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Useful
Links |
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These links have been useful in telecommunications and other technical classes at Champlain College. The sites are grouped by general subject and there is some overlap. Some sites will appear in more than one category because of overlapping functions. There has been no attempt to duplicate Wikipedia for coverage. It's impossible to keep a list like this up to date and it's by no means comprehensive. Apologies in advance for 404 errors. Google is your friend so go exploring beyond this list.
Telecommunications: Technology and Telephony History Nuts
and Bolts: Reference: Miscellaneous:
Gary Kessler's papers: http://www.garykessler.net/library/index.html In-depth network tutorials: Links only: http://www.hojmark.net IT technical papers: http://www.itpapers.com/resources/tech_guides.html ("Free registration required")
Telecommunications Section Begins Here Broadband including xDSL and Cable Modems: DSL Reports: Outstanding collection of tools, links and current news:: http://www.dslreports.com/ Go to "About DSL" for a technical tutorial. (Use this site for download speed tests) Cable modems: http://www.cable-modem.net/ Broadband Forum: http://www.broadband-forum.org/ Get a cable modem and go to jail: http://massis.lcs.mit.edu/judy-sammel.html
Directories: World telephone numbering guide: http://www.wtng.info/ What does your phone number spell? Just for fun! http://www.phonespell.org/
SONET in general: http://www.sonet.com/ Fluke fiber optic and network testing: http://www.cableu.net/fibrtech/dwdm.htm History of fiber optics Jeff Hecht is the author of the excellent book "City of Light": http://www.sff.net/people/Jeff.Hecht/history.html
Internet (including protocols): Internet Society: http://www.isoc.org/ Internet Engineering Task Force: http://www.ietf.org/ World Wide Web Consortium (W3C): http://www.w3.org/ Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers: http://www.icann.org/ Internet Assigned Numbers
Authority: http://www.iana.org/ RFC list: Everything you always wanted to know about Internet protocols..and more: http://www.rfc-editor.org/ FTP Tools: http://www.ipswitchft.com/ Ping: Where to get it: http://www.topjimmy.net/tjs/ Ping: How it works: http://www.freesoft.org/CIE/Topics/53.htm Ping the duck: There are
a lot of reviews of the book but try to find John Fracisco's review:.
He has a unique telecommunications viw of a the traditional kid's book.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140502416/qid=1055776285/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-6759498-2838338
Cisco's take on VoIP: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk652/tk701/tsd_technology_support_protocol_home.html IP Telephony: http://www.iptelephony.org/
Webopedia: The OSI Model: http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/OSI_Layers.asp
Policy (including government, legal, and privacy issues). Read widely and explore multiple sources of information: FCC: http://www.fcc.gov/ Electronic Frontier Foundation: http://www.eff.org/ Cato Institute: http://www.cato.org/telecom-internet-information-policy Electronic Privacy Information Center: http://www.epic.org/ Center for Democracy and Technology: http://www.cdt.org/
Regulation and Industry Organizations (see Standards too): Vermont Public Service Department: https://publicservice.vermont.gov/telecom Vermont Public Utility Commission: https://puc.vermont.gov/ FCC: http://www.fcc.gov/ Dept. of Commerce: National Telecommunications and Information Administration: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ International Telecommunication Union: http://www.itu.int/home/index.html North American Numbering Plan Administration: http://www.nanpa.com
National Security Agency Cryptographic Museum: http://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic_heritage/museum/tour/index.shtml or go to www.nsa.gov for a more general introduction to what they do. Thanks to Kate Jones for this site which includes lots of crypto links: http://www.barcodesinc.com/articles/cryptography-links.htm Bletchley Park ("Station X") Museum: http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/ Besides the museum there's a lot going on. For example, stage your wedding there! Tom Perera's Enigma site: Tom lives in Vermont too: http://w1tp.com/enigma CERT at Carnegie Mellon: Who ya gonna call?: http://www.cert.org/ SANS Institute: http://www.sans.org/ Cryptography FAQs:
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/cryptography-faq/ Bruce Schneider: https://www.schneier.com/ Bruce is the publisher of CRYPTO GRAM, an e-newletter with good information on current security issues. Peter Neumann is the moderator of the RISKs e-newsletter which covers many different security issues. See the current issue at http://www.csl.sri.com/users/risko/risks.txt Phil Zimmerman, creator of PGP: http://www.philzimmermann.com/ RSA FAQs: http://www.rsa.com/node.aspx?id=1002 Cryptologia Journal: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ucry20 E-mail privacy: http://www.emailprivacy.info/home Want to build your own Enigma? The ultimate DIY project: http://www.cryptomuseum.com/kits/
