Inside a PC

Tom Kelliher, CS 102

Jan. 22, 2001

Administrivia

Announcements

Quiz 1 on Friday.

Lab strategy: try to get help from a neighbor.

Assignment

Be familiar with the following terms.

From the Word 97 Essentials text, read Projects 1 and 2 and Appendix A (Our first lab will be Project 3.).

From Last Time

Memory, networking terminology. Computer operation theory.

Outline

1. Important terminology.

2. How does a computer store text? How does a computer run a program?

3. PC show and tell.

Coming Up

Word exercises. Bring the workbook; leave the diskette at home.

Important Terminology

You are responsible for being familiar with all these terms.

1. Serial port --- used for connecting external modems and older mice. A serial port has a programmable baud rate for transferring data.

2. Serial data --- data that is transferred one bit at a time.

3. Baud rate --- the rate at which data is transferred; bits per second. Typical modem baud rates are 14.4K, 28.8K, 33.6K, and 56K.

4. Modem --- expansion card used to connect a PC to an analog phone line so that digital data can be sent through the analog telephone network.

5. PS/2 port --- used for connecting newer keyboards and mice.

6. Keyboard --- primary input device.

7. Mouse --- primary pointing device.

8. Parallel port --- used for connecting a printer. A parallel port has a fixed rate for data transfer. Data is transferred eight bits at a time.

9. Parallel data --- data that is transferred several bits at a time.

10. Printer --- output device. Connects to parallel port. Two types of printers: bubble jet, laser.

11. USB port --- a high speed port which is replacing serial and parallel ports. Some devices which can be connected to USB ports: printer, keyboard, mouse, scanner, speakers.

12. Motherboard --- the PC's main circuit board.

13. Memory SIMM --- a small circuit board which holds the PC's RAM. Plugs into the motherboard.

14. Ethernet --- Another name for the cable connecting computers into a network. Physically, we saw two types: thinwire (like cable TV cable) and 10BaseT (like a telephone cable).

15. Static discharge --- a single static discharge can destroy computer components.

16. CPU --- central processor unit. The Pentium, Pentium III, Celeron, Athlon, etc. chip. It controls the PC.

17. Cache --- a type of very fast RAM which is connected between the CPU and the main RAM. Its purpose is to prevent the CPU from being slowed by the main RAM.

18. Bus --- a set of wires that permit data to be transferred from an I/O device to memory.

19. ISA expansion bus --- the slowest of the two expansion buses. About to become extinct. Expansion cards (internal modem, network, sound, etc.) plug into slots on the bus.

20. PCI expansion bus --- a faster expansion bus. Again, expansion cards (video adapters, hard disk controllers, etc.) plug into slots on the bus.

21. AGP bus --- an extremely fast bus, used to connect the video card to memory.

22. ROM BIOS --- the integrated circuit (chip) that contains the PC's start-up program.

23. Video adapter --- the expansion card which controls the PC's monitor.

24. Monitor --- the tv-like display.

25. Sound card --- the expansion card which provides multi-media. It controls the PC's stereo speakers (not the simple one which ``beeps'' at us all the time) and will be connected to the CD-ROM drive.

26. Hard drive --- the PC's main disk drive. Uses magnetic technology.

27. Platter --- a disk with a iron oxide (rust) coating. The bits and bytes of which files are composed are stored here. The platter is rigid for a hard drive and flexible for a floppy drive.

28. Read/Write head --- an arm with a sensor at the end which reads and writes data from/to the platter. On a hard drive, the head flies above the platter. On a floppy drive, the head contacts the platter.

29. Transistor --- the simple switch from which all computer chips are constructed. It has two states: on and off. This is why all computers use the binary (0 and 1) number system.

30. Scanner --- an input device for reading an image on paper into the PC.

    CD-ROM drive --- a high capacity optical disk drive. 660MB of storage. Read-only.

31. CD-R --- a CD that you can write-to once. Often used for burning music CDs.

32. CD-RW --- a CD that you can write-to several times. CD, CD-R, and CD-RW aren't always compatible with each other. Be careful.

33. DVD --- an extremely high capacity optical disk drive. Up to 17GB of storage.

34. ZIP drive --- a high capacity (100 MB) removable floppy drive.

PC Show and Tell

Motherboards, disk drives, floppies, SIMMS, and all sorts of goodies.