Understanding Computer Basics

Computer Case- The part of a computer system that houses the microprocessor, the RAM (Random Access Memory), and the Motherboard. This case also houses the disk drives. CPU (Central Processing Unit) - A chip or circuit that interprets and executes programs by processing a list of machine instructions which perform binary operations on data stored in memory. The portion of hardware in a computer which interprets instructions and then executes them. It is the heart of any computer system.

Memory- The internal component that the computer uses to temporary store data and programs. There are two kinds of computer memory: RAM (Random Access Memory) and ROM (Read-Only Memory). RAM loses its data if the power is turned off; ROM retains its information whether the computer has power or not. Users are unable to erase ROM. Not to be confused with storage devices such as hard drives, floppy disks, or other such devices. Data is processed in RAM memory; it is stored on a storage device.

Motherboard- The main circuit board in the computer.Every device is connected to the Motherboard. Also called planar, system board, or backplane, depending on the architecture of the board.

Video Card –This card connects to the Motherboard and the computer monitor connects to the videocard. That is how images are interpreted and displayed to the monitor.

Network card- Device connected to the motherboard which is used for communicating on a network to other computers, printers and other electronic devices (ex. Phones, cell phones ect…)

Network Card- Device connected to the motherboard which is used for communicating on a network to other computers, printers and other electronic devices (ex. Phones, cell phones ect…) Network Card Driver- A program that instructs the device on how to operate.

Hard Drive- A device that is connected to the motherboard and is used for storage of data files. Usually this device is referred to as your c:\ drive. Storage capacity can be measured in Kb, Mb, Gb and Tb.

Floppy Drive- A device that is also connected to the motherboard that allows you to use a portable storage media called floppies;which are used to store data. The floppies come 5 ¼’’(which are no longer popular) and 3 ½’’ sizes (which is still the most widely used media up-to-date.). The floppies storage capacity is no where near the storage capacity of a harddrive. ( Ex. 1Gb Harddrive can hold information that is on 695 floppies);Get the point?

so a k is... k in computing is short for kb or kilobyte where kilo means the same as anywhere else in our measurement system: 1000 so a k is 1000 bytes how about Mb? b for byte again, and M for mega: megabyte big M for mega, small m means milli, or one thousandth, 1/ 1000 as in mm, thousandths of a metre mega in our measurement system means one million, or a thousand thousand, so a megabyte is a thousand kilobytes or one million bytes how about GB? you can now buy hard disk drives in Gb, gigabytes, thousands of Mb or thousands of millions of bytes, so a 5Gb HDD holds 5000 Mb of data with some large computers storing up to Tb, terabytes... yup, thousands of Gb... so one terabyte (Tb) = 1000 gigabytes (Gb) = megabytes (Mb) = kilobytes (kb) = bytes or one thousand billion bytes of information

CD-ROM DRIVE- means Compact Disk - this drive uses a laser to read (read-only) the information in the tiny but complex pattern stamped permanently onto computer compact disks. Read Only Memory CD's are much tougher than floppies, and hold more than 600Mb of information CD-writer drives are now available,so people can burn their own CDs, e.g. to backup files permanently established computer shops or print shops now have their own CD-writers, and will backup your files by burning them.You can also record your music CD.