INTEL

Intel

2009-03-11T21:43:00.001+05:00

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC; SEHK: 4335) is the world's largest semiconductor company and the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most personal computers. Founded on July 18, 1968 as Integrated Electronics Corporation and based in Santa Clara, California, USA, Intel also makes motherboard chipsets, network cards and ICs, flash memory, graphic chips, embedded processors, and other devices related to communications and computing. Founded by semiconductor pioneers Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, and widely associated with the executive leadership and vision of Andrew Grove, Intel combines advanced chip design capability with a leading-edge manufacturing capability. Originally known primarily to engineers and technologists, Intel's successful "Intel Inside" advertising campaign of the 1990s made it and its Pentium processor household names.
Intel was an early developer of SRAM and DRAM memory chips, and this represented the majority of its business until the early 1980s. While Intel created the first commercial microprocessor chip in 1971, it was not until the success of the personal computer (PC) that this became their primary business. During the 1990s, Intel invested heavily in new microprocessor designs and in fostering the rapid growth of the PC industry. During this period Intel became the dominant supplier of microprocessors for PCs, and was known for aggressive and sometimes controversial tactics in defense of its market position, as well as a struggle with Microsoft for control over the direction of the PC industry.[5][6] The 2007 rankings of the world's 100 most powerful brands published by Millward Brown Optimor showed the company's brand value falling 10 places – from number 15 to number 25.[7]
In addition to its work in semiconductors, Intel has begun research in electrical transmission and generation.[8][9]
Origin of the name
At its founding, Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce wanted to name their new company "Moore Noyce". The name, however, sounded remarkably similar to "more noise" — an ill-suited name for an electronics company, since noise is typically associated with bad interference. They then used the name NM Electronics for almost a year, before deciding to call their company INTegrated ELectronics or "Intel" for short. However, Intel was already trademarked by a hotel chain, so they had to buy the rights for that name at the beginning.[11]
[edit] Company's evolution
Intel has grown through several distinct phases. At its founding, Intel was distinguished simply by its ability to make semiconductors, and its primary products were static random access memory (SRAM) chips. Intel's business grew during the 1970s as it expanded and improved its manufacturing processes and produced a wider range of products, still dominated by various memory devices.
While Intel created the first microprocessor (Intel 4004) in 1971 and one of the first microcomputers in 1972,[12][13] by the early 1980s its business was dominated by dynamic random access memory chips. However, increased competition from Japanese semiconductor manufacturers had by 1983 dramatically reduced the profitability of this market, and the sudden success of the IBM personal computer convinced then-CEO Grove to shift the company's focus to microprocessors, and to change fundamental aspects of that business model. By the end of the 1980s this decision had proven successful, and Intel embarked on a 10-year period of unprecedented growth as the primary (and most profitable) hardware supplier to the PC industry.
After 2000, growth in demand for high-end microprocessors slowed and competitors garnered significant market share, initially in low-end and mid-range processors but ultimately across the product range, and Intel's dominant position was reduced. In the early 2000s then-CEO Craig Barrett attempted to diversify the company's business beyond semiconductors, but few of these activities were ultimately successful.
In 2005, CEO Paul Otellini reorganized the company to refocus its core processor and chipset business on platforms (enterprise, digital home, digital health, and mobility) which led to the hiring of over 20,000 new employees. In September 2006 due to falling profits, the company announced a restructuring that resulted in layoffs of 10,500 employees or about 10 percent of its workforce by July 2006. Its research lab located at Cambridge University was closed at the end of 2006.
[edit] Sale of XScale processor business
On June 27, 2006, the sale of Intel's XScale assets was announced. Intel agreed to sell the XScale processor business to Marvell Technology Group for an estimated $600 million in cash and the assumption of unspecified liabilities. The move is intended to permit Intel to focus its resources on its core x86 and server businesses. The acquisition was completed on November 9, 2006.[14]

