Everything you ever wanted to know about computers

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    (But now I bet you are sorry you asked)

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    Most people have a passing curiosity about these mysteriousdevices that seem to infiltrate every aspect of Modern Life.

    Unfortunately, sometimes they make the mistake of askingme, an engineer/geek Just how do those things work?

    I usually start with the history of the atom and four hours later

    I am still trying to explain the need for the Flux Capacitor.The purpose of this presentation is to curtail my need toexplain every boring detail and to make computers easier tounderstand for the Sub Genius.

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    Just the Facts, Jack

    Inside of every

    computer there a

    few basic parts.

    The Motherboard

    This is the main part thateverything thing else

    plugs into or onto.

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    Just the Facts, Jack

    Inside of every

    computer there a

    few basic parts.

    The Drives(Hard Drives, CD/DVD or

    Solid State Drives)

    The drives connect to the

    Motherboard through the

    IDE connectors (older) or

    the SATA connectors.

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    Just the Facts, Jack

    Inside of every

    computer there a

    few basic parts.

    The Memoryor RAM(Random Access Memory)

    There are many flavors ofRAM, but these days you

    probably have either DDR2

    or DDR3 = newer and

    faster.

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    Just the Facts, Jack

    Inside of every

    computer there a

    few basic parts.

    The CentralProcessing Unit

    or CPU

    Usually made byIntel or AMD

    (American Micro Devices).

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    Just the Facts, Jack

    Inside of every

    computer there a

    few basic parts.

    The GraphicsProcessing Unit

    or GPU.

    Usually made byNvidia or AMD.

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    The Motherboard

    This is the main part thateverything thing else

    plugs into or onto.

    The MB has many chips,

    slots, plugs and circuitsthat are printed onto a

    piece of plastic. It serves

    to connect a bunch of

    stupid chips into a smart

    collection of silicon that

    we can occasionally make

    to do something useful.

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    The Motherboard

    The Power ConnectorsInside of your box or lying

    on the floor near your

    laptop is a Power Supply

    Unit or PSU. It convertswall power at 120 volts

    alternating current (~)

    into power the computer

    can use. The computer

    needs 12 or 5 or 1.273etc. volts direct current

    (+/-), going to the right

    place at the right time.

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    The Motherboard

    The PCI slotsPCI meansPersonal Computer Interface.These provide a means toadd devices to yourcomputer such as a Video

    Graphics Card, or more USBports. PCI is standard.PCIe(xpress) x1 is newer,and PCIe x16 is a high speedslot used for graphics cards.Many computers have thegraphics chips built onto theMotherboard, as a lowerperformance alternative.

    Most laptops do not have PCIexpansion slots.

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    The Motherboard

    The I/O connectors.

    Without Input and Outputthe computer would notknow what to do, nor

    would we know what itwas doing. These includemice, keyboards,monitors, printers,scanners, joysticks,

    wheels, speakers,networks, cameras andother USB (UniversalSerial Bus) devices.

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    The Drives

    (Hard Drives, CD/DVD orSolid State Drives)

    The drives connect to the

    Motherboard through the

    IDE connectors (older) orthe SATA connectors.

    The drives are the only

    way your computer can

    remember anything oncethe power has been shut

    off. They are used to load

    data into the memory

    chips.

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    The Drives

    Hard Drives are an unholymarriage between arecord player and acassette tape (Kids, askyour parents). The

    aluminum platter iscoated with magneticstuff (rust). The actuatorarm moves back and forthlike a record needle,

    zapping the platter withmagnetic pulses as itspins. The arm does notmove in a spiral, it can goanywhere at anytime.

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    The Drives

    CD/DVD Drives use a laserbeam to detect or burn tiny

    holes onto an aluminum foil

    disk. You can see the laser

    lens in the middle (blue

    circle). The drive spins thedisk and the laser moves

    back and forth to see the

    entire disk (you can see the

    rods it slides on at either

    side of the picture). CDs usea red laser and DVDs use a

    blue laser. The blue laser

    can make a smaller hole.

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    The Drives

    Solid State Drives - SSDs

    These are a new and expensive type ofdrive that is essentially a huge and fastUSB Flash Drive that uses non-volatilememory (it retains its memory whenthe power goes off).

    They cost 10 times more than a normaldrive, but they can be more than 50

    times faster and use a lot lesselectricity. They are used in businessesthat need to cram more capacity intothe same IT room. One thing SSDs areexcellent at is as Internet servers

    where 1000s of tiny bits of info needto be delivered super fast. Those kindof operations make a mechanical hard

    drive slow down when the arm has towiggle all over the disk.

    They are great for putting programson, so the Operating System and othersoftware can load up faster. Mostpeople then use a conventional Harddrive for saving their data.

