“Understanding Computers” Intro to GIS Fall 2004

Tools of the Trade Right tool for the Right job What’s inside the box? How do they do what they do? Aren’t all computers (PC’s) the same? Why won’t my programs do what they are supposed to do? What is a “Network”?

Tools of the Trade Cont’d. Operating Systems Drivers Components –CPU’s (Processors) CISC RISC FPGA –Hard Drives (configurations) –Motherboards (configurations) BUS Speeds –RAM (Random Access Memory) RAMBUS DDR SIMMS DIMMS DRAM SDRAM & EIEIO –Video Cards AGP PCI Express Video RAM

Operating Systems Windows MacOS Unix Linux IBM OS2

Operating Systems Cont’d. Windows –DOS –3.11 –95 –98 –Me –NT4 –XP –2000

Operating Systems Cont’d. MacOS –Apple/ II / llE / Mac / G3 / G4 / Ipod OS1 – OS9 OSX (Jaguar) Ultimately will integrate with some flavor of Unix

Operating Systems Cont’d Unix –Berkeley –Solaris –X Windows –Gave rise to Linux

Operating Systems Linux –1 st Open source OS –Created by Linus Torvold –Developed by Users –Number 1 OS used by Servers as of 2002 –Free OS –Multiple flavors SuSe Red Hat Mandrake Others

Drivers Drivers are executable programs that contain the operating instructions for that particular component. Drivers are usually updated to reflect either new OS’s or some innovation in the hardware. Note * The newest driver is not always the best Drivers will often have the extension.dll (dynamic link library), older drivers may have the extension.drv

CPU’s CISC –Complex Instruction Set Chip –Intel / AMD Processors / Silicon Graphics (SGI) RISC –Reduced Instruction Set Chip –Motorola / Mac / Sun Microsystems / Silicon Graphics (SGI) –Transmeta Carusoe FPGA –Fully Programmable Gated Array

CPU’s Speed –Clock cycles measured in Hertz –1 Hz = 1 clock cycle –1 kHz = 1000 clock cycles (Kilo) (thousand) –1 MHz = 1,000,000 clock cycles (Mega) (million) –1 GHz = 1,000,000,000 clock cycles (Giga) (billion) –1 THz = 1,000,000,000,000 clock cycles (Terra) (trillion) –1 PHz = 1,000,000,000,000,000 clock cycles (Pieta) (quadrillion) Fastest computer “today” built by NEC for Japan 37 TFLOPS (Terra FLOPS) (FLOPS=floating operations per second=cycle)

CPU’s Chipsets –Configuration of CPU –Will tell you what type of RAM/Motherboards the CPU is compatible with Intel 845E vs. Intel 850PG Athlon vs. Duron Celeron vs. Pentium P4 vs. Xeon Opteron vs. FX 51/53

Hard Drives 4 Factors to consider –Classification DMA / UDMA / ATA / SCSI –Size Bit Vs. Byte –8 bits = 1 byte –Binary = base2 –Working drives –Total Drive Space –Speed Bus Speed (data transfer rate listed in MHz) Spin Rate (listed in rpm’s) –Configuration (multiple HD’s) RAID - Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks Various configurations

Motherboards Various Makes and Models BIOS / ROM / PROM / EPROM Must be compatible with CPU Type and RAM Type Various Slots –ISA –PCI –AGP –AGM –USB 1, 2 –IEEE1394 Firewire –PS/2 –EIDE BUS Connections –RAM Pin configurations –CPU Slot configurations –Onboard Sound –Onboard Network Interface –RAID connectors

RAM (Random Access Memory) Simms (Single Inline Memory Modules) Dimms (Dual Inline Memory Modules) RDRAM (RAMBUS) –PC400 / PC800 / PC1036 –Only for Intel chipsets –Very Expensive (price has come down) DDR (Double Data Rate) –DDR133 / DDR266 / DDR333 / DDR400 –Started as an inexpensive alternative to RAMBUS –Was exclusively AMD however, now there are specific Intel chipsets that will allow the use of DDR RAM

Video Cards AGP – 1X / 2X / 4X / 8X/PCI Express 16x Video Memory (video RAM) –DDR –Onboard processors –Bandwidth / Throughput –16bit / 32bit/ 64bit /128bit / 256bit –Compatibility with Intended software Use –Most Important Decision when building a Workstation Various Video Card Manufacturers Nvida / Radeon / 3dLabs / Cheap Cheesy Crap!

Tools of the Trade Cont’d. Slots –ISA –PCI / PCI32 / PCIX –AGP 4x / 8x Cooling Systems Power Supply NIC Cards

Tools of the Trade Cont’d. Peripherals –Monitors Size Resolution –Printers/Plotters –Keyboards Ergo? Hotkeys –Mice Trackballs Castrated Mouse

Tools of the Trade Cont’d Care and Feeding of the Computer –Cleaning –Location –Maintenance