Basic Computer Concepts Hardware obeys instructions given by Software Input – Memory - Processor - Storage - Output Video: Computer Basics from GCFLearnFree.org This section of the course looks at the components of a computers system, and the different types of computers and their function. It includes computer hardware and software, the benefits of networking, and the importance of safe computing practices. * 1

History of Computers Eniac - 1945 - U of PA, Mauchley (1907-1980) Charles Babbage - 1791 - 1871 Analytical & Difference Engines Herman Hollerith - 1860 - 1929 Punched Cards - 1890 Census Eckert (1919-1995) & Mauchley (1907-1980) Eniac - 1945 - U of PA, Led to 1st Computer Co & Univac Charles Babbage (1791-1871) was a mathematician in London, the son of a banker. He worked as a mathematician, principally in the calculus of functions. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1816. Throughout his life Babbage worked in many intellectual fields typical of his day,and made contributions beyond his work on calculating machines. He worked with Lady Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron. A key idea in Babbage’s conception of how a calculating “engine” should work, held that the machine should be supplied with a program that would control its sequence of operations without human intervention. He proposed the use of punched cards, as was done in Jacquard’s Loom. In designing his second machine (never built), the Analytical Engine, he proposed the use of punched cards. It would be a general purpose, fully program controlled, automatic mechanical digital computer, an idea before it’s time and before the capability to actually build such a machine. Despite his many achievements, the failure to construct the machines that he designed and the failure politically to convince certain government agencies to support him left him a disappointed and embittered man. He died in London in 1871. *

Types of Computers Desktop Microcomputers Laptops (notebooks), Ultra thin Laptops Tablets, iPad, Netbooks, Smart phones Servers, Mainframes, Supercomputers Newer - Light weight, touch, sound Apple Macbook Air (2008) Windows Ultra Books (2011) *

BITS AND BYTES: Capacity Character A letter, numeral, punctuation symbol. Usually corresponds to a byte. Byte A character, group of eight bits Bit Smallest unit of information in a computer is a bit, (binary digit). Can be 0 or 1. ASCII A coding system for characters. “a” is 61 hex, 97 dec, a html, 01100001 binary Everything in a computer can be reduced to a very small pulse of electricity (or electrical magnetization) called a bit. It’s like a light switch, on or off, light or dark. The “on” state is called a 1, and the “off” state is called a 0. A “byte” is a group of 8 bits. Zero might be 00000000, 1 might be 00000001. A “character” is a general term for a letter, a number, or other symbols on your keyboard. It usually takes a “byte” to represent a “character”. “Ascii” is an acronym for a “coding” system for plain text files. When information is transferred to the screen of a monitor, physical dots called pixels light up on the screen. It takes several pixels on a screen to light up and form a character from the keyboard. Pixel depth: 16 colors (2 to 4th power), 256 colors (2 to 8th power), 65000 colors (2 to 8th power), 16 million colors (2 to 24th power) Today, most desktop displays provide color. Notebook and smaller computers sometimes have a less expensive monochrome display. Displays can usually operate in one of several display modes.that determine how many bits are used to describe color and how many colors can be displayed. A display that can operate in SuperVGA mode can display up to 16,777,216 colors because it can process a 24-bit long description of a pixel. The number of bits used to describe a pixel is known as its bit-depth. The 24-bit bit-depth is also known as true color. It allows eight bits for each of the three additive primary colors - red, green, and blue. Although human beings can't really distinguish that many colors, the 24-bit system is convenient for graphic designers since it allocates one byte for each color. The Visual Graphics Array (VGA) mode is the lowest common denominator of display modes. Depending on the resolution setting, it can provide up to 256 colors. Look terms up in webopedia.com *

ASCII Coding (See Ascii info at Webopedia.com) 01001000 01000101 01001100 01001100 01001111 H E L L O H E L L O Can you spell your name in Binary or in Ascii code? (See Ascii info at Webopedia.com) Everything in a computer can be reduced to a very small pulse of electricity (or electrical magnetization) called a bit. It’s like a light switch, on or off, light or dark. The “on” state is called a 1, and the “off” state is called a 0. A “byte” is a group of 8 bits. Zero might be 00000000, 1 might be 00000001. A “character” is a general term for a letter, a number, or other symbols on your keyboard. It usually takes a “byte” to represent a “character”. “Ascii” is an acronym for a “coding” system for plain text files. When information is transferred to the screen of a monitor, physical dots called pixels light up on the screen. It takes several pixels on a screen to light up and form a character from the keyboard. Pixel depth: 16 colors (2 to 4th power), 256 colors (2 to 8th power), 65000 colors (2 to 8th power), 16 million colors (2 to 24th power) Today, most desktop displays provide color. Notebook and smaller computers sometimes have a less expensive monochrome display. Displays can usually operate in one of several display modes.that determine how many bits are used to describe color and how many colors can be displayed. A display that can operate in SuperVGA mode can display up to 16,777,216 colors because it can process a 24-bit long description of a pixel. The number of bits used to describe a pixel is known as its bit-depth. The 24-bit bit-depth is also known as true color. It allows eight bits for each of the three additive primary colors - red, green, and blue. Although human beings can't really distinguish that many colors, the 24-bit system is convenient for graphic designers since it allocates one byte for each color. The Visual Graphics Array (VGA) mode is the lowest common denominator of display modes. Depending on the resolution setting, it can provide up to 256 colors. *

