The Master Boot Record (MBR)
The Master Boot Record, created when you create the first partition on the hard disk, is probably the most important data structure on the disk. It is the first sector on every disk. The location is always track (cylinder) 0, side (head) 0, and sector 1. More ...
SD (Secure Digital) Memory Card Basics
SD cards come in a variety of sizes, storage capacities, and transfer speeds. This makes it confusing for users to choose the correct memory card for their products. This article touches on the SD technologies to help you get the correct SD memory card. More ...
The RS-232 Serial Port
The RS-232 serial port was used to connect a mouse, modem, and/or printer. The RS-232 serial port is now totally obsolete. I would be very surprised if you ever run into a PC with an RS-232 serial port except possibly in a third-world country. However, I'll briefly describe the it in this article because you may run into a question about it in the CompTIA A+ Certification Exam. More ...
The PC (PCMCIA) Card
The PC card, technically called the PCMCIA Card is a form factor of a peripheral interface designed for laptop computers. It was originally designed for computer memory expansion. More ...
Understanding Graphic Cards
Dedicated graphics cards, which we will be discussing in this article, are needed if you want to do 3D gaming or watch high definition movies. The GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) is the most determinant feature of every graphics card when it comes to the overall performance and speed. More ...
How a laser Printer Works
Laser printers work by using a laser beam to transfer an image to an electrically charged, photo-sensitive drum. The charge on the drum attracts toner ink, which is transferred to the paper. The primary steps in the laser printing process are listed below. More ...
Laptop Computer Bottom Access Covers
Laptops are made easy to upgrade and repair by the location of access covers on the bottom of the computer. Covers are placed there for access to frequently upgraded components like the hard drive and the memory. More ...
Device Driver Basics
In this article, I'm going to reveal in plain English what a driver is, why we need drivers, and exactly where the drivers are hiding. To give you a basic understanding, I'm going to go back, way back, to the early days of computers. More ...
Anatomy of a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
Color LCD displays have a sandwich-like structure. One layer of the sandwich has liquid crystal between two glass plates. One glass plate has a matrix of thin film transistors on it. Liquid crystals move depending upon the charge applied to a tiny capacitor by its related transistor. More ...
A Guide To Building Your Own PC
What do you need to build your own custom computer? Believe it or not, it's not as complicated as it seems. The processor you choose usually determines which motherboard you select. Motherboards are designed to work with specific CPUs, indicated by the type of socket that the processor fits into. More ...
IEEE-1394 FireWire
IEEE 1394 FireWire is a serial bus designed by Apple Computer as a replacement for legacy interfaces like serial ports, parallel ports, and SCSI. Article updated for IEEE 1394a FireWire 400 and IEEE 1394b FireWire 800. More ...
What is USB OTG?
USB is wonderful because it allows you to connect and disconnect devices from the computer without rebooting the computer. However, wouldn't it be even more wonderful if two USB devices, like a digital camera and a storage device could connect to each other directly? That's what USB On-The-Go (OTG) does. More ...
ABC's Of DVD Drive Abbreviations
The number of different formats available in DVD drives can be confusing to anyone. A few of the common formats are DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM ,DVD+R DL and DVD±RW. In This article we take a look at the more common formats of DVD drives in order to shed some light on all the choices available. More ...
Hard Disk Drive Basics
On a hard disk, data is stored in thin, concentric bands. A drive head, while in one position can read or write a circular ring, or band called a track. There can be more than a thousand tracks on a 3.5-inch hard disk. More ...
