The
Windows 7 Operating System usually
comes installed on the Hard Drive ready to use on new computers.
Or
it can be
copied to your computer Hard Drive from a Digital
Video Disc (DVD).
The Operating System is
in charge of the computer. It is responsible for managing all the
computer's hardware and software
resources.
The
Operating System
makes
sure all the various parts of the
computer get what they need. "Booting up" or "re-booting" your
computer, is the process that occurs
when you turn your computer on. The
process has been likened to lacing up
your hiking boots. You are not going
anywhere until you have your boots on -
hence the term "Booting-up".
At the end
of the booting-up process, the Operating
System loads and begins to do its job of
controlling the way in which the
computer functions.
You may be working on your
wordprocesser, sending an email, and
have your Internet browser open for web
surfing, all at the same time. These
three programs need attention from the
central processing unit (CPU) to do
whatever task that you, the user, are
telling them to do.
All the programs you chose to run at the
same time need memory and storage space. They
also need to be able to send your
commands to devices such as the DVD
player, the scanner and the
printer. The
Operating System is responsible for
handling all these essential tasks, as
well as handling the processor and
network management.
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The Hard Drive
Nearly every desktop computer and server
in use today contains one or more
hard-disk drives like the one on the
right.
Hard drives do one thing well -
they store changing digital information
in a relatively permanent form.
Hard drives
give computers the ability to remember
millions of things when the power is turned off. A hard
drive stores all your files and
information in a permanent form unlike
storing it in Random Access Memory (RAM which is temporary).
The larger your hard drive the more information and files
you will be able to store. Today's average hard drive is 100 GB.
A
100 GB Laptop hard drive holds just as much
information despite being half the
physical size and weight of desktop hard
drives.
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The Central Processer Unit -
CPU.
The CPU, or processor, is the heart of your computer no
matter what type (PC, Server, or Laptop). The CPU processes
everything that your
Operating System asks the
computer to do.
There are many brands for processors such as Intel and
Athlon. The better the processor, the faster the computer.
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More on
the Operating System
The
operating system performs
many functions using what is referred to
as "drivers". When you install a new
printer your system may ask you to
install more software called a driver.
What does
a driver do?
A driver
is a specially written program which
understands the operation of the
specific device it interfaces to, such
as a mouse, a keyboard, a printer, video card or sound card.
The diagram illustrates a few typical
interfaces between the operating system
and components from many different
manufacturers.
The operating system has
several other functions including:
A set of libraries or functions which programs may
need to perform specific tasks with
specific
components.
System tools (programs) used to monitor
computer performance, debug problems, or
maintain parts of the system.
Operating
systems are written to allow you to add a
new security update or even an entirely new
operating system rather than junk your
computer and buy a brand
new one when you need to make a change.
Operating Systems:
XP versus Vista
Released in
October 2001 Microsoft Windows XP had 35
million lines of code. Since then it has grown to over 40
million.
Microsoft Windows Vista, released in January 2007, has over
50 million lines of code.
The much vaunted Vista “software boost” had the perverse effect of
slowing everything down. Especially when Vista is running on
anything but the latest and fastest hardware. Even then XP
outperforms Vista in the bussiness enviroment. As of February 2010; there are over 1.1 billion
Personnel Computers (PC's) in use worldwide. A staggering 70% of
them were running on XP. That means almost 800 million
computers - which makes XP the most widely installed
operating system of all time.
XP continues to thrive due to the growing market for
Notepads. Unlike their big brother, the Laptop, Notepads
do not have the resources to use Vista.
The jury is still out on
Windows 7 - released last October - which has been called "Vista cleaned-up".
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Upgrades
You need only a little knowledge of hardware to improve
your computer with a new Hard Drive or more Random
Access Memory (RAM). There
are some very good step by step guides to upgrading your
computer on YouTube but we always recommend
you seek our advice – which is free - before getting
busy with screwdriver.
