RSI can be caused by doing the same thing “LOTS” of times. It is also can be caused by the use of keyboards and mice. The primary reason there is an “ERGONOMIC” market for input devices. RSI can be avoided by using curved keyboards, mice, plus stretching and taking breaks.
there are 3 main specs for RAM: SIZE in MB/GB (like 16MB or 1GB), SPEED in MHZ and any error protection, like ECC or parity.
generally, the more RAM your PC has, the happier it will be. The Law of Diminishing Returns may apply, though, depending on your apps, and you’re OS. RAM is the temporary storage place for data the CPU needs to work on. It is called temporary, because if the power goes off, everything in RAM goes with it into the bit bucket.
There are two big guns making cpu’s right now:
- INTEL – the Microsoft of the CPU world. Makes CPU’S like the old 486, Pentium and Pentium-X brands, Celeron and Xeon. The Celeron is their “Low-Level” chip, while the Pentium-X is the mainstream chip. Xeon’s are for servers.
- AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) – slowly but surely, they’ve been chipping into INTEL’S market share by producing CPU’S that perform comparably to INTEL. K6-X processor was when AMD hit the mainstream. Current offering are DURON similar market to Celeron, Athlon and Thunderbirds.
CPU’S have a small amount of really fast RAM called CACHE. The various levels of cache 1 and 2 are primarily on the same die as the CPU itself. The Cache holds data the CPU frequently uses, thus increasing the speed at which that data is used. Cache is measured in KB / MB, and ranges from 128kb to 2mb.
is the process of squeezing more CPU cycles out of their chips by forcing the processor to run faster than it was designed to. Some people do this by increasing either the FSB or the clock multiplier of the CPU. New CPU’s today “LOCK” the multiplier, so the only way to tweak the CPU is by increasing the FSB. The advantage of this is that your CPU runs at faster speed for a lower price than buying a chip designed for that speed. The bad part is the CPU may need more voltage to support the faster speed and that increases the amount of heat that is generated. It also voids the warranty on your PC.
- Most software is “Licensed” for use thanks to “Microsoft”.
- When you buy software, you are usually buying the right to use the software on one PC, and make one backup copy of the original media. Software piracy is using software on more PC’S than you have purchased licenses for.
- IF BUYING SOFTWARE FOR A BUSINESS, YOU CAN USUALLY GET LICENSES IN BULK FOR A DISCOUNT
- SOME SOFTWARE IS AVAILABLE UNDER A FREE LICENSE, BUT IT CANNOT BE PACKAGED AND RESOLD
- SHAREWARE SOFTWARE IS FREE TO TRY, BUT MUST BE PURCHASED AFTER A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF TIME.
- Software, also called computer programs, is a series of instructions that tells the hardware of a PC what to do. Software is not as physically tangible as hardware, but it is just as important to a PC.
- System software controls the operation of the PC and its devices, and provides an interface to the PC for the user. Operating system software controls all activities of the PC. The OS is loaded when ever the PC is turned on. Most operating systems today offer a graphical user interface, instead of the old text based command lines.
- Utility software is usually small applications designed to manage a part of the PC’s hardware or software.
- Application software is what makes a Personal Computer useful. Applications perform specific tasks, like a word processor, web browser, video editor, etc.
- Software usually comes on CD, DVD, floppies, etc., but can also be downloaded from the internet or a network.
- Computers count in binary (base 2), and not in base 10. The smallest piece of data in a computer is a BIT, which can either be a 0 (or OFF) or 1(or ON).
- BITS vs. BYTES a byte is made up of 8 bits.
- The metric system in the PC world
o Bytes, Kilobytes(KB)
o Megabaytes (MB)
o Gigabytes (GB)
- Data sits on your hard disk
- Tell your PC to do something and the CPU with the motherboard pulls the data from disk into memory.
- The CPU then works on the data in memory
- The data can be saved back to disk, or sit in memory to be worked on later.
- The motherboard and operating system manage how all the devices work together, and how they gain access to the CPU.
- Personal computers don’t do much if you can’t give those data and see what’s going on. Keyboards and Mice are used to input while Monitors (with video cards) and printers can be used to see what its’ doing.
- Sound Cards for “Multimedia”
- Modems and Network Interface Cards to connect to other computers.
- SCSI HOST adapters for better storage device performance.
Video Capture, TV-tuner cards, MPEG Decoders, Etc.
Motherboard – component of the PC that brings everything together, anything that needs processing will eventually have to contact the motherboard. The motherboard will also determine what CPU you can use, what memory, and almost all expansion options.
Processor – also known as the “Brain of the PC”. Processor is really just fast but not that smart. The speed of the PC is most often referring to the CPU rating, in MHZ (megahertz).
Memory – Memory Chips are what data resides in when it is being worked on by the CPU. Memory can have as much and sometimes more of an impact on performance as the CPU. Anything in memory goes away when the power is turned off.
Storage Devices - storage devices such as Hard Disk are the closet space of the PC. Unlike with the memory data stored on Hard Disk stays when the power is turned off. Hard Disk I/O speed to the CPU is much slower than memory. Other storage devices: magnetic drives like floppies, zip/jazz and other tape drives, optical drives like cd-rom’s, cd-r and cd-rw and DVD.