Windows

2009-03-11T21:41:00.000+05:00

Windows Vista (pronounced /ˈvɪstə/) is a line of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, Tablet PCs, and media center PCs. Prior to its announcement on July 22, 2005, Windows Vista was known by its codename Longhorn.[2] Development was completed on November 8, 2006; over the following three months it was released in stages to computer hardware and software manufacturers, business customers, and retail channels. On January 30, 2007, it was released worldwide,[3] and was made available for purchase and download from Microsoft's website.[4] The release of Windows Vista came more than five years after the introduction of its predecessor, Windows XP, the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft Windows.
Windows Vista contains many changes and new features, including an updated graphical user interface and visual style dubbed Windows Aero, improved searching features, new multimedia creation tools such as Windows DVD Maker, and redesigned networking, audio, print, and display sub-systems. Vista also aims to increase the level of communication between machines on a home network, using peer-to-peer technology to simplify sharing files and digital media between computers and devices. Windows Vista includes version 3.0 of the .NET Framework, which aims to make it significantly easier for software developers to write applications than with the traditional Windows API.
Microsoft's primary stated objective with Windows Vista, however, has been to improve the state of security in the Windows operating system.[5] One common criticism of Windows XP and its predecessors has been their commonly exploited security vulnerabilities and overall susceptibility to malware, viruses and buffer overflows. In light of this, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates announced in early 2002 a company-wide "Trustworthy Computing initiative" which aims to incorporate security work into every aspect of software development at the company. Microsoft stated that it prioritized improving the security of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 above finishing Windows Vista, thus delaying its completion.[6]
While these new features and security improvements have garnered positive reviews, Vista has also been the target of much criticism and negative press. Criticism of Windows Vista has targeted high system requirements, its more restrictive licensing terms, the inclusion of a number of new digital rights management technologies aimed at restricting the copying of protected digital media, lack of compatibility with certain pre-Vista hardware and software, and the number of authorization prompts for User Account Control. As a result of these and other issues, Windows Vista has seen adoption and satisfaction rates lower than Windows XP.[7]

MP3 Player

2009-03-11T21:40:00.001+05:00

More commonly referred to as an MP3 player, a digital audio player is a consumer electronics device that stores, organizes and plays audio files. Some DAPs are also referred to as portable media players as they have image-viewing and/or video-playing support.
The predecessors to digital audio players are portable CD and MiniDisc players, which are commonly known as "Portable Audio Devices". Although the data is digitally stored on discs, neither one is able to support digital file formats.
The first mass-produced DAP was created in 1997 by SaeHan Information Systems, which domestically sold its “MPMan” player in the middle of 1998.[1] The South Korean company then licensed the players to Eiger Labs which distributed them—now branded as Eiger Labs MPMan F10—to the North American market during the summer of 1998.[2] The flash-based players were available in 16 MB storage capacity.
The Rio PMP300 from Diamond Multimedia was introduced in September 1998, a few months after the MPMan. It was a success during the holiday season, with sales exceeding expectations.[3] Interest and investment in digital music were subsequently spurred from it.[4] Because of the player's notoriety as the target of a major lawsuit, the Rio is erroneously assumed to be the first DAP.[5]
In 1998, Compaq developed the first hard drive based DAP using a 2.5" laptop drive. It was licensed to HanGo Electronics (now known as Remote Solution), which first sold the PJB-100 (Personal Jukebox) in 1999. The player had an initial capacity of 4.8 GB, which was advertised to be able to hold 1200 songs.[6]
In October 2001, Apple Computer (now known as Apple Inc.) unveiled the first generation iPod, the 5 GB hard drive based DAP with a 1.8" Toshiba drive. With the development of a minimalistic user interface and a smaller form factor, the iPod was initially notable within users of the Macintosh community. In July 2002, Apple introduced the second generation update to the iPod. It was compatible with Windows computers through Musicmatch Jukebox (now known as Y!Music Musicmatch Jukebox). The iPod series, which grew to include microdrive and flash-based players, has become the market leader in DAPs.
In 2002, Archos released the first official PMP, the Archos Jukebox Multimedia.[7] Manufacturers have since implemented abilities to view images and play videos into their devices.
Although online music services such as RealNetworks’ Rhapsody also offer legal downloads through a subscription plan, the launch of the iTunes Store in 2003 established the model of selling individual songs and albums for purchase.

