Rabu, 31 Maret 2010

Computer Peripherals



CPU (Processor)


The Central Processing Unit (CPU) or the processor is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, and is the primary element carrying out the computer's functions



Motherboard


A motherboard is the central printed circuit board (PCB) in many modern computers and holds many of the crucial components of the system, while providing connectors for other peripherals.



Memory

The computer memory is a temporary storage area. It holds the data and instructions that the Central Processing Unit (CPU) needs. Before a program can be run, the program is loaded from some storage medium into the memory. This allows the CPU direct access to the program. Memory is a necessity for any computer.



Hard Disk Drive


A hard disk drive (often shortened as hard disk, hard drive, or HDD) is a non-volatile storage device that stores digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating rigid (i.e. hard) platters with magnetic surfaces.



Optical Disk Drive

In computing, an optical disc drive (ODD) is a disk drive that uses laser light or electromagnetic waves near the light spectrum as part of the process of reading or writing data to or from optical discs. Some drives can only read from discs, but recent drives are commonly both readers and recorders. Recorders are sometimes calledburners or writers. Compact discs, DVDs, HD DVDs and Blu-ray discs are common types of optical media which can be read and recorded by such drives



Floppy Disk Drive

A floppy disk is a data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible ("floppy") magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangular plastic shell. Floppy disks are read and written by a floppy disk drive or FDD, the initials of which should not be confused with "fixed disk drive", which is another term for a (nonremovable) type of hard disk drive. Invented by the American information technology company IBM, floppy disks in 8-inch (203 mm), 51⁄4 in (133 mm), and 31⁄2 in (89 mm) formats enjoyed nearly three decades as a popular and ubiquitous form of data storage and exchange, from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s.

While floppy disk drives still have some limited uses, especially with legacy industrial computer equipment, they have now been largely superseded by USB flash drives, external hard disk drives, CDs, DVDs, and memory cards



Casing and Power Supply

A power supply unit (PSU) is the component that supplies power to the other components in a computer.



Monitor


Keyboard And Mouse

In computing, a keyboard is an input device, partially modeled after the typewriter keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches. A keyboard typically has characters engraved or printed on the keys and each press of a key typically corresponds to a single written symbol. However, to produce some symbols requires pressing and holding several keys simultaneously or in sequence. While most keyboard keys produce letters, numbers or signs(characters), other keys or simultaneous key presses can produce actions or computer commands.

In computing, a mouse (plural mice, mouses, or mouse devices.) is a pointing device that functions by detecting two-dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of an object held under one of the user's hands, with one or more buttons. It sometimes features other elements, such as "wheels", which allow the user to perform various system-dependent operations, or extra buttons or features can add more control or dimensional input. The mouse's motion typically translates into the motion of a cursor on a display, which allows for fine control of a Graphical User Interface.


Speaker


Printer

In computing, a printer is a peripheral which produces a hard copy (permanent readable text and/or graphics) of documents stored in electronic form, usually on physical print media such as paper or transparencies. Many printers are primarily used as local peripherals, and are attached by a printer cable or, in most newer printers, a USB cable to a computer which serves as a document source. Some printers, commonly known as network printers, have built-in network interfaces (typically wireless and/or Ethernet), and can serve as a hardcopy device for any user on the network. Individual printers are often designed to support both local and network connected users at the same time. In addition, a few modern printers can directly interface to electronic media such as memory sticks or memory cards, or to image capture devices such as digital cameras, scanners; some printers are combined with a scanners and/or fax machines in a single unit, and can function as photocopiers. Printers that include non-printing features are sometimes called Multifunction printers (MFP), Multi-Function Devices (MFD), or All-In-One (AIO) printers. Most MFPs include printing, scanning, and copying among their features.

Scanner

In computing, a scanner is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object, and converts it to a digital image. Common examples found in offices are variations of the desktop (or flatbed) scanner where the document is placed on a glass window for scanning. Hand-held scanners, where the device is moved by hand, have evolved from text scanning "wands" to 3D scanners used for industrial design, reverse engineering, test and measurement, orthotics, gaming and other applications. Mechanically driven scanners that move the document are typically used for large-format documents, where a flatbed design would be impractical.


computer

A computer is a programmable machine that receives input, stores and manipulates data, and provides output in a useful format.

Although mechanical examples of computers have existed through much of recorded human history, the first electronic computers were developed in the mid-20th century (1940–1945). These were the size of a large room, consuming as much power as several hundred modern personal computers (PCs). Modern computers based on integrated circuits are millions to billions of times more capable than the early machines, and occupy a fraction of the space. Simple computers are small enough to fit into small pocket devices, and can be powered by a small battery. Personal computers in their various forms are icons of the Information Age and are what most people think of as "computers". The embedded computers found in many devices fromMP3 players to fighter aircraft and from toys to industrial robots are however the most numerous.

