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History of PCs 1. World War II is not generally remembered for triumphs of technology; however, it was during the war that computers were first created for a specific purpose. The British built a computer called Colossus to break the codes produced by the German Enigma encrypting machine. The Americans built the Electronic Numerical Integrator Analyzer and Computer (ENIAC) to produce missile trajectory tables. Reportedly, the Germans created a computer that was not limited to a specific task, but it was lost or destroyed in the war. These computers were by no means small or affordable; ENIAC cost $500,000 and weighed 30 tons. 2. The first computer that was affordable and could realistically be called a PC was the Altair 8800. It was produced in 1975 and had no keyboard. Programs and data were entered by flicking switches with results read by interpreting a pattern of small red lights. It didn’t take long for enthusiastic computer amateurs to find ways of expanding the Altair with a keyboard, video display, and diskette storage. Two enthusiasts, Stephen Jobs and Steve Wozniac, created a PC that came complete with display, built-in-keyboard and disk storage. They called it the Apple, and it was the first PC powerful and friendly enough to be more than a toy. 3. The development that unleashed computers on society was not a technical invention. International Business Machines (IBM) made a marketing decision when creating their first PC, to keep the price down, they built the computer from components that were available off the shelf. They also made the overall design freely available to competitors. The only part of the machine IBM copyrighted was the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS). IBM’s openness encouraged the creation of IBM clones that could use the same software and hardware add-ons. In turn, the clones, while competing with IBM, at the same time helped establish the IBM architecture as the machine that software and add-on hardware developers would design for. The desktop PC that I use at work is a direct descendant of these machines. The PC’s Role 4. My work PC enables me to research and compile technical reports, prepare presentations, produce formal letters/meeting agendas/minutes, manage my time/budgets/equipment inventories, communicate remotely and store or retrieve data. To help me complete these tasks, there are various software application programs loaded onto the computer. These programs run on an operating system, in this case Microsoft Windows NT, and are part of the Microsoft Office 2000 Professional suite. They comprise: i. Word – a word processing program with the additional features of automatic formatting, easy-to-create tables and the ability to create and position graphics. ii. Excel – a spreadsheet program that enables the user to manage, format, chart and analyse data in cells and rows. iii. Powerpoint – a complete presentation graphics package, which enables the creation of fully formatted presentations or slides. iv. Access – a relational database construction program that allows the user to store, organise and easily retrieve information. v. Outlook – electronic mail send/receive program, including a time management facility. vi. Explorer – intranet/internet navigation program. There are also many other programs loaded onto the system for specific use, for example: RAF Report Writer, which is a package designed for the compilation of staff annual reports. 5. The specification of computer I am provided with for this purpose briefly consists of: i. 17” colour Super Video Graphics Array (SVGA) monitor. ii. Keyboard. iii. Mouse. iv. Desktop System Unit containing a Pentium II Central Processing Unit (CPU), 7.81 gigabyte hard drive, 3.5” floppy disk drive and compact disk read/write drive. v. Connected, through a local area network (LAN), to several types of printer. Networks 6. PCs serve only one user, so to enhance the amount of information available and retain a corporate standard computers can be linked together by a process known as networking. There are two main types of network: i. Wide area network (WAN), which can link a large number of machines together over a large area, by means of telephone lines. ii. Local area network (LAN), which is the type my PC is on, links a few machines by means of special wiring. 7. The main components of a LAN are: i.
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