Week 2: Clear-Understanding Hardware

This week in ISM3004 we read and watched lectures on Understanding Hardware. Even though it started out kind of tricky, being that I had no idea or understanding about binary and circuitry, it became very clear when we moved on into Personal Computers.
I have always had a keen interest in computers and how they work. I can remember back 19 years ago when I first started playing on computers. I started out mostly playing video games such as the Wolfenstein SS game.



 Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/people/boogah/

How addicted was I after that? Wow! I mean really! It was a pretty exciting game but not enough to keep me from browsing through the computer and looking at the files and playing with some software. I then began using a very good graphic software and was able to make great looking pictures, scenery, and newsletter templates. From that moment, I was hooked, I had found something I really enjoyed doing.

In my years, I have had a few computers and some that have crashed. The first time that it had happened to me I was horrified, it was about 10 years ago on my laptop and I didn't know what to do. But I did remember that every so often (6 months or so) I had done a system backup on some CD's. So I inserted the CD and the booted on the computer. A few steps later and some hours I was back in business, thou all of my data was not saved, I at least had my computer runner with a working operating system again! I was so relieved.

I had then gone a few years now with no problem until a desktop computer that I had bought had crashed, the hard disk was not working and it would make noises. I then thought, this computer is only like 3 years old, I can't afford to replace it, or even have it worked on. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands, blindly I went to a local Electronics store and bought a hard drive. I got it home popped open my computer and said, oh this can't be that bad! I followed the instructions that came with the drive hooked it up and boom, off to the races I went!

So when I began reading this week's material, I was like...Bam!! Right up my alley, a subject I enjoy and something that I know a little about. Though there was quite a bit of information that I actually learned and will help me in the future, especially when looking at Core Processors and knowing what is the difference between them and also looking into the RAM and the type of disk storage offered. I really enjoyed this week's lesson and looking forward to some more!

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