are notorious for have printers that run with 2 ink cartridges and the price of replacing them is nearly the same cost you paid for the printer! Also the standard ink cartridges for these printers don’t tend to hold a lot of ink so if you’re are a medium to high user you will soon find that the ink doesn’t last very long and will have to look at upgrading your ink cartridges to XL ink cartridges which give you a lot more ink for your money, generally 2.5 times to 3 times as big. The only problem with this is that the average price for the XL ink cartridges is £25 – £30!!
3. We tend to find that the best printers to run are some of the Canon printers (the ones that take individual inks) and the Brother printers. Canons will give you amazing results with your photo printing and the speed and features built into the units is always impressive. The Brothers are superb printers for everyday printing and scanning of documents and printing from the internet. They are also very competitively priced for the features you get built into it. I hope this article gives you some advice and help when it comes to buying a new inkjet printer. If you require any further information then visit us at Everything Ink.or call us on 01626 337444.
Canon Ink Absorber – How To Clean It
If you own a Canon printer and are looking at this article, chances are you just got the “Waste ink absorber is full” error, or something similar, and have no idea what it is or what the printer expects you to do. Unfortunately, or fortunately, you are not the only one with this problem and there are ways to solve it. If you call Canon support, they will promptly tell you to bring the printer for servicing, that doesn’t help, however, when you have a report or resumé to print by tomorrow.
Firstly, it might be important to note that the waste ink absorber is a little pad that sits under the cartridge’s “home” position and collects any loose ink that may be on the cartridge. This prevents smudges, so it’s a good thing to have. Many ink jet printers have them, but as far as I know, only Canon PIXMA printers display an error when a certain internal counter suggests that the ink absorber may be full. If you’ve done a lot of printing, the ink absorber may actually be full and you might need to have it cleaned or replaced to ensure the best printing quality. However, if you haven’t printed that much or you have and you just need to print something right this minute, there is a way to reset the counter and stop the error from showing up again. Until the counter reaches a certain unknown point, that is, in which case you’ll have to repeat the procedure.
Unfortunately, the instructions for resetting the counter differ from printer to printer and again, as far as I can tell, are not mentioned in the manual. People have been able to figure out how to do it, however, and there are instructions online for many printers. Searching for your printer model and either “ink absorber” or “used ink tank” should provide you with a few links to check out. Almost all of them are pretty easy to follow, albeit contrived and not easily discoverable on your own. Once the counter is reset, you should be able to print again.
If the ink absorber pad in your Canon is indeed full, you might want to replace it. Having it serviced is generally not a good option, since it will likely cost almost as much as the original cost of the printer and is not covered under warranty, since it’s considered normal wear and tear and not a defect. Canon will, however, sell you a new ink absorber that shouldn’t be too hard to replace. The number to call, in the United States, is 732-521-7230, which is their New Jersey parts center. They are open Monday through Friday, 9:00am to 8:00pm EST and should be able to sell you a replacement. You can also try to clean the ink absorber on your Canon without replacement using tissue to absorb as much ink from the absorber as you can.
How To Resolve "IsDone DLL" Errors On Your PC
IsDone.dll is a file that’s used by Windows to help read a number of important settings for your system. Known as a “dynamic link library” file – it’s a member of a prestigious family of Windows settings that are used to help ensure your computer is able to run as smoothly as possible. Although the file is used continually to help make your computer run smoothly, it’s also one of the biggest causes of problems due to the way it will either be damaged, corrupted or misplaced. To resolve the errors you’re experiencing with this file, you have to be able to repair the various issues that it will have – which can be done by following the steps outlined on this page.
What Causes IsDone.dll Errors?
The causes of this error will include:
Your PC is unable to correctly load up this file
Windows has errors / problems with the file itself
Your computer does not have the ability to process the settings the file requires to run
How To Fix IsDone.dll Errors
1) Re-Install Any Programs Causing The Error
The first step to take is to re-install any of the software that will be leading the error to show. This will basically allow your PC to process the files and settings that it needs to run, ensuring that you can get the most out of your system in the most effective way. You can do this by clicking onto Start > Control Panel > Programs & Features, and then removing the application causing errors.
