A PEEK AT COMPUTER ELECTRONICS
1 INTRODUCTION 1 PART I ELECTRONIC FUNDAMENTALS 6 2 BASIC ELECTRICITY 7 3 ELECTRICAL POWER 27 4 MAKING WAVES 59 5 THE POWER SUPPLY 77 PART II MICROPROCESSOR TECHNOLOGY 91 6 SEMICONDUCTORS 92 7 TRANSISTORS 102 8 THE PROCESSOR 119 9 THE MOTHERBOARD 127 PART III PERIPHERAL TECHNOLOGY 144 10 DATA STORAGE 145 11 NETWORKING 158 12 EXTERNAL DEVICES 183 13 WIRELESS 198 CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION LET S FACE IT WE TAKE ELECTRONICS FOR GRANTED ALL OF OUR MODERN CONVE NIENCES FROM DISHWASHERS TO MP3 PLAYERS HAVE SOME INTERNAL ELEC TRONIC COMPONENTS THESE ELECTRONICS ARE CREATED WITH THE INTENT TO MAKE OUR EVERYDAY LIVES EASIER SO MANY OF THE THINGS WE TAKE FOR GRANTED EVERYDAY RELIES ON SOME FORM OF ELECTRONICS WITHOUT ELECTRONICS IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO ENJOY SO MANY OF THE MODERN CONVENIENCES WE HAVE COME TO RELY ON OF COURSE THEY DON T ALWAYS WORK CORRECTLY 100 OF THE TIME WHEN YOUR CELL PHONE GETS NO SIGNAL OR WHEN YOUR PORTABLE MUSIC PLAYER LOCKS UP IN THE MIDDLE OF A SONG THE ENAMOR FOR ELECTRONICS GOES AWAY COMPLETELY HOWEVER THEIR UBIQUITY CANNOT BE OVERLOOKED AND YET WITH ALL OF THE CONVENIENCES AND FRUSTRATIONS THAT ELECTRONICS PROVIDE US VERY FEW OF US HAVE ANY UNDERSTANDING AS TO WHAT EXACTLY MAKE THE WHOLE THING WORK CERTAINLY WE RE ALL AWARE OF THE TERMS VOLT AGE CURRENT ELECTRONS AND THINGS LIKE AC AND DC BUT FOR MANY OF US THE UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT THOSE THINGS REALLY ARE STOPS SHORT OF JUST SOME VAGUE NOTIONS THE VACUUM TUBE ONE OF THE MORE IMPORTANT ELEC TRONICS INVENTIONS IS SHOWN ON THE COVER OF THIS BOOK AND WHILE MOST OF US MAY KNOW OF THE TERM VACUUM TUBE VERY FEW OF US KNOW WHAT IT DOES OR HOW IT WORKS THIS BOOK IS DESIGNED TO HELP EXPLAIN THE CORE CONCEPTS OF ELECTRONICS SPECI CALLY TARGETED TOWARDS READERS INTERESTED IN COMPUTER TECHNOL OGY THE MAIN FOCUS OF THIS BOOK IS TO GIVE YOU AN UNDERSTANDING WHAT S REALLY GOING ON BEHIND THE SCENES AND HOW THIS MAKES THE COMPUTER WORK THE IDEA IS TO GIVE AN INSIDE VIEW TO PEOPLE WHO ALREADY HAVE AN APPRECIATION FOR COMPUTERS THIS ISN T AN INTRODUCTORY LOOK AT COMPUT ERS BUT INSTEAD A LOOK AT HOW THEY TICK OF COURSE TO GET THERE A GOOD 1 PORTION OF THE BOOK FOCUSES JUST ON BASIC ELECTRONICS AND ELECTRICITY FROM HOW IT GETS TO YOUR HOUSE TO HOW IT WORKS WITHIN THE COMPUTER ITSELF OF COURSE TRYING TO TACKLE EVERY TOPIC IN GREAT DETAIL IS SIMPLY IMPOS SIBLE AND IT WAS NOT THE GOAL IN WRITING THIS BOOK THERE ARE MANY OTHER GOOD BOOKS WHICH SPECIALIZE IN EXPLAINING VARIOUS ASPECTS OF ELEC TRONICS AND COMPUTER ELECTRONICS THIS BOOK WAS MEANT TO GIVE SOME INSIGHT INTO THE VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE COMPUTER THAT MOST OF US WORK WITH EVERYDAY WHILE TRYING TO STAY FRESH AND INTERESTING AS THE MATERIAL MOVES ALONG UNFORTUNATELY THE DETAILS IN SOME AREAS ARE NOT COVERED AS WELL AS SOME READERS MAY LIKE I ENCOURAGE YOU TO GIVE FEEDBACK THROUGH THE PUBLISHER S WEBSITE TO TELL WHAT AREAS YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE COVERED IN MORE DETAIL THEY MAY BE INCLUDED IN FUTURE REVISIONS OF THE BOOK I HOPE YOU ENJOY IT FURTHERMORE I HOPE YOU COME AWAY WITH A GREATER