Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Personal Computer History
Computer technology has developed rapidly. It is interesting to studypersonal computer history and first computer invented.
While computers are now an important part of the lives of human beings, there was a time where computers did not exist. Knowing the history of the computer and how much progression has been made can help you understand just how complicated and innovative the creation of computers really is.
Who invented the computer?
Unlike most devices, the computer is one of the few inventions that does not have one specific inventor. Throughout the development of the computer, many people have added their creations to the list required to make a computer work. Some of the inventions have been different types of computers, and some of them were parts required to allow computers to be developed further.
First computer invented
Perhaps the most significant date in the personal computer history is the year 1936. It was in this year that the first "computer" was developed. It was created by Konrad Zuse and dubbed the Z1 Computer. This computer stands as the first as it was the first system to be fully programmable. There were devices prior to this, but none had the computing power that sets it apart from other electronics.
It wasn't until 1942 that any business saw profit and opportunity in computers. This first company was called ABC computers, owned and operated by John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry. Two years later, the Harvard Mark I computer was developed, furthering the science of computing.
Over the course of the next few years, inventors all over the world began to search more into the study of computers, and how to improve upon them. Those next ten years say the introduction of the transistor, which would become a vital part of the inner workings of the computer, the ENIAC 1 computer, as well as many other types of systems. The ENIAC 1 is perhaps one of the most interesting, as it required 20,000 vacuum tubes to operate. It was a massive machine, and started the revolution to build smaller and faster computers.
The age of computers was forever altered by the introduction of International Business Machines, or IBM, into the computing industry in 1953. This company, over the course of personal computer history, has been a major player in the development of new systems and servers for public and private use. This introduction brought about the first real signs of competition within personal computer history, which helped to spur faster and better development of computers. Their first contribution was the IBM 701 EDPM Computer.
A Programming Language Evolves
A year later, the first successful high level programming language was created. This was a programming language not written in 'assembly' or binary, which are considered very low level languages. FORTRAN was written so that more people could begin to program computers easily.
The year 1955, the Bank of America, coupled with Stanford Research Institute and General Electric, saw the creation of the first computers for use in banks. The MICR, or Magnetic Ink Character Recognition, coupled with the actual computer, the ERMA, was a breakthrough for the banking industry. It wasn't until 1959 that the pair of systems were put into use in actual banks.
During 1958, one of the most important breakthroughs in personal computer history occurred, the creation of the integrated circuit. This device, also known as the chip, is one of the base requirements for modern computer systems. On every motherboard and card within a computer system, are many chips that contain information on what the boards and cards do. Without these chips, the systems as we know them today cannot function.
Gaming, Mice, & the Internet
For many computer users now, games are a vital part of the computing experience. 1962 saw the creation of the first computer game, which was created by Steve Russel and MIT, which was dubbed Spacewar.
The mouse, one of the most basic components of modern computers, was created in 1964 by Douglass Engelbart. It obtained its name from the "tail" leading out of the device.
One of the most important aspects of computers today was invented in 1969. ARPA net was the original Internet, which provided the foundation for the Internet that we know today. This development would result in the evolution of knowledge and business across the entire planet.
It wasn't until 1970 that Intel entered the scene with the first dynamic RAM chip, which resulted in an explosion of computer science innovation. On the heels of the RAM chip was the first microprocessor, which was also designed by Intel. These two components, in addition to the chip developed in 1958, would number among the core components of modern computers. A year later, the floppy disk was created, gaining its name from the flexibility of the storage unit. This was the first step in allowing most people to transfer bits of data between unconnected computers. The first networking card was created in 1973, allowing data transfer between connected computers. This is similar to the Internet, but allows for the computers to connect without use of the Internet.
Household PC's Emerge
The next three years were very important for computers. This is when companies began to develop systems for the average consumer. The Scelbi, Mark-8 Altair, IBM 5100, Apple I and II, TRS-80, and the Commodore Pet computers were the forerunners in this area. While expensive, these machines started the trend for computers within common households. One of the most major breathroughs in computer software occurred in 1978 with the release of the VisiCalc Spreadsheet program. All development costs were paid for within a two week period of time, which makes this one of the most successful programs in personal computer history.
1979 was perhaps one of the most important years for the home computer user. This is the year that WordStar, the first word processing program, was released to the public for sale. This drastically altered the usefulness of computers for the everyday user. The IBM Home computer quickly helped revolutionize the consumer market in 1981, as it was affordable for home owners and standard consumers. 1981 also saw the the mega-giant Microsoft enter the scene with the MS-DOS operating system. This operating system utterly changed computing forever, as it was easy enough for everyone to learn.