Performance Technology on SS7: https://www.net.t-labs.tu-berlin.de/teaching/computer_networking/documents/ss7_tutorial_pt.pdf
Standards (see Regulation too): International Telecommunication Union: http://www.itu.int/home/index.html IEEE: http://www.ieee.org American National Standards Institute: http://www.ansi.org/ International Standards Organization: http://www.iso.ch/ National Institute of Standards and Technology: http://www.nist.gov/ Links to standards: http://www.cmpcmm.com/cc/standards.html
"Everything you always wanted to know about T-1's..": http://www.dcbnet.com/notes/9611t1.html T-1 jacks: http://www.arcelect.com/RJ48C_and_RJ48S_8_position_jack_.htm
Westbay Traffic Calculator: http://www.erlang.com/faq/traffic.html Erlang Traffic and Queuing Software: http://members.iinet.net.au/~clark/poisson.htm
Wireless, Including ham radio sites: Cellular Telephony and Internet Association: http://www.ctia.org/ FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau: http://www.fcc.gov/wtb/ American Radio Relay League (ham radio): http://www.arrl.org Today you don't have to know Morse code to get a ham license. Here's how you can get your own license and call sign: http://www.arrl.org/licensing-education-training Soup box antenna: http://www.drivebywifiguide.com/TetraBrikHowTo.htm Beef stew can antenna: http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html The Cantenna: an elegant solution although not DIY!:http://www.cantenna.com/ Parabolic antennas & gain: http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template/FAQ.html And finally the homebrew antenna shootout: http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/has.html Wireless products: http://www.fab-corp.com/ WWV and WWVH: http://www.nist.gov/pml/div688/grp40/wwv.cfm Satellite encyclopedia: http://www.tbs-satellite.com/tse/ Ian Poole has a very nice site of wireless and other electronics resources: http://www.radio-electronics.com/ Spread spectrum from the ham viewpoint: http://www.sss-mag.com/G3RUH/ You'll often hear references to "Q" and "Z" signals in ham radio and military circles. Here's what they mean: http://www.zerobeat.net/qrp/zsiglist.html North American television frequencies and a bit about the analog to digital conversion: : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_broadcast_television_frequencies
Technology and Telephone History Memorial to the Bell System:http://www.bellsystemmemorial.com/ Tribute to the Bell System: http://www.telephonetribute.com/ Telephony hobby sites: http://massis.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/ New England Museum of Telephony See "Images" on my home page for some more photos: http://thetelephonemuseum.org/ Seattle Vintage Telephone Museum: http://www.scn.org/tech/telmuseum/ Help with obsolete computers: http://www.obsoletecomputermuseum.org/ The first computer bug: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/sep9/worlds-first-computer-bug/ Computer Museum (used to be in Boston, now it has migrated westward to California): http://www.computerhistory.org/ It's disturbing to recognize many of the computers that I programmed in my younger years now classified as antiques and historical curiosities. But then again, so am I. The famous IBM 029 Card punch: http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/ibm-029-keypunch.jpg Museum of Broadcast Communications: https://www.museum.tv/ History of storage. Lots of links to technology over the years (Remember 9 track tapes?). Quite comprehensive: https://www.financialforce.com/library/cloud-computing-software/
Cabling, Racks and Wiring Plant Management: Black Box: http://www.blackbox.com MilesTek (One of my favorite companies. Great products, great customer service): http://www.milestek.com Panduit: https://www.panduit.com/ Pasternack: coaxial cable, fiber cable, and connectors: http://www.pasternack.com/ PacificCable: http://www.pacificable.com Belden Wire (good tutorials, too): http://www.belden.com/
Electronic and Computer Parts and Components: Jameco: http://www.jameco.com Digikey: http://www.digikey.com Mouser Electronics: https://www.mouser.com Marlin P. Jones: https://www.mpja.com/ One of my favorite computer accessory dealers. Highly recommended: http://www.cyberguys.com/ All Electronics: a favorite source for surplus goodies: http://www.allelectronics.com/ Surplus Shed: Great optical and other scientific products: http://www.surplusshed.com/ Fair Radio Sales: Great surplus electronics: http://www.fairradio.com/ It's a fun place to visit and their inventory is full of one-of-a-kind gadgets.