Digital Camera

2009-03-11T21:39:00.001+05:00

A digital camera (or digicam for short) is a camera that takes video or still photographs, or both, digitally by recording images on a light-sensitive sensor.
Many compact digital still cameras can record sound and moving video as well as still photographs. In the Western market, digital cameras outsell their 35 mm film counterparts.[1]
Digital cameras can include features that are not found in film cameras, such as displaying an image on the camera's screen immediately after it is recorded, the capacity to take thousands of images on a single small memory device, the ability to record video with sound, the ability to edit images, and deletion of images allowing re-use of the storage they occupied.
Digital cameras are incorporated into many devices ranging from PDAs and mobile phones (called camera phones) to vehicles. The Hubble Space Telescope and other astronomical devices are essentially specialised digital cameras.
Digital cameras can be classified into several categories:
· Compact digital cameras
· Bridge cameras
· Digital single lens reflex cameras
· Digital rangefinders
· Professional modular digital camera system
· Line-scan camera systems
· Conversion of film cameras to digital

Antivirus

2009-03-11T21:37:00.001+05:00

Antivirus software are computer programs that attempt to identify, neutralize or eliminate malicious software. The term "antivirus" is used because the earliest examples were designed exclusively to combat computer viruses; however most modern antivirus software is now designed to combat a wide range of threats, including worms, phishing attacks, rootkits, trojan horses and other malware. Antivirus software typically uses two different approaches to accomplish this:
· examining (scanning) files to look for known viruses matching definitions in a virus dictionary, and
· identifying suspicious behavior from any computer program which might indicate infection.
The second approach is called heuristic analysis. Such analysis may include data captures, port monitoring and other methods.
Most commercial antivirus software uses both of these approaches, with an emphasis on the virus dictionary approach. Although some people consider network firewalls to be a type of antivirus software, this categorization is not correct.

TV Tuner

2009-03-11T21:35:00.000+05:00

A TV tuner card is a computer component that allows television signals to be received by a computer. Most TV tuners also function as video capture cards, allowing them to record television programs onto a hard disk.
Variants
TV tuners are available in a number of different interfaces: as PCI-bus expansion card, PCIe (PCI Express) bus or USB devices. Ethernet-connected devices also exist.(HDHomeRun) In addition, some video cards double as TV tuners, notably the ATI All-In-Wonder series. The card contains a tuner and an analog-to-digital converter (collectively known as the analog front end) along with demodulation and interface logic. Some very cheap cards lack an onboard processor and, like a Winmodem, rely on the system's CPU for demodulation.
There are currently four kinds of tuner card on the market:
· Analog TV tuners
· Digital TV tuners
· Hybrid tuners
· Combo tuners

DVD

2009-03-11T21:34:00.000+05:00

DVD (also known as "Digital Versatile Disc" or "Digital Video Disc" - see Etymology) is a popular optical disc storage media format. Its main uses are video and data storage. Most DVDs are of the same dimensions as compact discs (CDs) but store more than six times as much data.
Variations of the term DVD often describe the way data is stored on the discs: DVD-ROM has data which can only be read and not written, DVD-R and DVD+R can only record data once and then function as a DVD-ROM. DVD-RW and DVD+RW can both record and erase data multiple times. The wavelength used by standard DVD lasers is 650 nm, and thus has a red color.
DVD-Video and DVD-Audio discs respectively refer to properly formatted and structured video and audio content. Other types of DVDs, including those with video content, may be referred to as DVD-Data discs. As next generation High definition optical formats also use a disc identical in some aspects yet more advanced than a DVD, such as Blu-ray Disc, the original DVD is occasionally given the retronym SD DVD (for standard definition).

