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Computer
101
I'm exercising my
writers prerogative and changing the topic for this
issue. I found it impossible to write about upgrading
a computer without first establishing some
terminology. So tune in next time for Upgrades,
Part II: Hardware Wars. Instead,
here comes Computer 101:
The two chief components
of a computer are the CPU, the monitor and the... Um, the
three chief components of a computer are the CPU, the
monitor, the keyboard and.... Ahem! AMONG the chief
components of the computer are the CPU, the monitor, the
keyboard and the printer. (My apologies to Monty Python.)
There are a lot of things
that make up a computer and it seems very alien to most
people. This is because the people who invented the
computer WERE aliens. Not the kind from a another planet
or country, but the kind from a different mental plane.
They were extremely successful in making a machine
perform their rocket scientist equations and handle the
tasks of the 1st Humongous Bank of America. They did not
really consider regular people being involved.
As a matter of fact, they
did not want anybody else to understand. It's the old job
security thing. If nobody else knows what you know, you
can't be replaced. It's also a power thing. I myself was
quite happy to be a member of the computer elite at the
ripe old age of 23 where I could tell the VP the world's
eighth largest gear manufacturing company his request was
or was not possible to perform and he would just have to
take my word for it.
Times have changed. Now
everybody is told they need a computer. But computer
history is boring and difficult. And who needs to know
about all the arcane terminology as long as you turn it
on and it works! Right?
That might be true for the
machine language and programming aspects, but for even
the average user I think some basics are essential. I'll
try to keep this simple and fun. . TOP END
My
Computer, Myself
A computer is really
similar to a human being in many ways. The central item
of importance to a person is the brain. The brain of the
computer is called the CPU (Central Processing Unit).
(Why they didn't just call it the brain is beyond me.) In
order to process information, people (and computers) must
be able to perceive things and remember them. People
perceive with their senses and store experiences with
their brains. The computer terms for these are INPUT and
MEMORY. And, in order to communicate, people express
through talking or writing. The powers that be dubbed
this OUTPUT. TOP END
If I
Only Had A Brain
A computer is measured by
its capacity in three... er, several ways: RAM, ROM,
processing speed and storage space. People are rated by
their IQ and educational level. (People are also rated by
how much they resemble Cindy Crawford and how big their
bank accounts are, this can apply to computers that look
cool.)
RAM (Random Access Memory)
is a temporary kind of memory. You know, you have to
remember a phone number the operator gives you long
enough to dial it. Then, say in an hour or so, you can't
recall it. RAM=short term. The length of time for humans
varies, but for a computer this is the time from the
point the power is turned on to the point the power is
turned off or disconnected.
ROM (Read Only Memory) is
the permanent memory of a computer. Consider this the
stuff you learned in Kindergarten: the alphabet, manners,
language, etc. Stuff that you will always know unless
you're like Holden Snyder on "As The World
Turns" and you have brain surgery. Computer ROM is
full of things like what to do when a disk is inserted
and what a window is. ROM=long-term.
The thing that makes
humans different where RAM and ROM is concerned is that,
through repetition, people can turn short-term thoughts
into long-term memories. Computer's ROM is fixed.
An important aspect of
memory is storage. With people this is all jumbled up
into one big thing between their ears. Besides RAM and
ROM, computers also have disk space. The best analogy I
have come up with to equate to this is books. Books are
where people store their experiences in order to share
them with other people. You can't carry everything around
in your head all the time, so you write it down. If you
really want to remember that number, you write it down so
you can read it later. You can also give that information
to somebody else.
For computers, this is
done with disk space. Think of it like a phonograph
record; it spins and a needle reads the information.
Unlike records, however, a computer disk can be written
to as well.. TOP END
Sizing
Things Up
Books are measured by the
number of words and the number of pages. The volume of a
book can give you an idea of how much information is
stored in it. A bunch of books together forms a library.