Jensen Tools, AKA Stanley Tools: http://www.stanleysupplyservices.com/ Grizzly Tools: Woodworking and metal machines: http://grizzly.com/ Little Machine Shop: Great products for small-scale metal working. Outstanding customer service: http://littlemachineshop.com/ Specialized Products: http://www.specialized.net Techni-Tool: http://www.techni-tool.com Circuit Specialists: test equipment and soldering stations: https://www.circuitspecialists.com Mike Sandman: Telephone tools and parts. Some good tutorials, too: http://www.sandman.com/index.html
Books: Links to booksellers (new and old): Artech House: specialized telecommunications books: http://www.artechhouse.com/ Used books: Advanced Book Exchange: Listings from hundreds of used book sellers: http://www.abebooks.com (These guys are good. If you want to save money on even a new book try them first. Sort by price, lowest to highest.) Used books: a bit more expensive than abebooks. Try abebooks first: http://www.alibris.com Book comparison shopping: http://www.bookfinder4u.com
Good Links: These are links to more links: Russ Haynal's Telecom "Meta Site": http://navigators.com/telecom.html Links to telecommunications topics: http://users.lmi.net/canepa/net_tech.html
General Internet maps: http://www.caida.org/tools/visualization/mapnet/ Internet backbone maps: https://www.vox.com/a/internet-maps National Geographic Society: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/resources/ngo/maps/ US Geological Survey: http://www.usgs.gov/ Atlas of Cybergeography: http://www.cybergeography.org/ VH coordinate system overview: https://www.att.com/Common/att_rev1/files/regulatory/ingb0902.pdf
Professional
Organizations: Also see "Standards": IEEE: http://www.ieee.org Assoc. for Computing Machinery: http://www.acm.org Telecommunications Industry Association: http://www.tiaonline.org/ Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions: http://www.atis.org/home.htm
Publications, online news services: Computerworld (Check out "Shark Tank"): http://www.computerworld.com/ CNET site: http://cnet.com/ Informationweek: http://www.informationweek.com Infoworld: http://www.infoworld.com Telecommunications: http://www.telecoms-mag.com/ Scientific American:
http://www.sciam.com Dr. Dobb's Tools for Programmers: http://webreview.com/ Ziff Davis Net; Be sure to check out the White Papers ssection: http://www.zdnet.com/ Cryptogram: https://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram/subscribe.html RISKS: https://www.acm.org/about-acm/risks-forum The Register: https://www.theregister.co.uk/
Whatis: http://whatis.techtarget.com/ Internet Encyclopedia: http://www.freesoft.org/CIE/index.htm Free Online Dictionary of Coomputing: http://foldoc.org/
Astronomy picture of the day: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html Links to astronomy sites: http://jimsmobile.com/top_interesting_sites.htm Internet Virtual Telescope: http://skyview.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Astronomy Now online:
http://www.astronomynow.com/ Sky and Telescope: One of my favorite magazines. Great books on astronomy too: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/ Tour our solar system: http://nineplanets.org/ Satellite encyclopedia: http://www.tbs-satellite.com/tse/ Powers of 10: https://www.eamesoffice.com/the-work/powers-of-ten/ Itty Bitty radio telescope: http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/epo/teachers/ittybitty/procedure.html Very Large Array radio telescope: http://www.vla.nrao.edu/ McDonald Observatory: http://mcdonaldobservatory.org/ Mauna Kea Observatory: http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/mko/ Yerkes Observatory: Look for stories about Yerkes via Google. It doesn't seem to have an official web site anymore. Celestron Telescopes: http://www.celestron.com/c3/home.php Meade Telescopes: http://www.meade.com/
