วันอาทิตย์ที่ 15 กันยายน พ.ศ. 2556

วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 29 สิงหาคม พ.ศ. 2556

Computer hardware

 Computer hardware
     Computer hardware is the collection of physical elements that constitute a computer system.Computer hardware refers to the physical parts or components of a computer such as monitor, keyboard, Computer data storage, hard drive disk, mouse, CPU (graphic cards, sound cards, memory, motherboard and chips), etc. all of which are physical objects that you can actually touch.In contrast, software is untouchable.Software exists as ideas, application, concepts, and symbols, but it has no substance.A combination of hardware and software forms a usable computing system.

File:PDP-11-M7270.jpg
PDP-11 CPU board



Telephone

Telephone
     A telephone , or phone , is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are not in the same vicinity of each other to be heard directly.A telephone converts sound , typically and most efficiently the human voice , into electronic signals suitable for transmission via cables or other transmission media over long distances, and replays such signals simultaneously in audible form to its user.The word telephone has been adapted into the vocabulary of many languages.It is derived from the Greek : τῆλε , tēle , far and φωνή, phōnē , voice , together meaning distant voice. 
     The essential elements of a telephone are a microphone ( transmitter ) to speak into and an earphone ( receiver ) which reproduces the voice of the distant person.In addition, most telephones contain a ringer which produces a sound to announce an incoming telephone call, and a dial used to enter a telephone number when initiating a call to another telephone.Until approximately the 1970s most telephones used a rotary dial , which was superseded by the modern Touch-Tone push-button dial, first introduced by AT&T in 1963.The receiver and transmitter are usually built into a handset which is held up to the ear and mouth during conversation.The dial may be located either on the handset, or on a base unit to which the handset is connected by a cord containing wires.The transmitter converts the sound waves to electrical signals which are sent through the telephone network to the receiving phone.The receiving telephone converts the signals into audible sound in the receiver, or sometimes a loudspeaker.Telephones are a duplex communications medium, meaning they allow the people on both ends to talk simultaneously.
     A landline telephone is connected by a pair of wires to the telephone network , while a mobile phone , such as a cellular phone, is portable and communicates with the telephone network by radio transmissions.A cordless telephone has a portable handset which communicates by radio transmission with the handset base station which is connected by wire to the telephone network.
File:Ericsson 1939.jpg
Telephone from Swedish Ericsson 1001 model, from 1939
File:1896 telephone.jpg
1896 Telephone from Sweden






วันพุธที่ 28 สิงหาคม พ.ศ. 2556

Software

Software

     Computer software , or just software , is any set of machine-readable instructions (most often in the form of a computer program ) that directs a computer's processor to perform specific operations.The term is used to contrast with computer hardware , the physical objects ( processor and related devices) that carry out the instructions.Hardware and software require each other and neither has any value without the other.
      Software is a general term.It can refer to all computer instructions in general, or to any specific set of computer instructions.It is inclusive of both machine instructions (the binary code that the processor understands) and source code (more human-understandable instructions that must be rendered into machine code by compilers or interpreters before being executed).
On most computer platforms, software can be grouped into a few broad categories:
  • System software is the basic software needed for a computer to operate
  • Application software is all the software that uses the computer system to perform useful work beyond the operation of the computer itself
  • Embedded software resides as firmware within embedded systems , devices dedicated to a single use.In that context there is no clear distinction between the system and the application software.
          Software refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of the computer.In other words, software is a set of programs, procedures, algorithms and its documentation concerned with the operation of a data processing system .Program software performs the function of the program it implements, either by directly providing instructions to the digital electronics or by serving as an input to another piece of software.The term was coined to contrast to the term hardware (meaning physical devices).In contrast to hardware, software "cannot be touched". Software is also sometimes used in a more narrow sense, meaning application software only.Sometimes the term includes data that has not traditionally been associated with computers, such as film, tapes, and records.
         Computer software is so called to distinguish it from computer hardware , which encompasses the physical interconnections and devices required to store and execute (or run) the software.At the lowest level, executable code consists of machine language instructions specific to an individual processor.A machine language consists of groups of binary values signifying processor instructions that change the state of the computer from its preceding state.Programs are an ordered sequence of instructions for changing the state of the computer in a particular sequence.It is usually written in high-level programming languages that are easier and more efficient for humans to use (closer to natural language ) than machine language.Software may also be written in an assembly language , essentially, a mnemonic representation of a machine language using a natural language alphabet.Assembly language must be assembled into object code via an assembler .

