COMPUTER COMPONENTS

COMPUTER COMPONENTS


Personal computer hardware are the component devices that are the building blocks of personal computers. These are typically installed into a computer case, or attached to it by a cable or through a port. In the latter case, they are also referred to as peripherals.

Computer Case

Main article: Computer case
A computer case (also known as a computer chassis, cabinet, box, tower, enclosure, housing, system unit or simply case) is the enclosure that contains most of the components of a computer (usually excluding the display, keyboard and mouse). A computer case is sometimes incorrectly referred to metonymously as a CPU referring to a component housed within the case. CPU was a common term in the earlier days of home computers, when peripherals other than the motherboard were usually housed in their own separate cases.

 Power supply
Main article: Power supply unit (computer)

Inside a custom-built computer: the power supply at the bottom has its own cooling fan.

A power supply unit (PSU) converts alternating current (AC) electric power to low-voltage DC power for the internal components of the computer. Some power supplies have a switch to change between 230 V and 115 V. Other models have automatic sensors that switch input voltage automatically, or are able to accept any voltage between those limits. Power supply units used in computers are nearly always switch mode power supplies (SMPS). The SMPS provides regulated direct current power at the several voltages required by the motherboard and accessories such as disk drives and cooling fans.

 Motherboard
Main article: Motherboard

The motherboard is the main component inside the case. It is a large rectangular board with integrated circuitry that connects the other parts of the computer including the CPU, the RAM, the disk drives (CD, DVD, hard disk, or any others) as well as any peripherals connected via the ports or the expansion slots.
Components directly attached to the motherboard include:

• The CPU (Central Processing Unit) performs most of the calculations which enable a computer to function, and is sometimes referred to as the "brain" of the computer. It is usually cooled by a heat sink and fan. Most newer CPUs include an on-die Graphics Processing Unit (GPU).
• The Chipset, which includes the north bridge, mediates communication between the CPU and the other components of the system, including main memory.
• The Random-Access Memory (RAM) stores the code and data that are being actively accessed by the CPU.
• The Read-Only Memory (ROM) stores the BIOS that runs when the computer is powered on or otherwise begins execution, a process known as Bootstrapping, or "booting" or "booting up". The BIOS (Basic Input Output System) includes boot firmware and power management firmware. Newer motherboards use Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) instead of BIOS.
• Buses connect the CPU to various internal components and to expansion cards for graphics and sound.CurrentPCI Express: for expansion cards such as graphics, sound, network interfaces, TV tuners, etc.
• PCI: for other expansion cards.
• SATA: for disk drives.
• ObsoleteAGP: superseded by PCI Express.
• ATA
• VLB: VESA Local Bus, superseded by AGP.
• EISA
• Micro Channel architecture
• ISA: expansion card slot format obsolete in PCs, but still used in industrial computers.

Ports for external peripherals. These ports may be controlled directly by the south bridge I/O controller or provided by expansion cards attached to the motherboard.USB

Memory Card

FireWire

eSATA

SCSI

 Expansion Cards

Main article: Expansion card

 

The expansion card (also expansion board, adapter card or accessory card) in computing is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an expansion slot of a computer motherboard or backplane to add functionality to a computer system via the expansion bus.
An example of an expansion card is a sound card that enables the computer to output sound to audio devices, as well as accept input from a microphone. Most modern computers have hardware support for sound integrated in the motherboard chipset but some users prefer to install a separate sound card as an upgrade. Most sound cards, either built-in or added, have surround sound capabilities and 3-D sound effects.

Secondary Storage Devices

Main article: Computer data storage
Computer data storage, often called storage or memory, refers to computer components and recording media that retain digital data. Data storage is a core function and fundamental component of computers.
 

• Fixed Media Devices

1. Hard disk drives: a hard disk drive (HDD; also hard drive, hard disk, or disk drive)[2] is a device for storing and retrieving digital information, primarily computer data. It consists of one or more rigid (hence "hard") rapidly rotating discs (often referred to as platters), coated with magnetic material and with magnetic heads arranged to write data to the surfaces and read it from them.
2. Solid-state drives: a solid-state drive (SSD), sometimes called a solid-state disk or electronic disk, is a data storage device that uses solid-state memory to store persistent data with the intention of providing access in the same manner of a traditional block I/O hard disk drive. SSDs are distinguished from traditional magnetic disks such as hard disk drives (HDDs) or floppy disk, which are electromechanical devices containing spinning disks and movable read/write heads.
3. RAID array controller - a device to manage several internal or external hard disks and optionally some peripherals in order to achieve performance or reliability improvement in what is called a RAID array.