2) Replace The File
After that, replace the file on your PC with another one. This will basically ensure that you can get the most out of your computer by making sure that the isdone.dll file is working correctly. To do this, you should look to download a replacement version of this file, install it again on your computer and then see if the error shows.
3) Clean Out Any Registry Errors
Finally, we recommend using a registry cleaner to fix the various problems that Windows may have. The registry is a major cause of errors for Windows, due to the way in which this part of your system is used continuously to help ensure that your computer can run as smoothly as possible. Even though this part of your PC is used continuously to help ensure that your system is able to operate correctly, it’s continually going to be causing a large number of errors due to it becoming damaged. To fix this, we recommend using a registry cleaner to scan through your PC and repair any of the possible problems that your PC may have.
What Causes Physical Memory Dump?
I am sure you freak out when you computer screen suddenly turns blue and you see the error message that says “beginning of physical memory dump”.
What do you do? Most people would just reboot the computer and pretend nothing happens. Some people want to know what happened and what they should do to fix it. It can be very daunting and stressful when you get the blue screen of death while doing important work. You would not have time to save it because it happens suddenly without any warnings. You must do the work all over again after rebooting.
What actually cause the physical memory dump?
DLL error
RAM Hardware Problems
Memory allocation error
COM error
HIVE crash
What should you do when it happens?
If it occurs because of your memory problem, then you should consider buying a new computer.
The ignorant way is doing a reboot and hoping that it does not happen again. The hard way is to address what caused the error and fix it manually. If it occurs because of your chaotic registry, you could find and fix it, which is very dangerous because one simple mistake can lead to a total error in your system. Reinstall your operation system might be a wiser decision to make.
The easy way is to pay a computer technician hundred of dollars to fix it for you. But in fact you could do what the technician would do to fix your computer; the wise way is to be a computer technician yourself. Did I said that you could actually do what a computer technician would do to fix your computer? Yes, it is very simple really. A technician uses a simple software to fix your registry.
If you could be the technician yourself and pay less to get the software that you can use forever, why should you pay a technician hundreds of dollars to fix it only one time for you?
You will want to do regular maintenance to keep your PC error-free so that this problem never re-occurs again.
Carbon Neutral – What Does It Mean?
Recently, there have been a lot of environmental buzzwords floating around. It can be difficult to find a clear definition. I’ll explain what the term “carbon neutral” means, and why it’s important.
You might think that carbon neutral simply means that something does not release any carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This is true to an extent, however it is too simple a definition. It is possible to release CO2 into the atmosphere and still be carbon neutral, so long it is balanced by a CO2 reduction elsewhere.
Biofuels are carbon neutral, even though burning them releases CO2. How can this be? Well, the carbon in the biofuel comes from photosynthesis, where CO2 is captured from the atmosphere by a plant and turned into glucose. The glucose can then be turned into more complicated molecules such as sugars, starches, oils and proteins. Sugars and starches can easily be converted into bioethanol, while oils can be converted into biodiesel. Carbon is removed from the atmosphere, stored in plants for a few months, then released when the biofuel is burned. For every gram of CO2 released by burning a biofuel, there was a gram removed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis just a few months ago. This perfect balance is why biofuels are carbon neutral.
Alternatively, the term carbon neutral can be used to describe energy that does not cause the release of any CO2 at all. For instance, solar cells, wind turbines and hydroelectric turbines generate electricity without releasing CO2. Nuclear power does not release CO2 during the generation process either.
There is a problem with this, however. Currently, virtually all forms of carbon neutral energy actually involve the burning of fossil fuels. The crops for biofuels are harvested using machinery that burns fossil diesel. This is because fossil fuels are a great deal cheaper than biofuels. Some ways of producing biofuels are controversial because so much fossil fuel has to be used in the production process. Some sources of bioethanol are in this grey area. Solar cells, wind and hydroelectric turbines are all produced and transported using fossil fuels to some extent. The technology exists to make these things truly carbon neutral, but it is hopelessly uneconomic at this time. Nuclear power involves the burning of fossil fuels in the mining and transport of uranium, the building of power stations, and the disposal of waste. When uranium becomes scarce, mining it will consume even more fossil fuels.
