Here are many of the World Wide Web sites I found most helpful while I was researching the technologies covered in How Computers Work 6th Edition. And I've added other sites I've found particularly interesting for someone who wants to know what's ticking inside a personal computer.
-- Ron White
Operating Systems
OS News
News about operating system for PC's, and other devices.
OSWeb
Find operating system information and recent news.
FreeOS
Resource center for free operating systems.
8-Bit Operating Systems
A brief history of operating systems through time. Reprinted updated article
from Link Magazine.
OS Projects and
Research
Links to operating system projects.
ActiveNetwork
Windows 98 information resources and downloads.
Software
History of Shareware and PsL
As seen through the eyes of Nelson Ford, founder of Public Software
Library.
Breakfast Menu Software
An introduction to spline based animation.
History Of The Microcomputer
Revolution
Raw Bytes Computer News
G-GFX
GFX Computer graphics programming.
Software History Center!
History of software, the people who created it, and the companies that
marketed it starting from its beginnings in the 1950s.
Memory
DRAM
Performance
Toms Hardware Guide, DRAM Performance Latency vs. Bandwidth.
Ultimate Memory Guide
A general overview of what memory is and how it works.
ZDTV
Know How Projects
How to add RAM.
PC
Webopaedia -Flash Memory
Definition and links about flash memory.
Molecular
Expressions Photo Gallery The Computer Collection
Photo of Ferrite Core Memory.
Laptop Proprietary
Memory Upgrade
Laptop upgrade memory configurator.
PC's For Everyone
Simm/Dimm memory upgrade guide.
CNet
Computers
Mastering memory upgrades.
Centon Memory Installation Guide
Step-by step instructions with photos.
Microchips
The
Transistor Gallery
Photo galleries and history of the first transistor computers of the
1950's.
PCUpgrades
Upgrade guide for Pentium owners.
developer.intel.com
For hardware, software and internet developers.
How
Microprocessors Work
Intel's Shockwave animated site on microprocessors.
Intel
Museum Home Page
An interactive history of the microprocessor.
Microsoft
Security Advisor Program
Smart cards white paper.
Intel
Pentium II Xeon
3-D tour of the Pentium II Xeon processor.
MicroDesign Resources
Microprocessor Report--a subscription newsletter for makers and users of
high-performance microprocessors.
ZDNet
Thin Transistors
PC Magazine Trends article on on Motorola's new thin flexible transistor.
Core
memory
Description and color photo of core memory.
Keynote
speech - Andy Grove
Andrew
S. Grove, president and chief executive officer Intel Corporation. Keynote
address April 9, 1997.
Intel
Photo
Archive
Processor photo archive.
National
Semiconductor Press Room
Photo gallery of wafers, circuits, and chip shots.
Beyond
Conventional CMOS
Photo of plastic CMOS ring oscillator circuit.
Intel Breaks Gigahertz Barrier
Press release from 2-23-99.
PC
Magazine's Solutions: Bios
What to look for in your new computers' Bios.
Data Storage
DOS File System
A detailed description of the DOS file system.
Peter den
Haan's EIDE storage page
Information and links about storage devices.
Disk compression and you
Storage guide from Tom's Hardware Guide.
Smallest
Hard Disk Drive
IBM introduces smallest hard disk drive.
IBM Technical
Journals
System journals
Miniature
hard drives
IBM high capacity, high performance storage devices.
A Hundred
Billion Billion Bytes -- In A Sugar Cube
IBM's plans to create a million-CPU supercomputer.
Small
world
Nanotechnology
HolographMemory
Storage system which records information in the form of 3-D holograms.
Quantum Storage
Basics
Information on data storage.
Burroughs
205 Magnetic Tape System Handbook
Copy of actual handbook.
Hard Drives
Describes hard drive types, how they work, how to install a drive and
prepare it for use.
Zip drive
PC Webopaedia definition and links.
Input-Output
How
It Works: Global Positioning System
PC/Computing Online by Ron White, illustrated by Timothy Edward Downs.
Universal Serial Bus Home Page
From the creators of USB.
