CE 536 - Networking and Microcomputer Systems
Day 2: Microcomputer Architecture and Components
Microcomputer Needs: What do you want the computer to do?
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Application Needs
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Component Needs
Computer Hardware
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System Unit - case, motherboard, ports
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CPU
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Memory
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Disk Drives
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Input Devices
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Graphics Card
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Monitor
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CD-ROM Drives
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DVD Drives
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Backup/Archive Devices
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Sound Cards
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Communications
Microcomputer Needs: What do you want the computer to do?
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Application Needs
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Working with Words
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Word Processing (Word, WordPerfect,
)
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Desktop Publishing (Publisher, PageMaker,
)
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Presentation Software (PowerPoint, Freelance,
)
-
World-Wide Web Publishing (FrontPage,
)
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Working with Numbers
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Spreadsheets (Excel, Lotus, Quattro Pro,
)
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Accounting (Money, Quicken,
)
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Mathematics (Matlab, Mathematica, Maple,
)
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Statistics (SPSS, SAS,
)
-
Engineering (Adina, Ansys,
)
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Working with Data
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Databases (Access, dBase, Paradox, Oracle,
)
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Stand-Alone
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Multi-user - Networked
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Information Retrieval
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CD-ROM Databases
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Remote Databases
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Web-Based Information
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Multimedia Applications
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Education
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Entertainment
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Graphic Design
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Multimedia Development
Microcomputer Needs: What do you want the computer to do?
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Component Needs
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Input Devices
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Keyboard
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Pointing Device
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Mouse
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Trackball
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Joystick
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Digitizing Pad
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Microphone ( w/ Voice Recognition Software)
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Scanning Device
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OCR - Optical Character Recognition
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Images (Picture, Slides, Negatives,
)
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Multimedia
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Audio
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Video
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Playback
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Capture
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Resolution / Frames per Second
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CD-ROM / DVD
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Communications
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Modem - Phone Line
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ISDN Modem - Phone Line
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Network Adapter
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Cable Modem and Network AdapterCard
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DSL Modem and Network Adapter Card
Computer Hardware
System Unit - case, motherboard, ports
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Case - Expandability, Aesthetics, Security
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Desktop
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Mini-tower
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Tower
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Power Supply - sized in WATTS
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Motherboard
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Design
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ATX - standardized PC AT desktop motherboard
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micro-ATX - simplified/reduced size ATX
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NLX - riser card (w/slots) is mechanical foundation into which motherboard
plugs (through edge connector)
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System Bus
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Bus Structure - expansion slots
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ISA - Industry Standard Architecture
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VESA - Video Equipment Standards Association
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MCA - (IBM) Microchannel Architecture
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EISA - Extended ISA (32-bit)
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PCI - Peripheral Connection Interface
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AGP - Advanced Graphics Peripheral
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PC Card (formerly, PCMCIA - Personal Computer Memory Card Industry Association
(People Cant Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms) ) -Laptop Computers
(16-bit)
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Types: I - 3.3mm thick; II - 5mm; III - 10.5mm
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Card Information Structure (CIS) - information stored in standard location
and format on PC Cards
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Card and Socket Services - operating system extensions for PC Cards and
the sockets into which they plug
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Card Bus - Laptop Computers (32-bit)
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Zoomed Video Port - connected to video frame buffer
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Ports
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Serial (COM1, COM2) - Mouse, Modem (115kbits/s)
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Parallel (LPT1, LPT2) - Printers, Scanners (115MBytes/s)
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SCSI - Small Computer System Interface (5 MBytes/s)
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Daisy-Chained Devices - plug into each other; last device must be terminated
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SCSI ID - unique to each device
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SCSI-2 (Fast SCSI) - faster data transfer (10MBytes/s)
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SCSI-2 (Wide SCSI) - 16-bit (20MBytes/s)
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SCSI-3 (Ultra SCSI) - even faster
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USB (Universal Serial Bus) - designed for low/medium speed peripherals
(1.5Mbits/s - 12Mbits/s (1.5Mbytes/s))
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Hot Plug
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Controls up to 127 devices simultaneously
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IEEE 1394 (Firewire™ Apple Computers) - for high speed peripherals
(up to 50Mbytes/s)
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Controllers
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IDE (Integrated Device Electronics)
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Supports Disk Drives Only
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Drives Limited to 528 MB
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EIDE (Enhanced IDE)
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Supports Drives, CD-ROMs, Tape Drives
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Primary IDE or EIDE Controller - supports up to 2 disk drives
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Secondary Controller - supports CD-ROM drives and tape drives
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Master Device - first device on an IDE or EIDE controller - set via DIP
switches or jumpers
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Slave Device - second device on a controller
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ROM BIOS (Read Only Memory Basic Input/Output System) - contains instructions
for starting (booting) the computer - AMI, Phoenix
-
CMOS RAM (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor Random Access Memory)
- maintains the system configuration when the power is off
-
Cleared when the Battery Dies!
