1. How Personal Computers Work An example presentation

2. The basic parts of a computer Central processing unit (CPU) - The microprocessor "brain" of the computer system is called the central processing unit. Everything that a computer does is overseen by the CPU. Memory - This is very fast storage used to hold data. It has to be fast because it connects directly to the microprocessor. There are several specific types of memory in a computer: – Random-access memory (RAM) - Used to temporarily store information that the computer is currently working with – Read-only memory (ROM) - A permanent type of memory storage used by the computer for important data that does not change – Basic input/output system (BIOS) - A type of ROM that is used by the computer to establish basic communication when the computer is first turned on – Caching - The storing of frequently used data in extremely fast RAM that connects directly to the CPU – Virtual memory - Space on a hard disk used to temporarily store data and swap it in and out of RAM as needed (source: http//www.howstuffworks.com/pc.htm)

3. Seeing this as a diagram (source: http://homepage.cs.uri.edu/faculty/wolfe/book/Readings/Reading04.htm)

4. Storage Hard Disks A hard disk is a metal platter coated with magnetic oxide that can be magnetized to represent data. Hard disks come in a variety of sizes. Hard disk for mainframes and minicomputers may be as large as 14 inches in diameter. Several disks can be assembled into a disk pack. There are different types of disk packs, with the number of platters varying by model. Each disk in the pack has top and bottom surfaces on which to record data. Many disk devices, however, do not record data on the top of the top platter or on the bottom of the bottom platter. (Source: http://homepage.cs.uri.edu/faculty/wolfe/book/Readings/Reading05.htm)

5. Powering up When You Turn The Power On As soon as you turn the computer on the BIOS chips come to life. BIOS stands for Basic Input Output System. The computer has one or more of these ROM (Read Only Memory) chips. The BIOS is the first step in telling the computer who it is. The Central Processing Unit (CPU chip) is the main thinking part of the computer, but so far, it has no thoughts to think about. The BIOS hooks it up to other parts, places where thoughts can be stored. The BIOS tells it how to talk with the disk drives, the RAM (Random Access Memory), the keyboard and the monitor. The computer wakes up and starts looking around to see what parts it has. It learns how to read input from the keyboard and how to send a picture to the monitor. Then it checks to see how many and what kind of disk drives it has. You see each drive light momentarily flash on. (source: http://members.aol.com/wbox/poweron.htm)