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This isn't so much a
tutorial, as it doesn't actually teach you much.. It's more a text on hardware
for those of you sick of newbie tutorials, and looking for something interesting
and non-dangerous. This is mainly about motherboard stuff, but I stuck something
about HDs, mice and Gfx cards at the end. Hey, if people like it and tell me, I
might even stretch and do al the other computer bits and bobs. ;)
The BIOS.
This contains instructions which are
specific for that particular motherboard. Those programs and instructions will
remain in the PC throughout its life; usually they are not altered. However, it
is possible to get replacement / upgrade BIOS's. Primarily the ROM code holds
start-up instructions. In fact there are several different programs inside the
start-up instructions, but for most users, they are all woven together. You can
differentiate between:
* POST (Power On Self Test) * The Setup instructions, which connect with the CMOS instructions * BIOS instructions, which connect with the various hardware peripherals * The Boot instructions, which call the operating system (DOS, OS/2, or Windows)
Note: Only very old or different OS's are stored on ROM, such as OS/2.
This is actually a much more efficient system.
BIOS's are static sensitive,
so take care when handling them. They can also be PWord protected... if you ever
get round to doing this, don't forget the password. As you don't use the BIOS
PWord often, this is easy to do. Don't. it's bloody hard getting the PWord back.
Processors
Processors work on
a fetch-execute cycle. each tick of the clock, in theory, they get a bit of
data... and by tick of the clock here, we don't mean a second, we mean the tick
of a computer clock. Depending on the speed of your processor, this is anywhere
from 233 million ticks per second for a 233, to 800 for an overclocked 600MHz
Athlon chip.
So, you can get, on your average computer, 400 - 500 bits of
data per second. Well, wrong actually... because not every clock tick is taken
up by getting the data. Every _fourth_ is. Well, what about every other 3? you
ask.. they are taken up with _finding_ the data, _getting_ it, and putting it
back. So, you say, your processor runs at a quarter of the speed that in theory
it should be able to do? Well, yes. And there's no way around this,
unfortunately. But, we can make the clock speed a little faster, and it is the
clock speed that dictates the speed of the processor... (within reason).
Therefore, you can set the clock ticks on your 233 to 266, and it'll run at
166 MHz. Yes. Unfortunately, the more clock ticks there are in relation to what
your chip is _supposed_ to run at, the hotter it Gets. Therefore, you need to
install heatsyncs/fans. In fact, the AMD Athlon 600MHz overclocked to 800MHz,
the fastest PC at the time of writing has a minature fridge that cools the chip,
which is its own special metal box. The tower-sized case also has a box the size
of a mini-tower underneath for the cooling system. ;)
For this increase in
temperature of 200MHz, the chip is cooled to -37 degrees centigrade. that's
cold. ;) (Note: AMD chips generally run a lot hotter than Intel ones). ((Not a
problem unless u have no heatsync)) - see the micron section,
below...
The Clock
Now, this
fabled clock looks like, in most cases, a small black box on your motherboard.
The clock ticks it emitts are in the form of a wave
__ _ ____ _ _ ___ _¦ ¦___¦ ¦__¦ ¦_¦ ¦_¦ ¦__¦ ¦__ and etc.
The wave, which never changes, and is always the same, is broadcast
throughout your motherboard, and it synchronises all of the things that go on
there. For example, when you press the left button in your game of quake, the
processor assigns different bits of your computer
The
signals sent run around your motherboard, through all of those copper bits, and
into the chips, ISA slots, or whatever, and the task gets accomplished.
This signal is sent around the motherboard in that most wonderful of
things we all love, Binary. Now, Binary is what Computers communicate with, and
it is a DIGITAL thing. Digital. A Much used term.
COmputers are electronic,
and therefore, all the signals in them are tiny pulses of electricity. Now,
electricity can be one of two things. On... or off. And this is what makes it
digital. If it could be half on as well, it would be analogue... But no. It's
digital. However, the representation of it in the form of signals down wires is
analogue, as a sound in a modem wire can be any of a hundred million different
pitches, can't it. Yes. This digital signal is, then, a series of 0's and 1's.
