Студопедия — Read to know more about the subject. Disscuss the problem.
Студопедия Главная Случайная страница Обратная связь

Разделы: Автомобили Астрономия Биология География Дом и сад Другие языки Другое Информатика История Культура Литература Логика Математика Медицина Металлургия Механика Образование Охрана труда Педагогика Политика Право Психология Религия Риторика Социология Спорт Строительство Технология Туризм Физика Философия Финансы Химия Черчение Экология Экономика Электроника

Read to know more about the subject. Disscuss the problem.






The History of Personal Computers

(1) The industry began in 1977, when Apple, Radio Shack and Commodore introduced the first off-the-shelf1 computers as consumer products. The first machines used an 8-bit microprocessor with a maximum of 64K of memory and floppy disks for storage. The Apple II, Atari 500, and Commodore 64 became popular home computers, and Apple was successful in companies after the VisiCalc spreadsheet was introduced. However, the business world was soon dominated by the Z80 processor and CP/M operating system, used by countless vendors in the early 1980s, such as Vector Graphic, NorthStar, Osborne and Kaypro. By 1983, hard disks began to show up on these machines, but CP/M was soon to be history.

(2) In 1981, IBM introduced the PC, an Intel 8088-based machine, slightly faster than the genre, but with 10 times the memory. It was floppy-based, and its DOS operating system from Microsoft was also available for the clone makers (MS-DOS). The 8088 was cleverly chosen so that CP/M software vendors could convert to it easily. They did!

(3) DBASE II was introduced in 1981 bringing mainframe database functions to the personal computer level and launching an entire industry of compatible products and add-ons. Lotus 1-2-3 was introduced in 1982, and its refined interface and combined graphics helped spur sales of the new standard. The IBM PC was successfully cloned by Compaq and unsuccessfully by others. However, by the time IBM announced the AT in 1984, vendors were effectively cloning the PC and, as a group, eventually grabbed the majority of the PC market.

(4) In 1983, Apple introduced the Lisa, a graphics-based machine that simulated the user's desktop. Although ahead of its time, Lisa was abandoned for the Macintosh in 1984. The graphics-based desktop environment caught on with the Mac, especially in desktop publishing, and the graphical interface, or "gooey," (GUI) worked its way to the PC world with Microsoft Windows, and, eventually Ventura Publisher with its GEM interface. In 1986, the Compaq 386 ushered in the first Intel 386-based machine. In 1987, IBM introduced the PS/2, its next generation of personal computers, which added improved graphics, 3.5" floppy disks and an incompatible bus to help fend off the cloners. OS/2, jointly developed by IBM and Microsoft, was also introduced to handle the new machines, but the early versions didn't catch on.

(5) In the same year, more powerful Macintoshes were introduced, including the Mac SE and Mac II, which opened new doors for Apple. In 1989, the PC makers introduced 486-based computers, and Apple gave us faster Macs, which it has continued to do each year since. In 1990, Microsoft's introduced Windows 3.0,

which is rapidly becoming the most widely-used graphical environment. Software publishers are developing Windows versions of all their products.

(6) In 1991, Microsoft and IBM decided to go it alone each working on their own version of the future PC operating system (IBM's OS/2 2.0 and Microsoft's Windows NT). OS/2 2.0 has been moderately successful, and Windows NT is expected to gain market share.

(7) 1992 was the year of PC price cuts with all major suppliers slashing prices to keep in line with mail-order vendors, such as Gateway 2000. Gateway, along with others, drove down the cost of high-end systems by mail. Prices keep getting lower, machines keep getting faster.

(8) In 1993, Intel introduced its Pentium CPU, successor to the 486. It contains 3,100,000 transistors and is 300 times faster than the original PC. As a result, the 486 has become the entry level PC.

(9) Inspired by Radio Shack's Model 100 in 1984 and ignited by Toshiba and Zenith, the laptop market provides a fascinating growth area in personal computing. More circuits are being stuffed into less space, providing computing power on the go that few would have imagined back in 1977. Just as the IBM and compatible PC world matures, the joint venture of IBM, Apple and Motorola arrives to challenge the personal computer industry once again. In 1993, IBM and Motorola introduced their first PowerPC chips, an entirely new desktop architecture that can be used to run almost all existing applications while providing an advanced platform for the future. As of the beginning of 1995, over a million PowerPC chips have been shipped as the CPUs in Apple PowerMacs and various IBM RS/6000 workstations.

(10) THE FUTURE The personal computer industry sprang up without any planning. All of a sudden, it was there. Machines were bought to solve individual problems, such as automating a budget or typing a letter. However, in large organizations, the real data exists in the mainframe, and it doesn't make sense to have an employee retype the mainframe reports into the micro in order to analyze and manipulate it. Personal computers can serve as invaluable tools for the user when they are designed into the fabric of the organization. The major issue of the 1990s is to tie them together in LANs and interconnect them with the company's minis and mainframes.