Network Switch

2009-03-11T21:32:00.001+05:00

A network switch is a broad and imprecise marketing term for a computer networking device that connects network segments.
The term commonly refers to a Network bridge that processes and routes data at the Data link layer (layer 2) of the OSI model. Switches that additionally process data at the Network layer (layer 3) (and above) are often referred to as Layer 3 switches or Multilayer switches.
The term Network switch does not generally encompass unintelligent or passive network devices such as hubs and repeaters.

The first Ethernet switch was introduced by Kalpana in 1989. [1]
As with hubs, Ethernet implementations of network switches support either 10/100 Mbit/s or 10/100/1000 Mbit/s ports Ethernet standards. Large switches may have 10 Gbit/s ports. Switches differ from hubs in that they can have ports of different speed.
The network switch, packet switch (or just switch) plays an integral part in most Ethernet local area networks or LANs. Mid-to-large sized LANs contain a number of linked managed switches. Small office, home office (SOHO) applications typically use a single switch, or an all-purpose converged device such as gateway access to small office/home office broadband services such as DSL router or cable, WiFi router. In most of these cases, the end user device contains a router and components that interface to the particular physical broadband technology, as in the Linksys 8-port and 48-port devices. User devices may also include a telephone interface to VoIP.
In simple terms, in the context of a standard 10/100 Ethernet switch, a switch operates at the data-link layer of the OSI model to create a different collision domain per switch port. This basically says that if you have 4 computers A/B/C/D on 4 switch ports, then A and B can transfer data between them as well as C and D at the same time, and they will never interfere with each others conversations. That is the basic idea in a nutshell. In the case of a "hub" then they would all have to share the bandwidth, run in half-duplex and there would be collisions and retransmissions. Using a switch is called micro-segmentation and it allows you to have dedicated bandwidth on point to point connections with every computer and can therefore run in full duplex with no collisions.

Speaker

2009-03-11T21:31:00.000+05:00

A loudspeaker, speaker, or speaker system is an electromechanical transducer that converts an electrical signal to sound. The term loudspeaker can refer to individual transducer devices (otherwise known as drivers), or to complete systems consisting of an enclosure incorporating one or more drivers and electrical filter components. Loudspeakers, just as with other electro-acoustic transducers, are the most variable elements in an audio system and are responsible for the greatest degree of audible differences between sound systems.
To adequately reproduce a wide range of frequencies, most loudspeaker systems require more than one driver, particularly for high sound pressure level or high accuracy applications. Individual drivers are used to cover different frequency ranges. The drivers are named subwoofers (very low frequencies), woofers (low frequencies), mid-range speakers (middle frequencies), tweeters (high frequencies) and sometimes supertweeters which are drivers optimized for higher frequencies than a normal tweeter.

The terms for different speaker drivers differ depending on the application. In 2-way loudspeakers, there is usually no driver called "mid-range". Home stereos use the designation "tweeter" for high frequencies whereas professional audio systems for concerts typically designate all types of high frequency drivers as "HF" or "highs" or "horns".

When multiple drivers are used in a system, a "filter network", called a crossover, is used to separate the incoming signal into different frequency bands appropriate for each driver. A loudspeaker system with n separate frequency bands is described as "n-way speakers": a 2-way system will have woofer and tweeter speakers; a 3-way system is either a combination of woofer, mid-range and tweeter or subwoofer, woofer and tweeter.

USB

2009-03-11T21:30:00.001+05:00

In information technology, Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a serial bus standard to interface devices to a host computer. USB was designed to allow many peripherals to be connected using a single standardized interface socket and to improve the plug-and-play capabilities by allowing hot swapping, that is, by allowing devices to be connected and disconnected without rebooting the computer or turning off the device. Other convenient features include providing power to low-consumption devices without the need for an external power supply and allowing many devices to be used without requiring manufacturer specific, individual device drivers to be installed.
USB is intended to help retire all legacy varieties of serial and parallel ports. USB can connect computer peripherals such as mice, keyboards, PDAs, gamepads and joysticks, scanners, digital cameras, printers, personal media players, and flash drives. For many of those devices USB has become the standard connection method. USB was originally designed for personal computers, but it has become commonplace on other devices such as PDAs and video game consoles, and as a bridging power cord between a device and an AC adapter plugged into a wall plug for charging purposes. As of 2008, there are about 2 billion USB devices in the world.[1]
The design of USB is standardized by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), an industry standards body incorporating leading companies from the computer and electronics industries. Notable members have included Agere (now merged with LSI Corporation), Apple Inc., Hewlett-Packard, Intel, NEC, and Microsoft.