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    The Drives

    The InternetIt is best to think of theInternet as just another Harddrive that is connected toyour computer. It is just a

    Hard drive that is infinitelyHUGE, Complex and gettingbigger all the time. TheWorld Wide Web is just theagreed upon means toorganize and display all of

    that stuff so that meremortals dont get their LOLKittens mixed up with theirWikiLeaks.

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    Memory or RAM

    (Random Access Memory)This is the computers

    REAL brain.

    A computer can not think

    about anything until oneof the drives places the

    data into memory.

    Then the data passes back

    and forth between theCPU and the RAM through

    the Motherboard circuits.

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    Memory: The Sequel or ROM

    (Read Only Memory)The ROM chips do not lose theirmemory when the power goesoff.

    A powered down computer isbeyond stupid. The main ROM

    is called the BIOS (Basic InputOutput System) and it tells theMotherboard how to turn thisconfusing collection of chipsand wires into a computer thatcan then load the OperatingSystem (Windows, Mac, etc.).

    When you see the black andwhite text as the computer isstarting up you are looking atthe BIOS in action.

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    The CPU

    Have you ever wonderedwhat 410 million transistorson circuitry so dense it isequal to a map of everystreet in the U.S.miniaturized down to less

    than 1 centimeter squarelooks like?

    And this is an obsolete

    Intel Core 2 Duo.

    CPUs have progressed to thepoint that only other SuperCPUs can design them, kindof like the Terminator.

    Scary isnt it?

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    The CPU

    The CPU is like the engine ofyour car. It makes everything go,but without hundreds of othersystems supporting it, the CPU isas dumb as the sand from

    whence it came.

    Many PC sellers try to foolpeople into buying the fastestCPU. But if the Motherboard,Drives, Memory and Graphics are

    junk, the CPU can not do its jobproperly.

    Just imagine if you tried to racea car with a huge amount ofhorsepower, but it had skinnytires. You would go nowhere fastand crash at the first corner.

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    The CPU

    When one is building acomputer the slowest part isthe weakest link. This iscommonly referred to as abottleneck.

    One needs fast Motherboardcircuitry (referred to as theFront Side Bus or FSB),Memory speed, Drive speedand a Graphics ProcessingUnit (GPU) to give the CPU

    the ability to flex itsmuscles.Typically the CPU isbottlenecked by the rest ofthe system.

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    Graphics Processing Unit

    The GPU is the part of thecomputer that draws on thescreen. A long time ago itwas determined that it ismuch better to have aspecialized mini computeron a card (or a chip) tohandle all of the graphics.This frees up the CPU to dothe heavy thinking. Themost popular GPUs aremade by NvidiaGeForce orAMDRadeon. And thereare very expensive GPUsmade for professional usesuch as engineering ordigital content creation(movies and games).

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    Graphics Processing Unit

    For many people an on the

    Motherboard or IntegratedGraphics Chip is just fine. Ifyou do graphics or playgames, A good GPU is one ofthe most cost effective waysto upgrade your computer.

    This is me comparing thespeed of my old 9600 GPUin red to my new 465 ingreen. Laptops usually cannot upgrade the GPU, solook before you buy.

    For professional work someGPUs can cost more than thecomputer they are pluggedinto.

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    How it all works

    The CPU thinks in clock cycles. It is like

    a very limited person that can dothings extremely fast. Let us look at

    the schedule of a typical CPU cycle.

    12:00- Read the Mouse

    01:00- Write the Mouse to RAM

    02:00- Read the Keyboard

    03:00- Write the Keyboard to RAM04:00- Read the Hard drive to RAM

    05:00- Write the RAM to the Hard drive

    06:00- Try to figure out what that idiot

    pounding the keyboard wants

    07:00- Tell the GPU to draw something

    08:00- Read the Internet

    09:00- Tell the sound chip to beep

    10:00- Send a bit of power to all the

    components

    11:00- The cycle is almost over, I

    better crunch a few numbers

    12:00- Lather, Rinse, Repeat

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    How it all works

    Smart Phones, Tablets and MP3 players

    are a special breed of computers thatare usually powered by a System On a

    Chip or SOC. Apple makes their own

    SOCs and another popular brand is

    made by ARM in England. Inside they

    work just like any other Mainframe,

    Desktop or Laptop.

    Most of these smaller devices do not

    have hard drives and use non-volatile

    memory much like a Solid State Drive.

    A regular Hard drive is 3.5 inches,

    Laptops use 2.5 inch drives, but iPods

    and other MP3 players use 1 inch Hard

    drives.It amazes me that a drive the size of a

    Quarter can hold more information than

    the entire computer network that I

    used to manage in my engineering

    office back in the 1990s

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    (Are you still sorry you asked?)

    XYZcoordinates 2011

    Cort Anthony Byron Graphic Designer