Hub:

Whatever comes in on one port gets re-transmitted on all ports. This can slow things down in a high traffic network situation because more data than necessary is being transmitted.


Switch:

Maintains a table of which computer is connected to which port, and relays data only on the port which leads to the receiving computer. Faster than a hub in high traffic situations because it is more efficient.


Router:

Connects to the internet or other wide area network with a single IP address. Also takes an address on the local network. The router then acts as a gateway to the internet, requests for internet data are sent to the router and it relays them outwards, likewise it relays incoming data to the local machine which requested it. Routers commonly also include either a Hub or a Switch, though technically speaking they don't need to.



Practically these days dumb hubs and single port routers almost never happen, so almost all modern products are either a switch or a router with built in switch.

I have always used Crucial ram in my PCs and it's always been superb. Almost without exception their RAM sticks are good for at least one speed grade faster than they are badged and at one point I had a couple of sticks of PC100 CAS 3 RAM which happily did 147MHz CAS 2 (for the uninitiated, CAS 2 is faster than CAS 3).

I have no reason to expect their SD cards would be anything other than exceptional quality, they have a name to uphold. For PC RAM I would rank them easily above Kingston.

my take on the Star vs Ltd thing is thus :

The * lenses are pro quality optics, all out for image quality and robustness. They are bomb proof and (where zooms) will give any prime within their range a run for its money.

The Ltds are something special. In some cases this includes that they are world class optics in the league of Zeiss and Leica, in other cases they are fine primes which happen to fit in your top pocket. They are quirky little numbers which not everyone wants, but which all can agree are "really neat".

some neat new features there, especially like the look of the HDR setting. AF adjustment might come in handy too if you're unlucky enough to have front/back focus problems.

Aperture ring coupler is still conspicuous by its absence but no great surprise there

All in all, very nice looking body and I'll probably buy one when the price hits £400 body only, until then it's not better enough than my K10D to be worth the upgrade (Pentax take note, if you'd put the AV coupler back in I'd be camped outside SRS to be the first through the door).

caveat: of course when I say it's not better enough, what I mean is from my point of view, some of those new features will have some people drooling I'm sure.

not wishing to be too pro Canon here, but Pentax SR only works out to 800mm (at least on the K10D), so we wouldn't have shake reduction with this one either.

with the K10D you can also consider user selected focus point mode as an alternative to spot focus when the subject isn't central.

another program worth a look is UFRAW

It's a Linux native program, but there is also a Windows version which works extremely well. It functions either as a plug in for GIMP (also well worth a download if you're on a budget of £0, and even if you're not but can't afford full photoshop) or as a stand alone app. The interface is a little basic but very powerful once you get the hang of it.

I process all my photos through UFRAW and GIMP.

I go through picking the settings for each photo and just saving the ID file, then have UFRAW-Batch deal with them all at once while I go and make a cup of tea. Silkypix can also do that of course, but UFRAW is free.

you got the AF version for £50? I am SO jealous!

Hope you grow to love it, my older Tamron SP F2.5 90mm manual focus version has yet to let me down and the newer ones are reputed to be at least as good.

My *ist DL2 has 2 or 3 permanently stuck on pixels, not enough to cause trouble and TBH they are rarely even visible.

My K10D has none that I know about, and I don't look for them because once I spot them they'll annoy me.

mine has performed exactly more or less identically to the original for the last 14 months. In fact, everything I've ever bought from 7Dayshop has been very impressive in terms of price/quality ratio and absolutely fit for purpose.