The ability to store and execute lists of instructions called programs makes computers extremely versatile, distinguishing them from calculators. The Church–Turing thesis is a mathematical statement of this versatility: any computer with a certain minimum capability is, in principle, capable of performing the same tasks that any other computer can perform. Therefore computers ranging from a netbook to a supercomputer are all able to perform the same computational tasks, given enough time and storage capacity.

First Generation (1939-1954) - vacuum tube

First Generation (1939-1954) - vacuum tube

  • 1937 - John V. Atanasoff designed the first digital electronic computer
  • 1939 - Atanasoff and Clifford Berry demonstrate in Nov. the ABC prototype
  • 1941 - Konrad Zuse in Germany developed in secret the Z3
  • 1943 - In Britain, the Colossus was designed in secret at Bletchley Park to decode German messages
  • 1944 - Howard Aiken developed the Harvard Mark I mechanical computer for the Navy
  • 1945 - John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert built ENIAC at U of PA for the U.S. Army
  • 1946 - Mauchly and Eckert start Electronic Control Co., received grant from National Bureau of Standards to build a ENIAC-type computer with magnetic tape input/output, renamed UNIVAC in 1947 but run out of money, formed in Dec. 1947 the new company Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC).
  • 1948 - Howard Aiken developed the Harvard Mark III electronic computer with 5000 tubes
  • 1948 - U of Manchester in Britain developed the SSEM Baby electronic computer with CRT memory
  • 1949 - Mauchly and Eckert in March successfully tested the BINAC stored-program computer for Northrop Aircraft, with mercury delay line memory and a primitive magentic tape drive; Remington Rand bought EMCC Feb. 1950 and provided funds to finish UNIVAC
  • 1950- Commander William C. Norris led Engineering Research Associates to develop the Atlas, based on the secret code-breaking computers used by the Navy in WWII; the Atlas was 38 feet long, 20 feet wide, and used 2700 vacuum tubes
  • 1951 - S. A. Lebedev developed the MESM computer in Russia
  • 1951 - Remington Rand successfully tested UNIVAC March 30, 1951, and announced to the public its sale to the Census Bureau June 14, 1951, the first commercial computer to feature a magnetic tape storage system, the eight UNISERVO tape drives that stood separate from the CPU and control console on the other side of a garage-size room. Each tape drive was six feet high and three feet wide, used 1/2-inch metal tape of nickel-plated bronze 1200 feet long, recorded data on eight channels at 100 inches per second with a transfer rate of 7,200 characters per second. The complete UNIVAC system weighed 29,000 pounds, included 5200 vacuum tubes, and an offline typewriter-printer UNIPRINTER with an attached metal tape drive. Later, a punched card-to-tape machine was added to read IBM 80-column and Remington Rand 90-column cards.
  • 1952 - Remington Rand bought the ERA in Dec. 1951 and combined the UNIVAC product line in 1952: the ERA 1101 computer became the UNIVAC 1101. The UNIVAC I was used in November to calculate the presidential election returns and successfully predict the winner, although it was not trusted by the TV networks who refused to use the prediction.
  • 1954 - The SAGE aircraft-warning system was the largest vacuum tube computer system ever built. It began in 1954 at MIT's Lincoln Lab with funding from the Air Force. The first of 23 Direction Centers went online in Nov. 1956, and the last in 1962. Each Center had two 55,000-tube computers built by IBM, MIT, AND Bell Labs. The 275-ton computers known as "Clyde" were based on Jay Forrester's Whirlwind I and had magnetic core memory, magentic drum and magnetic tape storage. The Centers were connected by an early network, and pioneered development of the modem and graphics display.

Second Generation Computers (1954 -1959) - transistor

Second Generation Computers (1954 -1959) - transistor


  • 1950 - National Bureau of Standards (NBS) introduced its Standards Eastern Automatic Computer (SEAC) with 10,000 newly developed germanium diodes in its logic circuits, and the first magnetic disk drive designed by Jacob Rabinow
  • 1953 - Tom Watson, Jr., led IBM to introduce the model 604 computer, its first with transistors, that became the basis of the model 608 of 1957, the first solid-state computer for the commercial market. Transistors were expensive at first, cost $8 vs. $.75 for a vacuum tube. But Watson was impressed with the new transistor radios and gave them to his engineers to study. IBM also developed the 650 Magnetic Drum Calculator, the first by IBM to use magnetic drum memory rather punched cards, and began shipment of the 701 scientific "Defense Calculator" that was the first of the Model 700 line that dominated main frame computers for the next decade
  • 1955 - IBM introduced the 702 business computer; Watson on the cover of Time magazine March 28
  • 1956 - Bendix G-15A small business computer sold for only $45,000, designed by Harry Huskey of NBS
  • 1959 - General Electric Corporation delivered its Electronic Recording Machine Accounting (ERMA) computing system to the Bank of America in California; based on a design by SRI, the ERMA system employed Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) as the means to capture data from the checks and introduced automation in banking that continued with ATM machines in 1974