Binary. The counting system that we use (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11...
etc... ) is Denary. It's Base ten... Binary is Base 2 (and Hexadecimal, which is
used, amongst other things, is base 16). Therefore it is perfect for being what
these signals are coded in. so each charactor on your screen is represented in
your computers RAM by a series of Binary digits. Probably 8. if you go into
Windows Calculator, and switch to scientific mode (View>Scientific) you can
decode this. For example, 1 in Binary is 00000001. 2 is 00000010. The way this
can be decoded is thus:
Each digit in binary represents a quantity of a
certain number, just as denary does. In denary, there is a column for 1's, a
column for 10's, and a column for 100's.
Denary:
|
10s |
1s | |
|
1 |
0 |
0 |
Here, there is a one in the hundreds column, and therefore, 100 + 0 + 0
(0 and 0 are the other 2 columns) makes 100. SO 1 0 0 in Denary represents 100.
(of course, translating 100 --> 100 doesn't work, as denary is used in both
cases). In Binary, this works this:
Binary (8-bit -- 8 digits)
|
64 |
32 |
16 |
8 |
4 |
2 |
1 | |
|
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
SO... 128 + 64 + 32 + 16 + 8 + 2 + 1 = 250.
So the Binary number
11111010 = 250. Simple, eh?
It is possible to do addition, subtraction,
multiplication, in fact, EVEYTHING that is possible with denary (1--> 10)...
I'm not going to explain it because it is simply too complicated. ;) Use Windows
Calculator... the radio buttons at the top left switch between number
systems.
Chipset
We all know what
assembly language is, do we not? It is the programming language that is most
native to a computer. The instructions go directly to the chip (more or less).
(Assembly actually lays on top of Machine code, which is the real native:
Assembler is a more human-friendly version)... Each chip has their own different
version of assembler/machine code, called its _chipset_. Each new type of chip
comes with an upgraded chipset: for example, the Intel MMX chip incorporated
the...wait for it... MMX chipset! There are also chipsets such as 3D!Now. THe
most basic of commands between, say, Intel and AMD are the same: they have to be
in order for the two to be compatible, but more advanced things are different.
This is why Alpha chips are incompatible with windows: The chipset is completely
different.
Intel has hitherto been the leader in supplying chip sets to the
Pentium motherboard. Therefore, let us just mention their chip sets, which have
astronomical names. The Neptune chip set (82434NX) was introduced in June 1994.
It replaced the Mercury set (82434LX). In both chip sets, there were problems
with the PCI bus. In January 1995 Intel introduced the first Triton, where
everything worked. This chip set supports some new features: it supports EDO
RAM, and it offers bus master integrated EIDE control and NSP (Native Signal
Processing - one of the many new creations, which was soon forgotten).
The
sorts of things that new chipsets are used for are varied... for example, The
Intel TX Chipset, for example, supports SDRam and UltraDMA (But the TX-set
cannot cache above 64 MB RAM, and that is a problem.), while AMD chips have
their own special Graphics chipset, which is better for that task.
Microns
The CPUs have doubled their
calculating capacity every 18 months. This is called "Moore's Law" and was
predicted in 1965 by Gordon Moore. He was right for more than 30 years. The
latest CPUs use internal wiring only 0.25 microns wide (1/400 of a human hair).
But if Moore's Law has to be valid into the next century, more transistors have
to be squeezed onto silicon layers. And now there is a new hope. IBM has for the
first time succeeded in making copper conductors instead of aluminum. Copper is
cheaper and faster, but the problem was to isolate it from the silicon. The
problem has been solved with a new type of coating, and now chips can be
designed with 0.13 micron technology. The technology is expected later to work
with just 0.05 micron wiring! Texas Instruments announced on August 27th 1998
that they expect 0.07 micron CMOS processing in the year 2001. At the time of
writing, AMD chips run at .27 microns (?) and Intel at .33. This explains why
AMD chips are hotter, as there is less wire, and therefore more probability of
the electrons that the electricity is comprised of hitting the side of the
wires, and creating heat.
