Transcript Computer - SCM Sweb - City University of Hong Kong

Digital Media
Computer Hardware
Week 03, 2010
SM1001 Digital Media, Semester A, 2010
School of Creative Media ©
Computer: A Brief History

First Digital computers appeared in 1944.

Semiconductor was invented on December 24, 1947,
which initiated the digital revolution that we experience
today.
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The Internet started in 1969 with only 4 sites.

First personal computers appeared in the late 1970s.
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IBM PC arrived in early 1980s which run on DOS
developed by to Microsoft.
On/off switches in digital computers
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earliest:
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electromechanical relays
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1940’s:
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vacuum tubes
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solenoid with mechanical contact points
physical switch closes when electricity animates magnet
no physical contacts to break or get dirty
became available in early 1900’s
mainly used in radios at first
1950’s to present
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transistors
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invented at Bell Labs in 1948
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley
Nobel prize, 1956
First Generation - 1940-1956

The IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled
Calculator (ASCC), called the Mark I by Harvard
University, was the first large-scale automatic digital
computer in the USA.

The machine contained more than 750,000 components,
was 50 feet long, 8 feet tall, and weighed approximately
5 tons!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Mark_I
Harvard-IBM Mark 1,
Harvard-IBM Mark 1
First Generation Computer: Vacuum tubes
ENIAC

ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer ) patent
(No. 3,120,606), filed 26 June 1947.
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It weighs 30 tons with over 18,000 vacuum tubes and was able
perform 5000 additions per second! (8.5 by 3 by 80 feet )
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The ENIAC's design and construction were financed by the United
States Army during World War II.
A vacuum tube
First Semiconductor, the humble
device that started it all…
In the Christmas eve of 1947, this was demonstrated
in the Bell Labs which heralded the electronic era.
John Bardeen, William B. Shockley, and Walter Brattain
shared the 1956 Nobel Prize.
Early Semiconductor Devices
Transistors
Second generation of computing (1956-1963)
• Replaced vacuum tubes by transistors and magnetic cores
• Dramatic reduction in size
• Computer could fit into a single room
• Increase in reliability of computers
• Reduced costs of computers
• High-level programming languages
• The programmer occupation was born
• COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language) and FORTRAN
(Formula Translator) were used
IBM 360 (Mainframe)
IBM delivered the first System 360 mainframe processor to the Bank in
Hong Kong over 40 years ago to run the Bank's pioneer computer project
Third Generation – 1964-1971
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Integrated Circuit (IC) are transistors,
resistors, and capacitors integrated together
into a single “chip”
Operating System
Getting smaller, cheaper
Integrated Circuit (IC)
4th Generation – 1971-Present
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Microprocessors
Getting smaller and smaller, but
we are still using microchip
technology
The First Microprocessor – 1971
• Intel
4004 chip
• The 4004 had 2,250 transistors
• four-bit chunks (four 1’s or 0’s)108Khz
• Called “Microchip”
IMSAI Microcomputer 1976
IMSAI 8080
Manufacturer IMS Associates, Inc.
Type
Hobbyist computer
Casing
Aluminum
Production
August 1975
Discontinued 1978
CPU
Intel 8080A @ 2MHz
RAM
256 bytes
Expansion
Card-cage with S-100 bus
Software
IMDOS, BASIC
Storage
Optional cassette or
floppy drive
Apple I (1976)
Apple I, released April 1976
By Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs
Apple I board
Apple II (Apple Computer, 1977)
IBM PC (IBM, 1981)
Intel 8088 microprocessor
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used in first IBM personal computer
IBM PC released in 1981
4.77 MHz clock
16 bit integers, with an 8-bit data bus
 transfers took two steps (a byte at a time)
 1 Mb of physical memory address limitation
8-bit device-controlling chips
Pentium 4 chip has
29,000 transistors
42 million transistors
3-micron technology
speed was 0.33 MIPS
electrical paths now
as small as .13 micron
later version had 8 MHz clock
 speed was 0.75 MIPS.
The first Macintosh (1984)
Generations of Electronic Computers
First
Generation
Technology Vacuum
Tubes
Size
Second
Gen.
Transistors
Filled Whole Filled half a
Buildings
room
Third
Gen.
Integrated
Circuits
(multiple
transistors)
Smaller
Fourth Gen.
Microchips
(millions of
transistors)
Tiny - Palm
Pilot is as
powerful as
old building
sized
computer
Fifth Generation Computer
(1997-Present & Beyond)
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Used in parallel processing
Used superconductors
Used in speech/face recognition
Used in intelligent robots
Used in artificial intelligence
21st Century Computing
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Great increases in speed, storage, and
memory
Increased networking, speed in Internet
Widespread use of CD/DVD, memory stick
Cell Phone/PDA
Mobile Devices
Wireless
Computer History
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ61MkK
XoTc
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gas2Xi0rW
6A&feature=related
Futureworld (1976)
Directed by Michael Crichton
The Computer
In principle, all computers are the same.
How computer system work?
User
High-level
Language
Assembly
Language
Firmware
Machine Code
Application
Software
Operation System
Hardware
Computer Hardware
Basic Components

Three basic components:
1.
Memory (RAM)
2.
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
3.
Input and Output devices


Input Device: Mouse, Keyboard, Scanner, Webcam,
Microphone, Digital Camera…etc
Output Device: Monitor, Printer, Speaker…etc
Structure of computer system
All in Hardware!!
CPU
Let’s open the case!
Inside the computer
Central Processing Unit (CPU)

“Brain” of computer

Two leading manufacturers:
 Intel (eg. Pentium 4 3.8Ghz)
 AMD (eg. Athlon XP 3200+)
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
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Intel Pentium 4
Processor
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AMD Athlon XP
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
CPU Speed

CPU speed is measured by the number of
completed instruction cycles per second

Currently, CPU speeds range from
megahertz (MHz or million cycles per
second) to gigahertz (GHz or billion cycles
per second).