Computer memory is
measured in bytes, and bytes are made of bits. Think of a
bit as a letter and a byte as a word. Think of 1,000
bytes to make a page. Since K=1000, 1K=1 page. Therefore,
an 800K disk holds 800 pages of 1,000 words or 800,000
words. 1,000K is 1,000 pages of 1,000 words or 1 million
bytes. Thus we arrive at the illustrious term
"MegaByte."
An 800K floppy is almost
1Mb. Think of a floppy as a book. So a 40Mb hard drive
will hold about 40 floppies worth of information--or a
library of 40 books. This isn't strictly true, but close
enough for government work.
Two books of the same
thickness might have different amounts of information.
Let's say one has large type and a lot of pictures, and
the other is fine print from start to finish like a
dictionary. Likewise, there are 400K, 800K and 1.4 Mb
floppies that all hold different amounts but are the same
physical size.
The problem is people
don't think of their memory in terms of pages like a
book. This is why it's confusing when RAM, ROM and disk
storage are all measured in bytes. All that really means
though is that a computer is less complicated than a
human.
The computer's knowledge
of how to read a disk is based in ROM. When you give it a
command, it will use ROM to read from the disk and store
the information in RAM. The disk can be taken to another
computer which will be able to share that information.. TOP END
The
Ratings Game
Like people, computers are
not only rated based on how much they know (RAM, ROM and
disk space), but how quickly they can process
information. Consider the person who, when given all the
time they need, can find the answer to a problem. They
are smart and resourceful. But when it comes to test
time, they don't make the grade because they are too
slow.
Generally, the higher a
person's education, there smarter they are perceived to
be. But a person can be very smart--i.e. capable of more
advanced thinking, just not schooled. With computers, RAM
and storage space are parallel to schooling, but their
ROM and memory chip are what set the limits. Most any
computer can have more RAM installed and you can always
get a bigger hard drive. TOP END
You
Got To Get In To Get Out
Getting information in and
out is an important part of the story. How can you
process information if you can't attain it? People use
their five senses to perceive the world: Sight, Hearing,
Touch, Smell and Taste. To convey what they know they
will speak, or draw or write. Computers are catching up,
but for now they still only operate with the first two
human senses. I think I did hear of something called
"Smellevision" once but I don't know if that
was a joke.. TOP END
Message
in a Bottle
Back when I was in School,
computers only had a keyboard and printer combined
together for input and output. You typed a command, it
responded. We were linked to an IBM main-frame via modem.
This makes me feel like I was on a desert island where I
could only communicate by writing a note, putting it in a
bottle and waiting for a reply the same way.
But now my Mac can receive
information via the keyboard and the mouse, with a
drawing tablet, from a CD-ROM, through the audio port and
from a scanner or video capture. Soon we will be able to
add pen-based communication where you actually scribble
on a pad in your own hand writing and it will know what
you want.
For output, instead of the
early days restricted only to 11x14 3-bar green &
white printout, we now have color monitors and printers,
stereo sound, and high-resolution lino film or slides.
There are even computers that can make a physical mold
based on 3-D computer renderings. Can it be very long
before replicators? TOP END
Brave
New Worlds
I have always said that
video games were great if only from the viewpoint that
children are being raised without any hesitation about
interacting with machines. Nintendo even added mouse
driven input last Christmas with Mario Paint. Just wait
until they figure out how to add a keyboard... think of
it, a computer with graphics like that for less than
$200! And one that your kids already love to use.
Computers are not the
cold, distant manipulators and de-humanizers of the
world. They are capable and ready tools already at work
in the hands of the people. With time, the people who
make computers will work on the interface to make the
similarities between man and machine more and more the
striking.
But for now, whenever you
feel frustrated with the computer world, just try to put
the problem in human terms. And if that doesn't work, buy
a Macintosh next time. TOP
Bill Bricker
specializes in information architecture and computer
illustration. He designed the logo for Todd Rundgren's
Utopia reunion tour.
        
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