Capacity - Kb, Mb, or Gb? KB kilobyte - 1024 bytes (about a thousand bytes - 2 10 MB megabyte - over 1 million bytes (1024 times 1024, or 2 20 ) GB gigabyte - over 1 billion bytes (1024 x 1024 x 1024 or 2 30 ) TB terabyte - over 1 trillion bytes (1024 x 1024 x 1024 x 1024 or 2 40 ) Because 2 to the 8th power is 256. Bits tend to be arranged in groups of 8 (a byte). - DDR SDRAM (double data rate SDRAM) is synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM) that can theoretically improve memory clock speed to at least 200 MHz*. It activates output on both the rising and falling edge of the system clock rather than on just the rising edge, potentially doubling output. It's expected that a number of Socket 7 chipset makers will support this form of SDRAM. *Synchronous DRAM speed is measured in MHz rather than nanoseconds. You can convert the RAM clock speed to nanoseconds by dividing the chip speed into 1 billion ns (which is one second). For example, an 83 MHz RAM would be equivalent to 12 ns. Look at “Bits and Bytes” in HowStuffWorks.com *

The System Unit / CPU Box Integrated Mobile CPU Dell Tower unit Laptop / Notebook Processor, Memory, Storage (hard drive or solid state device), ports Companies: IBM, Apple, Toshiba, Dell, HP Laptop Screen: Active Matrix (TFT) vs Passive (Dual Scan) Size: 12.1” or more Battery Type/life: Metal Hydride (older), Lithium (newer). About 2 hours CPU: not as fast as desktop Components: Sometimes easy to remove, Sometimes not. Sometimes one swaps out for another. Ports/ Connectivity: Plugs on the back, room for PC-Cards. Operating System: Same as desktop Price: 1.5 to 3 times more than desktop. Features: how hot on the bottom, how clear the screen, red dots on screen, connectivity in back, writeable CD or DVD, battery life, Comfort on hands, etc. Laptops: Battery Life Ports on back or side What’s the Weight? Built in Wireless or NIC? Look at Reviews on Cnet.com *

The Motherboard or Main Board CPU /processor Bus Ports in back Power Supply Memory (RAM,ROM) Bays for storage devices (front) Expansion Slots / Adapter Cards Back Front The motherboard, or mainboard, is a rectangular integrated circuit board, made out of a fiberglass like substance, with copper wire and electrical components imbedded into it. . Certain parts of the computer must are plugged directly into this board: The CPU chip - where the control takes place - the fastest part of the computer. Hard Disk - where everything is stored permanently (not memory) CD/DVD - internal Memory chips - small green electronic circuit boards “modules” that kindof “snap in” to the insides of the computer. Specific to the computer you have. Motherboard - the basis of the computer, where everything is plugged in. Has some built-in plugs, has some expansion slots where you can buy boards for future things to plug in. *

The Processor A-series (A10, A8, and A6) AMD – Phenom, Athlon, FX, A-series (A10, A8, and A6) Intel - Pentium, Celeron, Core 2, Core (I3, I5, I7) Speed in Gigahertz (Ghz) or Megahertz (Mhz) PC World on Intel Processors - A microprocessor is a computer processor on a microchip. It's sometimes called a logic chip. It is the "engine" that goes into motion when you turn your computer on. A microprocessor is designed to perform arithmetic and logic operations that make use of small number-holding areas called registers. Typical microprocessor operations include adding, subtracting, comparing two numbers, and fetching numbers from one area to another. These operations are the result of a set of instructions that are part of the microprocessor design. When the computer is turned on, the microprocessor is designed to get the first instruction from the basic input/output system (BIOS) that comes with the computer as part of its memory. After that, either the BIOS, or the operating system that BIOS loads into computer memory, or an application program is "driving" the microprocessor, giving it instructions to perform. - A processor is the logic circuitry that responds to and processes the basic instructions that drive a computer. The term processor has generally replaced the term central processing unit (CPU). The processor in a personal computer or embedded in small devices is often called a microprocessor. *

Memory and Storage Memory - Temporary - RAM (Random Access Memory) Terms: SDRAM – Synchronous Dynamic RAM DDR – Double Data Rate (about 1600-3200 mbps) DDR2 – 3200-8533 mbps, DDR3 – 6400-17066 mbps ROM (Read Only Memory) Cache - L1 and L2 - supports the CPU Storage - Permanent - Hard Drive or new Solid State Device Memory (RAM) is temporary storage, while permanent storage is typically a HARD DRIVE, or more recently an SSD (Solid State Device) which is similar to the technology that a flash drive uses. For memory (RAM, DDR (Double Data Rate) is a feature that is advertised nowadays and has to do with the speed of the RAM. SDRAM – Synchronous Dynamic RAM DDR – Double Data Rate (about 1600-3200 mbps) DDR2 – 3200-8533 mbps, DDR3 – 6400-17066 mbps *