1000 megahertz (Mhz) = 1 Gigahertz (Ghz)
Different CPU may have different
size and sockets
Hard Drives (HD)

Main storage space inside your PC. It is a
permanent storage component unlike the
RAM (system memory)
A hard Drive
Inside the HD
Hard Drives (HD)
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Used to store operating system, application
software, utilities and data.

Magnetic storage device.
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Hard Disk capacities are huge:
40 Gigabytes (GB) to 750 Gigabytes (GB).
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1 GB = 1,024 Megabytes (MB).
1 TB = 1,024 Gegabytes (GB).
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Hard Drives (HD)
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For digital artists, hard drive capacity is taskdependent.
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A video editor will need to store a lot of video
footage on her hard drives for future reference
since they might need over 250GB or even more
than 1 HD.
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A web designer will probably not need so much
HD space: 80GB will be adequate for the job.
Memory (RAM)
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It works much like a short-term memory system in a
person’s brain where retrieval of information is fast, but
not permanent
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Holds instructions for processing data, processed data,
and raw data.
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Main memory is at least 10 times faster than a hard
drive (HD).
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Currently, the speed of RAM is ranged from 512 MB to
2GB
Memory (RAM)
Memory (RAM)
To add more books on the desk, you
would have to put it on top of another
book, making that book unavailable to
you (as good as closing and putting that
book away).
Because you have added the
space on your desk, you can
add more books and still keep
the old books open which gives
you fast access to them
256MB RAM
512MB RAM
 It is one of the major factors that slows down your computer even
if you have a fast CPU, which is why you are often advised to have
upgrade to a larger (main) memory.
Video/Graphics Cards
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Generate and output images to a display
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For high speed, the video card is used for some
of the video processing on the computer.
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It has its own on-board memory.
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The major companies who make video chipsets
in this market are:
 nVIDIA
 ATI
Video/Graphics Cards
Outputs that are connected
to the monitor.
GPU inside
Heatsink-Fan on top of
video card chip.
Video/Graphics Cards
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Games: Many 3D graphics intensive games
require a lot of video processing power for
smooth game play.
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3D Animators and Video editors also need
good quality and fast video cards to help speed
up their workflow.
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Digital photographers and some other digital
designers don’t need to worry too much about
video cards.
Monitors (LCDs and CRTs)
A Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) Monitor
A Cathode Ray-Tube (CRT) Monitor
Monitors (LCDs and CRTs):
Contrast
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Digital artists need a lot of contrast on their
screens to see different shades of colors clearly.
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CRTs have greater contrast than LCDs.
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When you go to a store and see LCDs say
something like 500:1, that is their contrast ratio.
A higher ratio generally means more contrast.
Monitors (LCDs and CRTs):
Color
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Another factor important to digital artists is color.
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Currently, some top line LCD monitors is weaker
at displaying colors when compared to a CRT
monitor.
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This can greatly affect the color precision in a
digital workflow and proper color management.
Monitors (LCDs and CRTs):
ambient lighting
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CRT Monitors reflect more lights than an
LCD.
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With bright ambient lighting, LCD may be
a better choice, but in many cases you
may control the lighting condition.
Motherboard (MoBo)
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This is like the base of the computer to
which you can add different components.
The board is the motherboard
You need to be careful in choosing MoBo, because different MoBo support different hardware (e.g CPU, RAM, port….etc)
Specification of Computer
(Cityu Ownership Program Notebook 2009)
http://www.hkedoffer.com/cityu2009/
More about Computer System
More about Computer System
Metric Prefixes
More about Computer System
PC vs. Mac
PC vs. Mac

People often think of Apple Macintosh (Mac)
computers to be the designer’s computer.
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Others think of the Personal Computer (PC) as
the general user’s computer.
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But this is really up to the user: a lot of designers
use PC
Mac Advantages
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More stable because of an extremely robust UNIX-based
operating system (OS) which is open source software.
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Built with designers in mind – They don’t only look good,
but also feel good to use.
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Handles color management very well.
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Works better with video.
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Very user friendly.
PC Advantages
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Much cheaper.
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More customizable.
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More software options.
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More support/help because more people use it.
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Can pretty much do everything a Mac can do.
Some useful resource
Websites
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http://www.hkgolden.com
 You can learn about the prices of the latest computer
hardware being sold in Hong Kong.
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http://www.slashdot.org
 Read about the latest computer-related news and
happenings.
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http://www.tomshardware.com
 Learn about the hottest computer hardware as well as
read reviews to help you make better choices in the
next computer you buy/build.
Summary
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We have given a brief introduction of computer:
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Memory
CPU
Input and output
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Digital technology changes very rapidly, but its principles
and concepts remain stable.
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Learning digital technology will make you a proficient
and competitive media professional.
Work on it and be prepared!
See you next week!!
Links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gas2Xi0rW
6A&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvQQxPN
1j-Y&feature=related