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Please look up the following terms

Hardware Computer Equipment, any part of the computer that you can touch. Such as Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, CPU, Hard Drive, Memory, CD ROM Drive and other equipment inside the computer Software Computer programs, instructions tell the computer what to do. Software can be divided into a number of categories. You have System Software and Application software. System software controls the computer hardware and manages the application software. Hard Disk Drive Disk Drive a device that reads or writes data on a disk medium.

Floppy Disk Drive Disk Drive a device that reads or writes data on a Floppy disk

CD Rom Disk Drive Disk Drive a device that reads or writes data on a CD-ROM disk

Memory A device where programs and data can be stored and retrieved Memory Chip An integrated circuit used to store data.

2 Power Supply An electrical device that transforms standard wall outlet electricity into lower voltages required by a computer system.

IDE Cable Integrated device electronics. The cable used to connect drives to the motherboard.

RAM Random Access Memory ROM Read Only Memory CMOS A battery-backed memory used to store parameter values needed to boot PCs. Net work interface Cards An expansion card that is needed to connect a computer to a local area network.

CPU This is basically the brain of the computer, it interprets and executes instructions.

Video Cards An electronic component that generate a video signal sent through a cable to the video display.

3 Sound Cards A type of expansion board on a PC that allows the playback and recording of sound.

Serial Ports & Parallel Port. Serial ports transmit bits one at a time. Parallel port is an input output connector for a parallel interface device. It transmits data faster than a serial port.

USB Ports Universal Serial Bus A serial bus with a bandwidth of 1.5 megabits per second for connecting peripherals to the computer. It can connect up to 127 peripherals.

Routers An intermediary device on a single network that expedites message delivery. Routers are also used to connect LANs together.

Hubs A device joining communication lines at a central location providing a common connection to all devices on a network.

4 Motherboards The main circuit board containing the primary components of a computer system.

Test Tip Know the parts of a typical system board and make sure that you can identify these components (and variations of them) from a pictorial or photographic representation.