The power supply is usually a small metal box in the top
corner of a case (tower). You can find out how the
power supply works at
howstuffworks.com
(external link).
The Important thing to remember is to
SWITCH-OFF and
UNPLUG the power supply before removing the panels to
work inside your computer.
Inside a tower computer
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The Motherboard
The motherboard, below, contains various circuit cards
performing various functions; all plug into many similar
sockets on a common circuit board. Each circuit card
performs a unique function in the computer and gets its
power from the socket.
Outlined on the
motherboard below are the sockets that house the Central
Processer Unit, (CPU) the Random Access Memory (RAM) and
the access or expansion slots.
No 1
shows the access slots for add-ons.
No 2 The CPU or
processor slot.
No.3 The slots to hold
random access memory (RAM).
1. Access Slots
2. Processor (CPU)
3. Random Access Memory (RAM) Slots.
Access or expansion slots are openings in a computer where a
circuit board can be inserted to add new capabilities to the
computer. Add-on’s such as networking cards, video adapters,
sound cards to improve your computers performance are
surprisingly easy to install.
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RAM. Random Access Memory 
Random Access Memory (RAM),
two samples on the right, speeds things up.
When an application, like a word processor, is running it
stores information in the RAM.
When you close the
application the information is deleted from the RAM.
The more RAM you have the faster your computer will be, and
the more applications you'll be able to run without loosing
speed.
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More on Ram.
Random Access Memory (RAM) is a part
of main memory.
RAM is called main memory because we can
randomly and quickly access any location
in memory.
It is used to store
(1) instructions waiting to be obeyed,
(2) instructions currently being obeyed,
(3) data awaiting processing,
(4) data currently
being processed, and
(5) data awaiting
output.
RAM are of two types: DRAM & SRAM
DRAM stands for Dynamic RAM. It is the
type of memory in a modern computer. It
is dense, very small, and it is very
inexpensive, which makes it affordable
for large amount of memory. The memory
cells in a DRAM chip are tiny capacitors
that retain a charge to indicate a bit.
The problem with DRAM is it is dynamic,
and because of the design it must be
constantly refreshed or the electrical
charges in the individual memory
capacitors will drain and the data will
be lost. SRAM stands for Static RAM.
It does not need the periodic refresh
rate like DRAM. It is also much faster
than DRAM and is fully able to keep pace
with modern processor. However SRAM is
both expensive and physically larger.
Computer
Tutorials
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/howstuffworks/23-computer-tour-video.htm
QWERTY
Keyboard: Origins
Back in 1875, people used
typewriters with keyboards laid out in ABC order. Because folks typed so
quickly, jamming was a common problem. Mr. Christopher Sholes couldn’t
improve the mechanical aspects of the typewriter, so he did the
next best thing to get people to slow down. His solution was to arrange the
letters in such a way so that the type bars wouldn’t get crossed up. It
worked.
Over time
Sholes
QWERTY
layout became the standard. Inventors have since introduced alternatives,
but nothing has caught on with the mainstream. One of the best known is the
Dvorak Layout. HowStuffWorks breaks down the
pros and cons.
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Faster still and Faster
June 2009.
Fujitsu announced the new
SPARC64 VIIIfx - codenamed Venus - for
supercomputers. The 8-core SPARC64
VIIIfx offers a processing power of 128 gigaflop.
1 gigaflop = 1 billion
floating point operations per second.
A
floating-point operation is any
mathematical operation (such as +, -, *,
/) or assignment that involves
floating-point numbers (as opposed to
binary integer operations).
Floating-point numbers have decimal
points in them, i.e. 2.0 is a
floating-point number because it has a
decimal in it.
The number 2 (without a decimal point)
is a binary integer.
Floating-point
operations typically take longer to
execute than simple binary integer
operations. For this reason, most
embedded applications avoid wide-spread
usage of floating-point math in favour
of faster, smaller integer operations.
