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How do computers measure information? By the byte. It's the basic unit of measurement
for all parts of the computer that involve the storage or management of information
(RAM, storage, ROM). Here are a few examples:
Understanding bytes and the other measurements derived from bytes is essential to
choosing the correct sizes for RAM configurations, storage media, and much more. Some
of the A+ Certification test questions typically deal with RAM and hard disk size
measurements, as will your day-to-day work.
The CD included with this book contains important Study Lab material for
this chapter, as well as Chapters 2 –22 in this book. The Study Lab for each
chapter contains terms to study, exercises, and practice tests—all in printable
PDF format (Adobe Acrobat Reader is included on the CD, too). These Study
Lab materials will help you gear up for the A+ Exam. Also, the CD includes
an industry-leading test engine from PrepLogic, which simulates the actual
A+ test so that you can be sure that you're ready when test day arrives. Don't
let the A+ test intimidate you. If you've read the chapters, worked through the
Study Lab, and passed the practice tests from PrepLogic, you should be well
prepared to ace the test! Also, you'll notice that some words throughout each
chapter are in bold format. These are study terms that are defined in the Study
Lab. Be sure to consult the Study Lab when you are finished with this chapter
to test what you've learned.
So, what's a byte? If you are storing text-only information in the computer, each character
of that text (including spaces and punctuation marks) equals a byte. Thus, to calculate the
number of bytes in the following sentence, count the letters, numbers, spaces, and
punctuation marks:
12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234
| | | |
10 20 30 40
From this scale, you can see that the sentence uses 44 bytes. You can prove this to
yourself by starting up Windows Notepad (or using MS-DOS's EDIT) and entering the
text just as you see it printed here. Save the text as EXAMPLE.TXT and view the
directory information (MS-DOS) or the File properties. You'll see that the text is exactly
44 bytes.
Do most computer programs store just the text when you write something? To find out,
start up a word-processing program, such as Windows WordPad or Microsoft Word. Enter
the same sentence again, and save it as EXAMPLE.If you use WordPad, save the file as a
Rich Text Format (.RTF) file and as a Microsoft Word (.DOC) file. Depending upon the
exact version of WordPad or Microsoft Word you use, the file takes up much more space.
For example, WordPad for Windows XP saves text as an RTF file, using 243 bytes to
store the file. The same sentence takes 19,968 bytes when saved as a .DOC file by
Microsoft Word XP!
What happened? The next section explains this apparent oddity.
tip
Although all data in the computer is stored as a stream of binary values (0s
and 1s), most of the time you will use decimal ("512MB of RAM") or
hexadecimal ("memory conflict at C800 in upper memory") measurements.
The typical rule of thumb is to use the system that produces the smallest
meaningful number. If you need to convert between these systems, you can
use any scientific calculator, including the Windows Calculator program
(select View, Scientific from the menu).
Decimal 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Binary 1 10 11 100 101 110 111 1000 1001 1010
Because even a small decimal number occupies many places if expressed in binary,
binary numbers are usually converted into hexadecimal or decimal numbers for
calculations or measurements.
tip
Table 3.2 provides a listing of powers of 2, but you can use the Windows
Calculator in scientific view mode to calculate any power of two you want.
Just enter 2, click the x^y button, and enter the value for the power of 2 you
want to calculate (such as 24). The results are displayed instantly (you add
the commas). Use the Edit menu to copy the answer to the Windows
Clipboard, and use your program's Paste command to bring it into your
document. Sure beats counting on your fingers!
If you use a scientific calculator (such as the scientific mode of the Windows Calculator)
to perform the conversion, keep in mind that any leading zeros will be suppressed. For
example, the calculation in Figure 3.1 indicates the binary equivalent of 115 decimal is
01110011. However, a scientific calculator will drop the leading zero and display the
value as 1110011.
Once you understand how binary numbering works, you can appreciate a joke
going the rounds on the Internet and showing up on T-shirts near you: "There
are 10 kinds of people in the world—those who understand binary and those
who don't." T-shirts are available from Think Geek (www.thinkgeek.com).
Look at the number you want to convert and determine the smallest power of 2 that is
greater than or equal to the number you want to subtract. Table 3.2 lists powers of
2 from 20 through 217. For example, 115 decimal is less than 27 (128) but greater
than 26 (64).
Subtract the highest power of 2 from the value you want to convert. Record the value
and write down binary 1.
Move to the next lower power of 2. If you can subtract it, record the result and also
write down binary 1. If you cannot subtract it, write down binary 0.
