Computer Basics

1
Computer Basics

• (all technology courses should at least skim over
  computer basics, so that is what we are going to
  do)

2
Hardware vs. Software

• Hardware is what makes up the computer itselfthe
  CPU, the memory, etc. The physical parts of the
  computer.
• Software is the programs or applications that you
  run on the hardware, controlling how it functions
  and directing its operation. All the programs we
  run are software, as is the Windows XP operating
  system we run them on.

3
Operating System

• An operating system is software that
• handles the interaction of the user with the
  computer through peripheral devices
• manages the file system for the storage of
  programs and data files (retrieving and storing
  files the user works with)
• manages the interaction of the user with various
  application programs and the users own programs.
• Examples of Operating Systems
• DOS (which stands for disk operating system)
• MAC OS (currently at OS X.5.4 X.6 should be out
  in mid-2009)
• Windows (currently Vista Windows 7 is expected
  to be released in early 2010)
• Pictures later on today

4
The Anatomy of a Computer

• The hardware

5
The Hardware Components

• The basic hardware components of a computer
  include
• The CPU (Central Processing Unit)
• Primary memory
• Secondary memory
• Peripheral devices

6
The CPU

• The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the brains
  of the computer and is made up of one or more
  microprocessor
• It controls all that goes on in the computer
• The clock speed of the CPU is measured in
  gigahertz, and used to be measured in megahertz
  (1 GHz 1000 MHz)
• In general, the bigger the number, the faster the
  computer is. However, this can be made a little
  confusing by the fact that computers will
  multi-core processors with lower clock speeds
  will actually run faster than a computer with a
  single-processor at a higher clock rate.
• Because of this, clock speed generally isn't
  advertised on most recent computers.

7
The CPU

• There are several different CPU manufacturers
  AMD and Intel are the most popular ones.

an Intel microprocessor

• Source www.heise.de/ct/schachduell/
  kontrahenten.shtml

8
Primary memory

• The primary memory of a computer stores software
  and data while it is being used.
• When you turn the power off, you loose what is in
  primary memory.
• Consists of RAM (Random Access Memory)
• Generally, the more RAM you have, the more things
  you can have happening at once on your computer
  without it slowing down
• How much RAM is in most new PCs these days?
• Memory is pretty cheap, and one of the best ways
  to speed up a slow-running system

9
Secondary Memory

• Secondary memory stores data in a more permanent
  way
• Also called "Auxiliary Storage"
• It is cheaper and slower than primary memory.
• Examples of secondary memory are hard drives
  (like your C\ drive), CDs, DVDs, floppy disks,
  and USB memory sticks
• How much space is on the hard drives of new
  computers these days?
• The speed that the hard drive is able to search
  for data on it is measured in rpm (revolutions
  per minute), and is commonly 5,400 rpm or 7,200
  rpm.

10
Peripheral Devices

• This encompasses all of the non-essential support
  devices for a computer
• Includes input/output (I/O) devices like the
  keyboard and mouse, monitors, printers, speakers,
  scanners, etc.
• What might the future of I/O devices be? See "No
  more keyboards" video.

11
A Brief History of Computers

• How did we get here?

12
ENIAC(Electronic Numerical Integrator and
Computer)

• ENIAC, the first computer, was created at the
  University of Pennsylvania in 1946.
• It filled an entire room and used enough
  electricity for an entire block.
• It failed, on average, every hour.

ENIAC
Source http//www.npl.co.uk
13
Evolution of Computers

• 1950s saw IBMs first business computer.
• Could only perform a single task at a time.
• 1960s was the advent of time-sharing computers.
• 1969 saw the invention of ARPAnet, which the
  Internet developed from
• 1980s was the first time PCs were owned in
  large numbers.

14
Evolution of PCs
5.25 in floppy
Source Wikipedia

• 1977 The Apple II was introduced and became
  first practical, successful personal computer. It
  used low-cost floppy disks, had expansion slots
  for upgrades, and had a wide variety of software
  for it. It went through several versions and
  remained in use throughout the 80s.
• 1984 The Apple Macintosh was the first computer
  with a GUI OS (like you are used to with Windows
  today).
• 1981 The IBM PC was introduced with DOS.
  Eventually, many manufacturers would use IBM's
  standards to develop their own PCs.
• 1992 Windows 3.1 came around in 1992 and was the
  first really popular Windows OS on IBM-compatible
  machines. An earlier Microsoft graphical OS was
  Windows 3.0, which came out in 1990.

