Computer Fundamentals

OS	Operating System (e.g.   DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Novell NetWare, OS/2, SCO Unix, Banyan Vines, ..)
ROM	Read-Only Memory
BIOS	Basic Input Output System
CPU	The microchip or Central Processing Unit
Byte and bits Just as a word is made up of letters, a byte is made up of bits. While words have a variable number of letters, all bytes have eight bits. A bit represents a positive or negative electric charge. The computer interprets these electric states as either the digits 0 (negative charge) or 1 (positive charge). These are the only two digits the computer can understand. Because of this, computers work on a binary number system, instead of the decimal system we are used to. The word bit stands for binary digit. The computer interprets the negative and positive electric charges as binary digits (bits), and groups eight bits together. The sequence of the eight 1s and 0s identifies one byte from another. There are 256 different possible 0-1 combinations the eight bits can make (2 to the power of 8 = 256), and so a computer can identify 256 different characters. This is a sufficient number to represent all of the uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet, the digits 0-9, all the punctuation marks, a symbol used by the computer for a space, special characters such a * and I, other symbols used specifically by the computer, and still leave plenty of possible symbols for future uses.
8 bits = 1 byte
1,024 bytes = 1 kilobyte (K)
1,024 kilobytes - 1 megabyte (MB)
1,024 megabytes = 1 gigabyte (GB)
1,024 gigabytes = 1 terabyte (TB)
kilo-     k 1000^1 1024^1 = 2^10 = 1,024 mega- M 1000^2 1024^2 = 2^20 = 1,048,576 giga-   G 1000^3 1024^3 = 2^30 = 1,073,741,824 tera-    T 1000^4 1024^4 = 2^40 = 1,099,511,627,776 peta-      1000^5 1024^5 = 2^50 = 1,125,899,906,842,624 exa-       1000^6 1024^6 = 2^60 = 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 zetta-     1000^7 1024^7 = 2^70 = 1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424 yotta-     1000^8 1024^8 = 2^80 = 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176
Name Abbr. Size Kilo K 2^10 = 1,024 Mega M 2^20 = 1,048,576 Giga G 2^30 = 1,073,741,824 Tera T 2^40 = 1,099,511,627,776 Peta P 2^50 = 1,125,899,906,842,624 Exa E 2^60 = 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 Zetta Z 2^70 = 1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424 Yotta Y 2^80 = 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176
Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) If the object is embedded, then the illustration remains under control of the original application. If the object is linked, changes you make through your application are made directly to the source file.
Every file format in the world		Search for file extensions	Computer Unit Converter

Peripherals are attach to your PC via ports:
Serial Port  - 115 Kbps	USB - 12 Mbps = 12 million bits per second
FireWire - IEEE 1394 - 400 Mbps	USB 2.0- 480 Mbps
Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) (PCI) A standard for connecting peripherals to a personal computer, designed by Intel and released around Autumn 1993. PCI is supported by most major manufacturers including Apple Computer. It is technically far superior to VESA's local bus. It runs at 20 - 33 MHz and carries 32 bits at a time over a 124-pin connector or 64 bits over a 188-pin connector. An address is sent in one cycle followed by one word of data (or several in burst mode).
Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP)
A bus specification by Intel which gives low-cost 3D graphics cards faster access to main memory on personal computers than the usual PCI bus. AGP dynamically allocates the PC's normal RAM to store the screen image and to support texture mapping, z-buffering and alpha blending. Intel has built AGP into a chipset for its Pentium II microprocessor AGP cards are slightly longer than a PCI card. AGP operates at 66 MHz, doubled to 133 MHz, compared with PCI's 33 Mhz. AGP allows for efficient use of frame buffer memory, thereby helping 2D graphics performance as well. AGP provides a coherent memory management design which allows scattered data in system memory to be read in rapid bursts.
PCI Express Architecture PCI Express is the latest I/O interconnect technology that will replace the existing PCI. With a bus bandwidth 4 times higher than that of AGP 8X interface, PCI Express x16 bus performs much better than AGP 8X in applications such as 3D gaming. PCI Express x1 also outperforms PCI interface with its exceptional high bandwidth up to 500MB/s. The high speed PCI Express interface creates new usages on desktop PCs e.g., Gigabit LAN, 1394b, and high-speed RAID systems.

T E X T	B I N A R Y
Text Typically, the term text refers to text stored as ASCII codes (that is, without any formatting). Objects that are not text include graphics, numbers (if they're not stored as ASCII characters), and program code.	Binary1.   A number representation consisting of 0's and 1's used by practically all computers because of its ease of implementation using digital electronics and Boolean algebra. 2. Any file format for digital data encoded as a sequence of bits but not consisting of a sequence of printable characters (text). The term is often used for executable machine code.  Of course all digital data, including characters, is actually binary data (unless it uses some (rare) system with more than two discrete levels) but the distinction between binary and text is well established.
ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange. This is the world-wide standard for the code numbers used by computers to represent all the upper and lower-case Latin letters, numbers, punctuation, etc. There are 128 standard ASCII codes each of which can be represented by a 7 digit binary number: 0000000 through 1111111.
EBCDIC - Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code Pronounced eb-see-dik, EBCDIC is an IBM code for representing characters as numbers. Although it is widely used on large IBM computers, most other computers, including PCs and Macintoshes, use ASCII codes. [/eb's*-dik/, /eb'see"dik/, or /eb"k*-dik/ ]

COMPUTER TERMINOLOGY
State-of-the-art	Any computer you can't afford
Obsolete	Any computer you own
Microsecond	The time it takes for your state-of-the-art computer to become obsolete
Keyboard	The standard way to generate computer errors
Mouse	An advanced input device to make computer errors easier to generate
Floppy	The state of your wallet after purchasing a computer
Portable Computer	A device invented to force businessmen to work at home, on vacation, and on business trips
Disk Crash	A typical computer response to any critical deadline
Power User	Anyone who can format a disk from DOS
System Update	A quick method of trashing ALL of your software