(11) Fast personal computers are changing the marketplace. Not only do they compete with minicomputer workstations, but, networks of these machines are rapidly replacing traditional minicomputer and mainframe systems.

High-powered desktop computers will encourage the development of more artificial intelligence applications that are the backbone of the next computing generation. By the turn of the century, you should be able to talk to your computer as easily as typing on it.

(12) As stand-alone machines, personal computers have placed creative capacity into the hands of an individual that would have cost millions of dollars less than 25 years ago. It slowly but surely is shifting the balance of power from the large company to the small, from the elite to the masses, from the wealthy to individuals of modest means. The personal computer has revolutionized the computer industry and the world.

NB 1off-the-shelf имеющийся в готовом виде, имеющийся в наличии.

2GUI (Graphical User Interface) A graphics-based user interface that incorporates icons, pull-down menus and a mouse. The GUI has become the standard way users interact with a computer. The three major GUIs are Windows, Macintosh and Motif. In a client/server environment, the GUI resides in the user's client machine.

 

Text 4C The Input & output Units

read the text below & make a list of key words.

(1) Before work can begin on a machine it is first necessary to load or fill the store with the programme and the data to be ope­rated upon. The part of the computer that takes in information is called the input unit.

(2) Thе most powerful present-day computers can take in information and remember it at the rate of about 100,000 characters per second. A character is either a letter of the alphabet or a decimal digit. These characters are regularly expressed for the computer's purposes as a pattern of 1's and 0's.

(3) Characters are handled bу the computer in standard groups called ‘machine words’ or just ‘words’. A common length of a word is 12 characters. A machine word may consist of decimal digits only or letters only or some of both.

Modern computers make use of the various input devices. For example: 1) a key punch, which produces either punched cards or punched paper tape; 2) a keyboard magnetic tape typerwhich pro­duces recorded magnetic tape and many оthers.

(5) The machine must have a way of putting out information as well. The part of the computer that puts out information is called the output unit. The computer must put out information in a form acceptable to human beings.

(6) Output devices which may produce information are: 1) punched card reader, using electrical or mechanical sensing; 2) punched tape reader, using electrical, mechanical or photoelectric sens­ing; 3) magnetic tape reader; 4) electric typewriter, etc.

(7) Computer systems used forprocess control require conversion unit to connect a digital computer with an analogue process and vice versa. Such devices are called converters and may be analogue-to-digital or digital-to-analogue converters.

4.22 Find equivalents for: a) store / variable / acceptable / magnetic tap typer / human being / electric typewriter / flexibi­lity / available; b) Перфокарта / машинный язык / форма / приемлемая для человека / считывающее устройство / устройство, считывающее с перфокарт, использующее электрическое, механическое или фотоэлектрическое считывание / аналого-цифровой преобразователь.

4.23 Match the synonyms: 4.24 Match the antonyms:
to take in to load to begin to give sensing typer unit block to start to produce to put in reading to fill recorder to put in recorder light to begin input hardware to increase to decrease software reader to stop to put out dark output
       






Дата добавления: 2015-09-04; просмотров: 730. Нарушение авторских прав; Мы поможем в написании вашей работы!



Кардиналистский и ординалистский подходы Кардиналистский (количественный подход) к анализу полезности основан на представлении о возможности измерения различных благ в условных единицах полезности...

Обзор компонентов Multisim Компоненты – это основа любой схемы, это все элементы, из которых она состоит. Multisim оперирует с двумя категориями...

Композиция из абстрактных геометрических фигур Данная композиция состоит из линий, штриховки, абстрактных геометрических форм...

Важнейшие способы обработки и анализа рядов динамики Не во всех случаях эмпирические данные рядов динамики позволяют определить тенденцию изменения явления во времени...

Внешняя политика России 1894- 1917 гг. Внешнюю политику Николая II и первый период его царствования определяли, по меньшей мере три важных фактора...

Оценка качества Анализ документации. Имеющийся рецепт, паспорт письменного контроля и номер лекарственной формы соответствуют друг другу. Ингредиенты совместимы, расчеты сделаны верно, паспорт письменного контроля выписан верно. Правильность упаковки и оформления....

БИОХИМИЯ ТКАНЕЙ ЗУБА В составе зуба выделяют минерализованные и неминерализованные ткани...

РЕВМАТИЧЕСКИЕ БОЛЕЗНИ Ревматические болезни(или диффузные болезни соединительно ткани(ДБСТ))— это группа заболеваний, характеризующихся первичным системным поражением соединительной ткани в связи с нарушением иммунного гомеостаза...

Решение Постоянные издержки (FC) не зависят от изменения объёма производства, существуют постоянно...

ТРАНСПОРТНАЯ ИММОБИЛИЗАЦИЯ   Под транспортной иммобилизацией понимают мероприятия, направленные на обеспечение покоя в поврежденном участке тела и близлежащих к нему суставах на период перевозки пострадавшего в лечебное учреждение...

Studopedia.info - Студопедия - 2014-2024 год . (0.012 сек.) русская версия | украинская версия