Mini Tutor - Writers Writing - http://maxpages.com/fanficsnstuff/Mini

Note: All of this comes from http://infocomp.csuchico.edu/metis/fundamental/start.htm As in this stuff is not mine and I take no credit for it! If you are from that website DONT sue me just email me and I'll take the damn page off, k? Anywayz, this is for all you pple out there with a comp. buff uncle who talks about all this crap that you never understand. So there you have it. Enjoy!

Computers... (duh duh duh-*doom music begins playing...*)

Main components are system unit, monitor and keyboard. System unit has Motherboard, the largest circuit board in the computer. This houses the CPU chip, the controller circuitry, the bus, RAM (Random Access Memory) and sockets for additional boards (modem, soundcard, etc.) In a tower computer, it is generally at a vertical plane, on a desktop computer it is usually on the bottom.

Also in System Unit are storage Devices, usually the Hard Drive and a Disk Drive. The hard disk drive is for long term storage and houses programs and files (main information of computer.) Sizes are Godzilla (8.4 Gb), Giga (6.4 Gb) and Minya (4.3 Gb). Floppy disks house up to 1.44Mb of information. A Zip disk holds 100Mb. Also on a computer is a CD-ROM drive, which could be a CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, or DVD-ROM.

Video Card and Sound card are also in the System Unit. The Video Card interfaces the monitor to the motherboard. Most new computes have an Accelerated Graphics Port, or AGP. A 64 bit AGP with 4Mb of RAM is the best.
The best kind of Sound Card is the SoundBlaster by Creative Labs.

You can also get an Interface Network Card, which is an adaptor card that connects a computer to a network cable and to another computer which has the same type of NIC. This is usually used so many computers can use the same server in businesses and universities.

Motherboard: The main-board has connectors called expansion slots that will interface with other printed circuit boards such as sound and video adapter cards. The most commonly used connectors are the ISA and PCI expansion slots.

On the motherboard, the CPU (Central Processing Unit) is contained on a single integrated circuit called the Microprocessor. The CPU is one of the most important elements of the personal computer; without a CPU, there is no computer. The CPU contains the control unit and the arithmetic/logic unit (ALU). The microprocessor is connected to the rest of the computer system through three buses: the data bus, the address bus, and the control bus. CPU's come in different speeds measured in Megahertz (MHz). The higher the number, the faster the processor is. A 400 MHz microprocessor is the latest and greatest.

The computer's primary memory (RAM) is also located on the motherboard. Most motherboards have open connectors for Single In-line Memory Modules (SIMMS) so you can add more memory quickly and inexpensively.

Hard Disk Drive: The Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is the main secondary storage device used to permanently store information and consists of one or more magnetic disks contained in a box. An important function of a HDD is to store Program Files. When you purchase a new program, you need to install the program files to the HDD before you can run the program. Most programs will not work unless they are properly installed on the Hard Drive.

Capacity: If more storage capacity is needed, another Hard Drive can usually be added. The capacity of the Hard Drive is a measure of how much information it can store, and it is measured in bytes.

The internal hard drive is connected to a disk controller with a cable. The hard drive can be connected by Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE), Enhanced IDE (EIDE), and Small Computer System Interface (SCSI), pronounced "scuzzy", connections.

IDE is a simple, primitive interface. It is not being used to control the hard drive on newer PC’s.

EIDE is an improvement in transfer speed of the IDE, since it is typically connected to the system mainboard.

SCSI is a high-end controller system, where the units are connected to a special controller, which is rather expensive.

Monitors include: CRT (Cathode Ray Tube): the most common type of screen. This is the traditional picture tube, a big glass bottle. This is just like a television. And… LCD (Liquid Crystal Display): flat and soft displays. The prices of these screens range higher than CRT's. They are called "soft" displays, because the image appears softer than the CRT. Stuff in a monitor are:

Pixels: The screen image is made of pixels (tiny dots), which are arranged in rows across the screen. Each pixel consists of three colors: red, green, and blue (RGB).

Dot pitch: This is a measurement of how close together the phosphor dots are on the screen. The finer the dot pitch, the better image quality you will have; look for the smaller number.

Refresh Rate: The screen image is refreshed many times per second. Refresh rates are measured in Hertz. The higher the refresh rate, the screen image appears more steady. It may look like a steady picture, but actually it flickers every time the electron beam hits the phosphor coated dots.

Color Depth: Each pixel can display a number of different colors. The number of colors which can be displayed is called the color depth. This is measured in bits. The higher the depth, more colors are able to be produced.