Repeat step 3 until you attempt to subtract 20 (1). Again, write down binary 1 if you
can subtract it, or binary 0 if you cannot. The binary values (0 and 1) you have
recorded are the binary conversion for the decimal number. Unlike the division
method, this method puts them in the correct order; there's no need to write them
down in reverse order.
For example, to convert 115 decimal to binary using the subtraction method, see Figure
3.2.
Figure 3.2. Converting 115 decimal to binary with the subtraction method.
Table 3.2. Powers of 2
caution
You might need to convert decimal to binary numbers for the A+
Certification exam, so try both pencil and paper methods (division and
subtraction) and get comfortable with one of them.
Decimal 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Hexadecimal 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
To convert decimal to hexadecimal, use the same division method listed previously, but
use 16 rather than 2 as the divisor.
Figure 3.3 demonstrates how to use this conversion process to convert the decimal
number of 65,536 (the start of upper memory) to its hexadecimal equivalent (A0000).
Figure 3.3. Converting 65,536 decimal to hexadecimal.
Note that if you use the Windows Calculator in scientific mode to perform this
conversion that you will get an answer of 100000. The initial value 10 is the numeric
equivalent of hex A (refer to Table 3.3).
The most typical uses for hexadecimal numbering are
•Upper memory addresses for add-on cards and for memory-management use
tip
Because the industry has not yet widely adopted the terms kibi, mebi, and
gibi, the A+ Certification Exam might use KB, MB, and GB to refer to either
type of numbering system.
Take a hard disk rated by its maker as 8.4GB. This is 8,400,000,000 bytes (decimal).
However, when the drive is detected and configured by the BIOS and partitioned with
FDISK, its size is listed as only 7.82GB (binary GB—more accurately referred to as
GiB). At first glance, you might believe you've lost some capacity (see Figure 3.4).
Figure 3.4. The capacity of an 8.4GB hard disk size is 8.4 billion bytes (top bar), but most BIOSs and
Windows FDISK/Disk Management measure drives in binary gigabytes (bottom bar).
However, as you've already seen, there is a substantial difference between the number of
bytes in a binary gigabyte and one billion bytes. This different numbering system, not any
loss of bytes, accounts for the seeming discrepancy. Use this information to help explain
to a customer that the "missing" capacity of the hard disk isn't really missing (see Figure
3.5).
Figure 3.5. A gibibyte (or binary gigabyte) has over 73 million more bytes than a decimal gigabyte (1
billion bytes).
Use the values in Table 3.4 to convert between decimal and binary values for drive sizes
or other measurements. For the exam, keep in mind that values that can be divided by
1,000 are decimal, while values that can be divided by 1,024 are binary.
•RAM and interface cards (either via the CPU or directly with DMA)
•At identical clock speeds, parallel transfers are faster than serial transfers because
more data is being transferred.
However, parallel transfers also have problems:
•Excessively long parallel cables or traces can cause data to arrive at different times.
This is referred to as signal skew (see Figure 3.7).
Figure 3.7. Parallel cables that are too long can cause signal skew, allowing the parallel
signals to become "out of step" with each other.
•Dual-speed motherboards (running the CPU internally at much faster speeds than the
motherboard or memory)
Fortunately, there is a second way to transmit information: serial transfers.
Serial Transfers
A serial transfer uses a single "lane" in the computer for information transfers. This
sounds like a recipe for slowdowns, but it all depends on how fast the speed limit is on
the "data highway."
The following ports and devices in the computer use serial transfers:
•USB (Universal Serial Bus) 1.1 and 2.0 ports and devices
•Modems (which can be internal devices or can connect to serial or USB ports)
•Very few connections are needed in the cable and ports (one transmit, one receive,
and a few control and ground wires).
•Cable lengths can be longer with serial devices. For example, an UltraDMA/66
ATA/IDE cable can be only 18 inches long for reliable data transmission, whereas
a Serial ATA cable can be almost twice as long.
Although RS-232 serial ports are slow, newer types of serial devices are as fast or faster
than parallel devices. The extra speed is possible because serial transfers don't have to
worry about interference or other problems caused by running so many data lines
together.
For more information about serial, parallel, USB, and IEEE-1394 ports, see Chapter 8,
"Input/Output Devices and Cables." For more information about RAM, see Chapter 7,
"RAM." For more information about ATA/IDE, Serial ATA, and SCSI, see Chapter 14,
"Storage."
Study Lab
Don't miss the Study Lab materials found on the CD accompanying this book. Each
Study Lab is tailored to the individual chapters in this book, meaning that you'll quickly
be able to determine which topics you understand well enough to pass the exam and
which topics need more study. The Study Labs are presented in printable PDF format so
that you can take them with you to study at work, on the road, or even in your car just
before test time!