 

• Removable Media Devices

1. Optical Disc Drives for reading from and writing to various kinds of optical media, including Compact Discs such as CD-ROMs, DVDs, DVD-RAMs and Blu-ray Discs. Optical discs are the most common way of transferring digital video, and are popular for data storage as well.
2. Floppy disk drives for reading and writing to floppy disks, an outdated storage media consisting of a thin disk of a flexible magnetic storage medium. These were once standard on most computers but are no longer in common use. Floppies are used today mainly for loading device drivers not included with an operating system release (for example, RAID drivers).
3. Zip drives, an outdated medium-capacity removable disk storage system, for reading from and writing to Zip disks, was first introduced by Iomega in 1994.
4. USB flash drive plug into a USB port and do not require a separate drive. USB flash drive is a typically small, lightweight, removable, and rewritable flash memory data storage device integrated with a USB interface. Capacities vary, from hundreds of megabytes (in the same range as CDs) to tens of gigabytes (surpassing Blu-ray discs but also costing significantly more).
5. Memory card readers for reading from and writing to Memory cards, a flash memory data storage device used to store digital information. Memory cards are typically used on mobile devices. They are thinner, smaller and lighter than USB flash drives. Common types of memory cards are SD and MS.
6. Tape drives read and write data on a magnetic tape, and are used for long term storage and backups.
7.  

Input and output peripherals
Main article: Peripheral

Input and output devices are typically housed externally to the main computer chassis. The following are either standard or very common to many computer systems.


Wheel mouse 1. Input
Main article: Input device

 

Text input devicesKeyboard - a device to input text and characters by depressing buttons (referred to as keys or buttons).

Pointing devicesMouse - a pointing device that detects two dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface.Optical Mouse - uses light (laser technology) to determine mouse motion.
Trackball - a pointing device consisting of an exposed protruding ball housed in a socket that detects rotation about two axes.

Touchscreen - senses the user pressing directly on the monitor.

Gaming devicesJoystick - a hand-operated pivoted stick whose position is transmitted to the computer.

Game pad - a hand held game controller that relies on the digits (especially thumbs) to provide input.

Game controller - a specific type of controller specialized for certain gaming purposes.

Image, Video input devicesImage scanner - a device that provides input by analyzing images, printed text, handwriting, or an object.

Web cam - a video camera used to provide visual input that can be easily transferred over the internet.

Audio input devicesMicrophone - an acoustic sensor that provides input by converting sound into electrical signals.

2. Output
Main article: Output device

 

Printer - a device that produces a permanent human-readable text or graphic document.Laser printer

Inkjet printer

Dot matrix printer

Thermal printer

Computer monitors

Speakers

Mouse

COMPUTER OF CLASSIFICATION

COMPUTER OF CLASSIFICATION



Until recently computers were classifieds as microcomputers, super minicomputers, mainframes, and supercomputers. Technology, however, has changed and this classification is no more relevant. Today all computers used microprocessors as their CPU. Thus classification is possible only through their mode of use. Based on mode of use we can classify computers as Palms, Laptop PCs, Desktop PCs and Workstations. Based on interconnected computers we can classify computers we can classify them as distributed computers and parallel computers.



Palm PCs or Simputer
With miniaturization and high-density packing of transistor on a chip, computers with capabilities nearly that of PCs which can be held in a palm have emerged. Palm accept handwritten inputs using an electronic pen which can be used to write on a Palm’s screen (besides a tiny keyboard), have small disk storage and can be connected to a wireless network. One has to train the system on the user’s handwriting before it can be used as a mobile phone, Fax, and e-mail machine. A version of Microsoft operating system called Windows-CE is available for Palm.An Indian initiative to meet the needs of rural population of developing countries is called Simputer. Simputer is a mobile handheld computer with input through icons on a touch sensitive overly on the LCD display panel. A unique feature of Simputer is the use of free open source OS called GNU/Linux. The cost of ownership is thus low as there is no software cost for OS. Another unique feature of Simputer not found in Palm, is a smart card reader/writer, which increases the functionality of the Simputer including possibility of personalization of a single Simputer for several users.