Video RAM (VRAM): All video cards have some memory. How much depends on the desired color depth you want your monitor set at. The more VRAM your video card has, the more the amount of colors can be displayed. The video card also sends out the refresh signal, thus controlling the refresh rate.

Resolution: The greater the number of pixels in the screen, the better the resolution. The greater the resolution, the sharper the image will be. The lowest screen resolution on modern PC's is 640 x 480 pixels, which is called VGA. There are now SVGA (Super VGA) and XGA with resolutions all the way up to 1600 x 1200. The terms are not used much anymore; we mainly look at the resolution.

Colors: 256 colors (8 bit color), 65,536 colors (16 bit color, also called 65K or HiColor), 16 million colors (24 bit color, also called True Color), 4 billion colors (32 bit color, also True Color). 24 and 32 bit colors should be the choice for graphic artists and professional photographers. For application less than this 16 bit color will be sufficient.

Sound Card: A sound card provides the audio capabilities of the computer. Sound boards plug into expansion slots located on the motherboard. Sound cards function as synthesizersm, midi interface, analog/digital converter (when sound is recorded from a microphone) and digital/analog converter (when digital sounds have to be reporduced through a speaker.

The sound card itself is usually an ISA card. Connectors that you can find on the back of the sound card consist of Microphone input, Line input, Jacks for active speakers, and Joystick jack.

Modem: The word modem stands for MOdulator-DEModulator. Modems take the signal from the PC,convert it to an analog signal, and transmit it over a phone line. The modem also does the opposite. It will take an analog signal from the phone line, convert it to digital, and pass it to the computer. This is where the terms MOdulate/DEModulate come in. Modems come in two different styles: internal and external.

There are different transfer rates when it comes down to talking about modems. These rates are 14.4k, 28.8k, 33.6k, and 56k. The slower the rate, the longer you will have to wait to view the selected material. It will definately test your patience level.
Cable modems are similar to the standard phone modem, but these connect to your TV cable.
These modems ave faster transfer reates than 56K modems. The minimum one would want when purchasing a new computer would be a 56k modem.

Network Card: A Network Interface Card, often abbreviated as NIC, is an expansion board you insert into a computer so the computer can be connected to a network.

A Network is a group of two or more computer systems linked together. There are many types of computer networks, including:

Local-Area Networks (LAN's): The computers are geographically close to each other (in the same building).

Wide-Area Networks (WAN's): The computers are farther apart and are connected by telephone lines or radio waves.

Metropolitan-Area Networks (MAN's): A MAN is usually not privately owned by the user or the company.

Topology: The geometric arrangement of a computer system. Common topologies include a bus, star, and ring.

Protocol: The protocol defines a common set of rules and signals that computers on the network use to communicate. One of the most popular protocols for LAN's is called Ethernet, a local-area network (LAN) protocol developed by Xerox Corporation in cooperation with DEC and Intel in 1976. Ethernet uses a bus or star topology and supports data transfer rates of 10 Mbps. It is one of the most widely implemented LAN standards. Another popular LAN protocol for PC's is the IBM token-ring network.

Architecture: Networks can be broadly classified as using either a peer-to-peer or client/server architecture.

Peer-to-peer: Sharing single computers with each other. One individual can access and save files to another individuals computer. This can be slow when large files are being transferred.

Client/server: A single computer is set aside to only save files and run programs. Each computer in the network can run any program, or save files, to this single computer, which is named the server.

Computers on a network are sometimes called nodes, a processing location. Every node has it's own unique network address. Computers and devices that allocate resources for a network are called servers.

Printers: There are 3 main types of printers. They are dot-matrix, ink jet, and Laser printers. A dot-matrix printer is the least expensive printer out of the three, and it works by impact (like a typewriter). Since they are just like typewriters, these printers can be quite loud! The ink is transferred by a ribbon onto the paper. When the ribbon runs out, the entire ribbon is replaced.

An ink jet printer has a print head that sprays ink through a small hole onto a piece of paper. These printers are much quieter than the dot-matrix printer. They store ink in a cartridge, which are easily replaced when they run out. Ink jet printers and Bubble Jet printers work the same way.

A laser printer is a high speed printer, producing documents at a speed of 4 to 20 pages per minute (ppm). A laser printer works a lot like a photocopier, using a fine powdered ink (called toner), which comes in a cartridge. When out of toner, the entire toner cartridge is replaced. Black and white laser printers are expensive, and color laser printers are even more expensive, reaching into the $1000's.

flappy_14@yahoo.com

Visitors: 01454

Page Updated Tue Apr 9, 2002 9:47am EDT