The *Inside* Story

Once again .. our hero *rockets in* .. just slightly behind the space-time continuum ...

Welp .. my Mom always said, "The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get."

Or like John Lennon said,

"Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans..."

Sorry for the extended delay .. some urgent stuff has been happening external to this blog.

So, today .. we are talkin' guts! What's in the guts of your computer..?

It has been said, "A picture paints a thousand words.." So, I've taken some nifty keenareeno digital pix of some neato digital electronics! And here they are ...

RAM .. not too scary lookin' huh? These RAM printed circuit cards are basically what your RAM stuff looks like. What you're also looking at is the electronic equivalent of your desktop, or scratch pad. If you'll recall from one of the previous posts, when you call for a file from the hard drive, this is where the computer puts that file .. from the filing cabinet (hard drive) to your desktop (RAM).

And .. the reason you want to *save* a file back to the hard drive after working on it, is because .. when you quit your program or application, or restart or turn your computer off, the contents of RAM is erased .. wiped .. blitzed .. bupkis! So saving to the hard drive is a good thing! It's kinda like your file's home away from home .. just like the USO when i was in various sailor towns .. but that was long ago and many salt sprays away .. and could be the subject of another blog.

And now to the hard drive. This particular model weighs in at 160 Gigabytes. It took long walks in a very highly *heated* environment .. thus, having failed by being subjected to overheating conditions, it now spends its days outside its favorite computer performing its duty of ever-faithful paperweight.

And the bottom view ..

So .. there's the storage stuff.

Now let's dig a bit deeper. How 'bout that famous legendary technical name .. the *motherboard*..? Woooo .. this piece of printed circuitry has struck *fear* in the hearts and bank accounts of many mild mannered computer users, when they've heard the fateful words, "' looks like your *motherboard* has failed; we'll need to replace it." Well .. it's really not so scary. Because, 1 .. a motherboard failure is rare .. and 2 .. motherboards are a *lot* less costly than they used to be. Here comes one now ...

Oh sure .. there's lots of stuff in there .. wires, fans, slots for things, cables, etc. But we'll just look at a few of the main features of the motherboard and where they're located.

Here .. is one of the *most* important key components on your motherboard .. a battery. Why does my computer need a *battery* you ask..? Well .. if you ever find yourself in a situation where you are dateless. Not for the High School Prom or anything like that. I mean, if you find that your computer is not keeping the right date and time .. it means that this little disc battery has died and needs replacing. Because, among a few other settings in your computer, it also keeps your date and time up to date when your

computer is turned off.

And by the way, that RAM we looked at up above .. it's got a neat little place it calls home on the motherboard .. slots made especially for the RAM. And FYI, all the printed circuit cards that plug into the motherboard .. guess what they're called? If you guessed *daughter cards* .. you win the *smarts* prize of the day! Pictured to the right are the 2 RAM slots for this motherboard .. other motherboards that support larger amounts of RAM will have more slots.

Okay .. on to another set of daughter card slots. These other slots can take a number of different types of daughter cards. Cards that have dial-up modems on them, USB cards, and in this particular case .. a video card. Video cards will also have connectors that will extend through the rear of the computer case. Here's the pic below:

The topmost daughter card is a video card. It helps to have a video card to improve imaging performance on your monitor. This is also referred to as 'screen refresh' rate. When not using a video card, a portion of RAM is used to assemble the video image. So, it follows, that if you have a dedicated card for video, you leave more RAM for other tasks that the computer performs. Also .. 3 slots down from the video card in this picture .. a smaller card .. it's a dial-up modem card. Also with external connectors for the rear of the computer.

Another gizmo on the motherboard, in fact the motherboard's *main brain* .. the processor. In the picture to the right, we are looking at the top view of the processor. So all we can see is the fan. Immediately beneath the fan is the heat sink; usually made from molded aluminum; with upright fins to dissipate the heat from the processor. And beneath the heat sink is the actual processor. You may notice that the fan has collected some dust and stuff. This a *very good reason* for opening up your trusty computer and, using a can of compressed air that can be purchased at either computer stores or office supply stores, blast away at the proverbial 'dust bunnies' and other surfaces where nasty old dust has accumulated. Doing so will help your computer to run *cooler* and last a lot longer as a function of reduced heat stress on the components. As well, micro-sized conducting debris and related static electricity has been documented to cause short circuits and therefore electronic damage to sensitive parts.

Speaking of parts that should be taken care of, which contains another fan to keep clean so that it will remain as cool as can be .. the power supply! Since computer parts are powered primarily by DC (direct current) power, the power supply is needed to convert the AC (alternating current) that comes from the A/C socket in your wall to DC. Here's a nifty pic of a power supply.

Oh yes .. lots of wires coming out of it. Some go to power the hard drives, CD/DVD drives, and on older computers .. the floppy drives. Other wires go directly to the motherboard to supply various amounts of DC as required by the electronic components.

And here's a pic of the DC power wiring that goes to power the drives in the drive bay that houses the drives.

Okey dokey .. like they usetah tell me in the Navy .. "That oughta keepya busy for a microsecond." And it was a compliment. Because they knew I'd be wanting to learn more real soon.

And speakin' of which .. I've decided, as you can probably tell by the long lapse since the last post .. to reduce the rate of post-ups to one every 1 to 2 months. That way, you have time to study and absorb some of this stuff a bit longer before some *new stuff* pops up. And I will have longer to dig up a new and hopefully *interesting* topic. It will also allow me to attend to other things that exist in my non-computer-kahuna life that are needing attention.

So that wraps it up for this session. NEXT TIME .. I will recall what I forgot .. namely, how to protect your computer from *lightning* and other hardware horrors.

