Laser Cutting, Sheet Metal Fabrication, Powder Coating in Basingstoke

Ripley Engineering Ltd offer:

• Laser Cutting
• Sheet Metal Fabrication
• Design Assistance
• Powder Coating and Wet Spraying
• Electromechanical Assembly

Established in 1962, Ripley Engineering have nearly 50 years of experience in Precision Sheet Metal Work. Based in Basingstoke, Hampshire, Ripley Engineering are ideally placed to serve the M3/M4 corridor, and the whole of the UK. Ripley Engineering now offer a special fast-track laser cutting / laser profiling service.

Contact Ripley on 01256 473940, or email serviceATripley-eng.co.uk

Progress

Almost completed Study Session 4 of Block 1 Part 1. All activities are completed, I just need to watch the Warriors of the Net film on the OU DVD.

Progress in Block 2 Part 1 study session 4

I am here (The Internet)

Ready to start study session 3 (Block 2 Part 1)

Completed study session 2 of Block 2 Part 1. I am now here. The little activities that are supposed to take just 5 or 10 minutes are actually taking me rather longer - even though much of the subject matter at the moment is hardly new to me. I have a gnawing need to do them correctly and thoroughly, which doesn't bode well for when my time is under real pressure.

I need to try to start prioritising a little bit.

Here's my brief history of the internet piece for Activity 6 of the above session:

A Brief History of the Internet

The origins of the internet can be traced back to the computer communications network created jointly by MIT and the U.S. government’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; ARPAnet, created in 1969. Arpanet was the first network to feature packet switching, was used for file transfer and email, and only connected academic and government institutions.

ARPANet initially ran on the NCP (Network Control Protocol) protocol developed by Vinton Cerf. He and Robert E. Kahn later developed the more flexible and powerful TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) suite, which was applied to ARPANet in 1983, and on which the modern internet still runs. Cerf and Kahn are known as the fathers of the internet.

The original and ageing ARPANet backbone was replaced by the government sponsored NSFNet (National Science Foundation Network) in 1989, which was itself replaced by decentralised commercial network architecture in 1995. The self-designated ‘Tier 1’ networks are now the heart of the internet.

Source: Internet Guide, 2010.

Progress in Block 2 Part 1

Completed Activities 1-4 of Block 2 Part 1, study session 2.

Ref. Activity 1: I remember the first company I ever worked for in 1988 had a telex machine! It disappeared soon after I started there (no connection, I didn't do it!)

Ref Activity 2: Something that surprised me about Alexander Graham Bell was that he was connected with the eugenics movement in the U.S. - I've never heard about that before.

I'm now at the beginning of Activity 5. A short session this one, I'm very tired - been quite a long week, and I've played a fair bit of tennis this weekend :-)

Begin Block 2 - Block 2 Companion

Just read through the Companion PDF for Block 2 - there sure is more there than in Block 1! One thing hits me in the eye at this point - planning. I need to do it better.

Downloaded a template study planner for Block 2 from here so that I can use it, or make my own based upon it.

Block 1 Finished - Yippee!

Block 1 studies finished, TMA01 completed. For the first time I think I'm a few days ahead of schedule, which feels a lot better than being behind!

Mustn't ease up though :-)

The Most Important ICT Invention of All Time

So, I've thought about it (see title) and chosen the microprocessor. Could easily have been one of numerous others: the internet or the transistor, for instance.

This was for Activity 8 of Block 1 Part 3, study session 4. My full post is the Tutor Group forum, titled "Most Important ICT Invention - The Microprocessor".

The first one, according to its maker, was the Intel 4004, designed in 1969!

Progress in Block 1 Part 3, study session 4

I am here:
http://students.open.ac.uk/technology/courses/t175/html/block1/part3/work_with_online_group.cfm

I need to consider what I think might be the most important ICT invention of all time, and form an argument to support it, before posting it in the appropriate tutor group forum.

Learning Styles

For Block 1 Part 3, study session 3, activity 6

My learning style is probably roughly equal measures of Reflector and Theorist, with a good dash of Pragmatist, and very little Activist. Systematic and methodical describes me quite well in many things that I do (Theorist), and I tend to observe and think before drawing conclusions (Reflector). I also like to experiment within broadly defined parameters, depending upon the scope for doing so, and the considered dangers (the dash of Pragmatist).

The Activist style of learning is not a natural one for me, and so is one that I need to try to improve upon.

Progress in Block 1 Part 3, study session 3

I am here: http://students.open.ac.uk/technology/courses/t175/html/block1/part3/learn_to_learn.cfm

Just completed a useful activity (Block 1 Part 3 Activity 1), and here is my first 'spray diagram':

Also started Question 3 of TMA01 :-)

Completed Block 1 Part 2

Part 2 is finished, just completed the online study session 4; a gentle introduction to Windows calculator, percentages, tables, charts and graphs. I'm now exactly on schedule according to the study calender on my T175 OU page.

