BTT Research

Give some samples of software.

Software
Microsoft Windows
Mac OSX
Linux
Google chrome
Adobe Photoshop
iTunes
Skype
Windows Media Player
Internet Explorer
Microsoft Explorer

Hardware
CD-ROM
Monitor
Printer
Scanners
Routers
Modems

Identify common user interface elements and describe their functions.

Graphical user interfaces, also known as GUIs, offer a consistent visual language to
represent information stored in computers. This makes it easier for people with few
computer skills to work with and use computer software.

A Window

Area on the screen that displays information
Contents being displayed independently from the rest of the screen
Can be shown and hidden by clicking on an icon or application
Can be moved to different parts of the screen
Size can be adjusted
Multiple windows can be open at the same time
Menus

Allows the user to select commands from the menu bar
A menu bar is usually at the top of the screen and when clicked on a pull-
down menu will appear
Can be helpful for a lot of reasons
Icons

A picture that represents an application, file, web page, etc...
Useful when looking for a certain objects

Controls (or Widgets)

Element on the interface that the user interacts with
Such as a window, text box, button, hyper-link, slider, drop down list, etc...
Tabs

A small rectangular box that contains another window
Cursor
An indicator used to show the position of the display/ computer screen

Pointer
Used to show the location of the pointer, usually a mouse or track pad

Selection
A list of items where user operations will happen

Adjustment Handle
Shows the starting point for a drag and drop operation


What is a peripheral?

A peripheral is a computer device that is not a part of the essential computer.



What peripherals are commonly used, and what are they used for?

Peripheral devices can be external or internal.

External

Mouse- used to control the pointer which controls what you do
Keyboard- what you use to type
Printer- used to print what you want from your computer

Internal

CD-ROM drive- a device connected to the computer which allows a CD-ROM to be
played
CD-R drive- a disk drive that allows you to create copies of audio CD's and CD-
ROM's
Internal Modem- installed on a expansion board inside a computer chase

Internal peripheral devices are usually called integrated peripherals.
What is a network? What are the difference between a network and a stand-
alone environment?

A network is a group of two or more computer systems linked together. A stand-
alone environment is a self contained, self loading independent system software
utility that is able to function independently of other hardware.

Bell Labs, the Transistor
Developed in 1947
Used as a replacement for vacuum tubes and mechanical relays
It's a semiconductor device with at least three terminals for a connection to
an electric circuit
Used to amplify and switch electronic signals and electrical power



Texas Instruments and Fairchild Semiconductor, Integrated Circuit

A set of electronic circuits on one small plate of semiconductor
material which is usually silicon
Built to perform a particular function made of active or passive
components like diodes, resisters, capacitors, transistors etc...


IBM 360
Announced in April 1964
Computer system family
First family of computers that covered everything from small to large
and scientific and commercial

Word Processor

Electronic device that performs word processing like composition, editing,
formatting and printing written material

ARPANET

It was one of the world's first operational packet switching networks. The first
internet. Work on arpanet began in 1969. It was first created for military purposes
as a computer version of the nuclear bomb shelter.

Intel, 1K RAM CHIP (the 4004)


The worlds first single chip Microprocessor is the Intel 4004. Introduced in
November 1971 by Intel. The chip took the integrated system down a level by
placing all the parts that make a computer think on one small chip. It made
programming intelligence into inanimate objects possible.


Jonathan Titus, Mark 8

It was the third microprocessor computer ever made available to the public, the
second made in America. Designed in 1973 by graduate student Jonathon Titus


BBN, Telenet

http://www.bbn.com/timeline/

Telenet was established by Bolt Beranek and Newman (BNN) and then they
recruited Larry Roberts (who was the the former head of Arpanet) as president of
the company.

BBN was created in 1948 by Richard Bolt and Leo Beranek. It was a small
acoustics consulting firm. It's first major consulting contract was designing the
acoustics for the United Nations General Assembly. In 1975 they implemented
Telenet, a commercial network service, which later became a part of sprint. Telenet
was established by Bolt Beranek and Newman (BNN) and then they recruited Larry
Roberts (who was the the former head of Arpanet) as president of the company.

Paul Allen and Bill Gates invent BASIC

Standing for Beginner's All Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, it was one of the
most commonly used computer programming languages. It's popularity was spread
in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. They wrote of version of basic for the Altair
personal computer and it was the first product Microsoft sold. Later Gates and
Microsoft wrote a versions of BASIC for the apple computer and IBM's DOS which
Gates provided with its version of BASIC.
USENET

A Worldwide distributed internet discussion system, Developed in 1980 by Tom
Truscott and Jim Ellis. Users posted and read messages to one or more categories
that were called newsgroups. A hybrid between email and web forums.


TCP/IP

Developed by a department of Defense research project to connect to a number
of different networks designed by different vendors into the internet. TCP
is responsible for verifying the correct delivery of data from client to server.


Apple Macintosh

The Macintosh was released in January of 1984 with 128K RAM of memory but they
released that it wasn't enough so 8 months later they made a new version
unofficially called "the fat Mac" which had 512K
RAM. http://oldcomputers.net/macintosh.html


Apple iPad

The iPad is Apple's computer tablet that runs on Apple's IOS. The first iPad was
released on April 3, 2010. The most recent iPad models (the fourth generation, and
the iPad mini) came out on November 2, 2012. The user interface is based on the
multi-touch screen and the virtual keyboard. The iPad has built in wifi and some
models have cellular connectivity.


3D Printing

On March 11, 1983 Charles Hull created stereo lithography which was a printing
process that allowed a 3D object to be created from digital
data.http://www.3dprinterprices.net/history-of-3d-printing/


The Cloud

Cloud computing is the newest name for a concept that dates back to the 1950's. In
1995 it was known as "Shared Web Hosting" and had limited uses.The Cloud is used
to describe a variety of different types of computing concepts that involve a large
number of computers connected to the a real-time communication network like the
internet.