http://pchardwarenotes
Posted by:technowings Abdul Razak 2170 days ago 
Welcome To
Welcome To
Technowings Computer Academy
We are happy to announce
that we are trying to provide on line help on hardware and network
troubleshooting for A+ Certification. We are very much appreciable if we are
quarried any doubts. If any doubt persists please feel free to mail us at
abdul.razak008@gmail.com
Table of Content
1. About PC data
1a. About data
1b. Character tables
2. The PC system board
2a. Introduction
2b. Boot process, system bus
2c. I/O buses
2d. Chip sets
2e. On RAM
3. About CPUs
3a. An intro to CPUs
3b. CPU improvements
3c. 5th gener. CPUs
3d.Cooling and overclocking
3e. 6th generation CPUs
4. Drives and other storage
4a. Drives
4b. Hard disks
4c. Optic storage media
4d. ZIP etc.
4e. Tape streamers
5. Expansion cards and interfaces
5a. Adapters
5b. EIDE, Ultra DMA,
AGP
5c. SCSI, FireWire, USB
6. O.S. and file systems
6a. File systems
6b. Windows 95
6c. BIOS, OS, hardware
6d. The Windows 98
page
7. Graphics and sound
7a. Display basics
7b. Graphics cards
7c. About sound cards
7d. Digital music MP3,
MOD etc.
About data
Our PCs are data processors. The PC's function is simple: to
process data, and the processing is done electronically inside the CPU and
between the other components. That sounds simple, but
what is data, and
how is it processed electronically in a PC?
That is the subject of these pages.
Analog data
The signals, which we send each
other to communicate, is data. Our daily data have many forms: sound, letters,
numbers, and other characters (handwritten or printed), photos, graphics, film.
All this data is in its nature analog,
which means that it varies in type. In this form, the data-signals are unusable
in a PC. The PC can only process concise, simple data formats. Such data can be
processed very effectively.
Digital data
The PC is an electric unit. Therefore, it can only deal with
data, which are associated with electricity. That is accomplished using electric
switches, which are either off or on. You can compare with regular household
switches. If the switch is off, the PC reads numeral 0. If it is on, it is read
as numeral 1.
See
the illustration below:
With our electric switches, we can write 0 or 1. We can now
start our data processing!
The PC is filled with these switches (in the form of
transistors). There are literally millions of those in the electronic
components. Each represents either a 0 or a 1, so we can process data with
millions of 0s and 1s.
Bits
Each 0 or 1 is called a
bit. Bit is an abbreviation of the
expression Binary digit's. It is called binary, since it is derived from the
binary number system:
The binary number system
The binary number system is made up of digits, just like our
common decimal system (10 digit system). But, while the decimal system uses
digits 0 through 9, the binary system only uses digits 0 and 1.
If you are interested in understanding the binary number system,
then here is a brief course. See if you can follow the system. See how numbers
are constructed in the binary system, using only 0s and 1s:
Digital data
We have seen that the PC appears capable of handling data, if it
can receive them as 0s and 1s. This data format is called digital. If we can
translate our daily data from their analog format to digital format, they will
appear as chains of 0s and 1s, then the PC can handle them.
So, we must be able to digitize our data. Pour text, sounds, and
pictures into a funnel, from where they emerge as 0s and 1s:
Your Data
Computer Data
 
Let us see how this can be accomplished.
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