Electronic Components Fiber
Optic link
Semiconductor Products
Input
Device Sources & Resources
A directory of sources for input technologies.
Interlink Electronics
Developers of "mouse capable" remote controls,
electronic signature pads, computer input devices and wireless communication
technologies.
MMC Association
MultiMediaCard Association 65 companies working together.
MSU LASER Laboratory
Laser equipment and ranges in capabilities.
Here Come the
Wearable Computers!
Story about wearable computers.
Laptops & PDA's
Laptop Proprietary Memory
Upgrade
Laptop upgrade memory configurator.
Laptop News
Laptop newsletter summarizing the most important news of the week.
Palmtops-PDAs - Net Links
About.com Palmtops/PDA's
Pen Computer Solutions'
Links
Lots of links to everything for the PalmPilot.
Game Controllers
How
It Works: Force Feedback Joysticks
PC/Computing Online by Ron White, illustrated by Timothy Edward Downs.
Gamepads
Computer Gaming World site.
Theory of
Operation Accelerometer
Illustrated explanation of potentiometers used in game controllers.
Microsoft
SideWinder Force Feedback Wheel
Microsoft's website for the SideWinder.
Troubleshooting
Joysticks
Joystick troubleshooting guide.
Voice, Face & Speech Recognition
How
It Works: Voice Recognition
PC/Computing Online by Ron White, illustrated by Timothy Edward Downs.
How It Works: Fingerprint Biometrics
PC/Computing Online by Ron White, illustrated by Timothy Edward Downs.
Fingerprint Sensor
Fingerprint recognition
HIT Lab
Human Interface Technology Lab
IBM
ViaVoice
Speech Recognition
VoiceBox
VoiceBox Dialogic Telephony ActiveX Control.
Pointing Devices/Keyboardsi
Unicomp Keyboards
Programmable keyboards
Monitors
Computer Color
Matters
Discusses importance of color and how to improve it.
Tech Tip from United Visual
How to choose a monitor.
How
It Works: Digital Light Processing
PC/Computing Online by Ron White, illustrated by Timothy Edward Downs.
Modems
National ISDN Council
Home Page
Support for ISDN services.
Cable Modems
Bend Cable's Motorola CyberSURFERTM Cable Modem
Online
Resources
ZDTV Links to some of the major service providers and information about
cable modems.
What Is...bandwidth
A description of what bandwidth is.
Multimedia
CD-ROM & DVD
How
It Works: DVD-RAM
PC/Computing Online by Ron White, illustrated by Timothy Edward Downs.
DVD
Express
Dolby & DTS: The Sounds of Battle.
PC Improvement News
How a CD-ROM works and how to make it faster.
The
Spin on DVD
ABCnews.com's High Technology.
DMI
History and description of DVD.
Sound
3D
Audio
3D Audio for PC Gaming and Music
Everything
you need to know about Graphic Cards
Information about graphics cards.
SRS Technology
Voice and sound technology
Audio
Frontiers
What is AAC (Dolby Digital)
DVD
Express
Dolby & DTS: The Sounds of Battle.
DOLBY B, C, AND S Noise
Reduction System
Making cassettes sound better.
The Soundry
From most basic concepts of what
sound actually is to the specifics of how humans perceive it.
ZDNet/UK
Sound Cards & Speakers
Positioning Audio: fooling the ear.
Video
About
DirectX
5
Microsoft DirectX information.
GFX
OpenGL, 2D and 3D graphics application programming interface (API).
Virtual Reality
Home of V·Realm BuilderVRML Authoring
Software
VRML Authoring Software, an advancement in image processing technology.
Computers and More
Worldwide distributors of virtual reality gear.
3D University
Intel 3D graphics.
Thundercam
Technology that uses special cameras and proprietary gesture recognition
software to turn a player's physical moves into dynamic action.
Printers
E - Ink
What is Electronic Ink?
Printing
History and Development
Printing history and links.
Xerox
Solid Ink
Tektronix solid ink color printer by Xerox.
Hewlett Packard
Printing and digital imaging.
