Tomorrows Technology and You 8/e- Chapter 2 (Friday the 17th, 2010 Sept.)

RAM (random access memory)
>Used to store program insturctions and data temporarily
> Unique addresses and dazta can be stored in any location
> Can quickly retrieve  information
> Will not remain if power goes off (volatile)
--> ROM (read-only memory)
> Information stored permanently on a chip
>Contains startup instructions and other permanent data
--> CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor)
>Special low-energy kind of RAM
--> Flash Memory
>Used for phones, pagers, portable computers, handheld computers, and PDAs

---> Information travels between components on the motherboard through groups of wires called system


Buses
> typically have 32 or 64 wires
> connect to storage devices in bays
> connect to expansion slots
> connect to external buses amd [prts

Slots and ports
>Make it easy to add exteranal devoces called peripherals


==> New laser etching technology called extreme ultraviolet lithoghraphy (EUVL) could reduce chip size and increase performance radically
==> Superconductors that transmit electricity without heat could increase computer speed a hundredfold.
==>The optical computer transmits information in light waves rather than electrical pulses.

==> Lister several examples of input devices and explain how they can make it

Buses, Ports, and Peripherals

Information travels between components on the motherboard through groups of wires called system buses, or just buses.

Buses

Ø      Typically have 32 or 64 wires

Ø      Connect to storage devices in bays

Ø      Connect to expansion slots

Ø      Connect to external buses and ports

Slots and ports

Ø      Make it easy to add external devices, called peripherals.        

-New laser etching technology called extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) could reduce chip size and increase performance radically.

-Superconductors that transmit electricity without heat could increase computer speed a hundredfold.

-The optical computer transmits information in light waves rather than electrical pulses.

-A computer manipulates patterns of bits—binary digits of information.

-The CPU follows software instructions, reduced to strings of bits, to perform the calculations and logical manipulations that transform input data into output.

-Not all CPUs are compatible with each other.

-The CPU uses:

Ø      RAM (random access memory) as a temporary storage area—a scratch pad—for instructions and data

Ø      ROM (read-only memory), which contains unchangeable information that serves as reference material for the CPU as it executes program instructions

-The CPU and main memory are housed in silicon chips on the motherboard.