Laptop PCs:

 Laptop PCs (also known as notebook computers) are portable computers weighing around 2 kgs. They have a keyboard, flat screen liquid crystal display, and a Pentium or Power PC processor. Colour displays are available. They normally run using WINDOWS OS. Laptops come with hard disk (around 40 GB), CDROM and floppy disk. They should run with batteries and are thus designed to conserve energy by using power efficient chips. Many Laptops can be connected to a network. There is a trend towards providing wireless connectivity to Laptops so that they can read files from large stationary computers. The most common use of Laptop computers is used for word processing, and spreadsheet computing. As Laptops use miniature components which have to consume low power and have to be packaged in small volumes.
Personal Computers (PCs)
The most popular PCs are desktop machines. Early PCs had Intel 8088 microprocessors as their CPU. Currently (2004), Intel Dual Core is the most popular processor. The machines made by IBM are called IBM PCs. Other manufacturers use IBM’s specifications and design their own PCs. They are known as IBM compatible PCs. IBM PCs mostly use MS-Windows, WINDOWS –XP or GNU/Linux as Operating System. IBM PCs, nowadays (2004) have 64 to 256 MB main memory, 40 to 80 GB of Hard Disk and a floppy disk or flash ROM. Besides these a 650 MB CDROM is also provided in PCs intended for multimedia use. Another company called Apple also makes pCs. Apple PCs are known as Apple Macintosh. They use Apple’s proprietary OS, which is designed for simplicity of use. Apple Macintosh machines used Motorola 68030 microprocessors but now use Power PC 603 processor. IBM PCs are today the most popular computers with millions of them in use throughout the world.
Workstations:
Workstations are also desktop machines. They are, however, more powerful providing processorspeeds about 10 times that of PCs. Most workstations have a large colour video display unit (19 inch monitors). Normally they have main memory of around 256 MB to 4 GB and Hard Disk of 80 to 320 GB. Workstations normally use RISC processors such as MIPS (SIG), RIOS (IBM), SPARC (SUN), or PA-RISC (HP). Some manufacturers of Workstations are Silicon Graphics (SIG), IBM, SUN Microsystems and Hewlett Packard (HP). The standard Operating System of Workstations is UNIX and its derivatives such as AIX (IBM), Solaris (SUN), and HP-UX (HP). Very good graphics facilities and large video screens are provided by most Workstations. A system called X WINDOWS is provided by Workstations to display the status of multiple processes during their execution. Most Workstations have built-in hardware to connect to a Local Area Network (LAN). Workstations are used for executing numeric and graphic intensive applications such as those, which arise in Computer Aided Design, simulation of complex systems and visualizing the results of simulation.
Servers

 While manufacturers such as IBM, SUN and Silicon Graphics have been manufacturing high performance workstations the speed of Intel Pentium Processors has been going up. In 2004, Pentium with clock speed 3 GHz are available. They can support several GB main memories. Thus the difference between high end PCs and Workstations is vanishing. Today companies such as SUN make Intel based workstations.While Workstations are characterized by high performance processors with large screens for interactive programming, servers are used for specific purpose such as high performance numerical computing (called compute server), web page hosting, database store, printing etc. interactive large screens are not necessary. Compute servers have performance processors with large main memory, database servers have big on-line disk storage (100s of GB) and print servers support several high speed printers.
Mainframes Computers
There are organizations such as banks and insurance companies process large number of transactions on-line. They require computers with very large disks to store several Terabytes of data and transfer data from disk to main memory at several hundred Megabytes/sec. The processing power needed from such computers is hundred million transactions per second. These computers are much bigger and faster than workstations and several hundred times more expensive. They normally use proprietary operating systems, which usually provide high expensive services such as user accounting, file security and control. They are normally much more reliable when compared to Operating System on PCs. These types of computers are called mainframes. These are a few manufacturers of mainframes (e.g., IBM and Hitachi). The number of mainframe users has reduced as many organizations are rewriting their systems to use networks of powerful workstations.
Supercomputers
Supercomputers are the fastest computers available at any given time and are normally used to solve problems, which require intensive numerical computations. Examples of such problems are numerical weather prediction, designing supersonic aircrafts, design of drugs and modeling complex molecules. All of these problems require around 10^16calculations to be performed. These problems will be solved in about 3 hours by a computer, which can carry out a trillion floating point calculations per second. Such a computer is classifieds as supercomputer today (2004). By about the year 2006 computers which can carry out 10^15 floating point operations per second on 64 bit floating point numbers would be available and would be the ones which be called supercomputers. Interconnecting several high speed computers and programming them to work cooperatively to solve problems build supercomputers. Recently applications of supercomputers have expanded beyond scientific computing, they are now used to analyze large commercial database, produced animated movies and play games such as chess.Besides arithmetic speed, a computer to be classified as a supercomputer should have a large main memory of around 16 GB and a secondary memory of 1000 GB. The speed of transfer of data from secondary memory to the main memory should be at least a tenth of the memory to CPU data transfer speed. All supercomputers use parallelism to achieve their speed. In Sec. 12.9 we discuss the organization of parallel computers