Modem

2009-03-11T21:29:00.001+05:00

Almost all modern modems also do double-duty as a fax machine as well. Digital faxes, introduced in the 1980s, are simply a particular image format sent over a high-speed (9600/1200 bit/s) modem. Software running on the host computer can convert any image into fax-format, which can then be sent using the modem. Such software was at one time an add-on, but since has become largely universal.
A PCI Winmodem/Softmodem (on the left) next to a traditional ISA modem (on the right). Notice the less complex circuitry of the modem on the left.
A Winmodem or Softmodem is a stripped-down modem that replaces tasks traditionally handled in hardware with software. In this case the modem is a simple digital signal processor designed to create sounds, or voltage variations, on the telephone line. Softmodems are cheaper than traditional modems, since they have fewer hardware components. One downside is that the software generating the modem tones is not simple, and the performance of the computer as a whole often suffers when it is being used. For online gaming this can be a real concern. Another problem is lack of portability such that other OSes (such as Linux) may not have an equivalent driver to operate the modem. A Winmodem might not work with a later version of Microsoft Windows, if its driver turns out to be incompatible with that later version of the operating system.

Scanner

2009-03-11T21:27:00.000+05:00

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.
Modern scanners typically use a charge-coupled device (CCD) or a Contact Image Sensor (CIS) as the image sensor, whereas older drum scanners use a photomultiplier tube as the image sensor. A rotary scanner, used for high-speed document scanning, is another type of drum scanner, using a CCD array instead of a photomultiplier. Other types of scanners are planetary scanners, which take photographs of books and documents, and 3D scanners, for producing three-dimensional models of objects.

Another category of scanner is digital camera scanners, which are based on the concept of reprographic cameras. Due to increasing resolution and new features such as anti-shake, digital cameras have become an attractive alternative to regular scanners. While still having disadvantages compared to traditional scanners (such as distortion, reflections, shadows, low contrast), digital cameras offer advantages such as speed, portability, gentle digitizing of thick documents without damaging the book spine. New scanning technologies are combining 3D scanners with digital cameras to create full-color, photo-realistic 3D models of objects.

Power Supply

2009-03-11T21:25:00.000+05:00

Power supply is a reference to a source of electrical power. A device or system that supplies electrical or other types of energy to an output load or group of loads is called a power supply unit or PSU. The term is most commonly applied to electrical energy supplies, less often to mechanical ones, and rarely to others.

This term covers the power distribution system together with any other primary or secondary sources of energy such as:

• Conversion of one form of electrical power to another desired form and voltage. This typically involves converting 120 or 240 volt AC supplied by a utility company (see electricity generation) to a well-regulated lower voltage DC for electronic devices. For examples, see switched-mode power supply, linear regulator, rectifier and inverter (electrical).

• Batteries

• Chemical fuel cells and other forms of energy storage systems

• Solar power

• Generators or alternators (particularly useful in vehicles of all shapes and sizes,

where the engine has torque to spare, or in semi-portable units containing an internal combustion engine and a generator) (For large-scale power supplies, see electricity generation.) Low voltage, low power DC power supply units are commonly integrated with the devices they supply, such as computers and household electronics.

Constraints that commonly affect power supplies are the amount of power they can supply, how long they can supply it without needing some kind of refueling or recharging, how stable their output voltage or current is under varying load conditions, and whether they provide continuous power or pulses.

The regulation of power supplies is done by incorporating circuitry to tightly control the output voltage and/or current of the power supply to a specific value. The specific value is closely maintained despite variations in the load presented to the power supply's output, or any reasonable voltage variation at the power supply's input. This kind of regulation is commonly categorised as a Stabilized power supply.

