- •What is a Computer?
- •The Personal Computer
- •The Minicomputer
- •The Mainframe Computer
- •The Supercomputer
- •The Modern Computer
- •The Analog Computer
- •How Computers Do Their Work
- •Yesterday eniac – The First Electronic Digital Computer
- •Computer Operations
- •The Five Data Processing Steps
- •Software
- •Summary
- •Getting Acquainted with Personal Computer. Hardware.
- •Yesterday. What Was the First Personal Computer?
- •Processing Hardware
- •The Motherboard
- •Peripheral Hardware
- •Input Devices
- •Output Devices
- •Storage Devices
- •Dos, the Disk Operating System
- •Dos Files
- •Dos Filenames
- •The dos Directory
- •Today. Commonly Used dos Commands
- •Beginning a Work Session
- •The Prompt
- •The Command Line
- •The Cursor
- •Using Application Programs
- •Ending a Work Session
- •Troubleshooting.
- •The Desktop Personal Computer
- •Personal Computer Configurations
- •Bits and Bytes
- •A Simple Configuration
- •A Full Configuration
- •Types of Personal Computers
- •Ibm pCs and pc-Compatibles
- •Using pCs and pc-Compatibles
- •Тhе ibm Personal System/2
- •Using ps/2s
- •The Apple Macintosh
- •Using the Macintosh
- •Tomorrow Tips for Buying a Personal Computer
- •Summary
- •Review Questions
- •Discussion Questions
- •Multiple-Choice
- •True/False
- •The World of Computers
- •General-Purpose and Special-Purpose Computers
- •Yesterday The Father of the Modern Computer
- •The Portable Personal Computer
- •Types of Portables
- •Portables and laptops
- •Ps/2-Compatible Laptops .
- •Macintosh Portables.
- •Using Laptops
- •The Palmtop Computer
- •The Workstation
- •Workstation Characteristics
- •The Microprocessor.
- •Types of Workstations
- •Scientific and Engineering Workstations.
- •Office Automation Workstations .
- •Educational Workstations.
- •Using Workstations
- •The Minicomputer
- •Types of Minicomputers
- •Using Minis
- •The Mainframe Computer
- •Types of Mainframes.
- •Using Mainframes
- •The Supercomputer.
- •Types of Supercomputers
- •Using Supercomputers
- •Tomorrow a Chilly Supercomputer
- •Parallel Processing
- •Using Parallel Processing
- •The Ever-Evolving Computer
- •Summary
- •Review Questions.
- •Discussion Questions.
- •Multiple-Choice.
- •Fill-in-the-Blank.
- •True/False.
- •Key Terms.
- •Vocabulary
The Desktop Personal Computer
A desktop personal computer is the most commonly used personal computer today. It is a computer that fits on a desktop, is designed for a single user, and is affordable for an individual to buy for personal use. Personal computers come in what we call configurations.
Personal Computer Configurations
Knowledge workers often use the word configuration to describe a computer's attributes. Configuration refers to the various hardware components that together make up a computer system. This includes the type of monitor or video display (color or monochrome, which may be green, amber, or black/white), the quality of the video display, the amount of RAM (random access memory), and the number and type of floppy or hard disk drives. It also includes other devices that may be connected either internally or externally. Adding a printer makes sense. A personal computer can be configured as a desktop personal computer like the Macintosh, or as a lightweight, portable laptop computer, or even as a more powerful workstation. If we were describing the configuration of a stereo or an auto, we'd probably refer to its features or accessories. A full-featured auto is often termed fully loaded. A full-featured personal computer is called fully configured.
Bits and Bytes
Before we go any further in explaining configurations, you need to understand the bits and bytes of computers. At their most basic level, computers only understand the language of electricity: positive and negative, or on and off. Since computer hardware is electronic, to communicate with it we must speak its simple language. For this reason, we use the binary number system, system based on just two numbers or digits: 1 (for on) and O (for off). Each of these numbers is called a binary digit, or bit for short. A bit is the basic unit of data recognized by a computer.
Computer designers realized that they could make computers work faster by grouping bits together for presentation to the CPU. This is like our language — it's easier for us to speak in words, rather than spelling out each letter as we talk to one another. The term we use for a grouping of bits is a byte. A byte is a group of bits that can be operated on as a unit by the computer. Most modern computers have eight bits to a byte.
The binary number system is called a base 2 number system, since it has only two numbers. By contrast, we use the base 10 number system in our everyday lives. In that system, we count by powers of 10; in the binary system, we count by powers of 2. For example:
2¹ = 2
2² = 4
23= 8
24=16
A very important measure of the computer's power is the number of bytes of memory and storage it has. We commonly count bytes in the thousands, called kilobytes (KB), but using the base 2 number system. Therefore, 1KB is 210 bytes, or 1,024 bytes. When memory and storage goes into the millions, it is called megabytes; 1MB is 220 (1,048,576) bytes. A gigabyte (GB) is 1 billion bytes, and a terabyte (ТВ) is 1 trillion bytes. With that understanding, let's explore configurations in more detail.