Session One.

Here are a few interesting facts for you to consider: 

1.  The American team that designed the first atomic bomb employed a team of the world’s best mathematicians to work out the numbers involved.   It took them six years,  and when they had finished, they still weren’t sure that they had it right. With today’s computers,  it takes one scientist about six seconds!

2. The modern computer that you can buy for under $400 is tens of thousands of times more powerful and faster than the equipment that took man to the moon in 1969. 

3. You can buy a pocket calculator in Wal-Mart’s for $1  - and it does the job that one of those office block computers did back in the 1940’s!

Q: So,  you might ask yourself,  what can a home computer do for me?

A: Many things – here are some of the possibilities that you can do with a little knowledge and some  practice ……

 

• You can communicate with other people all around the world.   E-Mail is so easy to use,  and it is much cheaper and faster than writing letters  (or ‘snail-mail’ as we computer buffs call it.)   It is very easy to keep in touch with your family and friends,  and you don’t need to buy stamps!

• You can ‘down-load’ photographs of your grandchildren – and see them on the screen.   You can even print them off if you have access to a good printer.

• You can access the World-wide Web.   There,  you will find the knowledge of mankind.   Any subject,  any language,  any country.   It is all out there.  You think of the question,  and with a few clicks of the keyboard,  there is your answer.     Recipes,  what is on at the movies,  learn about health and medicine – you name it,  and it’s there for the asking.

• You can seek out bargains,  both new and second-hand.   I rarely buy anything new from the big stores now – I make a note of the model I want,  find it on the Web,  and buy it that way.   I know I will save at least a third of the shop prices.   Rare books?   Rare recordings?   Somebody,  somewhere,  has just what you want for sale.

• Have you ever thought about researching your family history?   It is very easy to do this over the Web as well,  although you will find that this isn’t always free.   You can,  however,  find somebody with the same family names as yours who has already done a lot of the work already,  and they will usually send you the fruits of their labor.  

•  Do you keep on promising yourself that ‘one day’,  you will write the story of your life and pass it on down through the family?   Have you written poems on scraps of paper that you would like future generations to have?  Your home computer will make this easy once you have learnt the basics.

• If you are like me,  you tend to keep a little book full of names,  addresses and telephone numbers.   I bet that your book is looking very tatty by now.   Half of the people in it have moved,  changed their numbers,  or simply gone.   Now,  with your home PC,  you can keep a completely up-to-date list of all these people – with their e-mail addresses – and know it is correct and easily accessible.

• One last thing that I will mention are games.   We all love playing games,  and there are thousands upon thousands of computer games available,  many of them free.   Some are very easy,  and some are very difficult.   You have a choice – it is just a case of finding what you would like.

Just because I have stopped giving examples of what you might like to use your home PC for doesn’t mean that there aren’t many other uses for it.   The uses you might like to use it for are countless.   The home computer is the most versatile and useful thing ever invented.…but heed my warning.   It can be very addictive,  and it can be very time wasteful.   Don’t ask me how many hours of my life I have wasted by sitting in front of a screen trying to get a little man to shoot a straight ball into a basket!  

OK,  so where do we start on this Basics of Computing course of ours? 

 

Let’s start at the beginning…

At the heart of every computer is a magical electronic thingy called a Processor or CPU  (or Central Processing Unit if you want to be technical,  I don’t).   It lives right in the middle of your PC on a Motherboard.   (This is the main computer board – we’re not really interested in this on this course). ( Click here to read more ), if you are having a peek inside your computer you may not see it as there is always a large fan sitting on top of it to keep this little hard worker nice and cool.

This guy is the brains behind everything. If it isn’t there,  you might as well turn the TV on and forget about your PC.

The funny thing is this – the CPU is absolutely stupid!   It cannot do anything without you being there.  

For the CPU to work,  it needs to have Inputs and Outputs,  such as below:

Inputs:

•       A Keyboard.

•       A mouse.

•       A Floppy Disk Drive.

•       A CD-ROM Drive.

•       A Modem.

      ….. and a few other bits and pieces which we shall cover later.

Outputs:

•       A Screen  (or Monitor,  Video Display Unit if you prefer to call it that).

•       A Printer.   (not essential,  but very desirable).

•       A set of Speakers.

All of these Inputs and Outputs need to be connected to the back of the big box,  and when you allow for the electrical supply cables,  this is where you will find what is affectionately known by us computer-buffs as the “rat’s nest”.    Just make sure that all cables are tucked away where nobody can see them,  and that you don’t end up tripping over them!

Now,  please don’t be concerned that some of the words above are strange to you – we shall be looking at each one in more detail shortly,  I promise you.

What we can say right now is that the Inputs talk to the CPU,  and the CPU talks back through the Outputs.   Simple as that.

The only other thing that we need to know of  (but not too much right now) is that we use a special program called Windows to change our English words into ‘electronic-ese’ and vice-versa.  

So,  when we turn the power switch to the On position on both our PC and Monitor,  what happens?

Quite simply,  the CPU is switched on,  the Windows program is powered up,  and you can see it on your screen.

But what happens then?    Nothing!   Remember me saying that the CPU is stupid?   Well,  it is!   It is waiting for you to say something.   It is waiting for your instructions.   Without you,  all that your computer will do is to wait,  and wait,  and wait.  

Now,  before we can start writing our memoirs of the World War,  or that collection of diary notes,  or that book you have been working on,  we need to know a little bit about the bits and pieces we have just talked about.