Evans
Chapter 1
Being a savvy computer user and consumer has many advantages. It means knowing
how to protect my privacy avoid hackers, use the internet effectively, learning how to maintain
and update my compute, making good decisions and integrating new technology. Computers are
used in almost every career field that exists today. As technology progresses, it evolves into
smaller technology’s. Microchips only nanometers in size are being produced. This can have an
effect on the medical world. Microchips are even being implanted to verify identity. Another
advantage to understanding computers is being able to have informed opinions about technology
that matters in the world today. We can have opinions about current issues such as music
downloads.
Computers have 4 main purposes. They gather data, process data, output data, and store
data. Data is representative of a fact or idea. Information is data that is processed to represent
something meaningful. Computer data is processed in a binary language. A binary digit or bit is
a 1 or 0. Bytes are groups of eight digits. Each letter is represented by a byte. Hardware
includes input devices such as the mouse or keyboard. There is also a systems unit which
processes information. The central processing unit and memory are located on the motherboard.
Output devices include the monitor and printer. Storage devices include CD drives and disk
drives. The two most common platforms are PC’s or Mac’s.
Chapter 2
Input Devices – includes keyboard, mouse, microphone,
Keyboards – the QWERTY keyboard is the most common keyboard but it is slow. The
keyboard includes a numeric keyboard. The function keys are a set of short cut keys.
The control and alt. keys also allow for shortcut functions and on windows, the windows
key brings up the start menu and will also open up windows. Keyboards can be wireless.
On laptops they have fewer keys. Most PDA’s do not have keyboards, but some do.
Mouse – The most common mouse has a trackball in the bottom that drags. Or the mouse
could be inverted for the rollerball to be on top. An optical mouse uses no rollerball. On
laptops a touchpad or track point is used instead of a mouse.
Microphone – microphones vary in quality. Especially with voice activated software a
high quality microphone is important.
Output Devices – includes monitor and printers
Monitor – Cathode- ray tube monitors and liquid-crystal display both use pixel grids.
The refresh rate, resolution, and dot pitch of CRT monitors affect the quality. LCD
monitors include passive matrix and active matrix. Active matrix LCD's are more
expensive. LCD monitors are smaller and lighter, cause less eye strain, are more
environmentally friendly and have a larger viewable area.
Printers – Dot matrix printers are almost completely replaced by laser and ink-jet printers.
These two printers are quieter and faster. Inkjet printers print out professional color
prints and inkjets are best for black and white. Offices use laser printers to connect more
than one computer to it.
System Unit – central electronic components, Systems unit styles come mostly in tower
configuration which makes it easiest to add other units to. You do not always have to turn off
your computer to help save energy.
Drive Bays – hard drive and external drive bays, for storage devices
Hard drive – stores nonvolatile data
Ports – where peripheral devices attach to the computer. Both in the front and on the
back, USB ports and disk ports. Connectivity ports link with other computers along with
modem ports and Ethernet ports.
Inside the system unit – the power supply is inside the system unity. There are also
different cards including sound card and video card. All boards and cards connect to the
motherboard. The central processing unit is a part of the motherboard. This is the
“brain” Random Access Memory is also on the motherboard. This is a type of primary
storage but should not be confused with permanent devices. Read Only Memory is also a
part of the CPU.
Chapter 6
Buying computers can be complicated because they are always getting faster and
cheaper. To begin choosing a new computer or appropriate upgrade, you want to determine what
you will be using the computer for. By determining the uses you can choose the best computer.
Also consider whether or not you will need training. Someone should also asses their current
system by looking at the CPU, memory subsystem, storage subsystem, video, audio, and ports.
The CPU has two different parts. The ALU performs the all the arithmetic calculations
and makes logic and comparison decisions. The control unit coordinates activities. The CPU
fetches data from the RAM, decodes the instructions into something the computer can
understand, executes the instruction, and stores the result in RAM. CPU speed is measured in
Hertz. To determine the speed of the CPU, right click the My Computer Icon and select
properties. To see how well the CPU is functioning periodically watch how busy it is while
working on your computer. Replacing the CPU is expensive. When purchasing a CPU don’t
buy the most recently released. Be sure a new CPU is compatible with your motherboards.
Purchase the correct heat sink also.
RAM is volatile storage and will not store m memory when the computer is turned off.
RAM is one million times faster than the hard drive. In order to function best computers need a
lot of RAM. It’s not unusual for a computer to have I GB of RAM. Computers need a minimum
of 460 MB of RAM but it is better to have more than that. When adding RAM it is important to
know that there is a maximum amount of RAM a computer can have. When adding RAM, just
follow the instructions.