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CPU (Central Processing Unit)
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Processor Type
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80486-DX (w/ Math Coprocessor)
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Supports 66MHz system bus
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Cache memory on CPU chip
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32-bit internal
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32-bit external (I/O)
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80486-SX (w/o Math Coprocessor)
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Pentium (586 - AMD, Cyrix)
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Double the cache
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32-bit internal
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64-bit external
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Two integer processing units
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One (64-bit) floating point processor
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Pentium w/ MMX (optimized for Multimedia)
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Pentium Pro (optimized for 32-bit software)
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Level 2 (L2) cache on separate chip (running at same clock speed as processor
chip)
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Pentium II (Pentium Pro w/ MMX)
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Supports 100MHz system bus
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L2 cache at half the processor speed
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Slot mounted assembly instead of chip in socket
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Pentium II Xeon
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Larger L2 cache running at processor speed
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Pentium III (expanded MMX instruction set)
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Pentium III Xeon
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Celeron
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Similar to Pentium II, however:
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Only supports 66MHz system bus
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Smaller L2 cache, but built into chip (faster)
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Socket mounted chip
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Itanium
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Processor Speed - MHz (Megahertz)
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Performance Comparisons by Benchmarks
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Memory
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RAM (Random Access Memory)
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Measured in Megabytes
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Different Configurations - often installed in banks of 2
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SIMM - Single Inline Memory Module
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DIMM - Dual Inline Memory Module
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RIMM - Rambus Dual Inline Memory Module
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Different Types
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EDO (Extended Data Output)
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SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic RAM)
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RDRAM (Rambus DRAM)
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Different Speeds - depending on processor speed
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Disk Drives
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Floppy Drives
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5.25 Inch - 360K, 1.2M
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3.5 Inch - 720K, 1.44M, 2.88M
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Hard Drives
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Plug into Primary IDE (EIDE) Controller or a SCSI Controller
-
First IDE (EIDE) Drive is the Master (from which the system will boot)
-
Second IDE (EIDE) Drive set as Slave
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Capacity Measured in Megabytes or Gigabytes
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Data Managed in Units called Clusters
-
One Physical Drive can be Partitioned into Multiple Logical Drives
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Cluster Size Dependent on Partition Type
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FAT16 - DOS, Windows 3.1x, Windows 95
-
Maximum of 32,768 Clusters (215)
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Maximum Cluster Size 65,536 Bytes (216)
-
Maximum Partition Size 2.1G (215 x 216)
| Partition Size |
Cluster Size |
| 500M |
16K |
| 1G |
32K |
| 2.1G |
64K |
-
FAT32 - Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2
-
Cluster Size of 4K
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Supports Partitions into the Terabytes
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NTFS - Windows NT
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Similar to, but incompatible with, FAT32
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Supports Security Features of Windows NT
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Input Devices
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Keyboard
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Standard - May Cause Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
-
Ergonomic - May Drive You Crazy
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Pointing Device
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Graphics Card
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Various Bus Structures
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VESA Local Bus - (Video Equipment Standards Association) 486s and early
Pentiums
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PCI Local Bus - (Peripheral Connection Interface) most Pentiums
-
AGP - (Advanced Graphics Peripheral) - works in conjunction with PCI bus
-
Resolution in Pixels
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640x480
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800x600
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1024x768
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1280x1024
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Color Depth - Number of Simultaneous Colors
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4-bit - 16 Colors
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8-bit - 256 Colors
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16-bit - 65,536 Colors - High Color
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24-bit - 16.8M Colors - True Color
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Data Speed - 32-bit, 64-bit, 128-bit
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Video Memory - 1MB, 2MB, 4MB, 8MB
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Determines Display Resolution and Colors
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Memory Required = Width x Height x Color Depth
| To Display: |
With Colors: |
Memory: |
| 640x480 (307,200) |
16.8M (3 bytes) |
1MB |
| 800x600 (480,000) |
16.8M |
2MB |
| 1024x768 (786,432) |
64K (2 bytes) |
2MB |
| 1280x1024 (1,310,720) |
256 (1 byte) |
2MB |
-
Monitor
-
Size Measured Diagonally (14-Inch, 15-Inch, 17-Inch,
)
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Resolution Measured in Pixels - 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024
-
Dot Pitch - Gray Space Between Pixels (.28 or lower!)
-
Reduce Flicker
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Non-Interlaced versus Interlaced
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Vertical Scan Rate (80+ Hz refresh)
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CD-ROM Drives
-
Up to 650M of Data fits on a CD-ROM
-
Data can be Digital Audio, Video, Programs, or Text
-
Depending on Drive, Plugs into EIDE Controller, SCSI Controller, or Sound
Card
-
Speed Determines How Fast Data Can be Accessed
-
Single Speed (1x) , Double (2x), Quad Speed (4x)
-
Variable Speed - typically up to 40x or more
-
DVD Drives- Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc
-
Up to 17GB of Data fits on a DVD Disc
-
Can Play Conventional CD-ROMs and Audio CDs
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Backup/Archive Devices
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Removable Disks - ZIP (100MB, 250MB), Superdisk (120MB), Jaz (1GB, 2GB)
-
CD-R - recordable CD's (650MB)
-
CD-RW - reusable CD's
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Can Play Digitized Audio Through Speakers
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Can Digitize Audio with Microphone or Line-In Inputs
-
Quality of Recording and Playback Varies
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Telephone Quality - 8-bit at 11KHz
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AM Radio Quality - 8-bit at 22KHz
-
CD Quality - 16-bit at 44KHz
-
Mono or Stereo
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MIDI Port (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)
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Game Port for Joystick
-
"Sound Blaster" Compatibility Recommended
-
Communications
-
Modem
-
Speeds in Bits per Second
-
14,400 (or 14.4K) up to 56K
-
Standards - V.34, V.42bis, V.90,
-
Up to 4-times faster with Data Compression
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ISDN Modems
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Network Interface Cards
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Cable Modems with Network Interface Cards
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DSL Modems with Network Interface Cards