Elementary Hardware

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Elementary Hardware
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Power Supply
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What It Does

• Converts power from the outlet into the
  correct voltage for every device that composes
  the computer.

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What This Means For Your Computer

• Hooking up disk devices to your computer
  requires them to have a power-hookup to the power
  supply. Also, the system board and all internal
  devices require a certain amount of power. Fans
  also are usually powered by one of the connectors
  the power supply provides.

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Processor (CPU)
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What It Does

• The brain of your computer, it carries out the
  simple instructions needed to produce the desired
  effects of programs that you run on your computer.

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What This Means For Your Computer

• Since the processor is the main workhorse of
  the computer, it has perhaps the greatest effect
  on the speed of your computer.

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RAM
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What It Does

• Stores active Programs and Data to make them
  faster to access than reading from a disk.

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What This Means For Your Computer

• The more memory a computer has, the more
  programs it is able to run simultaneously. In
  addition, this has a substantial effect on the
  speed at which programs can be run on the system.

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Hard Drive
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What It Does

• Because hard-drive memory is non-volatile (IE
  sticks around when the power is off), and
  inexpensive, while still being faster than tape
  or cd media, it is the most common choice for
  program/data storage.

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What This Means For Your Computer

• The bigger the hard-drive you have the more
  programs and files you can store on your
  computer.

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Video Card
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What It Does

• Video cards speed up the display of both 2-D
  and 3-D graphics, by your computer (Movies and
  Games), by using their own built in processor and
  memory to remove computing load from your CPU.

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What This Means For Your Computer

• A video card upgrade can substantially increase
  the performance of graphics-intensive programs
  like games or movies.

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Fans
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What It Does

• Heat is one of the main causes of computer
  error and malfunction. Fans help control the
  heat levels within the case, and increase the
  stability and performance of the computer.

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What This Means For Your Computer

• A computer which crashes for no reason could
  be doing so for many reasons, but reducing heat
  with fans could be a viable option. This is more
  difficult with laptops, but freeing up vents
  makes a noticeable difference.

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Elementary Software
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BIOS
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What It Does

• Stores the tiny program that your computer
  uses to boot itself and the devices that it needs
  to load an operating system.

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What This Means For Your Computer

• The BIOS setup can be used to change many
  settings that are used in the early stages of
  your computer boot. These include the disk that
  is used as the boot-disk, and information telling
  your computer what kind of hard-drives and I/O
  devices are present.

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Operating System
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What It Does

• Controls all the resources that your computer
  has available to it. Allocates these resources
  between tasks that your computer wishes to run.

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What This Means For Your Computer

• Because the OS controls so much of what occurs
  on your computer, it has profound effect on
  things like stability, speed, and security of
  your computer.

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Drivers
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What It Does

• Contains the instructions that your operating
  system uses to control the devices that are
  installed on your computer.

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What This Means For Your Computer

• Having the correct drivers for a device and
  operating system pairing is very important for
  having a given device function correctly.
  Upgrading drivers may correct many problems, as
  they are refined sets of instructions that allow
  enhanced compatibility with your OS and other
  devices (and programs) that may be present on
  your computer

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Advanced Hardware Concepts
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Memory Hierarchy
Very Fast / Very Expensive
Registers
Cache Memory
Fast / Expensive
RAM
Slower / Cheaper
Hard Drive
Tectonic / Dirt Cheap
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Virtual Memory
Most modern operating systems use temporary
storage on the hard drive to handle processes
that require more memory than the Ram can
provide.
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What This Means For Your Computer

• The more memory your computer has at the lower
  levels, the faster your computer will go.
  Additionally, running out of storage on your hard
  drive is very bad because there is no place left
  for the computer to turn for memory.

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IRQ/DMA
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What It Does

• The CPU processor needs interrupt pipelines
  (IRQs) and memory addresses (DMAs) for
  communications with devices present in your
  system.

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What This Means For Your Computer

• Any device that needs either of the resources
  must have a unique IRQ or DMA set assigned to it,
  with no other devices sharing these resources.

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Expansion Slots (Cards)
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• Expansion slots provide a way of expanding the
  capabilities of your computer using a direct
  connection to the system board. Fast!

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PCMCIA (PC Cards)

• Laptops just dont have the space to allow
  motherboard expansion slots. The credit-card
  sized PCMCIA cards are the answer.

Personal Computer Memory Card International
Association People Cant Memorize Computer
Industry Acronyms
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Peripherals (USB)
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What It Does

• Peripherals are any devices that exist outside
  the box that makes up the main portion of your
  computer. USB is quickly becoming the most
  popular format, since it provides a common and
  very fast interface for almost any external
  device imaginable.

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What This Means For Your Computer

• USB is also very popular because any devices
  can be connected or removed from your computer
  without rebooting. USB hubs also allow an almost
  unlimited amount of peripherals to be installed
  on the computer at the same time.

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USB Propaganda

• serial port 115kbits/s (.115Mbits/s)
• standard parallel port 115kBYTES/s
  (.115MBYTES/s)
• Original USB 12Mbits/s (1.5MBYTES/s)
• ECP/EPP parallel port 3MBYTES/s
• IDE 3.3-16.7MBYTES/s
• SCSI-1 5MBYTES/s
• SCSI-2 (Fast SCSI, Fast Narrow SCSI) 10MBYTES/s
• Fast Wide SCSI (Wide SCSI) 20MBYTES/s
• Ultra SCSI (SCSI-3, Fast-20, Ultra Narrow)
  20MBYTES/s
• UltraIDE 33MBYTES/s
• Wide Ultra SCSI (Fast Wide 20) 40MBYTES/s
• Ultra2 SCSI 40MBYTES/s
• IEEE-1394 100-400Mbits/s (12.5--50MBYTES/s)
• Hi-Speed USB 2.0 480Mbits/s
• Wide Ultra2 SCSI 80MBYTES/s
• Ultra3 SCSI 80MBYTES/s
• Wide Ultra3 SCSI 160MBYTES/s
• FC-AL Fiber Channel 100-400MBYTES/s

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Other Advantages

• USB allows power to be carried along the
  connection cable
• USB 2.0 is backwards compatible
• 127 Device theoretical maximum
• 5 meter cable per hub maximum

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Why Laptops Are The Way They Are.
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Why?

• In order to miniaturize components on a
  laptop, each piece is often specifically made for
  the laptop model it is intended for.
  Furthermore, components tend to be placed very
  close together, and integrated into the system
  board.

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OK?

• As a result of this, laptops often have more
  compatibility issues between their internal
  devices and programs running on them. Updated
  drivers become even more important. Heat also
  can cause a lot of problems because of close
  proximity of heat-producing components. Keeping
  vents clear and clean can prevent overheating.

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Advanced Software Concepts
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Registry
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