Please stay tuned .. like The Terminator said .. "Ahll be bahk."

Your ol' computin' pal,

Ol' Doc CPU

''o))

P.S. >>> If you find yourself in the Easley, SC area any Sunday between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. .. and feel like some good ol' fashioned *delicious* home cookin' buffet style at a really low price .. you might give some thought to stoppin' by my favorite restaurant out there.

Here's the website for the restaurant >>>http://www.sparrowsnest.com/sparrowmain.html Not only is the food made yummy fresh the same day, the dining rooms are an absolutely *beautiful* setting and wonderful environment to have a peaceful refreshing meal. Off the beaten path in a quiet country setting. And you just cannot beat the price for all you can eat. Check it out! It's where I get my vittles from .. and they don't pay me 1 cent to say this .. it's just that good!!

The *Need for Speed* (on the internet)

Okay .. 1st off .. sorry for the 2 week lapse instead of 1 week. Coupla reasons .. i got a bit busy performing surgery on a few computers. And 2, i wanted to make sure i had an idea for the post entry after this one. So you'd have something with which to tantalize your brain cells.

So, let's get right into it.

Modems .. hmm .. i wonder just what percentage of the population have dial-up modems anymore?

Because the majority of folks connecting to the internet today .. have some form of high-speed transmission and reception of databits.

For those of you that do have dial-up, here are a few tips:

1> Whether you have an internal or external phone modem, please make sure that your data rate is at the maximum for dial-up. That is 57,600 bps (bits per second). You could check this in either the paper manual or the CD documentation that came with the modem. You could also verify the speed by monitoring the speed of a download with a piece of program software that is designed to do such. Or, you could find a website that will test the speed online for you. http://www.speedtest.net/ is one such.

2> It is best to use a *separate* phone line for your dial-up modem. This is so that if someone tries to make a phone call on the same line, your modem's signal will not be interrupted and cut off from the internet. This is also helpful if you have a fax modem, to ensure uninterrupted fax transmissions and receptions as well.

3> Be sure to disable "call waiting" on the line that the modem is using; the "call waiting" signal will also knock the modem out of kilter. This can be done inside the modem program that you are using. Or, if you are using the same line as the one used for dialing calls, you can disable "call waiting" by entering a special *-code into the phone line using the touch tone keypad while you have the phone off the hook. You can find the correct *-codes either in your phone book, or by online search, or by contacting your local phone company.

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Now .. on to the preferred choice for data transmission and reception.

It is not only preferred by the majority of computer users on the planet for the simple speed advantage. But it is my *personal* preference due to what that higher speed gives you that may not be readily apparent.

The purpose of a computer is to do the repetitive tasks as *fast* as it possibly can .. to sort of relieve the human of those menial data labors. Computers keep getting faster just about every 3-6 months currently. So, it follows that, logically, you would want to be able to move your computer data to and from the internet (including email) as *swiftly* as possible as well.

Well then .. if your computer was given the sentient ability to choose the speed *it* preferred to use when going out and coming back .. it would chooose the *fastest* speed available. Because, the faster a task can be completed as a function of computer speed and internet communication speed .. the sooner the *human* can get up from the computer chair and get back to doing the human stuff. And doesn't that make computin' a lot nicer..?

So, what speeds are available in the high speedosphere..?

Currently, the low-end speed is 768kbps. Doesn't seem like much if we look back at that other number >>> 57,600 bps does it? But it is. Because 57,600 bps translates to 57kbps. So, that makes the 768 K bps *13 times* faster! Woohoo!

About 20 years ago, when i got off dial-up and switched to high-speed .. i was blown away by the speed difference! And vowed to *never* go back to dial-up.

Unfortunately, to get to this 768kbps plateau, the typical cost will be about $10/month more. But, if you are dedicating an extra phone line for just your dial-up modem, you can *offset* that extra cost by simply stopping the subscription for the 2nd line. Because, one type of high speed (cable) does not even use the phone line at all! And the other (dsl) uses a digital stream of communication *separate* from the analog voice transmissions on the same phone line. (it's not affected by someone talking on the same line) And .. with *both* methods of high-speed, you will *never* have to dial up and login. Because, as long as your high-speed modem and computer are on and connected properly, you will *always* be on!

Above 768Kbps, there are still faster speeds .. 1.5Mbps (megabits per second), about twice as fast as the 1st high-speed level; 26 times faster than dial-up. Then you can jump to 3Mbps, doubling speed again. And then 5 or 6Mbps, depending on which high speed company; your mileage may vary. Beyond that, 10, 12, 16 and 20Mbps. And, if you have the depth of pocketbook, you can go above 20Mbps by subscribing to the extreme premium .. fiber optic lines. That is of course if they are available in your area. Unfortunately, the further away from city hubs that you live, the more slowed down your choices will be.

And for those who live out in "the sticks" (and i *love* the sticks by the way) .. there is still a decent choice if you want to reach a bit deeper into your pocket. Do you have satellite tv? Well you can have satellite internet too if you like! Cool huh!?

And don't worry. When you sign up with a high-speed provider, either they will send a set up package in the mail. Or they will send a guy, a dsl or a 'cable guy', to your house to set it up for you. Also very cool.

And dat's dah name o' dat tune.

NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!! PICTURES!!!!!!!!!! Woohoo!!

The *INSIDE* Story

We peer into the *magic box* that we call a computer .. woooooo .. ' sounds scary!

Naah .. piece o' cake.

You'll see .. literally!

' til next time Computin' Pals .. this is the ol' doctor of data dissertation hisself .. saying "*STAY TUNED*" for the next

*EXCITING EPISODE* of "Computin' 101"

Ol' Doc CPU

''o))