Essential Computer Hardware E-Book

Kevin Wilson

• Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 103

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

You'll begin this course with basic computer fundamentals, setting the foundation for critical hardware components that power every computing device. From motherboards to processors, you'll gain a solid understanding of how these elements work together to create a functioning computer.
As you progress, you'll uncover the importance of peripheral devices, discovering how external components interact with the core hardware. The course also covers the diverse types of computers, ranging from personal desktops to powerful servers, and guides you in interpreting hardware specifications to make informed decisions when purchasing or upgrading equipment. The course continues with an introduction to computer software, focusing on the relationship between hardware & the programs that bring them to life.
In the final stages, the course shifts its focus to computer networks and the internet, offering insights into how devices connect and communicate on a global scale. You'll explore the essential principles of internet security, learning how to protect your devices and data from online threats. By the end of this course, you'll have a well-rounded understanding of both the physical and digital aspects of computing, empowering you to navigate the technological landscape with confidence.

Leseprobe

EssentialComputer HardwareSecond EditionKevin Wilson

Essential Computer Hardware: 2nd Ed

Copyright © 2019 Elluminet Press

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from the Publisher. Permissions for use may be obtained through Rights Link at the Copyright Clearance Centre. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law.

Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos, and images only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark.

The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights.

While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.

Publisher: Elluminet Press

Director: Kevin Wilson

Lead Editor: Steven Ashmore

Technical Reviewer: Mike Taylor, Robert Ashcroft

Copy Editors: Joanne Taylor, James Marsh

Proof Reader: Mike Taylor

Indexer: James Marsh

Cover Designer: Kevin Wilson

About the Author

With over 15 years’ experience in the computer industry, Kevin Wilson has made a career out of technology and showing others how to use it. After earning a master’s degree in computer science, software engineering, and multimedia systems, Kevin has held various positions in the IT industry including graphic & web design, building & managing corporate networks, training, and IT support.

He currently serves as Elluminet Press LTD’s senior writer and director, he periodically teaches computer science at college in South Africa and serves as an IT trainer in England. His books have become a valuable resource among the students in England, South Africa and our partners in the United States.

Kevin’s motto is clear: “If you can’t explain something simply, then you haven’t understood it well enough.” To that end, he has created the Exploring Technology Series, in which he breaks down complex technological subjects into smaller, easy-to-follow steps that students and ordinary computer users can put into practice.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to all the staff at Luminescent Media & Elluminet Press for their passion, dedication and hard work in the preparation and production of this book.

To all my friends and family for their continued support and encouragement in all my writing projects.

To all my colleagues, students and testers who took the time to test procedures and offer feedback on the book

Finally thanks to you the reader for choosing this book. I hope it helps you gain a better understanding of computer systems.

Have fun!