Epson
Epson's home page.
Tektronix
Tektronix color printers by Xerox.
Canon
Canon Printers
Internet & Networking
Cookie Central
Provides full information on Internet Cookies.
FAQs
and How-Tos
FAQs offering how-to info about networking and other topics.
Nortel
Networks News & Information
Reference and industry buzz.
DV
& Firewire Central
What is Firewall?
What
Is... the speed of.
A Comparison of data rates on various telecommunication carrier
technologies.
Understanding
the Internet
A Slide show of the Intranets and Extranets.
W3C
- The World Wide Web Consortium
Guidelines for Accessible Web Authoring.
An Atlas of
Cyberspace
Contains maps and graphic representations of cyberspace.
History of the Internet
Tim-Berners Lee
The man who invented the web.
A
Little History of the World Wide Web
History of the internet from from 1945-1995.
A Brief History of
the Internet
A recently updated article on the history of the internet.
History
of the Internet
A text timeline from 1836 - 1997.
Hobbes'
Internet Timeline
A text timeline beginning in the 1950's through 2000.
How the Internet
Came to Be: The Birth of ARPANET
Lucent Technologies article on how the internet started.
PBS' Life on the Internet
A graphical timeline where you can click on a year to see what occurred in
internet history.
History of the Internet
and WWW
Overview of the philosophy and history of the Internet. Many related links
and a section on pertinent statistics.
History of Computing
The Rice Computer
A Brief History of the Rice Computer 1959-1971.
Timeline
of Microcomputers
Chronology of events in the history of microcomputers.
Five
Generations of Computing
1951-Present with related links.
Women
and Computer Science
Links to writings, photos and articles on women in computer science.
CHAC History Pages
Links to history of computing pages.
Yahoo! Computers
Links to computer and internet links.
The
Virtual Museum of Computing
Many links to history of computing.
Computer
History
Links to people, artifacts and articles involved in the history of computing
from The National Museum of American History.
The Machine That Changed the World
Computer History with links to other sites.
History of the Microcomputer
Revolution
Transcradio Series Broadcast on KPBX, Spokane Public Radio, National Public Radio Network.
Altair
Photos and stories about the first PC and those who used it.
The
History Of Computers During My Lifetime
Photos and descriptions of computers, processors, and software from the
1970's.
A History of Computers
Go through history to discover some of the key developments that have
brought us to our present state of computing.
Jones Digital Century
Computers History and Development.
Triumph of the
Nerds
A history of the computer: networks.
Printing
History and Development
History of printing with links.
Computer Founders
Founders gallery and gallery of what they did.
Timelines
Lucent Technologies
- Bell Labs Museum
Bell Labs Museum Historical Timeline--from 1876 - 1989.
Kurzweil
Technologies, Inc. Publications
The Age of Intelligent Machines "Chronology" by Ray Kurzweil.
Charles Babbage Institute
Center for the History of Computing
Links to web sites related to the History of Information Processing.
The History of the
Development of Parallel Computing ??
Timeline of the development of parallel computing from 1955 to 1993.
Media History
Project Timeline Pages
Lists events by era, century, and decade. Most pages have illustrations.
Computer
Chronicles
A timeline of computer related inventions and developments from 3000 B.C. to
1998.
The
Computer Museum Timeline
Historic timeline from 1946 to 1990.
Computer
Tech-Computer History Timeline
Text timeline showing important periods of computers
from B.C. 500 through 1996.
Museums
Museum of Science Boston
Museum of Science, Boston, It's Alive.
The Computer Museum
The Computer Museum History Center focusing exclusively on the history of
computing.
Museum of Science · It's Alive!
Explore the Museum of Science in Boston.
UVa Computer
Museum
Photos and descriptions of various computer-related artifacts, both
historical and modern.
Jim's
Computer Garage
Museum of photos of computers and computer parts.
Historic Computer
Images
High resolution (400 dpi) historic computer images.
The Museum of
Dead, Gone and Obsolete Computers
Museum, links and history of computing.
