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Slide 1: Getting to Know a Computer 1
Slide 2: Objectives: • Learn about the basic parts of a computer. • Increase your computer vocabulary. 2
Slide 3: PC’s Desktop PC or Personal Computer: Before the 1980’s, most computers were very big and expensive. These computers were used by large businesses, universities and government agencies. In August of 1981, IBM introduced the “Personal Computer” or PC. While not the first computer intended for use by individuals, more IBM PC’s were sold than any previous personal computer. Today, many different companies manufacture and sell PC’s. Notebook Or Laptop Mac or Macintosh: A personal computer made by the Apple Corporation. The Apple Corporation is know for doing things a little differently than other PC makers. Macintosh users call their computers Mac’s, not PC’s. 3
Slide 4: Basic Terms Hardware: Physical pieces of a computer including the monitor, system unit, keyboard and mouse. Instructions for your computer. Also called programs. There are two main types of software: application software and operating system software. 4 Software:
Slide 5: Application Software: The software with which you interact • Word processing programs • Email programs • Internet browsers • Games Operating System Software: Coordinates how the hardware, application software and you work together • Microsoft Windows • Mac OS • Unix • Linux 5
Slide 6: Computer Storage Computer storage is measured in bytes. A byte is a unit of measurement like an inch. How much is a byte? A byte is the size of a single character, for example the letter “s” or the number “9”. Unit Byte Kilobyte Megabyte Gigabyte Terabyte Abbreviation B KB MB GB TB How much? A single character A thousand characters A million characters A billion characters A Trillion characters 6
Slide 7: Disks & Storage Floppy disks • portable • 1.4 MB storage Floppy disks store computer information magnetically much like cassette tapes store music. Once used with all personal computers, they are being replaced by USB drives. A floppy disk can hold 1.4 MB. This is about 400 pages of text. 7
Slide 8: USB drives • Small • Portable • Durable – no moving parts • 128 MB to 64 GB storage USB drives are small, portable flash memory cards that plug into a compute’s USB port. They are also called flash drives, jump drives, or thumb drives. They can hold up to 64 GB. A 128 MB flash drive can hold 90 floppy disks. A 64 GB flash drive can hold 45,511 floppy disks. 8
Slide 9: CD’s and DVD’s • portable • CD 650 MB storage • DVD 4.7 GB storage Compact Discs (CD’s) store computer information optically. CD’s are portable. Prior to the USB drive, CD‘s were frequently used when more space was needed than was available on a floppy. A CD can hold 650 MB. This is equivalent to 500 floppy disks or 200,000 pages of text. Digital Versatile Discs (DVD’s) also store computer information optically. A DVD looks exactly like a CD. However, DVD’s have much more storage capacity than CD’s: 4.7 GB compared to 650 MB. 9
Slide 10: A compact disc drive (CD drive) reads information from CD’s and writes information to CD’s. There are three types of CD drives: CD-ROM drive is short for Compact Disc-Read-Only Memory drive. CD-ROM drives can only read information from a CD, not write to a CD. CD-ROM drives are sometimes called CD-ROM players. CD-R drive is short for Compact Disc-Recordable drive. CD-R drives read from and write to CD’s. You cannot write to any CD, only to a type of CD called a CD-R. CD-R drives are also called CD burners. Each CD-R can only be used once. CD- RW drive is short for Compact Disc-ReWritable drive. CD-RW drives read from, write to and rewrite to CD’s. Rewrite means to erase and write over previously saved information. Rewriting is standard for floppy disks and hard drives. You cannot rewrite to any CD, only to a CD-RW. You can use any type of CD drive to play an audio CD. A digital versatile disc drive (DVD Drive) reads information from DVD’s and writes information to DVD’s. DVD drives come in different types just like CD drives i.e., DVD-ROM, DVD-R, and DVD-RW. DVD drives can read CD’s and some DVD drives can write to CD’s. 10
Slide 11: Hard drive/Hard disk Internal - not portable 20 GB to 1.5 TB storage External - portable 20 GB to 6 TB storage Hard drives or Hard disks store computer information magnetically. There are internal and external hard disk drives. Internal hard disk drives can hold up to 1.5 TB. External hard disk drives can hold up to 6 TB. 11
Slide 12: The System Unit . The system unit is the housing of the computer and everything that is inside it. It is sometimes called the CPU. However, the CPU is actually a specific device inside the system unit. 12
Slide 13: Label the Front of the System Unit 13
Slide 14: CD/DVD drive: The drive that reads from and writes to CD/DVD’s. Press this button to open drawer & insert CD/DVD. Bays: Open areas on the front of the computer that can house additional disk drives that were not bought with the computer. Floppy disk drive: The drive that reads from and writes to floppy disks. Insert the floppy disk here. Power button: This button turns the computer on and off. Look for the on/off symbol. Power light: This light is green when the computer is on and black when it is off. 14
Slide 15: Inside the System Unit • Motherboard • Microprocessor • Cards • Temporary Memory • Hard drive 15
Slide 16: Inside the System Unit Motherboard A collection of devices (together on one large circuit board) that control the flow of data and operating electricity for all the primary components in a PC - for example, the CPU, memory, graphics adapter and sound card. It is also called the main board, logic board, or computer board. 16
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Slide 18: Inside the System Unit Microprocessor The part of the computer where the processing takes place. Also called the CPU (Central Processing Unit). A processor’s speed is measured in megahertz (MHZ) or gigahertz (GHZ). A processor with a higher speed is more powerful. 18
Slide 19: Inside the System Unit Cards – adding features Modem- Enables a computer to transmit data over telephone lines Audio- Enables a computer to output sound Video- Enables a computer to output graphics Network- Enables a computer to be connected to other computers so the computers can share information. 19
Slide 20: Inside the System Unit Temporary Memory Temporary memory is used while a computer is turned on to access software and data stored on the hard drive or other disks. It is measured in megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB). It is also called RAM (Random Access Memory). 20
Slide 21: Inside the System Unit Hard Drive/Hard Disk This is the computer’s main long-term storage device. The hard drive reads information stored on and writes information to the hard disk. The drive and the disk are a single unit. Hard drive or hard disk usually refers to the single unit consisting of both the drive and the disk. 21
Slide 22: The Monitor • Like a television • Displays information • On/Off Switch Types • CRT- Cathode Ray Tube: uses the same technology as most television sets to display text and graphic. Uses about 80% of the energy used by a computer • LCD- Liquid Crystal Display: These monitors are flatter and use less energy than the CRT monitors. 22
Slide 23: Input devices • Keyboard • Mouse 23
Slide 24: Peripherals… other stuff to use with your computer • Printer • Speakers • Scanner • Digital Camera • External Hard Drive Many ways to connect to the computer, including USB ports. 24
Slide 25: So, what do you want to do with the computer? • Typing • Accounting • Graphic design • E-mail • Internet • Organizing • Games Find software that is designed for the activities you are interested in. 25
Slide 26: Sources of Information about Computers Magazines Consumer Reports PC Magazine PC World Computer World Byte Magazine Books Some good series to look at are: Sams teach yourself….in 24 hours (or in 21 days) Teach yourself visually …. ….simplified ….for dummies ….virtual classroom Individual books on computers: How Computers Work Computers simplified Microsoft Windows Vista DVD’s Basic Computers Microsoft Excel 2003 Windows Vista Websites Start with Google, Yahoo, or any search engine and look for websites that are computer related 26