Hardware, Software and Networking

Hardware, Software and Networking

1. Components

   • Hard Drive
     • Used to store data, when the power is switched off the contents will remain there.
     • This uses a power cable and a data cable.
       • Data cables and Power cables are different for different hard drives.
         • Sata
         • IDE
         • SCSI
   • RAM
     • Recent data is stored here, when the power is switched off all contents is lost.
   • ROM
     • This is read only data meaning you cannot change the data there, only read it. This is usually used to store the boot up sequence. When the power is switched off all contents remain there.
   • Motherboard
     • This is what Everything plugs into.
     • Connects Everything Together
   • Fan
     • Extracts the air out of the computer.
     • Keeps The Computer Cool
   • Graphics Card
     • Outputs information to the screen.
   • Optical Drive
     • Reads CD'S/DVDS
   • Power Supply
     • This distributes power to all the components of the computer.
   • CPU
     • Makes the decisions of the computer
     • They run the Fetch-Decode-Execute Cycle
     • Can come in Single, Dual or Quad cores
     • Commonly Called the "Brain" of the computer

2. BIOS

   • BIOS = Basic Input Output system.
   • In BIOS you set the time on the computer and make a password for it. The BIOS settings define the boot up device priority.
   • Settings are backed up after power is off by the fact that there is a battery inside the computer powering this.

3. Operating Systems

   • Windows
     • Windows XP
     • Windows 7
     • Windows 8.1
     • Windows 8
   • OS X
     • 10.10 Yosemite
     • 10.9 Mavericks
   • These are needed so you can access the computer and it allows you to run applications.

4. Network card

   • Gives the abillity to connect to the internet.
   • Ither by cable or Wireless
   • Networks Cards can vary in distance connectivity usually affected by the price