The Microsoft
Museum
Microsoft's online representation of the Microsoft Museum
Reference:
Encyclopedias
IPDnet
Server Encyclopedia
Learn about the technology involved in servers.
Webopaedia
Online dictionary and search engine for computer and Internet technology.
- CMP's
TechWeb Encyclopedia
More than 13,000 definitions of computer terms and concepts.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Logic Technology
Includes theoretical material, an index to currently available technology, and a survey of applications.
Acronyms
The WorldWideWeb Acronym and Abbreviation Server
Search for acronyms.
Acronym Finder
Searchable database of abbreviations and acronyms about all subjects, with a focus on computers, technology, telecommunications, and the military.
Acronyms & Smilies
Acronyms and Smilies used in chat rooms.
Acronyms Used in the Computer Community
Large database of acronyms even in other languages.
BABEL
A glossary of computer related abbreviations and acronyms.
Shano's Chat Acronym Database
Submit your own acronyms.
SHS (Secret Hackers Society) Acronym 1.01 for the Web
Listing that includes hacking groups, computers, electronics, government, and telecommunications.
Dictionaries
FOLDOC
Free online dictionary of computing.
Dictionary of Computer Language
A searchable dictionary of computing terms.
Hypertext Webster Gateway
Access various dictionary services on the Internet.
Net lingo
Internet language dictionary.
Computer Currents High-Tech Dictionary
Definitions to more than 7,000 high-tech terms.
Dictionary of PC Hardware and Data Comm. Terms
Provides complete descriptions of complex terms pertaining to computer development, personal computers and networks.
Kadows' Internet Dictionary
Online Dictionary.
Glossaries
Digital Domain Glossary
Glossary of computer terms.
Glossary of Internet Terms
Glossary of Internet related terms.
Interactive Connections
Searchable database of internet and computer terms.
The Marketing Manager's Plain English Internet Glossary:
Web and Web design terms from the marketing manager's point of view.
Glossary of PC & Internet Terminology
Definitions of terms & acronyms used for personal computing & the internet.
Web Words
Definitions of commonly used Internet terms.
whatis.com
Cross-referenced internet glossary with links to related sites. A word oriented view of the web.
U-Geek
Searchable technical glossary.
Future
IBM Research
Technical Disciplines--Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics,
MSN Computing Central
Forums, newsgroups, downloads, also, research and purchase computer products.
Dell Research and Development
Articles on emerging technologies, hot topics in the industry, and new products in Vectors white papers and articles written by Dell.
Developer Technologies
Source for MicroElectroMechanical systems information and discussion.
Intel Industry Initiatives
Evolution of new computing technologies.
Intel Developer Technologies
Technologies for advanced computer Platforms.
IntelŪ Developer Update Magazine
A magazine for software and hardware developers.
Trends -- ZDNet PC Magazine
Links to computer related articles.
World of Science Seminars 2000
Lectures given by members of technical staff at Bell Laboratories. Sponsored by the Murray Hill Science Education Club.
Chip Improvement
Lucent Technology's chart of exponential improvements of the chip.
How Computers Will Affect Chess World
Author's views about the future of Computer Chess
Projections
Predictions about CMOS.
Upgrades & Updates
Upgrade Guide
ZDNet's "How Do I?" Upgrade links.
TipZone
ZDNet's Help & How To upgrades.
Information Age People, Information & Technology
Photographs are from the exhibition, Information Age: People, Information & Technology in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.
Hardware Upgrade Guide
Upgrading a mother board.
System Optimization PC Hardware and Performance Guide!
System operation guide.
Tom's Hardware Guide
Source for PC Hardware information.
Electronic Components Update
Semiconductor products technology updates.
HP Labs - Technical Reports Index
Search for abstracts of HP Labs Technical Reports.
Microsoft Driver and Hardware Development
Download upgrades.
Misc
HP Labs
Hewlett-Packard Laboratories.
How Stuff Works
Links to article about how different things work.
MEMS Clearinghouse
MicroElectroMechanical systems information and discussion.
Computing-Science - The Mining Co.
About-links to computing and technology sites.