Hardware Trivia

1. The QWERTY keyboard has basically been in use since the late 1870s. How could you tell that the keyboard in front of you uses the QWERTY layout?

From Quiz Let's Talk QWERTY

Answer: The first 6 letter keys on the top row spell QWERTY

Christopher Latham Sholes (1819-1890) is credited with the development of the first commercially successful typewriter which was sold to E. Remington and Sons in 1873. The QWERTY layout was first produced on a Remington No. 1 in 1873. The Remington No. 2 (1878) also used a QWERTY layout, but it had the ability to print both upper and lower case letters using a shift key. There are many theories about how the layout came to be, but my favorite is that Remington wanted the top row to spell "type writer".

From Quiz The Trusty Computer Keyboard

Answer: QWERTY

The QWERTY format was developed by Christopher Sholes in 1867. Sholes was a newspaper editor and printer living in Milwaukee. He worked on a patent for an early writing machine and found that the QWERTY pattern of letters made it much easier to type quickly and with fewer errors.

From Quiz Let's Talk About Specs

Answer: Independent processor execution units

Modern computer processors almost universally have multiple cores - each core is effectively a separate processor that can execute one task. Most office computers have four cores while higher-powered machines usually feature six or eight. Top of the line processors can have up to sixteen cores, but usually the benefit of more than eight cores for gaming and video editing - the two most calculation-intensive tasks typically performed by a personal computer - is not that high, because at this level, graphics performance tends to be the limiting factor. In addition to having multiple cores, most 2020s processors feature hyperthreading - a mechanism that allows each core to keep all the necessary data for two separate tasks and keep executing one of them while the other needs to wait for a memory access or other slow task. As fast processors tend to wait a lot, this actually can provide almost as much of a boost as having additional physical cores.

From Quiz Computer Memory

Answer: ROM

ROM stands for read-only memory because it cannot be changed or requires special operations to make changes to it. This type of memory storage is permanent and non-volatile, meaning that it is not deleted or lost when the computer shuts off. Once you start your computer, it accesses the ROM to start running BIOS (basic input/output system).

From Quiz Hard Drive Basics

Answer: IBM

The first commercial hard disks were used on an IBM 305 RAMAC. These original drives were large and usually mounted in a stand-alone rack with special power and cooling. Through the years the physical size of the drives has decreased, but the capacity has continued to grow.

From Quiz Paint By Numbers

Answer: Pixels

A pixel is one of the ways of measuring the resolution of a picture. When a picture that is two inches high has few pixels, it will look like a bunch of coloured squares. When the same two-inch picture has more and more pixels, it will look more and more defined until you realize, "YAY! I have a picture of a kitty!" Beware of having too high a resolution, as it can slow down your computer's processes.

From Quiz Computer components and PC building

Answer: The case

The process of building a computer by yourself requires some patience and skill, but can be quite rewarding and you will be able to buy exactly the components you want. Before starting to actually build anything, read all the instructions that come with the components and make sure everything is complete and looks undamaged. Then, begin by laying out the case and removing all covers - you will be happy you did once you start installing components and don't have to leave anything sensitive lying around unprotected while struggling with an uncooperative screw.

From Quiz The Central Processing Unit

Answer: Silicon

The basis of any computer chip, including the processor, is a semiconductor - made of one of a small family of chemical elements. This material is purified to an extreme degree and then the structures of the chip are created on it. Today, nearly all chips are made of silicon with a small number of specialized devices made of germanium. However, processors are not among the latter category. The prevalence of silicon as the base material for electronics has led to the name "Silicon Valley" for the southern San Francisco Bay Area where a large number of computer and software companies have their headquarters.

From Quiz Quiet As a Mouse

Answer: Stanford Research Institute

The term "mouse" was first used by the Stanford Research Institute to describe a computer tool. This term came from the fact that early mouse models had a cord (or tail) extending from the rear of the device. This suggested a mouse-like look.

From Quiz Motherboards

Answer: 12 inches

'A motherboard is the physical arrangement in a computer that contains the computer's basic circuitry and components. On the typical motherboard, the circuitry is imprinted or affixed to the surface of a firm planar surface and usually manufactured in a single step.' - from www.whatis.com. Usually, on a typical motherboard you could find the following parts: CPU, BIOS, serial and parallel ports, expansion slots, and controllers for keyboard, mouse, and disk drives.

From Quiz Printer Operations and Components

Answer: Cleaning

The cleaning process removes left-over toner and erases the drum.

From Quiz Let's Talk QWERTY

Answer: Dvorak

The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard is only one of the many different layouts that have been developed through the years. Dvorak's system was tested against the QWERTY layout, but even today folks don't agree on the results. Many operating systems now provide the option of configuring your system to utilize the Dvorak layout. This is between you and your keyboard, try it out if you're interested.

From Quiz Let's Talk About Specs

Answer: Processors can maintain high speeds only very briefly

Modern processors have several nominal clock speeds - one for sustained load on multiple cores, a higher one for sustained load on a single core and finally a turbo speed that allows for a few seconds of extreme performance but cannot be maintained for a long time. Turbo speed can be very important for specialized tasks that need maximum responsiveness, but in most cases, the sustained speeds are far more important. It is also important to realize that a processor will not run at full speed unless there is actually enough load to require it. Each core can have its own speed so that, during a complex calculation, maybe four of six cores run at their nominal speed to churn out results while the other two will run less intensive tasks at half speed or less.

From Quiz Paint By Numbers

Answer: Three

The three colours are red, green and blue: the basics of the spectrum of light. Any colour visible to the human eye can be made my adding different amounts of each of the three colours. The key to making graphics is discovering the CORRECT amounts.