Tagged as: aptop, Clasification of computer, Classification oe computer, Classification of computer, Classification of computers, Classification of computers by uses, Classifications of computer graphics, Classifications of computers, Computer clasification, Computer classificatin, Computer classification, Computer Classification –, Computer classifications, Computer types and classification, Difference between sparc parisc and power processor, Discuse the basic computer classification, DISCUSS THE BASIC COMPUTER CLASSIFICATION, main frame, Palm PCs or Simputer, Pictures of computers, Simputer

COMPUTER HISTORY AND GENERATIONS

COMPUTER HISTORY AND GENERATIONS


Precursors

Historians of science see the abacus, first invented in Babylon in the 300s  B.C.E., as a predecessor of the computer. In the modern era, William Schickland  designed a mechanical calculator in 1623, a design which Blaine Pascal improved  two decades later. Charles Babbage in England came up with the concept of a  steam-powered calculating machine (the analytical machine) in the mid-1800s, but  he failed to convince the British government to finance the  project.

The First Electronic Computer

The British government built an electronic computing device during World War  II (1939-1945 in England) to break the German's Enigma code. It was called  Colossus, and the Americans followed the British with a computer a few years  later, known as the Electronic Numerical Integrator Analyzor and Computer  (ENIAC). The ENIAC is generally considered the first electronic computer because  of the Colossus's limited computational ability. Scientists at the Ballistics  Research Laboratory and the University of Pennsylvania designed and built the  ENIAC on commission from the U.S. army to help formulate ballistics data for use  in bombings and artillery.

Read more:  History and Generations of Computers | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5501674_history-generations-computers.html#ixzz229r74u6p

In the beginning ...
        A generation refers to the state of improvement in the development of a product.  This term is also used in the different advancements of computer technology.  With each new generation, the circuitry has gotten smaller and more advanced than the previous generation before it.  As a result of the miniaturization, speed, power, and memory of computers has proportionally increased.  New discoveries are constantly being developed that affect the way we live, work and play.
The First Generation:  1946-1958 (The Vacuum Tube Years)
        The first generation computers were huge, slow, expensive, and often undependable.  In 1946two Americans, Presper Eckert, and John Mauchly built the ENIAC electronic computer which used vacuum tubes instead of the mechanical switches of the Mark I.  The ENIAC used thousands of vacuum tubes, which took up a lot of space and gave off a great deal of heat just like light bulbs do.  The ENIAC led to other vacuum tube type computers like the EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) and the UNIVAC I (UNIVersal Automatic Computer).
        The vacuum tube was an extremely important step in the advancement of computers.  Vacuum tubes were invented the same time the light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison and worked very similar to light bulbs.  It's purpose was to act like an amplifier and a switch.  Without any moving parts, vacuum tubes could take very weak signals and make the signal stronger (amplify it).  Vacuum tubes could also stop and start the flow of electricity instantly (switch).  These two properties made the ENIAC computer possible.
        The ENIAC gave off so much heat that they had to be cooled by gigantic air conditioners.  However even with these huge coolers, vacuum tubes still overheated regularly.  It was time for something new.

The Second Generation:  1959-1964 (The Era of the Transistor)

        The transistor computer did not last as long as the vacuum tube computer lasted, but it was no less important in the advancement of computer technology.  In 1947 three scientists, John Bardeen, William Shockley, and Walter Brattain working at AT&T's Bell Labs invented what would replace the vacuum tube forever.  This invention was the transistor which functions like a vacuum tube in that it can be used to relay and switch electronic signals.
        There were obvious differences between the transisitor and the vacuum tube.  The transistor was faster, more reliable, smaller, and much cheaper to build than a vacuum tube.  One transistor replaced the equivalent of 40 vacuum tubes.  These transistors were made of solid material, some of which is silicon, an abundant element (second only to oxygen) found in beach sand and glass.  Therefore they were very cheap to produce.  Transistors were found to conduct electricity faster and better than vacuum tubes.  They were also much smaller and gave off virtually no heat compared to vacuum tubes.  Their use marked a new beginning for the computer.  Without this invention, space travel in the 1960's would not have been possible.  However, a new invention would even further advance our ability to use computers.