Computer Ports – Plug things in Legacy ports - PS2 -mouse, keybrd Serial(115 kbps) Parallel(Printer,500k) Current ports - USB1-2-3 -(12/480mbps,10gbps) printer, mouse, flashdrive Ethernet (RJ45 - 10/100/1000 mbps) network, NIC Sound - speakers, microphone Monitor – SVGA, DVI, DisplayPort, HDMI Look in the back of the computer in front of you, at the system box or cpu box - on the back are “ports”, or places to plug other devices in. Older computers will typically have places to plug in the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and in addition a serial port and a parallel port (50 to 100 kilobytes of data per second). Newer computers will have the same, but also will have a USB port (faster, 12 megabits per second) and sometimes a Firewire port or IEEE 1394 (400 megabits per sec). The newer USB 2.0 data rates are equivalent to Firewire, around 480 megabits per sec. You will also see a place to plug in the power cord, and possibly a place for a cord that could go from the monitor to the system box. These are typical transmission speeds: serial port 115Kbps; parallel, 500 Kbps; USB1, 12Mbps; USB2, 400 Mbps; Firewire, 400 /800 Mbps; Ethernet / Gigabit ethernet, 100Mbps / 1000 Mbps *

Output - The Monitor ASUS 20” LCD $109 Viewsonic 19” CRT Buying Guide CNET.COM Typical diagonal measures: 17” and up” Resolutions: (SVGA 4:3) 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024 New Resolutions (WXGA,16:9): 1600 x 900 Features: Dot Pitch - distance between dots LCD Monitor Advantages Take up less space and weigh less Cause less Eyestrain than CRT’s Are more environmentally friendly than CRT monitors Larger viewable area compared with similar sized CRT (17 inch viewable area on 17 inch LCD monitor compared with 15 inch viewable area on 17 inch CRT CRT Monitor Advantages: Images Viewable from all angles (LCD Monitors may have limited viewing angle) Resolution can be adjusted more completely Better color accuracy and clarity *

Output - Printers(Impact, NonImpact, Inkjet, Laser, All-in-one) InkJet($120) All-In-One ($130) LaserJet($330) HP Deskjet 6122 Canon Pixma MG6320 HP LaserJet Pro 200 (Amazon) (Staples) (Office Depot) 20 ppm b&w 3 ppm color Parallel,USB 15 ipm b&w, 10 color USB & wireless fax not available print-copy-scan 14 ppm b&w, color USB & ethernet Wireless 600 dpi color An inkjet printer is any printer that places extremely small droplets of ink onto paper to create an image. If you ever look at paper from an inkjet printer, you know that: The dots are extremely small (usually between 50 and 60 microns in diameter), so small that they are tinier than the diameter of a human hair (70 microns)! The dots are positioned very precisely, with resolutions of up to 1440x720 dots per inch The dots can have different colors combined together to create photo-quality images. http://www.howstuffworks.com/inkjet-printer.htm http://www.howstuffworks.com/laser-printer1.htm Lookup Ink Jet Printer in HowStuffWorks.com (Or Cnet.com) *

Other Considerations Mouse, Keyboards – wired & wireless CD/DVD storage Webcam, scanner Surge Protectors UPS Power Backup units Connection to Television See http://www.howstuffworks.com/surge-protector1.htm Surge BasicsThe main job of a surge protector system is to protect electronic devices from "surges." So if you're wondering what a surge protector does, the first question is, "What are surges?" And then, "Why do electronics need to be protected from them?" A power surge, or transient voltage, is an increase in voltage significantly above the designated level in a flow of electricity. In normal household and office wiring in the United States, the standard voltage is 120 volts. If the voltage rises above 120 volts, there is a problem, and a surge protector helps to prevent that problem from destroying your computer. To understand the problem, it is helpful to understand something about voltage. Voltage is a measure of a difference in electric potential energy. Electric current travels from point to point because there is a greater electric potential energy on one end of the wire than there is on the other end. This is the same sort of principle that makes water under pressure flow out of a hose -- higher pressure on one end of the hose pushes water toward an area of lower pressure. You can think of voltage as a measure of electrical pressure. As we'll see later on, various factors can cause a brief increase in voltage. When the increase lasts three nanoseconds (billionths of a second) or more, it's called a surge. When it only lasts for one or two nanoseconds, it's called a spike. If the surge or spike is high enough, it can inflict some heavy damage on a machine. The effect is very similar to applying too much water pressure to a hose. If there is too much water pressure, a hose will burst. Approximately the same thing happens when too much electrical pressure runs through a wire -- the wire "bursts." Actually, it heats up like the filament in a light bulb and burns, but it's the same idea. Even if increased voltage doesn't immediately break your machine, it may put extra strain on the components, wearing them down over time. In the next section, we'll look at what surge protectors do to prevent this from happening. *

Resources Lookup Information: Web Sales: Media: webopedia.com wikipedia.com howstuffworks.com cnet.com Web Sales: academicsuperstore.com officedepot.com bestbuy.com staples.com Media: Microsoft Entertainment Apple TV *