(Titles in red are illustrations)

The History of Computer Hardware

    Key Concepts

1. Getting to Know the Hardware

    How Circuit Boards Work

    How the Power-On Self-Test Works

2. How a Disk Boot Works

3. How an Operating System Controls Hardware

    How the BIOS and Drivers Work

    How Plug and Play Works

    How Data Travels Along the Bus

    Key Concepts

4. How Programming Languages Work

    The Flow of a Program

     How Software Interpreters Work

    How Windows Multitasks

    How Windows Shares Program Code

    How Windows Shares Data

    Object Linking and Embedding (OLE)

    Fixed-Length Field Records

    Variable-Length Field Records

    How a Database Stores Records

    How Relational Databases Work

    How Spreadsheet Formulas Work

    How Bitmapped Graphics Work

    How Vector Graphics Work

    How Word Processors Format Text

    How Computer Viruses Work

    How Antivirus Software Works

    Key Concepts

7. How a Transistor Works

    Writing Data to RAM

    How a Pentium Chip Works

    How MMX Works

    How the Pentium 4 Works

    How the AMD Athlon Processor Works

    How Electromagnetism Works

    Writing and Reading Bits on a Disk

    Formatting a Disk

    Writing a File to Disk

    Read a File from Disk

    How a Fixed Disk Drive Works TAKE A LOOK!

12. How Disk Drives Increase Speed and Storage

    How File Compression Works

    How Disk Defragging Works

13. How Optical Storage Works

    How a Recordable CD (CD-R) Works

    How a DVD Works

    How CD-RW and DVD-RAM Work

    How a Removable Hard Drive Works

    Quarter-Inch Cartridge (!QIC) Tape Backup Drive

    Key Concepts

    How Scanners and Digital Cameras See TAKE A LOOK!

    How an Uninterruptible Power Supply Works

    How Surge Protectors Work

    How a PCI Local Bus Works

    How an Accelerated Graphics Port Works

17. How Computer Ports Work

    How a Serial Port Works

    How the Universal Serial Bus Works

    How IDE Connections Work

    How SCSI Works

18. How a Keyboard Works

    How an LCD Screen Works

    How Digital Light Processing Works  TAKE A LOOK!

20. How Pointing Devices Work

    How a Touchpad Works

    How a Pointing Stick Works

    How Force-Feedback Joysticks Work

23. How Scanners and Character Recognition Work

    How Optical Character Recognition Works

    How a PC Card Works

    How Palm PCs Work

    How Fingerprint Recognition Works

    How Speed Recognition Works

    Key Concepts

    How MIDI and FM Synthesis Work

    How Digital Sound Works

    How 3D Audio Works

    How MP3 Music Works

27. How Multimedia Video Works

    How Multimedia Video Works

28. How Virtual Reality Works

    How 3D Graphics Work

    How 3D Characters Work

    How the 3D Video Card Works

    Key Concepts

29. How Local Area Networks Work

    How Servers, Clients and Peer-to-Peer Work

    How an Ethernet Network Works

    How Napster and Gnutello Work

    How Phone and Power Line LANS Work

    How Data Travels the Internet

    How a DSL Connection Works TAKE A LOOK!

    How Cable Modems Work

31. How Wireless Works

    Analog Versus Digital

    How Wireless Internet Works  TAKE A LOOK!

    How Bluetooth Works

    How Streaming Video Works

34. How the World Wide Web Works

    How a Web Search Engine Works

    How Internet Security Works

    How Internet Cookies Work

35. How Basic Printing Works

    Outline Fonts

    How an Impact Printer Works

    How a Laser Printer Works

    How a Color Ink-Jet Printer Works

    How a Solid-Ink Color Printer Works

Index