A complete illustrated Guide to the PC Hardware Karbosguide.com Welcome to Michael Karbo's Online Service. Here you will find a modern online- magazine with more than 500 illustrated articles for the critical reader! Use our menu to your left or the sitemap. You may also follow any of the links listed below. We hope that you appreciate our work! ● Start studying the design of a PC motherboard. ● Learn about harddisks and other drives. ● Learn about the PC I/O system. ● Learn about the PC video system. Sitemap See our guestbook and add your comment. Corrections Misspellings, typos or other corrections. Please report!. Karbo's Newsletter: Pentium 4 and AthlonXP. More than 50 photos of old cars free to download! The MP3 article is re-written. Editing photos with Photoshop Cleaning Windows Me for temporary files All modules 7 re-written Copyright (c) 1996 - 2002 Michael B. Karbo. WWW.KARBOSGUIDE.COM. http://www.karbosguide.com/guides/start.htm7/27/2004 4:04:12 AM Sign up! A complete illustrated Guide to the PC Hardware About Michael Karbo NEW: German version. Privacy politic Software Guides Dictionary Photo Gallery Search 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 gener. 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. OSs 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. Main page http://www.karbosguide.com/guides/sitemap.htm7/27/2004 4:04:13 AM Support Karbosguide.com KarbosGuide.com Support our work ● Next page ● Previous page Karbosguide.com a tutorial used globally. It is a work made "con amore". We make no profit from it. However, just a little economical revenue would be great. It takes so much time to update and develop the site with high quality information. You can help us in several ways: ● Click on the banners ● Register as a user and donate a few dollars. ● Tell your friends an partners about Karbosguide.com, share the URL. ● Next page ● Previous page http://www.karbosguide.com/info/support_01.htm7/27/2004 4:04:19 AM KarbosGuide.com. Module 1a. About data. KarbosGuide.com. Module 1a. About data ● Next page ● Previous page 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 one. See the illustration below: http://www.karbosguide.com/hardware/module1a1.htm (1 of 5)7/27/2004 4:05:11 AM KarbosGuide.com. Module 1a. About data. 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. Please click the banners to support our work! Bits [top] Each 0 or 1 is called a bit. Bit is an abbreviation of the expression BInary digiT. It is called binary, since it is derived from the binary number system: 0 1 bit http://www.karbosguide.com/hardware/module1a1.htm (2 of 5)7/27/2004 4:05:11 AM KarbosGuide.com. Module 1a. About data. 1 1 bit 0110 4 bit 01101011 8 bit The binary number system [top] 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: Numbers, as known in the decimal-system Same numbers in binary system 0 0 1 1 2 10 3 11 4 100 5 101 6 110 7 111 8 1000 Digital data [top] http://www.karbosguide.com/hardware/module1a1.htm (3 of 5)7/27/2004 4:05:11 AM KarbosGuide.com. Module 1a. About 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: Let us see how this can be accomplished. ● Next page ● Previous page Learn more [top] Read more about the boot process and system bus in Module 2b Read more about I/O buses in module 2c Read more about the motherboard chip set in module 2d Read more about RAM in module 2e Read about EIDE in module 5b [Main page] [Contact] [Karbo's Dictionary] [The Software Guides] http://www.karbosguide.com/hardware/module1a1.htm (4 of 5)7/27/2004 4:05:11 AM KarbosGuide.com. Module 1a. About data. Copyright (c) 1996-2001 by Michael B. Karbo. www.karbosguide.com. http://www.karbosguide.com/hardware/module1a1.htm (5 of 5)7/27/2004 4:05:11 AM KarbosGuide.com. Module 1a. About data. KarbosGuide.com. Module 1a2. About Bytes Contents: ● Introduction ● ASCII ● About text and code ● Data in files ● Next page ● Previous page Introduction The most basic data processing is word processing. Let us use that as an example. When we do word processing, we work at a keyboard similar to a typewriter. There are 101 keys, where we find the entire alphabet A, B, C, etc. We also find the digits from 0 to 9 and all the other characters we need:, ;():_?!"#*%&etc All these characters must be digitized. They must be expressed in 0s and 1s. Bits are organized in groups of 8. A group of 8 bits is called a byte. 8 bits = 1 byte, that is the system. Then, what can we do with bytes? First, let us see how many different bytes we can construct. A byte is an 8 digit number. We link 0s and 1s in a pattern. How many different ones can we make? Here is one: 01110101, and here is another: 10010101. We can calculate that you can make 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 different patterns, since each of the 8 bits can have 2 values. ● 2 8 (two in the power of eight) is 256. Then there are 256 different bytes! Now we assign a byte to each letter and other characters. And since we have 256 patterns to choose from, there is plenty of room for all. Here you see some examples of the http://www.karbosguide.com/hardware/module1a2.htm (1 of 5)7/27/2004 4:05:22 AM KarbosGuide.com. Module 1a. About data. "translation:" Character Bit pattern Byte number Character Bit pattern Byte number A 01000001 65 ¼ 10111100 188 B 01000010 66 . 