 The Third Generation:  1965-1970 (Integrated Circuits - Miniaturizing the Computer)

Transistors were a tremendous breakthrough in advancing the computer.  However no one could predict that thousands even now millions of transistors (circuits) could be compacted in such a small space.  The integrated circuit, or as it is sometimes referred to as semiconductor chip, packs a huge number of transistors onto a single wafer of silicon. Robert Noyce of Fairchild Corporation and Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments independently discovered the amazing attributes of integrated circuits.  Placing such large numbers of transistors on a single chip vastly increased the power of a single computer and lowered its cost considerably.
        Since the invention of integrated circuits, the number of transistors that can be placed on a single chip has doubled every two years, shrinking both the size and cost of computers even further and further enhancing its power.  Most electronic devices today use some form of integrated circuits placed on printed circuit boards-- thin pieces of bakelite or fiberglass that have electrical connections etched onto them -- sometimes called a mother board.

       These third generation computers could carry out instructions in billionths of a second.  The size of these machines dropped to the size of small file cabinets. Yet, the single biggest advancement in the computer era was yet to be discovered.

The Fourth Generation:  1971-Today (The Microprocessor)

       


        This generation can be characterized by both the jump to monolithic integrated circuits(millions of transistors put onto one integrated circuit chip) and the invention of the microprocessor (a single chip that could do all the processing of a full-scale computer).  By putting millions of transistors onto one single chip more calculation and faster speeds could be reached by computers.  Because electricity travels about a foot in a billionth of a second, the smaller the distance the greater the speed of computers.
        However what really triggered the tremendous growth of computers and its significant impact on our lives is the invention of the microprocessor.  Ted Hoff, employed by Intel (RobertNoyce's new company) invented a chip the size of a pencil eraser that could do all the computing and logic work of a computer.  The microprocessor was made to be used in calculators, not computers.  It led, however, to the invention of personal computers, or microcomputers.
        It wasn't until the 1970's that people began buying computer for personal use.  One of the earliest personal computers was the Altair 8800 computer kit.  In 1975 you could purchase this kit and put it together to make your own personal computer.  In 1977 the Apple II was sold to the public and in 1981 IBM entered the PC (personal computer) market.

        Today we have all heard of Intel and its Pentium® Processors and now we know how it all got started.  The computers of the next generation will have millions upon millions of transistors on one chip and will perform over a billioncalculations in a single second.  There is no end in sight for the computer movement. 




Processors of old and new

                                                                     One of the first ICs

                                                                         386 Processor

                                                                        Pentium Processor

                                                                    The New Processors

COMPUTER HISTORY AND GENERATIONS


Precursors

Historians of science see the abacus, first invented in Babylon in the 300s  B.C.E., as a predecessor of the computer. In the modern era, William Schickland  designed a mechanical calculator in 1623, a design which Blaine Pascal improved  two decades later. Charles Babbage in England came up with the concept of a  steam-powered calculating machine (the analytical machine) in the mid-1800s, but  he failed to convince the British government to finance the  project.

The First Electronic Computer

The British government built an electronic computing device during World War  II (1939-1945 in England) to break the German's Enigma code. It was called  Colossus, and the Americans followed the British with a computer a few years  later, known as the Electronic Numerical Integrator Analyzor and Computer  (ENIAC). The ENIAC is generally considered the first electronic computer because  of the Colossus's limited computational ability. Scientists at the Ballistics  Research Laboratory and the University of Pennsylvania designed and built the  ENIAC on commission from the U.S. army to help formulate ballistics data for use  in bombings and artillery.

Read more:  History and Generations of Computers | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5501674_history-generations-computers.html#ixzz229r74u6p