15
Pictures/Examples

• Hardware the different PCs and their components
• Software the different operating systems
  running on these machines, and the programs by
  the operating system

16
Internet Basics

• Some key terms and vocabulary

17
Networks and the Internet

• When two computers are connected together in a
  way that lets them communicate with each other,
  you have a network
• The Internet is a collection of computer networks
  that communicate with each other using a common
  set of rules called a protocol

18
Intranet vs. Internet

• An Intranet is a private (closed) Internet,
  running inside a LAN (Local Area Network)
• It can be accessed only by authorized persons.
• Many businesses will have an IntranetMISD has
  one, for example
• It is basically a little bitty piece of the
  Internet that doesnt allow any outsiders into
  it.
• Intranets use a firewall to protect against
  unauthorized access.

19
The WWW

• The World Wide Web (WWW) is not the same thing as
  the Internet. The Web is instead a set of
  protocols that run on top of the Internet.
• The WWW was released in 1992, based on public
  specifications.
• All pages on the WWW use the Hypertext Transfer
  Protocol, or HTTP.
• Additional standards for the WWW are developed by
  the World Wide Web Consortium, or the W3C
  (www.w3.org), which was founded in 1994.

20

• A domain name is the friendly name we type in to
  go to a site, like www.google.com, www.cnn.com,
  etc.
• When you type in a name, a name server looks up
  the IP address that goes with that name.
• An IP address is a unique number identifying
  every computer on the Internet
• The IP address for Google, for instance, is
  64.233.167.147.
• The IP address for MISD is 10.32.1.253

21
The Web 2.0

• The Web 2.0, or the "Read-Write Web", is a
  buzzword describing web technologies or services
  that all users to be a part of a web community
  and interact with each other much more than
  previously seen in the web
• Blogs, social web sites like MySpace and
  Facebook, Digg.com (where user ranking of news
  makes it more seen), Wikipedia (where users
  write, edit, and maintain a fairly trustworthy
  source of information), YouTube (where users
  post, rate, and respond to videos) and eBay are
  good examples of this interaction idea
• Basically, it just a marketing term for web pages
  that do more than post information, letting users
  contribute or interact with it in a more involved
  manner
• Virtually EVERY major website launched in the
  past few years has been "read/write"

22
Links for the History of the WWW/Internet

• http//undergraduate.cs.uwa.edu.au/units/231.312/i
  nternet-history.html
• A brief, informal history of the Internet
• http//www.walthowe.com/navnet/history.html
• Another nice page on the history of the Internet

23
A Quick History of Web Browsers

• When the WWW started up in 1991, browsers were
  text-only (no images).
• Mosaic was a browser that came out in 1993 and
  first supported imagesa big deal.
• Netscape ruled from around 1994 to 1997. It added
  cookies and support for new tags. Originally, you
  had to pay to use Netscape
• Internet Explorer was pretty insignificant for
  its first few versions, but with IE3 (1995) it
  got a little better. IE was free, which meant
  Netscape had to become free as well or people
  wouldnt use it.
• Newcomer Mozilla (not Firefox yet) came out in
  2002 after IE6
• IE7 and Mozilla Firefox 2 were both released in
  the fall of 2006. Both are MUCH improved in how
  they work with web standards
• IE8 is currently in Beta (with a second release
  coming out in days), while Firefox 3 was released
  in June 2008. IE8 has signifcant changes with
  "WebSlices" and a stricter default standards mode
  
• Other browsers Apples Safari browser and Opera,
  which is available on a lot of different formats
  (Wii, Mac, PC, Linux, phones, etc)

24

• The end of this interesting article on the
  history of the Internet, written long ago in
  1993, says that "Computer networks worldwide will
  feature 3-D animated graphics, radio and cellular
  phone-links to portable computers, as well as
  fax, voice, and high-definition television. A
  multimedia global circus!"
• How much of that has come true?
• Since 1993, other developments have made a big
  impact on the Internet, including
• blogs
• peer-to-peer filesharing, which speed up the
  development of legal, for-pay download services
• RSS newsfeeds
• what else?

25
Assignment for today

• Go to the web page and, using this PowerPoint and
  the web page links provided, answer the posted
  questions.
• You can work in small groups, but each person has
  to turn in a sheet of notebook paper with the
  answers on them by the end of class for a daily
  grade.
• When you get done, look over the W3School's
  "Introduction to HTML" tutorial to prepare you
  for next class, when we'll start HTML