Sometimes companies plant trees to offset the CO2 released by burning fossil fuels. This is not truly carbon neutral. Fossil carbon is being released into the atmosphere, and locking it up in trees is a very short term measure. To be truly carbon neutral, the carbon would have to be locked up for millions of years. Trees only live for tens or hundreds of years, after which they decay or are burned, releasing the carbon back to the atmosphere. We have no way of knowing whether people in the future will be able to keep replanting trees to keep the carbon locked up.
Scientists are trying ways to lock up carbon on a long term basis. This is called sequestration, and most experiments involve pumping carbon compounds such as CO2 into old oil wells or coal mines. This would genuinely make fossil fuels carbon neutral, but it is questionable whether enough carbon could ever be stored to offset fossil fuel use.
In summary, moving to a genuinely carbon neutral society will take time. It may take government tax breaks to make biofuels and alternative energy economically viable. People can take steps towards being carbon neutral by using biofuels and alternative energy. Where it is impossible to avoid fossil fuels, people can focus on efficiency to reduce their fossil fuel use to a bare minimum, and switch to biofuels when they become available. This will move them closer to the ideal of having no net effect on the amount of carbon in the biosphere, in other words, to be carbon neutral.
Routing, Routed, and Non-Routable Protocols
ROUTING PROTOCOLS
A generic term that refers to a formula, or protocol, used by a router to determine the appropriate path over which data is transmitted. The routing protocol also specifies how routers in a network share information with each other and report changes. The routing protocol enables a network to make dynamic adjustments to its conditions, so routing decisions do not have to be predetermined and static.
Routing, Routed and Non-Routable Protocols
ROUTING | ROUTED | NON-ROUTABLE
ROUTING PROTOCOLS
ROUTING PROTOCOLS are the software that allow routers to dynamically advertise and learn routes, determine which routes are available and which are the most efficient routes to a destination. Routing protocols used by the Internet Protocol suite include:
· Routing Information Protocol (RIP and RIP II).
· Open Shortest Path First (OSPF).
· Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS).
· Interrior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP).
· Cisco’s Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP).
· Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).
Routing is the process of moving data across two or more networks. Within a network, all hosts are directly accessable because they are on the same
ROUTED PROTOCOLS
ROUTED PROTOCOLS are nothing more than data being transported across the networks. Routed protocols include:
· Internet Protocol
o Telnet
o Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
o SNMP
o SMTP
· Novell IPX
· Open Standards Institute networking protocol
· DECnet
· Appletalk
· Banyan Vines
· Xerox Network System (XNS)
Outside a network, specialized devices called ROUTES are used to perform the routing process of forwarding packets between networks. Routers are connected to the edges of two or more networks to provide connectivity between them. These devices are usually dedicated machines with specialized hardware and software to speed up the routing process. These devices send and receive routing information to each other about networks that they can and cannot reach. Routers examine all routes to a destination, determine which routes have the best metric, and insert one or more routes into the IP routing table on the router. By maintaining a current list of known routes, routers can quicky and efficiently send your information on it’s way when received.
There are many companies that produce routers: Cisco, Juniper, Bay, Nortel, 3Com, Cabletron, etc. Each company’s product is different in how it is configured, but most will interoperate so long as they share common physical and data link layer protocols (Cisco HDLC or PPP over Serial, Ethernet etc.). Before purchasing a router for your business, always check with your Internet provider to see what equipment they use, and choose a router, which will interoperate with your Internet provider’s equipment.
NON-ROUTABLE PROTOCOLS
NON-ROUTABLE PROTOCOLS cannot survive being routed. Non-routable protocols presume that all computers they will ever communicate with are on the same network (to get them working in a routed environment, you must bridge the networks). Todays modern networks are not very tolerant of protocols that do not understand the concept of a multi-segment network and most of these protocols are dying or falling out of use.