The Competition Begins : Apple vs. Microsoft
Computers saw yet another vital change during the year of 1983. The Apple Lisa computer was the first with a graphical user interface, or a GUI. Most modern programs contain a GUI, which allows them to be easy to use and pleasing for the eyes. This marked the beginning of the out dating of most text based only programs.
Beyond this point in personal computer history, many changes and alterations have occurred, from the Apple-Microsoft wars, to the developing of microcomputers and a variety of computer breakthroughs that have become an accepted part of our daily lives. Without the initial first steps of history of the computer, none of this would have been possible.
I have gathered details from an article written by Rebecca Blain in preperation of the above personal computer history information. She is a professional hobbyist writer who enjoys taking care of her fish and educating people about how to build your own computer.
Definition of the Computer
An electronic device that stores, retrieves, and processes data, and can be programmed with instructions. A computer is composed of hardware and software, and can exist in a variety of sizes and configurations.
Hardware
There are several components that work together to run your computer. Hardware are the devices/parts which you can touch and see such as your monitor, Keyboard, mouse etc.
Software
Software are programs which has set of instructions that get hardware working for you. Ex: Windows, MS Word, MS Excel
Below sub pages contains more coverage on computer basics.
Definition of the Computer
An electronic device that stores, retrieves, and processes data, and can be programmed with instructions. A computer is composed of hardware and software, and can exist in a variety of sizes and configurations.
Hardware
There are several components that work together to run your computer. Hardware are the devices/parts which you can touch and see such as your monitor, Keyboard, mouse etc.
Software
Software are programs which has set of instructions that get hardware working for you. Ex: Windows, MS Word, MS Excel
Below sub pages contains more coverage on computer basics.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
www.pcworld.in
Review :
Lenovo IdeaPad Y560
26 Oct 2010Summary
The Lenovo IdePad Y560 is an impressive all-purpose 15-inch laptop. It comes with dual-graphics, features, and offers performance unrivalled by any other laptop at its price point.
Pros:
- Very good hardware configuration
- Better-than-average discrete graphics
- Very good gaming and overall performance
- Onboard JBL speakers give nice sound
- Lots of features, useful proprietary software
- Gesture-enabled touchpad, fantastic keyboard
Cons:
- No dedicated number pad on keyboard
- Ordinary build quality
Intro - Design - Usability
The Lenovo IdeaPad Y560 15-inch laptop is a home entertainment laptop launched in August, part of Lenovo's IdeaPad series of premium laptops. The laptop has JBL speakers and dual-graphics mode, and comes packed to the gills with latest hardware and laptop features, and offers very good performance for its asking price.
Design
Lenovo hasn't changed much with its IdeaPad series of laptops, in terms of look and feel. The new Lenovo IdeaPad Y560 has the same dark coffee brown color scheme as the earlier Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 and IdeaPad Y450 laptops. The only major difference with the new Lenovo IdeaPad Y560 laptop is with its dark screen lid which has a smooth, matte finish with a pattern -- minute attempts to make the IdeaPad Y560 look a little classy.
The Lenovo IdeaPad Y560 may not be the best-looking laptop, if compared to the likes of Dell Studio 15 and Inspiron 14R laptops or Sony VAIO E. The IdeaPad Y560 comes with an orange strip around its screen and a glossy surface layering the laptop’s display screen, bezel, palmrest and touchpad. Needless to say, this glossy area of the Lenovo IdeaPad Y560 attracts fingerprints and smudges unabashedly.
Compared to the Acer Aspire TimelineX 4802TG or the Dell Studio 15, the Lenovo IdeaPad Y560's build quality could've been better. Build quality isn’t horrendous, nothing to spoil the party but we feel Lenovo has dropped the ball a bit with the IdeaPad Y560's build quality -- while moving the laptop its screen shakes and wobbles, in particular. But the Lenovo IdeaPad Y560 weighs 2.6-inch with a six-cell battery, standard for a 15-inch laptop.
Usability
The IdeaPad Y560 laptop comes with a 15.6-inch glossy LED-backlit screen with a max resolution of 1366x768 pixels. The IdeaPad Y560’s screen is nice and evenly lit, offers good brightness and contrast levels by laptop screen standards, and displays both text and movie cinematics well in an indoor environment. The Lenovo IdeaPad Y560’s screen viewing angles are average, like any other laptop in our Top 5 Mainstream Laptops list.
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