The Computer Parts Brigade

In my last entry I explained what system the computer uses to operate. Today I'd like to discuss the different aspects and parts of a computer that help it use this system and make it able to be useful to us today.

Motherboard
The motherboard is like the control base of the computer, it holds all the different parts of the computer on it. Everything connects to the motherboard and the motherboard is what enables the part to perform it's function.

Computer Processing Unit (CPU)
The CPU is one of the many parts connected to the Motherboard. It is the brain of the computer. All signals are sent to the CPU or the Processor in order to be analyzed by the computer and changed into binary (refer to previous entry). Every action goes through the CPU before it is carried out. The Processor, is really just a small chip, amazing how it can do so much!

BIOS
The BIOS is another tiny object on the motherboard. The BIOS is a very key part of your computer because the computer forgets everything once it's turned off. The BIOS reminds the computer about what to do when you start it up. Without your BIOS your computer can't start and therefore it can't do anything after that. The BIOS is a form of ROM (Read Only Memory), and you cannot write to the BIOS.

After that we have the ways to store and access information. To do this you need some place to save your data and something else to open it up again.

Hard Disk
The Hard Disk is what we save all our data to. So if you save a file it is saved onto your hard disk. The Hard Disk just stores information so you can access it later on, but you need something else in order to open up the file later on.

RAM (Random Access Memory)
RAM is what enables your computer to open files while the computer is functioning. To understand this better we looked at the Hard Disk as a bookshelf and the RAM as a table. The Hard Disk holds all the information but you cannot use the bookshelf to read any of the information. To use this data you bring it over to the table and look at it over there. So the RAM is your table. The bigger table you have the more books you can put on it, the RAM works the same way, the more you have of it, the more files and applications you can have running at the same time. The RAM forgets everything once you shut the computer off so it's important to save all your information, just like placing books back on a bookshelf. RAM has been growing since it was first invented, the average computer now has 1GB of RAM, and the possibilities ahead of this are endless.