· NetBEUI
· DLC
· LAT
· DRP
· MOP
RIP (Routing Information Protocol)
RIP is a dynamic internetwork routing protocol primary used in interior routing environments. A dynamic routing protocol, as opposed to a static routing protocol, automatically discovers routes and builds routing tables. Interior environments are typically private networks (autonomous systems). In contrast, exterior routing protocols such as BGP are used to exchange route summaries between autonomous systems. BGP is used among autonomous systems on the Internet.
RIP uses the distance-vector algorithm developed by Bellman and Ford (Bellman-Ford algorithm).
Routing Information Protocol
Background
The Routing Information Protocol, or RIP, as it is more commonly called, is one of the most enduring of all routing protocols. RIP is also one of the more easily confused protocols because a variety of RIP-like routing protocols proliferated, some of which even used
the same name! RIP and the myriad RIP-like protocols were based on the same set of algorithms that use distance vectors to mathematically compare routes to identify the best path to any given destination address. These algorithms emerged from academic research that dates back to 1957.
Today’s open standard version of RIP, sometimes referred to as IP RIP, is formally defined in two documents: Request For Comments (RFC) 1058 and Internet Standard (STD) 56. As IP-based networks became both more numerous and greater in size, it became apparent to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) that RIP needed to be updated. Consequently, the IETF released RFC 1388 in January 1993, which was then superceded in November 1994 by RFC 1723, which describes RIP 2 (the second version of RIP). These RFCs described an extension of RIP’s capabilities but did not attempt to obsolete the previous version of RIP. RIP 2 enabled RIP messages to carry more information, which permitted the use of a simple authentication mechanism to secure table updates. More importantly, RIP 2 supported subnet masks, a critical feature that was not available in RIP.
This chapter summarizes the basic capabilities and features associated with RIP. Topics include the routing update process, RIP routing metrics, routing stability, and routing timers.
Routing Updates
RIP sends routing-update messages at regular intervals and when the network topology changes. When a router receives a routing update that includes changes to an entry, it updates its routing table to reflect the new route. The metric value for the path is increased by 1, and the sender is indicated as the next hop. RIP routers maintain only the best route (the route with the lowest metric value) to a destination. After updating its routing table, the router immediately begins transmitting routing updates to inform other network routers of the change. These updates are sent independently of the regularly scheduled updates that RIP routers send.
RIP Routing Metric
RIP uses a single routing metric (hop count) to measure the distance between the source and a destination network. Each hop in a path from source to destination is assigned a hop count value, which is typically 1. When a router receives a routing update that contains a new or changed destination network entry, the router adds 1 to the metric value indicated in the update and enters the network in the routing table. The IP address of the sender is used as the next hop.
RIP Stability Features
RIP prevents routing loops from continuing indefinitely by implementing a limit on the number of hops allowed in a path from the source to a destination. The maximum number of hops in a path is 15. If a router receives a routing update that contains a new or changed entry, and if increasing the metric value by 1 causes the metric to be infinity (that is, 16), the network destination is considered unreachable. The downside of this stability feature is that it limits the maximum diameter of a RIP network to less than 16 hops.
RIP includes a number of other stability features that are common to many routing protocols. These features are designed to provide stability despite potentially rapid changes in a network’s topology. For example, RIP implements the split horizon and holddown mechanisms to prevent incorrect routing information from being propagated.
RIP Timers
RIP uses numerous timers to regulate its performance. These include a routing-update timer, a route-timeout timer, and a route-flush timer. The routing-update timer clocks the interval between periodic routing updates. Generally, it is set to 30 seconds, with a small random amount of time added whenever the timer is reset. This is done to help prevent congestion, which could result from all routers simultaneously attempting to update their neighbors. Each routing table entry has a route-timeout timer associated with it. When the route-timeout timer expires, the route is marked invalid but is retained in the table until the route-flush timer expires.
Packet Formats
The following section focuses on the IP RIP and IP RIP 2 packet formats illustrated in Figures 44-1 and 44-2. Each illustration is followed by descriptions of the fields illustrated.