In the beginning ...
        A generation refers to the state of improvement in the development of a product.  This term is also used in the different advancements of computer technology.  With each new generation, the circuitry has gotten smaller and more advanced than the previous generation before it.  As a result of the miniaturization, speed, power, and memory of computers has proportionally increased.  New discoveries are constantly being developed that affect the way we live, work and play.
The First Generation:  1946-1958 (The Vacuum Tube Years)
        The first generation computers were huge, slow, expensive, and often undependable.  In 1946two Americans, Presper Eckert, and John Mauchly built the ENIAC electronic computer which used vacuum tubes instead of the mechanical switches of the Mark I.  The ENIAC used thousands of vacuum tubes, which took up a lot of space and gave off a great deal of heat just like light bulbs do.  The ENIAC led to other vacuum tube type computers like the EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) and the UNIVAC I (UNIVersal Automatic Computer).
        The vacuum tube was an extremely important step in the advancement of computers.  Vacuum tubes were invented the same time the light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison and worked very similar to light bulbs.  It's purpose was to act like an amplifier and a switch.  Without any moving parts, vacuum tubes could take very weak signals and make the signal stronger (amplify it).  Vacuum tubes could also stop and start the flow of electricity instantly (switch).  These two properties made the ENIAC computer possible.
        The ENIAC gave off so much heat that they had to be cooled by gigantic air conditioners.  However even with these huge coolers, vacuum tubes still overheated regularly.  It was time for something new.
The Second Generation:  1959-1964 (The Era of the Transistor)
        The transistor computer did not last as long as the vacuum tube computer lasted, but it was no less important in the advancement of computer technology.  In 1947 three scientists, John Bardeen, William Shockley, and Walter Brattain working at AT&T's Bell Labs invented what would replace the vacuum tube forever.  This invention was the transistor which functions like a vacuum tube in that it can be used to relay and switch electronic signals.
        There were obvious differences between the transisitor and the vacuum tube.  The transistor was faster, more reliable, smaller, and much cheaper to build than a vacuum tube.  One transistor replaced the equivalent of 40 vacuum tubes.  These transistors were made of solid material, some of which is silicon, an abundant element (second only to oxygen) found in beach sand and glass.  Therefore they were very cheap to produce.  Transistors were found to conduct electricity faster and better than vacuum tubes.  They were also much smaller and gave off virtually no heat compared to vacuum tubes.  Their use marked a new beginning for the computer.  Without this invention, space travel in the 1960's would not have been possible.  However, a new invention would even further advance our ability to use computers.
 The Third Generation:  1965-1970 (Integrated Circuits - Miniaturizing the Computer)
Transistors were a tremendous breakthrough in advancing the computer.  However no one could predict that thousands even now millions of transistors (circuits) could be compacted in such a small space.  The integrated circuit, or as it is sometimes referred to as semiconductor chip, packs a huge number of transistors onto a single wafer of silicon. Robert Noyce of Fairchild Corporation and Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments independently discovered the amazing attributes of integrated circuits.  Placing such large numbers of transistors on a single chip vastly increased the power of a single computer and lowered its cost considerably.
        Since the invention of integrated circuits, the number of transistors that can be placed on a single chip has doubled every two years, shrinking both the size and cost of computers even further and further enhancing its power.  Most electronic devices today use some form of integrated circuits placed on printed circuit boards-- thin pieces of bakelite or fiberglass that have electrical connections etched onto them -- sometimes called a mother board.

        These third generation computers could carry out instructions in billionths of a second.  The size of these machines dropped to the size of small file cabinets. Yet, the single biggest advancement in the computer era was yet to be discovered.
The Fourth Generation:  1971-Today (The Microprocessor)
        This generation can be characterized by both the jump to monolithic integrated circuits(millions of transistors put onto one integrated circuit chip) and the invention of the microprocessor (a single chip that could do all the processing of a full-scale computer).  By putting millions of transistors onto one single chip more calculation and faster speeds could be reached by computers.  Because electricity travels about a foot in a billionth of a second, the smaller the distance the greater the speed of computers.
        However what really triggered the tremendous growth of computers and its significant impact on our lives is the invention of the microprocessor.  Ted Hoff, employed by Intel (RobertNoyce's new company) invented a chip the size of a pencil eraser that could do all the computing and logic work of a computer.  The microprocessor was made to be used in calculators, not computers.  It led, however, to the invention of personal computers, or microcomputers.
        It wasn't until the 1970's that people began buying computer for personal use.  One of the earliest personal computers was the Altair 8800 computer kit.  In 1975 you could purchase this kit and put it together to make your own personal computer.  In 1977 the Apple II was sold to the public and in 1981 IBM entered the PC (personal computer) market.
        Today we have all heard of Intel and its Pentium® Processors and now we know how it all got started.  The computers of the next generation will have millions upon millions of transistors on one chip and will perform over a billioncalculations in a single second.  There is no end in sight for the computer movement. 


Processors of old and new







One of the first ICs
386 Processor
Pentium Processor
The New Processors