Third Generation Computers (1959 -1971) - IC

Third Generation Computers (1959 -1971) - IC

  • 1959 - Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments patented the first integrated circuit in Feb. 1959; Kilby had made his first germanium IC in Oct. 1958; Robert Noyce at Fairchild used planar process to make connections of components within a silicon IC in early 1959; the first commercial product using IC was the hearing aid in Dec. 1963; General Instrument made LSI chip (100+ components) for Hammond organs 1968
  • 1964 - IBM produced SABRE, the first airline reservation tracking system for American Airlines; IBM announced the System/360 all-purpose computer, using 8-bit character word length (a "byte") that was pioneered in the 7030 of April 1961 that grew out of the AF contract of Oct. 1958 following Sputnik to develop transistor computers for BMEWS
  • 1968 - DEC introduced the first "mini-computer", the PDP-8, named after the mini-skirt; DEC was founded in 1957 by Kenneth H. Olsen who came for the SAGE project at MIT and began sales of the PDP-1 in 1960
  • 1969 - Development began on ARPAnet, funded by the DOD
  • 1971 - Intel produced large scale integrated (LSI) circuits that were used in the digital delay line, the first digital audio device

Fourth Generation (1971-1991) - microprocessor

Fourth Generation (1971-1991) - microprocessor

  • 1971 - Gilbert Hyatt at Micro Computer Co. patented the microprocessor; Ted Hoff at Intel in February introduced the 4-bit 4004, a VSLI of 2300 components, for the Japanese company Busicom to create a single chip for a calculator; IBM introduced the first 8-inch "memory disk", as it was called then, or the "floppy disk" later; Hoffmann-La Roche patented the passive LCD display for calculators and watches; in November Intel announced the first microcomputer, the MCS-4; Nolan Bushnell designed the first commercial arcade video game "Computer Space"
  • 1972 - Intel made the 8-bit 8008 and 8080 microprocessors; Gary Kildall wrote his Control Program/Microprocessor (CP/M) disk operating system to provide instructions for floppy disk drives to work with the 8080 processor. He offered it to Intel, but was turned down, so he sold it on his own, and soon CP/M was the standard operating system for 8-bit microcomputers; Bushnell created Atari and introduced the successful "Pong" game
  • 1973 - IBM developed the first true sealed hard disk drive, called the "Winchester" after the rifle company, using two 30 Mb platters; Robert Metcalfe at Xerox PARC created Ethernet as the basis for a local area network, and later founded 3COM
  • 1974 - Xerox developed the Alto workstation at PARC, with a monitor, a graphical user interface, a mouse, and an ethernet card for networking
  • 1975 - the Altair personal computer is sold in kit form, and influenced Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
  • 1976 - Jobs and Wozniak developed the Apple personal computer; Alan Shugart introduced the 5.25-inch floppy disk
  • 1977 - Nintendo in Japan began to make computer games that stored the data on chips inside a game cartridge that sold for around $40 but only cost a few dollars to manufacture. It introduced its most popular game "Donkey Kong" in 1981, Super Mario Bros in 1985
  • 1978 - Visicalc spreadsheet software was written by Daniel Bricklin and Bob Frankston
  • 1979 - Micropro released Wordstar that set the standard for word processing software
  • 1980 - IBM signed a contract with the Microsoft Co. of Bill Gates and Paul Allen and Steve Ballmer to supply an operating system for IBM's new PC model. Microsoft paid $25,000 to Seattle Computer for the rights to QDOS that became Microsoft DOS, and Microsoft began its climb to become the dominant computer company in the world.
  • 1984 - Apple Computer introduced the Macintosh personal computer January 24.
  • 1987 - Bill Atkinson of Apple Computers created a software program called HyperCard that was bundled free with all Macintosh computers. This program for the first time made hypertext popular and useable to a wide number of people. Ted Nelson coined the terms "hypertext" and "hypermedia" in 1965 based on the pre-computer ideas of Vannevar Bush published in his "As We May Think" article in the July 1945 issue of The Atlantic Monthly.

Fifth Generation (1991 and Beyond)

Fifth Generation (1991 and Beyond)

  • 1991 - World-Wide Web (WWW) was developed by Tim Berners-Lee and released by CERN.
  • 1993 - The first Web browser called Mosaic was created by student Marc Andreesen and programmer Eric Bina at NCSA in the first 3 months of 1993. The beta version 0.5 of X Mosaic for UNIX was released Jan. 23 1993 and was instant success. The PC and Mac versions of Mosaic followed quickly in 1993. Mosaic was the first software to interpret a new IMG tag, and to display graphics along with text. Berners-Lee objected to the IMG tag, considered it frivolous, but image display became one of the most used features of the Web. The Web grew fast because the infrastructure was already in place: the Internet, desktop PC, home modems connected to online services such as AOL and Compuserve
  • 1994 - Netscape Navigator 1.0 was released Dec. 1994, and was given away free, soon gaining 75% of world browser market.
  • 1996 - Microsoft failed to recognized the importance of the Web, but finally released the much imporoved browser Explorer 3.0 in the summer.