00101110 46 C 01000011 67 : 00111010 58 a 01100001 97 $ 00100100 36 b 01100010 98 \ 01011100 92 o 01101111 111 ~ 01111110 126 p 01110000 112 1 00110001 49 q 01110001 113 2 00110010 50 r 01110010 114 9 00111001 57 x 01111000 120 © 10101001 169 y 01111001 121 > 00111110 62 z 01111010 122 ‰ 10001001 137 When you write the word "summer", you write 6 letters. If the computer has to process that word, it will be digitized to 6 bytes. In other words, the word summer occupies 6 bytes in the PC RAM, when you type it, and 6 bytes on the hard disk, if you save it. ASCII [top] ASCII means American Standard Code for Information Interchange. It is an industry standard, which assigns letters, numbers, and other characters within the 256 slots available in the 8 bit code. http://www.karbosguide.com/hardware/module1a2.htm (2 of 5)7/27/2004 4:05:22 AM [...]... similar operating systems They are used for standard applications q The point of this history is, that Benjamin has grown He has actually been promoted to captain! Todays PCs are just as powerful as minicomputers and mainframes were not too many years ago A powerful PC can easily keep up with the expensive workstations How have we advanced this far? http://www.karbosguide.com /hardware/ module 2a1 .htm... Links to BIOS information: Mr BIOS FAQ http://www.karbosguide.com /hardware/ module 2a1 .htm (6 of 7)7/27/2004 4:05:28 AM An illustrated Guide to Motherboards [Main page] [Contact] [Karbo's Dictionary] Copyright (c) 199 6-2 001 by Michael B Karbo www.karbosguide.com http://www.karbosguide.com /hardware/ module 2a1 .htm (7 of 7)7/27/2004 4:05:28 AM [The Software Guides] An illustrated Guide to Motherboards Please... storage in the CMOS makes them instantly available to the POST and BIOS programs (loaded from ROM) during the start-up The values are regarding: q q q q q Floppy and hard disk drives The keyboard The CPU, cache, chip set values, RAM type Date and time Much more These data have to be set up correctly, and they are read during the start-up to make the PC operable Two types of data CMOS data can be divided... (190 3-5 7) He was a mathematician, born in Hungary We can still use his computer design today He broke computer hardware down in five primary parts: q q q q q CPU Input Output Working memory Permanent memory Actually, von Neumann was the first to design a computer with a working memory (what we today call RAM) If we apply his model to current PCs, it will look like this: http://www.karbosguide.com /hardware/ module 2a1 .htm... http://www.karbosguide.com /hardware/ module1b.htm (8 of 9)7/27/2004 4:05:25 AM Karbos Guide [top] Learn more Read module 5a about expansion cards, where we evaluate the I/O buses from the port side Read module 5b about AGP and module 5c about Firewire Read module 7a about monitors, and 7b on graphics card Read module 7c about sound cards, and 7d on digital sound and music [Main page] [Contact] [Karbo's Dictionary] [The Software Guides]... data is maintained with electric power from a small battery CMOS is only a medium for storage It could be used for any type of data Here, it holds important system data, values to be used during the start process These information take up maybe 100 or http://www.karbosguide.com /hardware/ module 2a2 .htm (3 of 7)7/27/2004 4:05:35 AM An illustrated Guide to Motherboards 200 bytes of data, and storage in the... Sound card, video and TV card Internal modem and ISDN card So, how are the components connected What are their functions, and how are they tied together to form a PC? That is the subject of Click and Learn So, please continue reading http://www.karbosguide.com /hardware/ module 2a1 .htm (3 of 7)7/27/2004 4:05:28 AM An illustrated Guide to Motherboards The von Neumann Model of the PC [top] Computers have... the standard If we look at early PCs, they are characterized by a number of features Those were instrumental in creating the PC success q q q The PC was from the start standardized and had an open architecture It was well documented and had great possibilities for expansion It was inexpensive, simple and robust (definitely not advanced) The PC started as IBM's baby It was their design, built over an Intel... AM An illustrated Guide to Motherboards Please click the banners to support our work! The PC' s success [top] The PC came out in 1981 In less than 20 years, it has totally changed our means of communicating When the PC was introduced by IBM, it was just one of many different micro data processors However, the PC caught on In 5-7 years, it conquered the market From being an IBM compatible PC, it became... 2b Read more about I/O buses in module 2c Read more about the motherboard chip set in module 2d Read more about RAM in module 2e http://www.karbosguide.com /hardware/ module 1a2 .htm (4 of 5)7/27/2004 4:05:22 AM [top] KarbosGuide.com Module 1a About data Read about EIDE in module 5b [Main page] [Contact] [Karbo's Dictionary] [The Software Guides] Copyright (c) 199 6-2 001 by Michael B Karbo www.karbosguide.com . illustrated Guide to the PC Hardware About Michael Karbo NEW: German version. Privacy politic Software Guides Dictionary Photo Gallery Search 1. About PC data 1a. About data 1b. Character. data [top] http://www.karbosguide.com /hardware/ module 1a1 .htm (3 of 5)7/27/2004 4:05:11 AM KarbosGuide.com. Module 1a. About 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