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Allison Saidi Mhlanga

AIT 2A/B
Task 2 Instructional Website Development

HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
Motherboard
The motherboard is the main circuit board of your computer and
is also known as the mainboard or logic board. If you ever open
your computer, the biggest piece of silicon you see is the
motherboard. Attached to the motherboard, you'll find the CPU,
ROM, memory RAM expansion slots, PCI slots, and USB ports.
Bus
Each bus inside a computer consists of set of wires that allow data
to be passed back and forth. Most computers have several buses
that transmit data to different parts of the machine. Each bus has
a certain size, measured in bits (such as 32-bit or 64-bit), that
determines how much data can travel across the bus at one time.
Memory
While memory can refer to any medium of data storage, it usually
refers to RAM, or random access memory. When your computer
boots up, it loads the operating system into its memory, or RAM.
This allows your computer to access system functions, such as
handling mouse clicks and keystrokes, since the event handlers
are all loaded into RAM.
Connectors
This is part of a cable that plugs into a port or interface to connect
one device to another. Most connectors are either male
Allison Saidi Mhlanga
AIT 2A/B
Task 2 Instructional Website Development

(containing one or more exposed pins) or female (containing holes
in which the male connector can be inserted)
Ports
An Internet port - This is a number that indicates what kind of
protocol a server on the Internet is using.
A hardware port -This refers to any one of the ports that are on
the back of a computer where devices can be hooked up (like a
keyboard, mouse, printer, digital camera)
PPTP Port (Point-To-Point Tunnelling Protocol) for
implementing virtual private networks.
SMTP port (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) for e-mail routing.
Cable
An insulated wire or wires having a protective casing and used for
transmitting electricity or telecommunication signals
Storage devices
A computer storage device is any type of hardware that stores
data. The most common type of storage device, which nearly all
computers have, is a hard drive.
Adaptor cards
TV tuner cards - A PCI or USB card that allows a computer to
receive television programming and display it on the computers
monitor.
Allison Saidi Mhlanga
AIT 2A/B
Task 2 Instructional Website Development


Capture cards - An expansion board that converts analogue video
signals to digital form and stores them in a computers hard disk
or other mass storage device. Some video capture devices are also
capable of converting digital video to analogue video for use in a
VCR.
Sound card this is a type of expansion board on PC-compatible
computers that allows the playback and recording of sound, such
as from a MP3, WAV or MIDI file or a music CD-ROM. Most PCs
sold at retail include an audio processor chip built into the
motherboard.
AGP - The Accelerated Graphics Port (also called Advanced
Graphics Port, often shortened to AGP) is a high-speed point-to-
point channel for attaching a graphics card to a computer's
motherboard, primarily to assist in the acceleration of 3D
computer graphics.
Graphic cards
Graphics cards are PCBs (printed circuit boards) that perform the
dual role of sending pixels to the display and providing a specific
type of processing using a GPU (graphical processing unit). One of
the main features of a graphics card is the ability to draw 3D
graphics in real-time.


Allison Saidi Mhlanga
AIT 2A/B
Task 2 Instructional Website Development

Expansion slots
This is a printed circuit board that can be installed in computer to
add functionality to it. For example, a user may add a new
graphics card to his computer to give it more 3D graphics
processing power.
INPUT AND OUTPUT DEVICES
Keyboard
As the name implies, a keyboard is basically a board of keys. Along
with the mouse, the keyboard is one of the primary input devices
used with a computer. The keyboard's design comes from the
original typewriter keyboards, which arranged letters and
numbers in a way that prevented the type-bars from getting
jammed when typing quickly.
Pointing devices
A generic term for any device (e.g. a graphics tablet, mouse,
stylus, or trackball) used to control the movement of a cursor on a
computer screen.
Mouse
Along with the keyboard, the mouse is one of the primary input
devices used with today's computers. The name comes from the
small shape of the mouse, which you can move quickly back and
forth on the mouse pad, and the cord, which represents the
mouse's tail. Of course, if you are using a wireless mouse, the
analogy does not work so well.
Allison Saidi Mhlanga
AIT 2A/B
Task 2 Instructional Website Development

Touchpad
A small, touch-sensitive pad used as a pointing device on some
portable computers. By moving a finger or other object along the
pad, you can move the pointer on the display screen. And you
click by tapping the pad.
Pointing stick
A pointing device first developed by IBM for its notebook
computers that consists of a miniature joystick, usually with a
rubber eraser-head tip, positioned somewhere between the keys
on the keyboard. Most pointing sticks are pressure-sensitive, so
the pointer moves faster when more pressure is applied.
Joystick
A joystick is an input device commonly used to control video
games. Joysticks consist of a base and a stick that can be moved in
any direction. The stick can be moved slowly or quickly and in
different amounts.
Gamepad
A gamepad, game controller, joy pad, or video game controller is a
peripheral device designed to be connected to a computer or
console gaming system. It has multiple buttons and may have one
or two mini joysticks.


Allison Saidi Mhlanga
AIT 2A/B
Task 2 Instructional Website Development

Light-pen
A light pen is a light-sensitive pointing device commonly used to
select or otherwise modify text or data on a screen.
Monitors
Alternatively referred to as a video display terminal (VDT) and
video display unit (VDU),a monitor is a video display screen and
the hard shell that holds it. In its most common usage, monitor
refers only to devices that contain no electronic equipment other
than what is essentially needed to display and adjust the
characteristics of an image.
Printer
This is an external hardware device responsible for taking
computer data and generating a hard copy of that data. Printers
are one of the most used peripherals on computers and are
commonly used to print text, images, and photos.
Multifunction
This is an office machine which incorporates the functionality of
multiple devices in one.






Allison Saidi Mhlanga
AIT 2A/B
Task 2 Instructional Website Development

Speakers and headsets
Speakers are one of the most common output devices used with
computer systems. Some speakers are designed to work
specifically with computers, while others can be hooked up to any
type of sound system. Regardless of their design, the purpose of
speakers is to produce audio output that can be heard by the
listener. Headsets are hardware devices connected to telephones
or computers that allow a user to talk and listen while keeping
their hands free.
Game controllers, wired and wireless
The input device used to control a video game. Controllers have
evolved from a single joystick with one button to devices with joy
sticks, pedals and dozens of buttons.
COMMUNICATION DEVICES MEDIUMS
Modems, wired and wireless
The word modem is actually short for Modulator/Demodulator. A
modem is a communications device that can be either internal or
external to your computer. It allows one computer to connect
another computer and transfer data over telephone lines.





Allison Saidi Mhlanga
AIT 2A/B
Task 2 Instructional Website Development

Routers
This is a hardware device that routes data (hence the name) from
a local area network (LAN) to another network connection. A
router acts like a coin sorting machine, allowing only authorized
machines to connect to other computer systems. Most routers
also keep log files about the local network activity.
Optic fibre cabling
These are cables made up of super-thin filaments of glass or other
transparent materials that can carry beams of light. Because a
fibre-optic cable is light-based, data can be sent through it at the
speed of light.
Ethernet cabling
Ethernet over twisted pair technologies use twisted-pair cables for
the physical layer of an Ethernet computer network. Other
Ethernet cable standards employ coaxial cable or optical fibre.







Allison Saidi Mhlanga
AIT 2A/B
Task 2 Instructional Website Development

HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE: Use of help and on-line delivery of
content
Browser type
Some of these web browsers include: Safari, Mozilla Firefox,
Google Chrome and Internet Explorer.
Bandwidth and plugins

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