UNDERSTANDING AND APPRECIATION FOR ALL THINGS ELECTRONIC 1 1 THE DISCLAIMER THROUGHOUT THE BOOK I MAKE REFERENCE TO VALUES THAT ARE CONVENTION ALLY USED THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES FOR EXAMPLE I MAY REFER TO ELECTRICAL POWER BEING DISTRIBUTED AT 60 HERTZ THIS IS NOT THE CASE IN MANY OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD WHERE ELECTRICAL STANDARDS DIFFER I TRIED MY BEST TO EXPLAIN OTHER COMMON SCENARIOS THAT ARE USED IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD IN SOME CASES HOWEVER IT S NOT EASY TO GENERALIZE THESE THINGS SIMILARLY THE NOMENCLATURE FOR ELECTRICAL STANDARDS USED IN THE BOOK ARE THE ONES COMMONLY USED IN THE US THE SAME NAMING SCHEMES AND CONVENTIONS MAY NOT BE USED IN THE SAME WAY THROUGHOUT THE REST OF THE WORLD YOU MAY ND TERMINOLOGY IN THIS BOOK THAT IF YOU ALREADY KNOW ABOUT THE CONCEPT MAY SEEM ILLOGICAL FOR EXAMPLE WHEN TALKING ABOUT AC WAVEFORMS I SOMETIMES REFER TO IT AS AN AC VOLTAGE THE DIRECT MEAN ING OF ALTERNATING CURRENT VOLTAGE DOESN T MAKE SENSE BUT THE LOGICAL CONCEPT OF AN ALTERNATING VOLTAGE DOES I CONSIDER THIS NOTATION SIMILAR TO REFERRING TO AN ATM AS AN ATM MACHINE IT S SIMPLY THE CONVENTION THAT IS USED MOST COMMONLY WHEN TEACHING ABOUT THE CONCEPTS SOMETIMES IN ORDER TO HELP EXPLAIN A CONCEPT I USE AN EXAMPLE AND A PICTURE THAT HELP TO DESCRIBE WHAT S GOING ON ON THE SURFACE THE A PEEK AT COMPUTER ELECTRONICS 2 DESCRIPTION IS LOGICAL BUT THE UNDERLYING PHYSICS MAY ACTUALLY EXPLAIN SOMETHING DIFFERENT FOR EXAMPLE THE DESCRIPTION OF ELECTRON OW IS DESCRIBED SOMEWHAT IN TERMS OF ATOM TO ATOM JUMPING BY ELECTRONS THOUGH THE ACTUAL PHYSICS IS A BIT DIFFERENT MY GOAL IS TO USE THE MORE SIMPLI ED APPROACH IN THE EXPLANATION AFTER READING THE TEXT I HIGHLY RECOMMEND A VISIT TO THE WEBSITE HTTP AMASCI COM MISCON ELECA HTML WHICH HAS A LIST OF POPULAR MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT ELECTRICITY IN SOME INSTANCES THE DATES OF HISTORIC EVENTS ARE DIFFERENT BASED ON THE SOURCE WHEN UNABLE TO ND MULTIPLE RELIABLE SOURCES I TRIED GEN ERALIZING THE DATE TO A TIME PERIOD EVEN IN THE CASE OF MULTIPLE SOURCE VERI CATION SOMETIMES IT S STILL POSSIBLE TO BE INCORRECT AT PIN POINTING AN EXACT DATE I WELCOME YOUR ERRATA AND SUGGESTIONS AS TO MAKING THE BOOK A BETTER RESOURCE FOR PEOPLE WANTING TO LEARN ABOUT THE TOPICS CONTAINED INSIDE 1 2 NOTATION IN DEALING WITH VERY LARGE AND VERY SMALL NUMBERS WE SOMETIMES USE THE CONCEPT OF SCIENTI C NOTATION THROUGHOUT THE BOOK THIS MEANS THAT INSTEAD OF WRITING A NUMBER LIKE 5000000 WE WOULD WRITE IT AS 5 X 10 6 OR SIMPLY 5E6 SIMILARLY 2 4E 7 WOULD BE SCIENTI C NOTATION FOR 0 00000024 SOMETIMES TO DEAL WITH LARGE AND SMALL VALUES WE USE SI PRE XES WHICH COME FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF UNITS1 FOR EXAMPLE INSTEAD OF WRITING 0 003 AMPS WE WRITE 3 MILLIAMPS OR SIMPLY 3 MA 1 3 ORGANIZATION THIS BOOK IS DIVIDED INTO THREE MAJOR SECTIONS ELECTRONIC FUNDAMENTALS IN THE RST SECTION OF THE BOOK BASIC ELECTRICITY WE TAKE THE ATOMIC FUN DAMENTALS AND EXPAND THEM INTO THE CONCEPTS NEEDED TO UNDERSTAND ELECTRICITY AT ITS BASIC LEVEL 1 SEE HTTP EN WIKIPEDIA ORG WIKI SI PRE X FOR THE LIST OF PRE XES A PEEK AT COMPUTER ELECTRONICS 3