Printer

2009-03-11T21:24:00.001+05:00

In computing, a printer is a peripheral which produces a hard copy (permanent human-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 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. Printers that include non-printing features are sometimes called Multifunction Printers (MFP), Multi-Function Devices (MFD), or All-In-One (AIO) printers.

A printer which is combined with a scanner can function as a kind of photocopier if so designed. Most MFPs include printing, scanning, and copying among their features. Printers are designed for low-volume, short-turnaround print jobs; requiring virtually no setup time to achieve a hard copy of a given document. However, printers are generally slow devices (30 pages per minute is considered fast; and many consumer printers are far slower than that), and the cost-per-page is relatively high. In contrast, the printing press (which serves much the same function), is designed and optimized for high-volume print jobs such as newspaper print runs--printing presses are capable of hundreds of pages per minute or more, and have an incremental cost-per-page which is a fraction of that of printers.

Monitor

2009-03-11T21:23:00.001+05:00

A visual display unit, often called simply a monitor or display, is a piece of electrical equipment which displays images generated from the video output of devices such as computers, without producing a permanent record. A newer monitor typically consists of a TFT LCD, with most older monitors based around a cathode ray tube (CRT). The monitor comprises the display device, simple circuitry to generate and format a picture from video sent by the signals source, and usually an enclosure. Within the signal source, either as an integral section or a modular component, there is a display adapter to generate video in a format compatible with the monitor.

Joystick

2009-03-11T21:21:00.000+05:00

A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Joysticks are often used to control video games, and usually have one or more push-buttons whose state can also be read by the computer. A popular variation of the joystick used on modern video game consoles is the analog stick.
The joystick has been the principal flight control in the cockpit of many aircraft, particularly military fast jets, where centre stick or side-stick location may be employed (see also Centre stick vs side-stick).
Joysticks are also used for controlling machines such as cranes, trucks, underwater unmanned vehicles and zero turning radius lawn mowers. Miniature finger-operated joysticks have been adopted as input devices for smaller electronic equipment such as mobile phones.
Joysticks can be used within first-person shooter games, but generally provide less accurate control than a combination of mouse and keyboard input.

Mouse

2009-03-11T21:20:00.001+05:00

In computing, a mouse (plural mice, mouse devices, or mouses) is a pointing device that functions by detecting two-dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of a small case, 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 pointer on a display, which allows for fine control of a Graphical User Interface.
The name mouse, originated at the Stanford Research Institute, derives from the resemblance of early models (which had a cord attached to the rear part of the device, suggesting the idea of a tail) to the common mouse.[1].
The first marketed integrated mouse — shipped as a part of a computer and intended for personal computer navigation — came with the Xerox 8010 Star Information System in 1981.

Keyboard

2009-03-11T21:19:00.000+05:00

In computing, a keyboard is an input device partially modelled after the typewriter keyboard.
Physically, a keyboard is an arrangement of buttons, or keys. A keyboard typically has characters engraved or printed on the keys; in most cases, each press of a key corresponds to a single written symbol. However, to produce some symbols requires pressing and holding several keys simultaneously or in sequence; other keys do not produce any symbol, but instead affect the operation of the computer or the keyboard itself. See input method editor.
A majority of all keyboard keys produce letters, numbers or signs (characters) that are appropriate for the operator's language. Other keys can produce actions when pressed, and other actions are available by the simultaneous pressing of more than one action key.

Sound Card

2009-03-11T21:18:00.000+05:00

A sound card (also known as an audio card) is a computer expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to/from a computer under control of computer programs. Typical uses of sound cards include providing the audio component for multimedia applications such as music composition, editing video or audio, presentation/education, and entertainment (games). Many computers have sound capabilities built in, while others require additional expansion cards to provide for audio capability.

