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1. What is a CPU?
2. What does BIOS stand for?
3. Who invented the IBM?
4. When was the first semiconductor transistor invented?
5. What happened in 1821 that was really important for the years to come?

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The BIOS (the basic input/output system) computer code residing in a single chip that defined how software was to interact with the PC’s hardware.

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In 1975 something resembling a personal computer appeared. Popular Electronics featured on its cover something called the Altair 8800, made by Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems.

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In 1954, Texas Instruments created a way to produce silicon transistors commercially. That’s when the modern computer took off.

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In 1926, the first semiconductor transistor was invented, but it wasn’t until 1947, when Bell Labs’ William Shockley patented the modern solid-state, reliable transistor, that a new era in computing dawned.

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The ENIAC, built between 1943 and 1945, was the first all-electronic computer.

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This is a semiconductor transistor

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In 1830, Charles Babbage invented—on paper—the Analytical Engine, this was different from the rest, based on the results of its own computations, it could make decisions such as sequential control, branching, and looping.

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When the slide rule was invented in 1621, it remained the mathematician’s tool of choice until the electronic calculator took over in the early 1970’s.

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In 1888, Herman Hollerith, the founder who was to later make the IBM, created a machine that used punched cards to tabulate the 1890 U.S. Census.

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The first true computer was completed in 1821.

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Herman Hollerith

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“Writing is the process by which a computer stores data in either RAM chips or on a disk drive. Reading is the process by which a computer transfers data or software code from a drive to RAM or from RAM to the microprocessor.”

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Herman Hollerith invented a mechanized system of paper cards with holes in them to tabulate the U.S. Census. In 1924 Hollerith’s Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company changed its name to International Business Machines.

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The first computer

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“Small disk files that contain software code that are the first files a computer reads from disk when it is booted. The system files contain the information needed, following the initial hardware boot, to load the rest of an operating system.”

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“Acronyms for Read Only Memory and Random Access Memory. ROM is memory chips or data stored on disks that can be read by the computer’s processor. The PC cannot write new data to those chips or disk drives. RAM is memory or disks that can be both read and written to. Random access memory really is a misnomer because even ROM can be accessed randomly. The term was originally used to distinguish RAM from data and software that was stored on magnetic tape, and which could be accessed only sequentially. That is, to get to the last chunk of data or code on a tape, a computer must read through all the information contained on the tape until it finds the location where it stored the data or code for which it is looking. In contrast, a computer can jump directly to any information stored in random locations in RAM chips or on disk.”

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“Software that exists to control the operations of hardware. Essentially, the operating system directs any operation, such as writing data to memory or to disk, and regulates the use of hardware among several application programs that are running at the same time. This frees program developers from having to write their own code for these most basic operations.”

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“ A sheet of plastic onto which metallic circuits have been printed and to the rest of the PC’s components are connected. These components could be connected via a socket, such as with the CPU, a slot, as with graphics cards and memory modules or they may be built directly onto the motherboard, as with external ports, such as USB.”

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“Most PCs have unused slots into which the owner can plug circuit boards and hardware to add to the computer’s capabilities. Most slots today are personal computer interface (PCI) or it’s next-generation sibling PCI-Express (PCI-E). One other slot, the accelerated graphics port (AGP), accepts a video card designed to move images out of memory quickly, although it is fast being replaced by PCI-E--you might also see shorter slots on older computers. These are industry standard architecture (ISA), the only type of slots on the first PC.”

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“An acronym for central processing unit, it is used to mean the microprocessor—also, processor—which is a microchip that processes the information and the code (instructions) used by a computer. The “brains” of a computer”

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“An acronym for complementary metaloxide semiconductor—a term that describes how a CMOS microchip is manufactured. Powered by a small battery, the CMOS chip retains crucial information about what hardware a PC comprises even when power is turned off.“

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“A microchip that regulates the timing and speed of all the computer’s functions. The chip includes a crystal that vibrates at a certain frequency when electricity is applied to it. The shortest length of time in which a computer can perform some operation is one clock, or one vibration of the clock chip. The speed of clocks—and therefore, computers—is expressed in megahertz (MHz). One megahertz is 1 million cycles, or vibrations, a second. Thus, a PC can be described as having a 200 or 300 MHz processor, which means that the processor has been designed to work with a clock chip running at that speed.“

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“Originally, wires ran from and to any component in any electrical device, not just computers. A circuit board replaces the need for separate wiring with the metallic traces printed on the board—sometimes also on the bottom of the board and in a hidden middle layer. The traces lead to connections for processors, resistors, capacitors, and other electrical components. The importance of the circuit board is that its entire creation can be automated, and the board packs more components into an ever-smaller space.

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“The process that takes place when a PC is turned on and performs the routines necessary to get all the components functioning properly and the operating system loaded. The term comes from the concept of lifting yourself by your bootstraps.”

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A collection of software codes built into a PC that handle some of the fundamental tasks of sending data from one part of the computer to another.