Types of software
     Software includes all the various forms and roles that digitally stored data may have and play in a computer (or similar system), regardless of whether the data is used as code for a CPU, or other interpreter , or whether it represents other kinds of information.Software thus encompasses a wide array of products that may be developed using different techniques such as ordinary programming languages , microcode , or an FPGA configuration.The types of software include web pages developed in languages and frameworks like PHP , Perl , JSP or ASP.NET and desktop applications like OpenOffice.org , Microsoft Word developed in languages like C , C++ , Objective-C , Java , C# , or Smalltalk . Application software usually runs on an underlying software operating systems such as Linux or Microsoft Windows .Software (or firmware ) is also used in video games and for the configurable parts of the logic systems of automobiles , televisions , and other consumer electronics .

System software

     System software is computer software designed to operate the computer hardware, to provide basic functionality, and to provide a platform for runningapplication software. System software includes device drivers, operating systems, servers, utilities, and window systems.

Programming software

      Programming software include tools in the form of programs or applications that software developers use to create, debug, maintain, or otherwise support other programs and applications. The term usually refers to relatively simple programs such as compilersdebuggersinterpreterslinkers, andtext editors, that can be combined together to accomplish a task, much as one might use multiple hand tools to fix a physical object. Programming tools are intended to assist a programmer in writing computer programs, and they may be combined in an integrated development environment (IDE) to more easily manage all of these functions.













USB FLASH DRIVE

USB flash drive


       A USB flash drive is a data storage device that includes flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface.USB flash drives are often used for the same purposes for which floppy disks or CD-ROMs were used, ie, for storage, back-up and transfer of computer files.They are smaller, faster, have thousands of times more capacity, and are more durable and reliable because they have no moving parts .Until about 2005, most desktop and laptop computers were supplied with floppy disk drives in addition to USB ports, but floppy disk drives have been abandoned due to their lower capacity compared to USB flash drives.A flash drive has no moving parts to be driven; therefore, it's not a true drive.The term drive persists because computers read and write flash drive data using the same system commands as for a mechanical disk drive , with the storage appearing to the computer operating system and user interface as just another drive.
     A flash drive consists of a small printed circuit board carrying the circuit elements and a USB connector, insulated electrically and protected inside a plastic, metal, or rubberized case which can be carried in a pocket or on a key chain, for example.The USB connector may be protected by a removable cap or by retracting into the body of the drive, although it is not likely to be damaged if unprotected.Most flash drives use a standard type-A USB connection allowing connection with a port on a personal computer, but drives for other interfaces also exist.
File:Usbkey internals.jpg
The basic components in a flash drive.
1USB connector
2USB mass storage controller device
3Test points
4Flash memory chip
5Crystal oscillator
6LED
7Write-protect switch
8Unpopulated space for second flash memory chip












วันอังคารที่ 27 สิงหาคม พ.ศ. 2556

FLASH MEMORY

FLASH MEMORY


        Flash memory is an electronic non-volatilecomputer storage device that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed.Flash memory was developed from EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory).There are two main types of flash memory, which are named after the NAND and NOR logic gates.The internal characteristics of the individual flash memory cells exhibit characteristics similar to those of the corresponding gates.Whereas EPROMs had to be completely erased before being rewritten, NAND type flash memory may be written and read in blocks (or pages) which are generally much smaller than the entire device.The NOR type allows a single machine word (byte) to be written or read independently.The NAND type is primarily used in main memory , memory cards , USB flash drives , solid-state drives , and similar products, for general storage and transfer of data.The NOR type, which allows true random access and therefore direct code execution, is used as a replacement for the older EPROM and as an alternative to certain kinds of ROM applications, whereas NOR flash memory may emulate ROM primarily at the machine code level; many digital designs need ROM (or PLA ) structures for other uses, often at significantly higher speeds than (economical) flash memory may achieve. NAND or NOR flash memory is also often used to store configuration data in numerous digital products, a task previously made possible by EEPROMs or battery-powered static RAM.
        Example applications of both types of flash memory include personal computers, PDAs , digital audio players, digital cameras , mobile phones, synthesizers, video games, scientific instrumentation , industrial robotics , medical electronics , and so on.In addition to being non-volatile, flash memory offers fast read access times , as fast as dynamic RAM , although not as fast as static RAM or ROM.Its mechanical shock resistance helps explain its popularity over hard disks in portable devices, as does its high durability, being able to withstand high pressure, temperature, immersion in water, etc.