Graphic Card

2009-03-11T21:17:00.000+05:00

A video card, also referred to as a graphics accelerator card, display adapter, graphics card, and numerous other terms, is an item of personal computer hardware whose function is to generate and output images to a display. It operates on similar principles as a sound card or other peripheral devices.

The term is usually used to refer to a separate, dedicated expansion card that is plugged into a slot on the computer's motherboard, as opposed to a graphics controller integrated into the motherboard chipset. An integrated graphics controller may be referred to as an "integrated graphics processor" (IGP).

Some video cards offer added functions, such as video capture, TV tuner adapter, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 decoding or even FireWire, mouse, light pen, joystick connectors, or even the ability to connect multiple monitors.

Video cards are not used exclusively in IBM type PCs; they have been used in devices such as Commodore Amiga (connected by the slots Zorro II and Zorro III), Apple II, Apple Macintosh, Atari Mega ST/TT (attached to the MegaBus or VME interface), Spectravideo SVI-328, MSX, and in video game consoles.

Hard Disk

2009-03-11T21:16:00.000+05:00

A hard disk drive (HDD), commonly referred to as a hard drive, hard disk, or fixed disk drive, is a non-volatile storage device which stores digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating platters with magnetic surfaces. Strictly speaking, "drive" refers to a device distinct from its medium, such as a tape drive and its tape, or a floppy disk drive and its floppy disk. Early HDDs had removable media; however, an HDD today is typically a sealed unit (except for a filtered vent hole to equalize air pressure) with fixed media.
Originally, the term "hard" was temporary slang, substituting "hard" for "rigid", before these drives had an established and universally-agreed-upon name. A HDD is a rigid-disk drive although it is rarely referred to as such. By way of comparison, a floppy drive (more formally, a diskette drive) has a disc that is flexible. Some time ago, IBM's internal company term for a HDD was "file".
HDDs (introduced in 1956 as data storage for an IBM accounting computer) were originally developed for use with general purpose computers; see History of hard disk drives.
In the 21st century, applications for HDDs have expanded to include digital video recorders, digital audio players, personal digital assistants, digital cameras and video game consoles. In 2005 the first mobile phones to include HDDs were introduced by Samsung and Nokia. The need for large-scale, reliable storage, independent of a particular device, led to the introduction of configurations such as RAID arrays, network attached storage (NAS) systems and storage area network (SAN) systems that provide efficient and reliable access to large volumes of data. Note that although not immediately recognizable as a computer, all the aforementioned applications are actually embedded computing devices of some sort.

Ram

2009-03-11T21:15:00.000+05:00

Random access memory (usually known by its acronym, RAM) is a type of computer data storage. Today it takes the form of integrated circuits that allow the stored data to be accessed in any order, i.e. at random. The word random thus refers to the fact that any piece of data can be returned in a constant time, regardless of its physical location and whether or not it is related to the previous piece of data.
This contrasts with storage mechanisms such as tapes, magnetic discs and optical discs, which rely on the physical movement of the recording medium or a reading head. In these devices, the movement takes longer than the data transfer, and the retrieval time varies depending on the physical location of the next item.
The word RAM is mostly associated with volatile types of memory (such as DRAM memory modules), where the information is lost after the power is switched off. However, many other types of memory are RAM as well (i.e. Random Access Memory), including most types of ROM and a kind of flash memory called NOR-Flash.

Processor

2009-03-11T21:14:00.000+05:00

Processors were for a long period constructed out of small and medium-scale ICs containing the equivalent of a few to a few hundred transistors. The integration of the whole CPU onto a single VLSI chip therefore greatly reduced the cost of processing capacity. From their humble beginnings, continued increases in microprocessor capacity have rendered other forms of computers almost completely obsolete (see history of computing hardware), with one or more microprocessor as processing element in everything from the smallest embedded systems and handheld devices to the largest mainframes and supercomputers.
Since the early 1970s, the increase in processing capacity of evolving microprocessors has been known to generally follow Moore's Law. It suggests that the complexity of an integrated circuit, with respect to minimum component cost, doubles every 18 months. In the late 1990s, heat generation (TDP), due to current leakage and other factors, emerged as a leading developmental constraint.

