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This column is designed to be an informative
guide to the technological age.
In this issue we will discuss the basics.
The language used by computer geeks, nerds, enthusiasts and
professionals. We will
refer to the basic components of the PC and give their definitions.
CRT-
When someone mentions the CRT, they are most often referring to the
PC’s monitor (the unit from which the picture is displayed).
The term CRT is short for Cathode
Ray Tube, which is really one of the components within the monitor.
CPU-Central
Processing Unit. Some
people refer to the PC itself as the CPU.
But like the term CRT is a component within a monitor, the CPU is
really a component within the PC. The
CPU, or processor, speed is rated in Megahertz.
A Meg in computer terms is synonymous with one million.
Frequency is measured in Hertz,
or cycles per second. One
million Hertz is the equivalent of one million cycles per second, which
would be one Megahertz. Now
let’s use an Intel Pentium 75 as an example.
A 75 megahertz Pentium is obviously a processor that has had
it’s processing speed rated at 75 megahertz.
That means every second, it pushes out 75 million groups of
one’s and zeros. Mind boggling isn’t it?
So when someone tells you a processors speed, they will be
telling you in megahertz. If
they know what they’re talking about.
Megabyte-One
million bytes. A byte
is short for binary term. Which
is a unit of storage capable of holding one character, or eight bits.
Bit is short for
binary digit, which is a single one or zero.
One byte is basically a group of eight digits (or bits)
consisting of ones and zeros. Every
time one character is typed on a keyboard, eight bits (or one byte) of
information is input into the computer. In short: 8 bits=1
byte, one megabyte is equal to one million bytes or eight million bits.
Got it? I hope so,
because I’d hate to have to explain it again.
Floppy
drive-
The floppy drive is the drive in which a floppy disk is inserted. There
are basically two types. A
3 ½ inch floppy drive and the increasingly antiquated 5 ¼ inch floppy
drive. The largest amount
of information that can be stored on a floppy is 2.88 megabytes.
However, it is a rare occasion when a 2.88 megabyte floppy drive
is found. Virtually all floppy drives are the 1.44 megabyte type.
There are removable storage disks such as the Iomega Zip disk
that can store 100 megabytes of information and they have recently come
out with a disk that stores 250 MB’s. MB is short for
megabyte, by the way.
Hard
drive-The
hard drive is the unit within the PC in which the bulk of all data is
stored. The storage
capacity is measured in megabytes, just like the floppy and other
removable storage mediums like the Zip disk.
However the size of a hard drive can vary significantly from one
PC to another and the storage capacities are increasing at ridiculously
high rates. Just a few
years ago, a one GB
(gigabyte) hard drive would have been considered enviably large.
Now it’s really nothing. A
gigabyte is one billion bytes.
You probably couldn’t find a hard drive with a storage capacity
below 4 GB, at any store that sells PC hardware.
I look in magazines now and see adds for 10 GB, 17 GB, 20GB and
higher. Just think, 4GB or
4 billion bytes of storage is considered the bare minimum, these days.
Ram-Random
Access Memory. Whenever
anyone refers to “memory” they are usually referring to the PC’s
RAM. Your RAM’s storage
capacity, like the storage capacity for hard drives, is measured in
megabytes. Most new systems
come with a minimum of 32 MB of RAM.
But unlike the hard drive, RAM is only a temporary storage place
for information. So why
bother with RAM? I’m glad
you asked. Every time you go to open an application or execute a
command, your PC will look to the hard drive in search of that
information. Once that
information is located, it is temporarily stored into memory.
Information is read significantly faster from RAM than from the
hard drive. Simply stated: The more RAM you have to store information,
the faster your PC’s applications will run.
Basically, since the information wouldn’t need to be retrieved
from the (slower) hard drive, as you continue to work within the
application.
CD-ROM-Compact
Disk Read Only Memory. The
ROM part is easy to explain. It
just means that you can only read from the CD and not write to it.
However, we now live in an age where recordable CD-ROM drives are
affordable. CD-ROM drive
speeds are also increasing at ridiculously fast rates.
Most new systems come with a CD-ROM drive that’s at least 40 X
(40 times). Which isn’t
even the fastest speed currently available. I am hesitant to even mention the fastest speed available
because it’s bound to change by the time you read this.
Modem-The
modem is the device that’s used to connect to the Internet or send and
receive faxes on your PC. The
term modem is short for modulator/demodulator.
It basically converts digital information into an analog signal and then
sends it out over a phone line. On
the receiving PC, the analog signal is received and then converted back
to the original digital information it started out as.
Modem speed is measured in kilobits
per second (KBPS). That’s
thousands of bits per second. So
a 14.4 k modem is obviously 14,400 bits
per second or 14.4 thousand BPS.
Operating
System-Also
known as the OS.
The operating system is the basic interface between the user and
the PC. The most popular
operating systems are the ones that were developed by Microsoft.
First there was DOS
(the Disk operating System). Then
the various releases of Windows
such as Windows 3.1 (first popular release of windows), Windows 3.11 for
Workgroups, Windows NT,
Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows 2000. Then there are other operating
systems such as Unix and OS/2. Unix is primarily
used for file servers and OS/2 is fading in popularity.
There is the Mac OS, that is the Operating System loaded on Macintosh computers.
There are more recent additions to the OS market such as the BeOS
and Linux. Linux is the more popular of the two and is increasing in
popularity at a much faster rate. Linux
uses many of the same commands that Unix uses.
It’s not known for being user friendly and would have to be
made more user friendly in order for it to be more of a threat to
Microsoft. At least
on the workstation level. It
is, however, becoming a major player on the web server level.
Sumary:
We hope that
many of you out there have found this article to be of some assistance
and that you have gained something of value from it.
It is one individual article, so it’s impossible to include
everything pertinent to all of the subjects touched on. But, hopefully,
if someone walked up to you and said “I just got a new PC.
It’s a 333 megahertz Pentium 2 system with 64 MB of RAM, a 10
GB hard drive, 40 X CD-ROM and a 56 k modem, with Windows 98
pre-loaded”, you wouldn’t be at a loss for words.
It would be even nicer to think that we were the ones who made it
possible for you to understand that statement.
Take care.
Feedback:
Please let us know what you think about this
article. Too easy?
Too difficult to follow? Serves
absolutely no purpose? Let
us know. We’ll be happy to continue it or we wouldn’t mind giving
it the axe. It’s fate
lies in your hands. Also,
Have you discovered any errors? If
so, tell us.
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