An Introduction to Computer
Hardware
Nancy B. Clark, MEd
USA Family Practice
Objectives
 Read a computer ad and understand what is
important to know about the hardware
 Discuss computer hardware intelligently
 Troubleshoot hardware problems
 Feel comfortable putting a computer
together from a box
 Select a basic computer to fit your needs
Outline
 The Computer
 Mice!
 The Microprocessor
 Keyboards
 Memory
 Printers
 Disks and Disk Drives
 Scanners
 CD-ROMs
 Ports and Plugs
 Modems
 What to Buy
 Sound Cards
 Network
 Cards and Monitors
The Computer
 Desktops
 Towers
 Laptops
Inside the Box
 Power Supply
 Motherboard (chips)
– Memory RAM
– Microprocessor
 Bays (adding drives)
 Slots (adding ports or cards)
The Microprocessor
 XT 8088
 AT 286
 386
 486
 Pentium
 Pentium Pro with
MMX
 Pentium II
Speed
– megahertz
Million processes
per second
Speed - megahertz (MHz)
 XT 8088
 12 MHz
 AT 286
 16 MHz
 386
 40 MHz
 486
 100 MHz
 Pentium
 200 MHz
 Pentium Pro MMX
 200 MHz
 Pentium II
 450 MHz
Memory - RAM
Temporary
SAVE OFTEN
Holds running programs
Holds documents you are editing
8 M - 1 G (multiples of 8)
Clears when computer off
Measured in bytes
RAM - Bits and Bytes
Bit: 0 or 1
Off = 0
On = 1
F=
Bits to Bytes
1
 XT
0
1
1
0
1
0
8 bits = 1 byte or one character of
memory
 486, Pentiums 32 bits = 1 byte
 The more bits per byte the faster the
computer
0
Bytes
Bytes - one character
KB Kilobytes - thousand
MB Megabytes - million
GB Gigabytes - billion
TB Terabytes - trillion
Disks and Drives
Storage Devices
 Hard Disk Drives (HDD)
 Floppy
 Zip
 Jaz
 Tape
Hard Disk Drives
 Store programs you will run
 Store files you create
 EIDE
 SCSI
 1.6 G to 23 G and growing
 Has a lot to do with speed of
computer
Floppy Drives
3.5” Floppy 1.4 M - disk $.33
Zip 100 M $119 - disk $10
Jaz 1 G $299 - disk $100
Optical Drives
 CD-ROM 12X
 Read/Write Optical Drives
 DVD Digital Video Disk
 Software comes on CDs
 Much faster installation
Cards and Monitors
 Video Card
– Memory 4M + is good
– Resolution - number of pixels and colors
• VGA 640-480 16 color
• SVGA 800-600+ 256 - 16 million colors
 Monitor (has to match card)
– Sizes: 13” 15” 17” 21” Big Screen TV
– Dot Pitch - distance between pixels (.26)
(smaller is better)
Sound Cards and Multimedia
 MM = SC + CD + Speakers
 FM Synthesis - mimics sounds
 Wavetable Synthesis - real sounds
 Soundblaster compatible
 Microphone input
Video Input Cards
 Attach CamCorder or Cable TV
 Record Video (Caution: Storage)
 See-U-See Me
 MPEG
 Memory 2- 4MB
Modem
 Connect to Phone Lines
 Call Internet Provider
 Chat
 Send and Receive Fax
 Answering Machine
 Speed of essence
 Early: 2400 Baud (bits per second)
 33.6 - 56 Kbps (kilo bits per second)
Keyboards
(there is no ANY key)
 CTRL (CTRL-B)
 Backspace
 ALT (ALT-F)
 Home
 Shift
 End
 Function Keys F1
 PageUp
 Insert
 PageDown
 Delete
 Enter (Return)
 Escape
 Arrows
The Mouse
 Click
 Track Balls
 Double-click
 Touch pads
 Drag
 Left and right mouse
button
 CURSOR - Arrow on
screen that tells where
you are
Printers
Types (in order of cost)
 Dot Matrix
 Ink-jet
 Laser
 Thermal Dye Transfer
 Color?
 Resolution (DPI Dots
Per Inch)
–
–
–
–
100 so-so
300 better
600 excellent
1200 $$$$$$$$$$$
 PPM - Pages Per
Minute
 Toner Costs
Scanners
 Digitize pictures (graphics)
 Digitize text
 Types
– Hand
– Flatbed
– Scanman (insert)
 Same rules as Printers
– Resolution DPI - color
Ports and Plugs
 Serial
 Parallel (8 wires)
 SCSI
 Males and females
 The right plug for the right port
What to Buy?
 Computers
– IBM (Thinkpad)
– Gateway
– Dell
– Compaq
– HP
– Micron
– NEC
– Toshiba
 Monitors
– Sony
– Panasonic
– NEC
 Printers/Scanners
– Hewlett-Packard
– Epson
 Modem
– US Robotics
– Global Village
What to Buy?
 Zip and Jaz
– Iomega
 Rules
– Made in Japan a
Good thing
 www.pcmag.com
– Made in Korea not
 www.computershopper.com
a good thing
 www.gateway.com
– Service calls Free
 www.dell.com
– 24 hour tech
support
– 3 year Warranty
Troubleshooting your computer
 Check Power
 Check Plugs
 Disks in Drive
 Shut down and restart
Networks
 Things to Know
– LAN
– WAN
– Client/Server
– Peer to Peer
– Routers
– Backbones
– Remote Access
LAN - Local Area Network
Peer to Peer Network
LAN - Local Area Network
Server
FAMMED
Client
Software/Files
 Windows NT (Server)
 E-Mail (Exchange Server)
 Win95 or MAC OS
 Scheduling
 User Specific software
 EMR
like SPSS
 Web Browser, telnet
 Non-shared files
 Network Client
Software - Protocols
 MS Office, Publisher, Project
 Public Files (Shared Files)
 User Files (Backup of non-
shared files)
 Medical References
Router
WAN - Wide Area Network
Backbone
Family Practice
Router
WAN
Biomedical Library
USA-MC
2001
Backbone
144.23.7.86
144.23.7.87 IP Address
Internet
Jaguar1.usouthal.edu
Remote Access