All images by M.J Taylor

Inside every computer are memory modules they help you computer remember the things you have done. Some computers come with 1 or 2 modules. However, if your computer takes a long time to open a program after selecting it, then you need to refresh the memory. Here's how to do it.

Motherboard

1. Turn off and plug out your computer (before you open the unit make sure to ground yourself).
2. Open the casing of the unit. Inside you will see the motherboard. This is filled with all the things necessary for the computer to work.
3. Locate  the DIMM-modules. Release the Jumpers that are securing them, then pull the modules out. 
4. Now that the memory modules are out, plug the computer back in and turn it on. You should hear a series of bleeping sounds.
5. Once you've heard the bleeps, turn the computer back off and unplug it. Then re-insert the memory modules making sure the jumpers are fitted securely on them. Close the unit casing.
6. Once again turn the unit back on as normal. Your computer should be running a lot more smoothly.

If you should experience sluggishness in future, then it would be a good idea to upgrade your memory. DIMM-module are 64bit wide and are available in 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256 and 512. (512 x 2= 1GB).

In the strictest sense; the term “mainframe computer” is generally regarded as meaning those computers that are compatible with the IBM System/360 series first introduced in 1965. Other very high-end computers that are not compatible with the IBM System/360 series are usually referred to as “servers”.

Now however; the term “mainframe computer” is typically used to refer to that group of high-end self-contained computers which incorporate copious numbers of built in “hot swap” capable redundant systems to provide added robustness as standard fare, as opposed to less well endowed server class computer systems.

The latter group includes collectives of grouped and associated computers known as server farms that may provide additional resilience through duplicated systems but on the whole do not provide the critical total internal system component redundancy of the mainframe computer.

If one feature or aspect of a mainframe computer was selected to be its defining characteristic then it would undoubtedly be reliable uptime. The vast majority of mainframe computers have provided continual service measured in years and in many instances decades of non-stop functionality.

Redundant Engineering

The major engineering feature of the modern mainframe computer that delivers this degree of reliable service is their considerable amount of redundant internal engineering. This is what gives mainframe computers their high reliability, tight security, extensive input/output facilities, strict backwards compatibility for older software, and high utilization rates (very little processing idle time) to support their characteristic massive throughput capabilities.

Hardware Servicing and Upgrades

In order for a mainframe computer to operate non-stop (run) for many years without interruption all repairs and hardware upgrades can and do take place during the normal operation of the mainframe computer. Once again this is another benefit that the inclusion of internal redundant hardware engineering makes possible.

Performance

Supercomputers; such as those at NASA's Columbia Advanced Computing Facility have their performance measured in terms of the number of floating point operations per second (flops) of which it is capable.

The standard yardstick by which the computational performance of a mainframe computer is measured and subsequently compared with itself at other times or against other mainframes is the number of sustained Millions of Instructions Per Second (MIPS) that it is capable of. As with supercomputers and flops performance the SI prefix system (Mega, Giga, and Peta etc) is also used when stating a mainframes MIPS performance to make these numbers more “human friendly”.

The smallest System z9 IBM mainframes today run at about 26 MIPS while the largest IBM System z10 mainframes can perform approximately 30,657 MIPS (or 30.6 Kilomips).

To give some idea of real world experience, a single mainframe may execute the equivalent of 10 to 100 or even more distributed processors' worth of business activity, however this is highly dependent on the workload. Merely counting processors to compare server platforms is extremely inaccurate.

Multiple Concurrent Operating Systems

Another aspect of the mainframe computer platform that I will only briefly touch on here is their ability to run or host not just one operating system at a time, but many. In this way a single mainframe computer can replace tens or even hundreds of smaller servers. In so doing administrative and management costs are greatly reduced yet at the same time still providing for superior scalability and reliability.