Hard
Drives
Hard drives work in much the same way as a floppy disk
does. They can, however, store a much larger capacity of data, and therefore are
much more fragile, and compact
IBM introduced the first hard disk in 1957, when data
usually was stored on tapes. The first 305 RAMAC (Random Access Method of
Accounting and Control) consisted of 50 platters, 24 inch diameter, with a total
capacity of 5 MB, a huge storage medium for its time. It cost $35,000 annually
in leasing fees (IBM would not sell it outright) and was twice the size of a
refrigerator.
In the early 80s, HD's became the preferred storage medium as
opposed to floppy drives (these were previously used due to increased
reliability). IBM's PS/2 (one of which I have - yay) was one of the first PCs to
be equipped with a Hard drive. I think.
Mice
Mice are, as we all know, Input devices,
and as we also know, they tell where you are on the mousemat by moving a ball in
the bottom. Which you can see. But how does it read how the ball is moving?
Well, inside the mouse are 2 rollers, at 90 degrees to each other. When you move
the mouse, u move the ball, and thus the rollers. THe rollers have some little
discs on the end of them with slits in, and either side of the disc are
light-readers, so that when you move tha ball, the mouse can tell because light
flasles on and off in its light reader. There is also a 3rd non-functional
roller to keep the ball rolling smoothly. Note: It is perfectly safe to turn
your mouse upside down ,. take the ball out and look inside, as long as you
don't prod anything too hard (twiddle the rollers by all means, just don't stick
bits of paper in there). It is also a good idea to get a blunt knife or screw
driver and clean the crud off the rollers every few weeks... it solidifies into
little rings around the rollers, and works to the detriment of the mouse. If it
isn't cleaned off, it can also, fallinto the mouse, and reak havok with the
insides. :) The same sort of crud builds up in keyboards, but is harder to
remove. ;)
GFX Cards
A video card is
typically an adapter, a removable expansion card in the PC. Thus, it can be
replaced! The video card can also be an integral part of the system board...This
is the case in certain brands of PCs and is always the case in lap tops. This is
not nice, as it is hard to upgrade to a better card. On a OC with a
non-removable gfx or sound card, the normal procedure if you _do_ want to
replace it is to disable the built-in graphics card using jumpers or dip
switches... consult your motherboard manual. ;) Regardless of whether it is
replaceable or integrated, it consists of three components:
* A video
chip of some brand (ATI, Matrox, S3, Cirrus Logic, or Tseng, to name some of the
better known). The video chip creates the signals, which the screen must receive
to form an image.
* Some kind of RAM (EDO, SGRAM, or VRAM, which are all
variations of the regular RAM). Memory is necessary, since the video card must
be able to remember a complete screen image at any time.
* A RAMDAC - a chip
converting digital/analog signals.
NOTE: Never buy an S3. Never. Ever.
I've had lots, they're all useless. Remember that.
All ordinary graphics
cards can show 3D games. That is really no special trick. The problem is to
present them smoothly and fast. If the PC’s video card is made for 2D execution
only, the CPU must do the entire workload of geometric transformations etc.! And
that task can cause even the fastest CPU to walk with a limp. In recent years
there has been an enormous development in 3D graphics cards. Let me briefly
describe those here.
There are two types of graphics cards, which can be
used for 3D acceleration:
Combination 2D/3D cards. These are ordinary
graphics cards, which have been equipped with extra 3D power.
The pure 3D
cards, which only work as accelerators. These cards require that there also is
an ordinary (2D) graphics card in the PC.
Of course the pure 3D card yields
the best acceleration, but there are also good combination cards on the market.
Njan
© 2001 Blacksun Research Facility. All rights reserved.