Storage options for computers include hard drives, floppy disk drives, zip drives, USB
drives, CD, and DVD drives. Hard disk drives offer the most storage and are the most popular.
To add storage space you can get an external hard drive. Data is stored on spindles of platters.
Magnetized spots are created to store data. To find how much memory your hard drive has right
click the C icon and select properties
Video cards translate binary code into visual images. To find how much VRAM a
system has you need to consult the documentation that came with your computer. 16 MB of
VRAM is a realistic minimum for a video card. The video card controls the number of colors that
your screen can display. After choosing what type of monitor to buy consider the size and how
much of that screen will be viewable. Also remember that changing resolution can fit more on a
screen or make the screen larger. Look at the refresh rate and dot pitch.
Sound cards are similar to video cards except they translate the data into sound. 3D
sound cards are high quality sound cards but are not surround sound. To identify the type of
sound card you own, consult the documentation that came with your computer. An updated
sound card can add surround sound or make it possible to use a minidisk, MP3 player,
headphones, or CD player to your computer. Ports can also be added to your computer. Most
computers don’t need more than one or two Firewire ports and four USB ports.
To ensure that the system performs well clean out the StartUP folder, clear out
unnecessary files, run an anti spyware program, and run an antiadware program. If the system
crashes a lot be sure that everything was installed properly and discover why there was error
code. If the computer crashes a lot there may not be enough RAM.
Chapter 9
Everything a computer does is broken into 0’s and 1’s or a
binary code. Unlike the base 10 number system that humans use the binary code is a base two
system and based on powers of 2 rather than ten. 0 and 1 act as on off switches in the circuits of
the computer. The American Standard Code for information interchange was developed to
define each number and letter in an eight digit byte. The Unicode was later created to represent
all the characters of the languages in the world. The CPU is designed to recognize each byte in a
given context almost as in human language. Different companies such as Intel and AMD create
different CPU’s. The CPU’s vary by the number of transistors each contains. The CPU fetches
decodes, executes, and stores data. CPU uses the RAM in order to store information
temporarily. Dynamic RAM is a common affordable kind of RAM. Buses are the wires that
carry information from the CPU. The larger the bus width the more quickly it can carry data. A
person can attach bus expansions to speed up the process. To improve the CPU’s some
companies have tried pipelining or designing the CPU to perform many of its functions at one
time. A dual processor is a computer with two CPUs that perform different tasks. Parallel
processing is using a large network of computers to perform one task.
p. 70- 76
The first PC, the Altair, was named after a fictional place on Star Trek. Next came the widely
popular Apple I and II. The Apple II had 4 kilobytes of RAM. The Commodores come next and
competed with the Apple. The Osborne was the first portable computer with a five inch monitor
and weighed over twenty pounds. BASIC was a programming language developed in the fifties
and was important in the building of the Altair. The internet made the computer more essential
in the home. It allowed for fast communication and information searching. In 1993 the web
browser Mosaic was introduced. Computers quickly improved when vacuum tubes were
replaced by transistors. Intel produced CPU’s that could hold many transistors on a small space
called the microprocessor chip.
Stair and Reynolds
To be valuable information must be accurate, complete, economical, flexible, and
reliable. An information system is a set of interrelated elements or components that impute,
process, store, and disseminate, data and information. Input is the activity of gathering and
capturing raw data. The data is processed or turned into information and stored. A computer
based information system consists of hardware, software, databases, telecommunications and
people. IT is important to understand information systems in connection with various
workplaces. IF effects the internet and E-commerce and information gathered from systems
effects decision making across industry and in the public sector. Information systems provide
valuable tools for every career.
Kochtanek and Matthews
Library Information Systems started very early. Punch cards were a form of LIS.
Developments in LIS have included integrated library systems, online databases, web based
resources, digital libraries, eBooks and eJournals. Some of these things like online databases are
relatively mature however digital libraries are still very young and somewhat experimental.
LIS has had three stages of evolution. First it served to make internal operations more
efficient; second, it allows access of local library collections to users and third, gives access to
resources outside the library. Libraries accept new technologies at different rates. Some are
willing to adopt any new technology and are risk takers. Sometimes the technology fails. Others
add new technologies that have been tested and are successful and others trail far behind in
adding new technologies to libraries.
Technology includes both hardware and software. Hardware includes the materials that
computers are made of and what makes them function properly. The two types of software are
systems software and applications software. Systems software includes the programs like
Windows or MacOS. Application software is the software like Microsoft office.
Telecommunications has also had an effect in the library. During the host-centric period
a single processing unit was the basis of all computing. Networks focused more on connectivity.
Applications were more distributed. With the advent of the personal computer the end-user
centric period began. The user began to be the most important entity and with that came the
internet.