From Quiz Computer components and PC building

Answer: The power supply

Many cases come with a pre-installed power supply, but you should be sure to study tests and reports since case vendors often install cheaper devices that waste energy and do not deal well with inevitable small fluctuations of mains power. If the case of your choice comes with a noisy or inefficient power supply, try getting it without one. Also, when selecting a power supply, make sure it is strong enough to power all components, but do not overshoot - a 400 watts supply working at 80% is much more energy efficient than an 800 watts one working at 40%. At this point, I also have a warning for you: Do not EVER open a power supply! Even after disconnecting it from the mains, several components still hold high voltage charges and can continue to do so for several hours. These charges are strong enough to give you dangerous electric shocks.

From Quiz Quiet As a Mouse

Answer: Xerox Star 1981

The Xerox Star 1981 was just one in a line of computers marketed by the 8010 Star Information System. Individual computers in this line usually sold for $16,000. Though only 25,000 unit were sold (the price was too high), many people today claim that the system was ingeniusly ahead of it's time.

From Quiz Peripheral Potpourri

Answer: Control Panel, Accessibility Options, Mouse

The mouse is normally used to control the movement of the cursor, or pointer, on the display monitor. However, it is possible to change your computer's settings to use the numeric keypad on your keyboard for this purpose. From the Control Panel, click Accessibility Options, then the Mouse tab. Check the 'Use MouseKeys' box, and then OK.

From Quiz Motherboards

Answer: Intel

'The form factor of the motherboard describes its general shape, what sorts of cases and power supplies it can use, and its physical organization.' - from www.pcguide.com. ATX form factor was invented in 1995 by Intel and by 1998 was the most popular choice in the new systems.

From Quiz Printer Operations and Components

Answer: Photosensitive drum is dirty

If the drum is not properly scraped clean in the cleaning phase, then specks or streaks will result.

From Quiz Hard Drive Basics

Answer: platters

Hard disks generally have a tower of platters mounted on a spindle. The platter is the "hard" surface that gave the hard disk its name, as opposed to "floppy" disks. The platter spin speed is measured in revolutions per minute or rpm.

From Quiz Computer components and PC building

Answer: The motherboard

Thinking of the motherboard as the spine of your computer is a very useful analogy for a non-technical person because it really fills the same functions as your spine does in your body. It connects the processor (the brain) to all other parts of the computer (the body), both mechanically and electrically. It also contains the needed electronics to make the processor's instructions understandable to those peripherals, just like the spinal cord further processes the brain's commands while relaying them to the limbs. When installing the motherboard, take care you are installing all the needed spacers and feet, but do not yet screw the board to the case as you will want to take it out again to install the processor. Also, make sure the rear connector cutout of the case (the flimsy metal covering) fits the layout of your board and if necessary, exchange it for the one supplied with your motherboard.

From Quiz The Central Processing Unit

Answer: The single processor chip contains two or four independent complete and equal processors

A core in the context of processor design is a complete CPU with all components. Multiple such complete processors can be put on a single chip. These processors share the same memory but are otherwise independent and thus cannot work the same program (the technically more correct term is thread instead of program - threads are independent sub-programs within a larger program). Thus, a machine with a dual core CPU will not be significantly faster while running a single CPU-intensive task like video encoding unless the program is specifically written to take the multiple CPUs into account and break down the work for them. However, you can give a computer such a CPU-intensive task and still continue using it for a second task like playing on FunTrivia without it getting any slower on that.

From Quiz Quiet As a Mouse

Answer: Douglas Engelbart

Douglas Engelbart, who worked for the Stanford Research Institute, invented a basic computer mouse in 1964. It was a bulky device with two perpendicular wheels. Engelbart patented the device in 1970 (US Patent 3541541).

From Quiz Peripheral Potpourri

Answer: how often the screen's image is redrawn

The refresh rate, or vertical frequency, determines how many times per second the screen is updated, or redrawn. If the rate is 75Hz, the screen is being drawn 75 times per second. The higher the refresh rate, the less flicker you see on your monitor. Your video card must be able to support whatever setting you change the monitor to.

From Quiz Motherboards

Answer: ATX started to use 20 - pin connectors rather than 6 - pin connectors

The other differences between AT and ATX are that in ATX there is an integrated PS2 mouse connector, better power supply connector, 3.3V power support, and better air flow.

From Quiz Printer Operations and Components

Answer: Centronics

The description is for a Centronics cable used in parallel printing.

From Quiz The Hard Stuff

Answer: Copper

Copper is most often used in telephone and network cabling. Kryptonite does not exist except in "Superman" comics, movies and TV shows.

From Quiz Let's Talk QWERTY

Answer: Press any key to continue...

Before graphical user interfaces, the text on the monitor would continue scrolling until the executing program paused. The DOS prompt "pause" displayed "Press any key to continue..." until the user pressed the appropriate key. For some this was intuitive, but for others problematical. Firstly, all keys didn't resume operation (e.g., Shift, Lock, etc.). Secondly, some folks thought there should actually be a key labeled "any".

From Quiz Computer Memory

Answer: Central processing unit (CPU)

The cache helps to make up for the lag between how long it takes memory to go from the memory modules to the CPU and how fast the CPU processes that data. Since it takes longer for the information to travel, the cache allows the CPU to access the information it uses most at a faster rate.

From Quiz Hard Drive Basics

Answer: sectors and tracks

The sectors and tracks provide the map for the drive and how the data will be stored and retrieved. The tracks are created in concentric circles from the outer to inner data area. The sectors divide the tracks into pie-shaped areas. The high-level format usually organizes the disk so that the OS (operating system) knows where to find data. The OS format is different for each, such as MS Windows, Linux, etc.

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Last Updated Apr 20 2024 5:45 AM

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