Personal computing discussed
Moderators: renee, Steel, notfred
ALiLPinkMonster wrote:I just wanted a heads up on what I will need in my arsenal to start off. So besides the obvious laptop, what should I expect to spend money on?
Washer wrote:I'd recommend a new desktop computer (a laptop would work too, though honestly I don't see the point in having one and a tablet too). Simulation software will take you far in to learning and by the time you need to buy gear you'll know what you need. Don't let someone trick you in to dropping coin on gear when you don't need to. If the Cisco certifications are a goal of your classes the Cisco Packet Tracer software is rather good in my opinion and far more useful in learning than purchasing switches or routers for awhile, GNS3 is also useful though not as easy to pick and requires some hunting for iOS images (though I'm sure you could get those from an instructor if you ask nicely). When you start looking towards a CCNP is when you'll need gear.
Flatland_Spider wrote:You should have a basic understanding of binary and hex to start off with, and some Linux skills might help because of the tools available on that platform.
Expect to spend money on notepads and pens. Diagramming stuff out is very helpful in understanding how the data flows, or what you want to do.
The important thing is getting the theory down. Knowing the theory will be much more helpful then any gear you can buy.
bthylafh wrote:At a basic level a virtual machine program (VirtualBox or VMware Player, or possibly VMware Workstation if you think the extra features worthwhile) will give you experience with networking multiple machines without the hardware. You'll want a decently fast computer to run it on.
ALiLPinkMonster wrote:bthylafh wrote:At a basic level a virtual machine program (VirtualBox or VMware Player, or possibly VMware Workstation if you think the extra features worthwhile) will give you experience with networking multiple machines without the hardware. You'll want a decently fast computer to run it on.
Will an i5 and 8 gigs of memory handle it?
Krogoth wrote:Care to enlightenment me?