Chapter 1: Development of the PC Flashcards
What is the name of the first electronic computer and when was it created?
The Atanassoff-berry computer (ABC computer) was the first electronic computer and was created in 1937.
What is colossus, when was it created and who created it?
Colossus is a code breaking electronic computer created by tommy flowers in 1943. It was used for breaking german secret messages.
What is the ENIAC?
The electrical numerical integrator and calculator (ENIAC)
is a computer used for military functions such as artillery trajectory calculations. It was created in 1946 by John P. Eckert and John W. Mauchly.
Was the ENIAC a “stored-program” computer?
No. Each program that ran on ENIAC required a specific rewiring of the hardware. In addition, Punched cards were used for I/O.
What is a “stored-program” computer?
A computer which has a fixed physical structure and is programmed through software (As opposed to computers such as ENIAC). Computers today are all “stored-program”.
When was the first commercially available for business use computer created?
The UNIVAC was the first “stored program” computer that was commercially available for business use in 1947.
Which type of electrical switch did the ABC, Colossus, ENIAC and UNIVAC use?
They used vacuum tubes as electrical switches.
What is an electrical switch?
A device used in computers for routing and signaling binary data (on and off or 1 and 0 on a motherboard)
What electrical switch do modern computers use?
They use transistors, instead of the older vacuum tube used by early computers.
What are the advantages of a transistor over a vacuum tube?
A transistor is smaller than a tube, making it easier to create smaller computers. In addition, transistors use less power, generate less heat and subsequently are much less prone to failure and more efficient than tubes.
Who invented the transistor and when?
Bell laboratory engineers John Bardeen and Walter Brattain invented the transistor in 1947.
Which form of transistor do most modern computer processors today use?
Most processors today use CMOS (Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) transistors packaged in a single IC (integrated circuit).
When was the first personal created? Which company created and which processor did it use?
The altair 8800 was the first personal computer, created in 1975 by the company MITS. It used the intel 8080 processor introduced in 1974.
How much memory could the 8080 address?
The intel 8080 processor could address up to 64 KB of memory.
What is a computer bus?
A bus is a pathway that allows for different components in the computer to communicate with each other, or between different computers.
What is the system bus?
The system bus is the bus that connects the processor with RAM (main memory).
Which computers competed with the Altair 8800?
Apple I and Apple II personal computers, created in 1976 and 1977 respectively by Apple, competed with the Altair 8800.
Are the apple II and Altair architectures compatible with the modern PCs and apple MACs?
No, the original personal computers do not share a similar architecture to modern personal computers.
Is any personal computer considered a PC?
No. A PC is a personal computer, but not every personal computer is a PC. PC is any computer whose architecture is based on the original IBM PC.