Motherboard

2009-03-11T21:13:00.001+05:00

A motherboard is the central or primary printed circuit board (PCB) making up a complex electronic system, such as a modern computer. It is also known as a mainboard, baseboard, system board, planar board, or, on Apple computers, a logic board, and is sometimes abbreviated casually as mobo.
Most motherboards produced today are designed for so-called IBM-compatible computers, which held over 96% of the global personal computer market in 2005. Motherboards for IBM-compatible computers are specifically covered in the PC motherboard article.
A motherboard, like a backplane, provides the electrical connections by which the other components of the system communicate, but unlike a backplane also contains the central processing unit and other subsystems such as real time clock, and some peripheral interfaces.
A typical desktop computer is built with the microprocessor, main memory, and other essential components on the motherboard. Other components such as external storage, controllers for video display and sound, and peripheral devices are typically attached to the motherboard via edge connectors and cables, although in modern computers it is increasingly common to integrate these "peripherals" into the motherboard.

Laptop

2009-03-11T21:11:00.000+05:00

laptop computer or laptop (also notebook computer, notebook and notepad) is a small mobile computer, typically weighing 3 to 12 pounds (1.4 to 5.4 kg), although older laptops may weigh more. Laptops usually run on a single main battery or from an external AC/DC adapter that charges the battery while it also supplies power to the computer itself, even in the event of a power failure. This very powerful main battery should not be confused with the much smaller battery nearly all computers use to run the real-time clock and backup BIOS configuration into the CMOS memory when the computer is without power. A replacement computer is a personal computer that provides the full capabilities of a desktop computer while remaining portable. They are often a larger, bulkier laptop. Because of their increased size, this class of computer usually includes more powerful components and a larger display than generally used in smaller portable computers and can have a relatively limited battery capacity (or none at all). Some use a limited range of desktop components to provide better performance per dollar at the expense of battery life. These are sometimes called desknotes, a portmanteau of the words "desktop" and "notebook," though the term is also applied to desktop replacement computers in general.[1] Powerful laptops are meant to be mainly used for fun and infrequently carried out due to their weight and size; the latter provides more space for powerful components and a big screen, usually measuring 17–20 inches (43–51 cm). Desktop replacements tend to have limited battery life, rarely exceeding three hours, because the hardware is not optimized for efficient power usage. Sometimes called a luggable laptop. An example of a desktop replacement computers are gaming notebooks, which are designed to handle 3D graphic-intensive processing for gamers. Laptops contain components that are similar to their desktop counterparts and perform the same functions, but are miniaturized and optimized for mobile use and efficient power consumption, although typically less powerful for the same price. Laptops usually have liquid crystal displays and most of them use different memory modules for their random access memory (RAM), for instance, SO-DIMM in lieu of the larger DIMMs. In addition to a built-in keyboard, they may utilize a touchpad (also known as a trackpad) or a pointing stick for input, though an external keyboard or mouse can usually be attached.

Computer

2009-03-11T21:10:00.000+05:00

A computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions. The first devices that resemble modern computers date to the mid-20th century (around 1940 - 1945), although the computer concept and various machines similar to computers existed earlier. Early electronic computers were the size of a large room, consuming as much power as several hundred modern personal computers. Modern computers are based on tiny integrated circuits and are millions to billions of times more capable while occupying a fraction of the space. Today, simple computers may be made small enough to fit into a wristwatch and be powered from a watch battery. Personal computers, in various forms, are icons of the Information Age and are what most people think of as "a computer"; however, the most common form of computer in use today is the embedded computer. Embedded computers are small, simple devices that are used to control other devices for example, they may be found in machines ranging from fighter aircraft to industrial robots, digital cameras, and children's toys. The ability to store and execute lists of instructions called programs makes computers extremely versatile and distinguishes 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 with capability and complexity ranging from that of a personal digital assistant to a supercomputer are all able to perform the same computational tasks given enough time and storage capacity.