Side note: Liverpool FC appear to have shaken off their disastrous American owners, Hicks and Gillett - hooray! Got another American owner mind, hope it's not out of the frying pan... Here's a transcript of the first interview with the new owner, John Henry.

Progress on Block 1 Part 2, study session 4

I am here:

http://students.open.ac.uk/technology/courses/t175/html/block1/part2/readachart.cfm

Windows Calculator (Block 1 Part 2 study session 4)

Just a note to myself about the memory function keys in Windows Calculator (appears in Activity 21)...

 

 

MC (memory clear)

MR (memory recall) recalls and displays the number stored in memory.

MS (memory store) stores the displayed number in memory.

M+ (memory +) adds the number displayed to the number stored in memory.

Completed Block 1 Part 2 study session 2 of 4

This included Activity 12 (Miniature Computers are Adding up to Fun) which gave me good practice in taking notes about a written piece - I haven't done that before. I still use highlighters a lot in my text books though, that was a great tip given by someone else who did the M150 course that I was on.

Progress in TMA01

Just completed Question 2 in TMA01 (the Dairy Cow Tracking System). It made me think more than I expected it to, I must admit, which is a good thing!

Worked through just a little more of Block 1 Part 2. The part overlaps some of the areas studied in M150. This is also a good thing, because although its going over old ground to a degree, I'm very busy at work just now and coming home with fairly limited concentration reserves.

I've also put a few links up to blogs run by a few others studying T175 (see the 'links' section).

Data rate prefixes multiply by 1000's!

I must remember that
in the context of data rates, number prefixes multiply in 1000's,
not in 1024's (that's for storage).

I should also remember that
it is convention to abbreviate kilo as a lowercase 'k'
(mega and giga are still uppercase M and G respectively)

Now completed Block 1 Part 2, study session 1 of 4.

First system map drawn!

I've just drawn my first system map! It's for Activity 2 of Block 1 Part 2, and looks a bit like this:

And this is why...

My ‘Email Communication System’ map shows the users as being inside the boundaries of the system as a whole, but separate (although influencing/influenced by the ‘Computers and Network’ subsystem. I feel that the users are too important to be considered as merely in the system’s environment, since they play an integral part in how it is used, and what it is used for – the system is likely to change and evolve around them.

Started Block 1, Part 2

Rather a short study session, this one, as I got home fairly late, ate too much take-away, and couldn't concentrate for much more than about half an hour. Must do better than that. I am slightly ahead of schedule though, so shouldn't beat myself up about it just yet.

I've just started Block 1 Part 2, where System Maps are introduced, and it's going to be interesting, I think.

Use the resources that are presented to you!

Note to self: I must use the resources presented to me on a plate - the survey results (of smart home questions) in Activity 5 of Block 1 Part 1, for example :-)

Block 1 Part 1 Study Session 4 (and OU backup method)

Just completed the online parts of Block 1 Part 1 Study Session 4. Within is an explanation of how to upload files as attachments to notes in my T175 MyStuff area, as a sort of backup mechanism.

I've noticed that study session 4.3 states that:

You can use the online journal provided, or you may wish to create your own elsewhere to suit your learning style. It would be a good idea to complete a journal entry after each part of every block...

So, it seems that it's OK to keep it here, hooray!

That's Part 1 of Block 1 completed.

Learning journal in the right place?

Completed studying the printed parts of Block 1, Part 1, including the activities. So far, it's a nice gentle introduction allowing me to take time to find my way around.

I've just noticed in the tutorial presentation I downloaded that I'm supposed to be keeping my learning journal in the Mystuff / Learning Journal section of my StudentHome T175 page. I've enquired about whether or not I should transfer this blog to that place, so I need to keep an eye out for a response.

Icebreaker Activity 7

Just posted my entry for the icebreaker activity (Block 1, Part 1, Study session 3.2 (Activity 7). I recalled an excellent history of computers website that I'd forgotten about and lost the bookmark for - old-computers.com

Now I need to study my printed material a little more, and not watch the Ryder Cup so much!

Intro Tutorial (missed), TMA01 Q1, et al

I was due to attend an introductory tutorial session at QMC in Basingstoke today. I missed it though; I felt like a had a cold, and I probably do. I went to what was probably a similar one for my first module last year though - M150 in Reading's TVU.

Just completed the first question in TMA01. It's important to get the first one done; it acts as a catalyst to continue studying and complete fursther questions.

I've just read in Block 1 Part 1 (2.1.2, The Internet) that "no individual government, company or person has control over it". Not quite the whole story though, as ICANN controls the organisation of internet names and IP address, and it reports to the US govt. Dept. of Commerce - see http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/04/30/235865/Who-controls-the-Internet.htm