Processing Tasks

Mainframe computer processing has always tended to focus on problems which are limited by input/output and reliability ("throughput computing") as well as solving multiple business problems concurrently (mixed workload). In marked contrast to the supercomputer; which uses massive parallel processing to work on a single highly complex task, the mainframe computer generally makes use of its parallel processing capacity to simultaneously run multiple different less complex concurrent tasks.

Times haven't changed much as the types of tasks that mainframe computers usually perform today still revolve around the so called “mission critical” operations that require much repetitive or parallel processing such as correlation of data collected during a census or a survey, statistical processing and analysis, financial transaction processing (banks) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).

Mainframe Computer Design and Performance Optimization

One of the major critical factors in mainframe processing performance is due to the very nature of the types of tasks that it performs because these tend to involve considerable use of external data sources (input).

Thus; in order to optimize performance, mainframes are built with designs that incorporate numerous ancillary “service” processors whose job it is to supply the main processing core processors with a regulated, steady and persistent stream of data to process and then to service the subsequent output requirements of the main processing core processors processing.

Some of these service processor tasks include cryptographic support, I/O handling, monitoring, notifications, logging, authentication and memory handling. The result is that the total processor count of a mainframe is much higher than would otherwise be obvious from many purely MIPS-based benchmarking measurements as the MIPS-based measurement generally does not include those instructions executed by the ancillary “service” processors just the overall machines productive throughput/output.

One side-effect of this is that adding processors to a mainframe computer will speed up the entire machine's performance over its entire workload transparently.

Fuzzy Marketing

In recent times there has been some blurring of the term "mainframe," with some PC and server vendors referring to their systems as "mainframes" or "mainframe-like." This is somewhat misleading as it is widely recognized by the larger players in the mainframe computer industry and academia alike that mainframe computers constitute a class of computer genuinely demonstrably different from all other classes of computational platforms.

Mainframe Pricing

Historically mainframes have earned a reputation for being rather expensive but this is no longer the case. It is now possible to buy and configure a complete IBM mainframe system (with software, storage, and support), under standard commercial use terms, for about $50,000 (U.S.). The price of z/OS starts at about $1,500 (U.S.) per year, including 24x7 telephone and Web support while z10 BC systems start at around $100,000 US.

In addition; many vendors including HP Unisys, HP, Groupe Bull, Fujitsu, Hitachi, and NEC now primarily use commodity Intel CPUs rather than custom processors. This has dramatically reduced their development costs and many have also cut back on their commitment to mainframe software developed for similar reasons some time back and the current economic climate will only add further pressure to continue this trend for sometime into the near future.

Combined these factors all point to a competitive if somewhat stagnant development climate for the mainframe computer with the only real impetus being supplied by IBM who has its own large research and development organization designing their own new, homegrown CPUs; including mainframe processors. IBM is currently expanding its software business; including its mainframe software portfolio.

The company takes the view that with a dramatic reduction in effective competition from its rivals it's open season for them with regards to mainframes. From a future perspective I guess IBM believes that things will improve and when they do they will be in such a dominant position they will not have anything to fear from any potential competition no matter what form it takes.

Conclusion

Above all else it is their reliability that defines and identifies the mainframe class of computer platform with uninterrupted service histories measured in many numbers of years. Many of the current IBM mainframe computers have been working non-stop for over a decade now. Not bad value for the dollar.

Data is laid out on a CD-ROM disc in a long continuous spiral. Data is stored in the form of lands, which are flat areas on the metal surface, and pits, which are depressions or hollows, a land reflects the laser light into the sensor (indicating a data bit of 1), and a pit scatters the light (indicated a data bit of 0). CD-ROMs are available in 8CM and 120 MM diameter sizes and different storing capacity as 185MB, 650MB, 700MB, 800MB and 900 MB.

Compared to hard disk drives, CD-ROM drives are slow; one reason has to do with changing rotational speed of the disk.