RIP Packet Format
· Command—Indicates whether the packet is a request or a response. The request asks that a router send all or part of its routing table. The response can be an unsolicited regular routing update or a reply to a request. Responses contain routing table entries. Multiple RIP packets are used to convey information from large routing tables.
· Version number—Specifies the RIP version used. This field can signal different potentially incompatible versions.
· Zero—This field is not actually used by RFC 1058 RIP; it was added solely to provide backward compatibility with prestandard varieties of RIP. Its name comes from its defaulted value: zero.
· Address-family identifier (AFI)—Specifies the address family used. RIP is designed to carry routing information for several different protocols. Each entry has an address-family identifier to indicate the type of address being specified. The AFI for IP is 2.
· Address—Specifies the IP address for the entry.
· Metric—Indicates how many internetwork hops (routers) have been traversed in the trip to the destination. This value is between 1 and 15 for a valid route, or 16 for an unreachable route.
Note: Up to 25 occurrences of the AFI, Address, and Metric fields are permitted in a single IP RIP packet. (Up to 25 destinations can be listed in a single RIP packet.)
RIP 2 Packet Format
· Command—Indicates whether the packet is a request or a response. The request asks that a router send all or a part of its routing table. The response can be an unsolicited regular routing update or a reply to a request. Responses contain routing table entries. Multiple RIP packets are used to convey information from large routing tables.
· Version—Specifies the RIP version used. In a RIP packet implementing any of the RIP 2 fields or using authentication, this value is set to 2.
· Unused—Has a value set to zero.
· Address-family identifier (AFI)—Specifies the address family used. RIPv2′s AFI field functions identically to RFC 1058 RIP’s AFI field, with one exception: If the AFI for the first entry in the message is 0xFFFF, the remainder of the entry contains authentication information. Currently, the only authentication type is simple password.
· Route tag—Provides a method for distinguishing between internal routes (learned by RIP) and external routes (learned from other protocols).
· IP address—Specifies the IP address for the entry.
· Subnet mask—Contains the subnet mask for the entry. If this field is zero, no subnet mask has been specified for the entry.
·Next hop—Indicates the IP address of the next hop to which packets for the entry should be forwarded.
· Metric—Indicates how many internetwork hops (routers) have been traversed in the trip to the destination. This value is between 1 and 15 for a valid route, or 16 for an unreachable route.
Note: Up to 25 occurrences of the AFI, Address, and Metric fields are permitted in a single IP RIP packet. That is, up to 25 routing table entries can be listed in a single RIP packet. If the AFI specifies an authenticated message, only 24 routing table entries can be specified. Given that individual table entries aren’t fragmented into multiple packets, RIP does not need a mechanism to resequence datagrams bearing routing table updates from neighboring routers.
Summary
Despite RIP’s age and the emergence of more sophisticated routing protocols, it is far from obsolete. RIP is mature, stable, widely supported, and easy to configure. Its simplicity is well suited for use in stub networks and in small autonomous systems that do not have enough redundant paths to warrant the overheads of a more sophisticated protocol.
Review Questions
Q—Name RIP’s various stability features.
A—RIP has numerous stability features, the most obvious of which is RIP’s maximum hop count. By placing a finite limit on the number of hops that a route can take, routing loops are discouraged, if not completely eliminated. Other stability features include its various timing mechanisms that help ensure that the routing table contains only valid routes, as well as split horizon and holddown mechanisms that prevent incorrect routing information from being disseminated throughout the network.
Q—What is the purpose of the timeout timer?
A—The timeout timer is used to help purge invalid routes from a RIP node. Routes that aren’t refreshed for a given period of time are likely invalid because of some change in the network. Thus, RIP maintains a timeout timer for each known route. When a route’s timeout timer expires, the route is marked invalid but is retained in the table until the route-flush timer expires.
Q—What two capabilities are supported by RIP 2 but not RIP?
A—RIP 2 enables the use of a simple authentication mechanism to secure table updates. More importantly, RIP 2 supports subnet masks, a critical feature that is not available in RIP.
Q—What is the maximum network diameter of a RIP network?
A—A RIP network’s maximum diameter is 15 hops. RIP can count to 16, but that value is considered an error condition rather than a valid hop count.
