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To participate fully in the networked world, you should start putting together a PC or laptop "communications center", as it says in the official MBA 504 and MBA 600 course descriptions.
I recommend that you use your laptop as your mobile office, replacing the traditional briefcase, filing cabinet, and desktop. Your briefcase can hold important and oft-used paper and go back and forth with you between home and work. Your laptop then can hold all your school files and go back and forth with you between home and school (and work, if you have a sympathetic boss).
In addition, perhaps, to not enough RAM, the laptop has three main weaknesses:
the
small display area
the small keyboard
the goofy pointing
device, the green nubby thing or the pad. Yowzers!
My fingers are not fat, yet they do not fit those little keyboards. I'm not complaining. A laptop is what it is and it's far more convenient for traveling than the desktop PC's bulky monitor and box. And wait until we start using hand-helds everywhere. However, the recommendations in this Toolkit section will help you get around these inherent weaknesses of laptops.
The major differences between a laptop and a desktop PC are the mouse and the size of the monitor. You can take a laptop to home or work and plug your monitor into it. You can also plug a mouse into it (for some laptops, a mouse and a keyboard).
You can attach other pieces of hardware to your laptop. They are commonly called computer peripherals.
How chips work
The future of hardware
How Stuff Works: Computers
How Laptop
Computers Work
by Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D.
Computer
Peripherals
by Rick Russell
HardwareCentral: Performance: Optimization
The Naked PC - What You Need to Know about All Things PC
book: How
Computers Work: Millennium Edition
by Ron White, Timothy Downs (Illustrator), Stephen Adams (Illustrator)
To work optimally, you often need three or four software applications open at the same time and at least two of them on top. For example, during class you might have five open windows:
a
browser window for following the syllabus
another browser window
for following the links from the syllabus
a view-source window for
examining the code underneath an interesting page
an email window for
taking notes and emailing them to yourself at home
a browser window open to
the Ground Zero Bistro for asking questions that you don't get to ask during
class
In the classroom, each computer's RAM, the fast network connection, and the large monitors make your learning a little easier. If you're currently in the market for a home PC, I would recommend 128K of RAM and a 17-inch monitor. At home, I have 256K and a 19-incher.
Tip | Save your eyes. Wherever you are, especially at home, plug a monitor into your laptop. Then right-click on your desktop and choose Properties | Settings to adjust the display's colors and screen area.
How Computer
Monitors Work
by Jeff Tyson
Dual Monitors
by Joe West
By simply installing an extra video card and hooking to it an additional monitor, you can effectively double your desktop size.
A flat screen monitor gives you a 60° view. The Immersive Computer Monitor at HammacherSchlemmer.com gives you three times as much, a feel-surrounded 180°. The site uses frames so you'll have to search for the item number 10244.
You can connect both your mouse and your keyboard to the same PS/2 port (the round one with nine pins) by purchasing a "Y" cable for laptops. I have a Belkin Pro Series F3G117-01 (equivalent to IBM cable 54G0441), which costs about $40. Outpost.com is one of many sources online.
How Computer
Keyboards Work
by Jeff Tyson
orbiTouch -- a keyless alphanumeric keyboard with an integrated mouse. Type with your hands and arms instead of fingers.
I strongly recommend that you get a mouse for your laptop. A good one costs less than $20 and fits into your black carrying case. Get used to plugging it into the PS/2 port (the round one with nine pins) as part of your normal set-up. Learn more about customizing how it works.
How Computer
Mice Work
by Marshall Brain
Many people use computers so much their wrists and fingers ache or downright hurt! What can you do?
1. Observe others to make sure you are using the mouse correctly.
2. Raise and lower the surface the mouse glides over.
3. Change hands.
4. Use an "ergonomic" mouse.
5. Use a speech recognition program.
6. Mouse Tool
At first, using MouseTool may feel more awkward than clicking the mouse directly with your finger -- but it hurts a lot less. And, once you get used to it, you barely even notice that it is running. Most of the screen is safe to click on, and once you get used to using it, you drop very few accidental clicks.
Tip | If you try to use your laptop during class without a mouse, you will not be able to keep up.
What about a mouse you operate with your foot instead of your hand?
How Modems Work
by Marshall Brain
http://808hi.com/56k/index.htm
Meeting by Wire's cameras for NetMeeting
still
camera
graphics tablet
projector
microphone
speakers
scanner
printer
joystick
If I'm missing a peripheral that you use, please let me know and I'll add it to this page.
Ethernet cards, hubs, cords
Floppies can hold only 1.4 megabytes of information. New Macs come without floppy drives because the little critters just aren't very useful anymore. An alternative for both file transfer and back-up is direct file transfer from PC to PC or PC to laptop.
I use a Belkin Pro Series F3X171-10 File Transfer PC to PC Cable. It has both 9-pin and 25-pin female / female heads that use the computers' serial ports (the wide ones). Outpost.com is one of many sources online.
To use it, you need the Direct Cable Connection wizard. Select Start | Programs | Accessories | Communications.
The latest in digital camera and imaging news including in-depth reviews, lively discussion forums, and the largest database of digital camera specifications we have seen.
Hardware Analysis - Computer hardware news, reviews and editorials
Having hardware problems? At Start | Run, enter in the box "hwinfo /ui" (without quotes but observe the space). The view options will display only those devices with which you are currently experiencing problems.
How ROM Works
by Jeff Tyson
How Caching
Works
by Guy Provost
How Random Access
Memory (RAM) Works
by Jeff Tyson
How Hard
Disks Work
by Marshall Brain
How
Computer Memory Works
by Jeff Tyson
How
Microprocessors Work
by Marshall Brain
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