The sectors near the middle of the CD wrap farther around the disk than those near the edges. For the drive to read each sector in the same amount of the time, it must spin the disc faster when reading sectors near the middle and slower when reading sectors near the edge. Changing the speed of rotation takes time - enough to seriously impair the overall performance of the CD-ROM drive.

The first CD-ROM drives could read data at 150 KBPS (Kilobytes per second) and were known as single-speed drives. Today, a CD-ROM Drive's speed is expressed as a multiple of the original drive's speed 2X, 4X up to 52X. A 52X Drive reads data at a rate of 7800 KBPS i.e.,(52 X 150).

Sometimes a computer will find that it does not have enough RAM and will have to resort to ‘swapping.' This ‘swapping' creates virtual memory by utilizing hard drive space as temporary memory. Relying on ‘swapping' on a regular basis is called ‘thrashing.' Thrashing will decrease a computers overall performance.

Software can partition memory and create a ‘RAM disk.' This RAM disk acts as a fast hard drive, but the information is lost when the computer is shut off, unless the RAM is nonvolatile or is connected to a battery.

New types of nonvolatile RAM is being created using carbon nanotubes. Soon, ‘solid-state drives' will not lose data and their performance will continue to increase, giving computers the combined assets of memory and hard drives in a single nonvolatile RAM.

If you are trying to back up memory and files on computer then the best thing to do is buy a flash drive. Flash drives are not expensive and can be found at almost any retail store that sells electronic. I would recommend that you get a flash drive with at least one gig of memory or more. This type of flash drive should only cost you twenty bucks or so.

I would recommend that you get specific size of flash drive for different types of memory. If you are planning on backing up videos, then you need to get a removable hard drive in place of a flash drive. If you are using a removable hard drive then the directions are the same as using a flash drive. Just complete the same step in the same order just like a flash drive. If you are planning to store many images then either a high-end flash drive or a lower end hard drive is recommended. If you are planning to store office documents and other written materials, then a low to medium priced flash drive will work fine.

Videos need 100 gigs or more. Pictures need between 3 and 15 gigs. Word documents and other office documents should not take more than one gig. I would also be concerned with the transfer speed if you are planning to store videos.

To start you need to insert the flash drive into your computer through the USB port in either the side, back, or front of your computer. The USB port you plug the flash drive into does not matter unless you know that a specific USB port does not work.

After the flash drive is in the computer, go to “my computer” in windows and double click on shared documents folder. Browse though the folders and find the specific file, files, folder, or folders you want to back up with the flash drive. Select “send to”, and then highlight the removable disk or removable memory. Once you select this, the files should start to transfer to the removable disk.

After the memory you are backing up is completed with the transfer, do not just take the flash drive out of the USB. You need to right click on the icon that says “removable device” and select the eject button. This will allow windows to safely eject the flash drive without causing any harm to the computer or the flash drive.

After you have hit eject and safely removed the flash drive or hard drive, you will have a memory back up that is good as long as you store it room temperature and do not submerge  it in water. It is always a very good idea to back up and data that is important on your computer. One last thing you want to remember is that generic brands will work just fine on everything but video memory backup. This will save you money too.

Bit:

Bit is the least form of data representation. In the computer terminology bit if regarded as storing either 0 or 1. 0 indicates off and 1 indicates on state. The beauty of this is the system understands and interprets only the bits, so it forms the basis for the computer operation. In programming bits are connected with the data types.

Example:

11100011

11001111

10101010

11110000

Nibble:

Nibble consists of 4 bits, which is half a byte. It is used for easy data representation. They are mainly used in segregating the bytes into the higher order bits and the lower order bits.

Example:

1111

1010

1100

0011

Byte:

A byte consist of 8 bits, the data types available in any typical programming languages measures its data types in bytes. The 8 bits can be either 0 or 1 nothing else is allowed. 2 bytes consists of 16 bits. In the C programming language character is 1 byte, integer data type is 2 bytes, float is 4 bytes, double is 8 bytes, long is 10 bytes. It follows the ASCII pattern. The modern breed of C languages follows the UNICODE and the range of bytes considerably increased to accommodate more values.

