Types of Computers Desktop / Laptop PC / Mac Client / Server

Desktop v. Laptop Desktop –Keyboard –CPU –Disk drives –Monitor Laptop –Single portable unit with battery

Client / Server A server is a computer that is running software enabling it to serve specific requests from other computers, called clients.

Main Components CPU – Central Processing Unit Memory Motherboard Hard Drive Operating System Sound Card Graphics Card

ROM Read Only Memory “…computer memory on which data has been prerecorded. Once data has been written onto a ROM chip, it cannot be removed and can only be read. -Webopedia

GUI Graphical User Interface Icon-based command system

Mouse “A device that controls the movement of the cursor or pointer on a display screen…” -Tyson. How PCs work.

Input/Output Devices Monitor Keyboard Mouse Storage Devices (floppy, CD, flash, DVD) Ports (USB) Speaker Microphone Camera

Hard disk “This is large-capacity permanent storage used to hold information such as programs and documents.” -Tyson. How PCs Work.

Sound Card “This is used by the computer to record and play audio by converting analog sound into digital information and back again.” -Tyson. How PCs work.

Scanner “A device that reads data and inputs it to the computer…” -Wilson.

Ports Slots or spaces “on the outside of a computer to attach external devices such as printers, scanners, tape backup drives, removable CD-ROM or floppy-disk drives.” -Wilson. Ethernet USB Serial

LAN Local Area Network –Network covering a small geographic area

Binary Computers think in binary code All data is represented in 0s and 1s. This means every character (textual or numeric) must be converted to binary code to be processed by a computer. Additional reading –

ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange Additional reading for next week –

Networking Basics A network is a group of 2 or more computer systems linked together –LAN –WAN mlhttp://webopedia.com/TERM/n/network.ht ml Additional reading – 29http://webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id=9 29

Computers in Libraries Staff Public

Troubleshooting A single workstation produces an error message as soon as it is turned on, at the beginning of boot up. Could it be: –Workstation CPU –Workstation hard disk –Workstation monitor –Hub –Server

Troubleshooting A single workstation sounds like it is booting up, but the screen remains blank. Could it be: –Workstation CPU –Workstation disk storage –Workstation monitor –Hub –Server

The Internet Global computer network made up of smaller networks using common protocols

intranet Web site internal to an organization, limited to local access and contained within a firewall.

Bandwidth Width of the pipe. The amount of data that can be sent at once.

Firewall Software that blocks access and protects a network or PC