Another source for rumors: http://www.snopes.com/ Darwin Awards: http://www.darwinawards.com/ NIST: Current Time: https://timegov.boulder.nist.gov/ Anagrams: http://www.wordsmith.org/anagram/index.html Exploding Whale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax7kENH-A7s Mathematica software at Wolfram Associates: http://www.wolfram.com Toys for techies: http://www.thinkgeek.com/ MIT Lockpicking: http://www.capricorn.org/~akira/home/lockpick/ The Seven Wonders of Swindon: http://www.jasperfforde.com/swindon/7wonders.html
Urban & Subterranean Exploration: This is a collection of sites dedicated to the exploration of abandoned urban buildings and infrastructure. Some of this is above ground while other locations are well below ground. These are all rather dark sites, both in terms of the lack of light and in the psychological sense. Enter at your own risk. Julia Soalis is the premier explorer of New York city. Dark Passage: http://www.darkpassage.com Steve Duncan has a collection of excellent photos. Some of these have appeared in Julia Soalis' book "New York Underground": http://undercitywebsite.blogspot.com/2011/01/underground-expedition-through-new-york.html Weird New Jersey:
http://www.weirdnj.com/ Abandoned Baltimore: http://www.monumentalcity.net/ New York City: http://www.forgotten-ny.com/ Web Urbanist: Underground Wonders: http://weburbanist.com/2007/10/15/7-more-underground-wonders-of-the-world-lost-caverns-and-cities/ Dark Roasted Blend: http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/02/abandoned-places.html NY Farley Post Office
(NPR): http://www.npr.org/2011/01/01/132482668/a-hidden-world-inside-new-yorks-great-post-office Abandoned Detroit: http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-63754-2.html Paris: Saint Sulpice: http://www.forbidden-places.net/urban-exploration-saint-sulpice-secrets#gald
SteamPunk Workshop: http://steampunkworkshop.com/ Weapons for your
Victorian travels: http://www.drgrordborts.com/?itemid=741&catid=4 Just in case you want to dress the part: http://www.gentlemansemporium.com/gentlemans.php?from=topnav Abney Park: http://www.abneypark.com/ A bit of video: http://vimeo.com/21044069
American Institute of Organbuilders: http://www.pipeorgan.org/ American Theater Organ Society: http://www.atos.org/ Arndt Organ Supply: Bob Arndt specializes in exact Wurlitzer replacement parts: http://www.arndtorgansupply.com/ Austin Organs: These folks are sort of in business after a bout of bankruptcy: http://www.austinorgans.com/ The Diapason: http://www.TheDiapason.com Sebastian Gluck: http://www.glucknewyork.com Gothic Records: http://www.gothicrecords.com JAV Recordings: https://pipe-organ-recordings.com/ Organ Clearing House: http://organclearinghouse.com Organ Historical Society (Check out the online catalog) :https://organhistoricalsociety.org/ Organ Supply Industries: The best source for parts for new construction and rebuilding: http://www.organsupply.com Pipedreams on NPR: http://pipedreams.org/ Pro Organo Recordings: https://www.proorgano.com/ Stephen Bicknell: A very smart and humorous guy who is unfortunately no longer with us: http://www.stephenbicknell.org/ Friends of the Wanamaker Organ: http://wanamakerorgan.com Wicks Organs: Maker of my Opus 1652: http://www.wicksorgan.com A bit on organ history from Kathy Ramsey with numerous links: http://www.zzounds.com/edu--historyoftheorgan |
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