Example:

00000101

Kilo Byte:

Files and directories are measured in the Kilo Bytes precisely (KB). A KB consists of 1024 bits. As the data and storage area increased the bits does not accommodate everything so we go for Kilo Bytes.

Example:

5 Kilo Bytes

2 Kilo Bytes

Mega Byte:

Mega Byte is the next largest term after the Kilo Bytes. As 1024 bits consists a Kilo Byte, 1024 Kilo Bytes makes a Mega Byte shortly called as Mega Byte. Now days the Broadband Internet connection speeds are measured in MBPS (Mega Bytes per Second), Compact disks are measured in Mega Bytes (700 MB).

Giga Byte:

Giga Byte is the leading term used in this modern era. It is used for a large storage space. 1024 Mega Bytes makes a Giga Byte. It is used for DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) typically it is around 4.7 GB.

Tara Byte:

Tara Bytes are used in the servers to measure the hard disk spaces. Typically a Tara byte contains 1024 Giga Bytes.

Pita Byte:

Pita Byte, it has the higher range in the modern era. It needs 1024 Tara Bytes to make a Pita Byte. This term is not widely used as it is more costly and expensive.

All the above are the basic storage terms used in the Information Technology. Really everything has become the bits and bytes now a day.

Bonus: Run Check Disk (AKA: ChkDsk Utility. Use this utility to check your computer for errors. Corrupt or bad sectors will bog down your computer and also take up memory.

Vista: Computer -> right-click on the drive you want to check -> Properties.
Select Tools tab -> click "Check Now".

A box for ChkDsk will appear, check both options and click start. A message that Windows needs to restart in order to run ChkDsk might appear. Click ok.

XP: My Computer -> right click on the drive/disk you want to check -> Properties.
Click on the Tools tab -> click "Check Now"

A box pops up, check both options and click start as in Vista you might have to restart in order to start ChkDsk.

If you found these useful or have any comments please let me know. Also, have any other ideas or tips? Like? Dislike? Share with the class and post a comment about them.

The Thumb Drive

Another name for the USB flash drive is the thumb drive. That is probably the reasoning behind this thumb designed flash drive.

The Teddy Bear Drive

This is a modded drive that you probably won't find for sale. The either gutted the drive and inserter the contents where the head should be, or they just stuck the casing and all in place. It's not exactly portable, and would almost make a portable hard drive more practical, but it would still be good for a few laughs at work or school.

The Swiss Army Knife USB

This new Swiss Army Knife USB has to be one of my favorites. While it would not be acceptable for minors to be carrying around, it would be a nice USB drive for those who actually carry a Swiss Army Knife anyways. These come with storage capacities of 64mb to 1gb and are sold online.

The USB Watch

Nothing like carrying and displaying your USB drive on your wrist wherever you go. You probably won't forget this at home, but it would be very strange to be walking around with a USB on your watch.

The Lego Brick

This was one of the original modded USBs that got people thinking, but I believe you can now purchase them online for about the same price as a normal USB. What can a Lego brick not do or make?

The NES Controller USB Drive

These controllers are used more for geek oriented mods than they are for gaming at the current time. This is just one of the many USB styled drives made from a NES controlled. If you mod it correctly you can even still use the controller.

Backspace USB

Another common modded drive would be with old keyboard keys. They give it a real computer styled look. If you have a friend who isn't computer savvy you can use the enter key with the arrow pointing to the side you stick into the computer to pick a joke at their inexperience with computers.

Chapstick USB

A common item you'd find in your pockets was turned into a USB. It was a custom mod that you may need to order a special sized USB to get it to fit. It's not the front part that would be cutting it close, rather the insides of your USB.

Chewing Gum USB

Rather easily done, but unique to say the least. There are several different gum and mint containers that are easily transformed into a new USB case. Simply cut a hole for the front to stick out, and secure your USB with glue or tape.