Table of Contents

Computer Fundamentals 10

Representing Data 10

ASCII code 11

Unicode 11

Binary Numbers 11

Convert Binary to Decimal 13

Convert Decimal to Binary 13

Binary Addition 14

Hexadecimal Numbers 15

Convert Decimal to Hexadecimal 16

Convert Hexadecimal to Decimal 18

Boolean Logic 19

AND Gate 19

OR Gate 19

XOR Gate 20

NOT Gate 20

NAND Gate 21

NOR Gate 21

Putting it Together 22

Harvard Architecture 24

Von Neumann Architecture 25

Fetch Execute Cycle 26

Instruction Sets 30

RISC 30

CISC 30

Data Compression 31

Lossy & Lossless 31

Huffman Coding 31

Run Length Encoding 35

Data Encryption 36

Data Storage Units 37

Hardware Components 40

Types of Hardware 40

Internal Hardware 40

Basic Peripherals 41

Primary Storage Devices 42

Random Access Memory (RAM) 42

Read Only Memory (ROM) 47

Cache Memory 47

Volatile and Non-Volatile Memory 48

Secondary Storage 48

Hard Disc Drive (HDD) 49

Solid State Drive (SSD) 51

CD/DVD/Blu-ray Drive 52

Memory Cards 55

USB Flash Drives 57

External Hard Disc 58

NAS Drives 59

CPU / Processor 60

Types of CPU 61

Inside the CPU 62

Other Internal Components 63

Sound Card 63

Video Card 64

Expansion Slots 65

The Motherboard 66

The Chipset 67

North & South Bridge 67

CPU Socket 68

The BIOS 69

Computer Peripherals 70

Printers 70

Inkjet Printer 70

Laser Printer 72

Other Peripherals 74

Data Ports 75

USB 75

USB-C 76

Ethernet 77

FireWire 77

ThunderBolt 78

eSATA 78

Video Ports 79

DVI 79

HDMI 80

VGA 80

Component Video 81

Composite Video 81

Audio Ports 82

1/8” (3.5mm) Phono Jack 82

1/4” (6.35mm) Phono Jack 82

RCA Audio 83

Computer Software 84

The Operating System 84

User Interfaces 87

Process Management 89

Non Pre-emptive Scheduling 90

Pre-emptive Scheduling 90

First Come, First Served 90

Round Robin 91

Multilevel Feedback Queueing 91

File Management 92

File Systems 94

FAT32 94

exFAT 94

NTFS 94

APFS 94

EXT2, 3, and 4 94

Memory Management 95

Memory Partitioning 95

Segmentation 96

Paging 97

Virtual Memory 98

Apps & Applications 100

Anti-Virus Software 101

Windows Defender 101

Avast 102

AVG 103

Types of Computer 104

Micro Computer 104

Desktop 104

Desktop: All-in-one 105

Netbook 107

Chromebook 108

Tablet Computers 110

Hybrids 111

Mainframe Computer 112

Super Computer 113

Embedded System 113

Understanding Hardware Specifications 114

So Many Machines 114

Mac or PC? 115

Decoding the Jargon 117

Computer Specs 118

Printer Specs 119

Computer Networks 120

Local Area Networks (LANs) 120

Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) 121

Wide Area Networks (WANs) 122

Peer-to-peer Network 123

Client-server Network 124

Network Layers 125

Network Topologies 126

Star 127

Bus 128

Ring 129

Ethernet 130

Cellular Networks 132

WiFi 133

Dual Band or Single Band? 133

WiFi Extenders 133

Wireless Standards 134

Wireless Security 134

The Internet 136

Internet Connections 136

DSL 136

Fibre Optic 137

Cable 140

Satellite 141

3G/4G/5G 141

Web Servers and DNS 142

DHCP Servers 143

IP Addresses 144

TCP/IP 146

TCP/IP Model 146

Ports and Sockets 147

Packet Switching 149

What is a URL? 152

HTML 153

Where are the HTML Files Stored? 154

Cloud Computing 155

Data Transfer Rates 157

Internet Security 160

Malware 160

Virus 160

Worm 161

Trojan 161

Rootkit 161

Ransomware 161

Social Engineering 162

Phishing 162

Pharming 162

Pretexting 163

Shouldering 163

Threat Prevention 164

Biometric Measures 164

Strong Passwords 164

2-Factor Authentication 164

Public Key Cryptography 165

Firewalls 166

Computer Fundamentals

A computer is a machine that can store and process data according to a sequence of instructions called a program.

At their most fundamental level, these machines can only process binary data: 1s and 0s.

In this chapter, we’ll take a look at using the binary code to encode data, as well as binary arithmetic and number bases.

We’ll look at using logic gates to build simple circuits and how they form the building blocks for electronic devices, before moving onto the fetch execute cycle and instruction sets.

Let’s begin by taking a look at the binary code.

Representing Data

The computer uses 1s and 0s to encode computer instructions and data. RAM is essentially a bank of switches: ‘off’ represents a 0 and ‘on’ represents a 1.

Using this idea, data can be encoded using either ASCII or Unicode and stored in RAM or on a disc drive.

ASCII code

The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), originally used a 7-bit binary code to represent letters, numbers and other characters. Each character is assigned a binary number between 0 to 127. For example:

Capital A is 010000012 (6510)

Lowercase A is 011000012 (9710)

000-31 is reserved for control characters such as end of line, carriage returns, end of text and so on.

032-126 covers symbols, numbers 0-9, and all lowercase and uppercase letters.

The ASCII code set was later extended to 8-bit which allowed more characters to be encoded. These included mathematical symbols, international characters and other special characters needed.

Unicode

Unicode is a universal encoding standard for representing the characters of all the languages of the world, including those with larger character sets such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

UTF-8 is a variable length encoding system that uses one to four bytes to represent a character. UTF-8 is backwards compatible with ASCII and widely used in internet web pages. In your HTML code you might see something like this: <meta charset=”utf-8”>.

Convert Decimal to Binary

To convert a decimal number to binary, continually divide the number by 2. If the number divides equally then write down 0, if there is a remainder write down 1.

Lets take a look at an example.

Convert 6710 to binary.

You’ll end up with something like this

Remember, you construct the binary number reading your remainders from the last one to the first one.

Take a look at the video demo at

www.elluminetpress.com/representing-data/

Hexadecimal Numbers

Hexadecimal is used as a shorthand for binary and uses the decimal numbers 0-9 and the first 6 letters of the alphabet.