Your Personality Based on Blood Type
Believe it or not, blood type can influence someone’s personality. Most of you who like surfing the Internet might have known about this information, but it is still essential for you to know about this fact.
Blood type A
People with blood type A are usually serious, patient, and cool. They are also emphatic, certifiable, and believable although they are stubborn. Before they do something, they usually think first and plan it in detail. Indeed, they like harmony, peace and organization.
They do everything seriously and consistently, and make themselves appropriately. That is why, they will try not to hurt anyone with their words or speak unnecessarily. But, they can stand apart from other people. They also suppressed their feeling, so they look rigid although they still have weaknesses, such as nervous, scary, and many more. They lean to surround themselves with the same characteristic people.
Blood Type B
People with blood type B tend to be curious and interested in everything. They also lean to have many hobbies. If they are interested in something, they will be buoyant, but unfortunately they will be bored fast. However, they can choose the most important thing for them to do.
They lean to want to be number one in anything rather than just to be average people. But, they usually ignore another activity if they have focused on a certain activity. In other words, they cannot do some activities at the same time.
They look cheerful, enthusiastic, and bright. But, they are actually not like their appearances. Indeed, they are antisocial with many people. They are rugged individualists who are straightforward and like to do things their own way. Unluckily, their insistence on being independent can sometimes go too far and become a weakness.
Blood type O
People with blood type O usually have a big role in motivating the passion of their groups and stimulating the harmonious relationship among the group members. They look like people who accept and do something calmly.
They are smart to cover up their feelings, so they look like people who are always cheerful, peaceful, and do not have problem at all. But, if they cannot bear it, they will surely find out a place or someone to talk.
They are kind, often do kindness, and are not reluctant to get out of their money to other people. They are actually stubborn too and have their own opinions about anything in confidence, but they are also flexible and easily accept new things. No wonder that they lean to be influenced easily by other people. Look like people who are temperate and believable, but they also often make big mistakes because of their careless characteristic. However, their characteristics make them lovable.
Blood type AB
People with blood type AB have sensitive and soft feeling. They have profound interests with other people’s feelings and always face other people with care and beware. However, they also tough with themselves and people close to them. Thus, they lean to have two personalities.
They are usually grudge people and think something too deep. Fortunately, they have a lot of friends, but they also need time to be lonely to think their own problems.
MX330 Review – An Overview of the Canon MX330 All-In-One Printer
Upon introducing the MX330 all-in-one printer, Canon has continued a recent trend in multi featured, modestly priced, home office printers. This particular model has many features normally reserved for higher end units, regardless of the manufacturer. We are going to go over some of those features, and provide some useful information on each.
At first glance, The Canon MX330 appears compact and quite sturdy, While not exactly tiny at approximately 20 pounds, it should fit nicely in a variety of places within a home office. It’s footprint could be described as “moderate.”
The unit defaults to the printing function, however all the other functions are very visible on the center console, with clearly marked buttons.
The Super G3 High-speed Fax can store up to 20 coded speed dials and 50 incoming pages for additional convenience. Scan, duplicate and distribute documents that you can be proud of, due to Dual Color Gamut Processing Technology.
You will discover that the copies appear almost identical to the original. Also, the MX330 provides security features like password protected PDF’s so you feel confident about the creation and privacy of your most secret data.
Unlike many all-in-one printers in this price category, the Canon MX330 features a built-in 30 sheet Automatic Document Feeder. Users are able to to copy, scan or fax many documents without the hassle of loading them one by one.
The automatic document feeder is fully integrated, so the printer will fit nicely into tight spots. The paper tray holds up to 30 sheets of paper.
Powering up this model is remarkably fast. Upon activating the power button, the inputting of commands can start in about 2 seconds. This speed allows tasks to be completed in a much shorter time.
Print quality, for an all-in-one printer in this category, is good. However, it certainly cannot be expected to produce the quality of a much more expensive Canon model.
In conclusion, the Canon MX330 is reliable, and provides a vast array of features that are bound to increase the efficiency of any home office.