Disposable Lighter USB

Do you have a bunch of these disposable lighters lying around that don't work anymore? You can turn them into a cool looking USB drive with little work. Just gut the insides and cut the hole and you're finished.

Every week people are creating more unique variations of the USB. There are two ways to mod a current USB to create one to your style. You can simply secure it in its current casing, or remove it from the casing completely for the tighter fits. Experiment with different casings until you find one to match your style. Who knows, maybe if you put a picture of it up on the internet you'll see it going viral on the tech blogs.

Discovering what type and size of RAM you currently have installed can be a pain. I suggest you go to your computer manufacturers website or look at your printed computer documentation if you have a name brand model. If you have a put together pc you can remove the case screws and the side panel or rear of the case. Locate the long thin RAM sticks on the motherboard. On IBM style computers the ram is connected to the motherboard by two clips, one on each end of the RAM. Push the clip away from the RAM up or down, a clicking noise will be heard. Grab the edge of the RAM and apply steady pressure up to remove the RAM. On the side of the stick of RAM should be a sticker on some models the information may be printed on one of the chips. The information will tell you the maker, the model, the size, and the type for example it will say “Samsung 1GB DDR RAM PC3200 184-Pin DIMM.” In this case Samsung is the maker, 1GB is the size, and PC3200 is the socket type. Always unplug the power cord before doing any kind of service on your computer.

Great now we know what size and type of RAM you have, and lets say we ran out and purchased a new stick. To install our new RAM we will locate the two or four, depending on your motherboard, long thin RAM slots. Make sure your grounded so you don't discharge static inside your computer case. Unwrap the new stick of RAM and compare it to the old stick. Make sure the cut in the contact portion of the old stick matches the new stick. Now we are ready to install our new RAM. Line the stick up with the slot in the motherboard and apply gentle steady pressure down, the clips should automatically close on the notches in the stick. Make sure the RAM is seated and snapped into place, reattach the side panel or the case, and put the case screws back in.

The final steps, turn your computer right side up, reconnect the power cable, and turn it on. Your computer should boot then beep and give a warning message. The message will say “Warning system memory has changed press F1 to continue or F2 for setup.” We want to continue on most computers running Windows 2000 or newer. The operating system will take longer than usual to boot up for the first time after the memory has been changed.

Congratulations are surely in order. We have successfully installed or upgraded system memory. Its not really a hard job, the hard part is understanding the types and sizes available to the consumer. I hope this article has helped.

For a time, it seemed that there would be just three types of digital image memory cards. Unfortunately, there are now several systems all vying for pole position. For the photographer, the main consideration is compatibility between personal equipment: if you own only one camera, there is no problem, you can download images directly to your computer. But as soon as you have another camera or you want to use another device, you must ensure compatibility. In this respect, the most versatile memory card is the CompactFlash. But cards from other manufacturers promise higher transfer rates, or better capacity, economy or size.

All cards have to be slotted into the camera so that recorded images can be saved onto them. The first time you use one, it may have to be formatted by the camera. Unlike film, you can remove the card at any stage before it is full and slot it into a reader to transfer files to a computer. You can also erase images at any time to make room for more. However, do not try to remove the card while the camera or reader is accessing it. Wait for the lights indicating card activity to go out before removing the card.

Card Care:

 

• Keep memory cards well away from magnetic fields, such as magnets, television monitors, audio speakers, and so on.
• Keep cards cool, do not leave them in a car on a hot day or lying around in bright sunshine.
• Keep cards dry, do not take them out into warm, humid conditions, immediately after coming out of an air conditioned room.
• Insert memory cards into cameras or card readers gently. Too much force may damage the contacts.
• Keep memory cards dust free, the contacts are extremely fine and can easily be damaged by small particles of dirt or grit.
• Keep cards in protective cases when not in use.