routers

[wizard69]

a question from a complete thico re: technology here.Exactly what is a router for. (sorry guys but im fairly new to computers and havn't a clue) Also what is the difference between an i pod and an mp3 player?...thanks

[vehelpfulguy]

Well an mp3 player and an ipod are basically the same thing.

mp3 is a format for holding music files. There are other similar formats such as WMA and so on.

Any device that can play an mp3 or other music format is called an mp3 player.

Apple created the first mp3 player that took the world by storm and they called it the ipod so the name has come to mean any mp3 player.

Similar to how all vacuum cleaner are called Hoovers ( a product name) and all ball point pens are Biros (another product name).

One thing to be aware of, because Microsoft created the WMA format the ipod does not support it (I believe) but there are programs to convert WMA format to mp3 format.

The program Apple use to download musci from the internet is called iTunes, but there are others.

[vehelpfulguy]

A router is a device for splitting a single broadband connection into multiple broadband connections.

Where your single broadband connection comes into the house, you plug the cable into the back of the router.

At the front of the router you plug the various PCs or laptops (maybe 2, 3 or 4) and the router controls the information that goes out, and that the information that comes in goes to the correct PC or laptop.

You can have a wireless router, where the PC or laptop can "talk" to the router without wires, but the same principle applies as for a wired router.

So simply, it allows a single house to share a broadband connection around all the families PCs.

[fo3nix]

To add to vehelpfulguy's answer; iTunes will convert any .wmv files for you. Unless of course they're protected (you've bought them from a legal store, say), in which case you can't legally convert them (but ways and means exist).

As for the router question:

Suppose you have broadband at home, but have more than one computer. You want to split your one broadband internet connection to your few computers. To do this, you use a router.

[fo3nix]

Typing at the same time :P

[wizard69]

Thanks guys...

[RATTER15]

But you don't need a router if you are only splitting it to one other PC, you just need a patch cable especially if both PCs are close to one another, if not a router would be easier.

[Catso]

I don't think you've quite got the router bit right. What you've all described is a hub or switch.

A router has additional intelligence built in to enable it to decide where to send a network packet if the packet is addressed to a network other than the local one.

It acts as a sort of 'automatic telephone exchange' for networks. Your computer can do the local calls itself, but if calls to other exchanges are made, the router decides how to handle it. IE it routes the message.

In home use, it isn't really very complicated to do, as if the message isn't for the local network then it's for the ISP, at the other end of the ADSL link. In commercial use, with lots of different networks, it get a bit more complicated.

[fo3nix]

Catso: yea, I was going to explain the difference between hubs switches and routers, but decided that a simple explanation would suffice. You're totally correct of course though.

[vehelpfulguy]

Catso, my answer, for someone who described themselves as a "complete thico re technology" was fine.

Your answer, which may be more technically accurate, used terms like "network packet" which would mean nothing to a technology thico.

An answer needs to be appropriate for the person asking the question, not the person giving the answer.