Expansion Card
Network Interface Card (NIC)
Plug & Play
What is Plug & Play?Plug and Play (PnP) is a capability developed by Microsoft for its Windows 95 and later that gives operating systems users the ability to plug a device into a computer and have the computer recognize that the device is there. The user doesn't have to tell the computer. In many earlier computer systems, the user was required to explicitly tell the operating system when a new device had been added. Microsoft made Plug and Play a selling point for its Windows operating systems. A similar capability had long been built into Macintosh computersWith Microsoft's participation, Plug and Play has been replaced by an open, industry standard, Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), which uses Internet protocols for seamless device plug-in.
Sockets
When a computer program needs to connect to a local or wide area network such as the Internet, it uses a software component called a socket. The socket opens the network connection for the program, allowing data to be read and written over the network. It is important to note that these sockets are software, not hardware, like a wall socket. So, yes, you have a much greater chance of being shocked by a wall socket than by a networking socket.Sockets are a key part of Unix and Windows-based operating systems. They make it easy for software developers to create network-enabled programs. Instead of constructing network connections from scratch for each program they write, developers can just include sockets in their programs. The sockets allow the programs to use the operating system's built-in commands to handle networking functions. Because they are used for a number of different network protocols (i.e. HTTP, FTP, telnet, and e-mail), many sockets can be open at one time.Sockets are commonly used for client and server interaction. Typical system configuration places the server on one machine, with the clients on other machines. The clients connect to the server, exchange information, and then disconnect.
A socket has a typical flow of events. In a connection-oriented client-to-server model, the socket on the server process waits for requests from a client. To do this, the server first establishes (binds) an address that clients can use to find the server. When the address is established, the server waits for clients to request a service. The client-to-server data exchange takes place when a client connects to the server through a socket. The server performs the client's request and sends the reply back to the client.
Chips
The computer chip in the diagram above has several sections that are labelled things like cache, interface, FP control and Integer control, FP multiplier, and datapath. These kind of reflect the types of things involved in microprocessors: memories, interfaces, logic and calculations, and control. The caches, for example, are memories.
A computer chip works by allowing information to enter from the outside world (some of the interfaces), storing the information in the memories (like the caches), doing logical and mathematical operations on the information (like the FP or floating point multiplier), storing the results, doing more logical and mathematical operations on the information, until finally the information is outputted or causes something else to happen (some of the interfaces again). All of these activities need to be controlled (some of the parts labelled "control" may be involved), and this control is generally dependent on other information entered in the computer, called the programming (generally the software).
The information in a computer is stored and operated on (logical and mathematical operations) in digital form - that is, in the form of a set of 1's and 0's. Mathematics on 1's and 0's is referred to as binary arithmetic, and the logical operations are called digital logic.
Slots
What is slots?An opening in a computer where you can insert a printed circuit board. Slots are often called expansion slots because they allow you to expand the capabilities of a computer. The boards you insert in expansion slots are called expansion boards or add-on boards.
Do not confuse slots with bays. Bays are sites within the computer where you can install diskdrives. Typically, slots are in the back of the computer and bays are in the front.
Bus lines
The bus lines are the communicating electronic lines that connect different parts of the CPU to various other parts. In addition, the bus lines also link the CPU to different parts on the system board of your computer. The data flows in the form of bits along the bus lines. The bus lines are like multilane pathway which means that the more bus lines are on the system the greater is the rate of transfer of data along the bus, which means that the computer can run efficiently and will perform the operations at a faster rate.There are several types of bus lines, some of which are as follows, Industry Standard Architecture, the bus line capacity is 16 bit. Though it is slow, it is still being used. Peripheral Component Interconnect has a speed of 64 bit which is being used widely in personal computers. Accelerated Graphics Port is mostly used for acceleration of graphics performance.
Serial part
In computing, a serial port is a serial communication physical interface through which information transfers in or out one bit at a time (contrast parallel port). Throughout most of the history of personal computers, data transfer through serial ports connected the computer to devices such as terminals and various peripherals.In modern personal computers the serial port has largely been replaced by USB and Firewire for connections to peripheral devices. Many modern personal computers do not have a serial port since this legacy port has been superseded for most uses. Serial ports are commonly still used in applications such as industrial automation systems, scientific analysis, shop till systems and some industrial and consumer products. Server computers may use a serial port as a control console for diagnostics. Network equipment (such as routers and switches) often use serial console for configuration. Serial ports are still used in these areas as they are simple, cheap and their console functions are highly standardized and widespread. A serial port requires very little supporting software from the host system.Considered to be one of the most basic external connections to a computer, the serial port has been an integral part of most computers for more than 20 years. Although many of the newer systems have done away with the serial port completely in favor of USB connections, most modems still use the serial port, as do some printers, PDAs and digital cameras. Few computers have more than two serial ports.
Parallel part
Parallel computing is a form of computation in which many calculations are carried out simultaneously,operating on the principle that large problems can often be divided into smaller ones, which are then solved concurrently ("in parallel"). There are several different forms of parallel computing: bit-level, instruction level, data, and task parallelism. Parallelism has been employed for many years, mainly in high-performance computing, but interest in it has grown lately due to the physical constraints preventing frequency scaling.As power consumption (and consequently heat generation) by computers has become a concern in recent years,parallel computing has become the dominant paradigm in computer architecture, mainly in the form of multicore processor.
Parallel computers can be roughly classified according to the level at which the hardware supports parallelism—with multi-core and multi-processor computers having multiple processing elements within a single machine, while clusters, MPPs, and grids use multiple computers to work on the same task. Specialized parallel computer architectures are sometimes used alongside traditional processors, for accelerating specific tasks.
Parallel computer programs are more difficult to write than sequential ones,because concurrency introduces several new classes of potential software bugs, of which race conditions are the most common. Communication and synchronization between the different subtasks are typically one of the greatest obstacles to getting good parallel program performance. The speed-up of a program as a result of parallelization is governed by Amdahl's law.
Universal serial bus
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a set of connectivity specifications developed by Intel in collaboration with industry leaders. USB allows high-speed, easy connection of peripherals to a PC. When plugged in, everything configures automatically. USB is the most successful interconnect in the history of personal computing and has migrated into consumer electronics (CE) and mobile products.Today, Hi-Speed USB 2.0, provides greater enhancement in performance-up to 40 times faster than USB 1.0, with a design data rate of up to 480 megabits per second (Mbps). In addition, USB On-The-Go (OTG), a supplement to the USB 2.0 specification, was created in 2002. USB OTG defines a dual-role device, which can act as either a host or peripheral, and can connect to a PC or other portable devices through the same connector.
Portable computing devices such as handhelds, cell phones and digital cameras that connect to the PC as a USB peripheral benefit from having additional capability to connect to other USB devices directly. For instance, users can perform functions such as sending photos from a digital camera to a printer, PDA, cell phone, or sending music files from an MP3 player to another portable player, PDA or cell phone.
Firewire post
What is a firewire post?A firewire port is a connection type that is very common in Apple computers, and there are firewire 400s and firewire 800s. Understand what firewire ports are with information from an experienced software developer in this free video on computers.How to locate a pc firewire post?Depending on which type of port is on your computer, you might need a different cable than the one you currently have. The most common scenario for desktop systems is using a 4-pin to 6-pin cable, which connects the 4-pin side to the camcorder and the 6-pin side to the desktop system. FireWire cables also come in 4-pin to 4-pin and 6-pin to 6-pin configurations. As long as you know which connector you have on your PC, getting someone at the local electronics store to point you to the correct cable you need is relatively easy.
