Mr. Ford’s Guide to the A+ Certification Exam: How to be a computer technician

General Motherboard

All computer components, whether internal or external, must attach to the motherboard either directly or indirectly. If the CPU is the “brains” of the computer, then the motherboard is the backbone, connecting all the components together.

Within the backbone of animals is a collection of nerves which send signals all along the body. In the computer world, the motherboard is also full of nerves. These nerves are actually wires that transmit electricity. We call these nerves “traces”. These traces/wires are built into the printed circuit boards (PCBs). If you look at RAM sticks or expansion cards, you will see that they are also printed onto PCBs.

A PCB

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In the previous posting we took a look at the system resources that made up the System Resources. In this posting we take a look at past, present and future bus technologies.

Ancient Technologies

In the beginning IBM needed to cobble together a personal computer. They did not have the time to create a computer from the ground up. Instead they took a great deal of existing technologies and incorporated them into the very first PC. Read the rest of this entry »

Author’s Note: I am breaking this blog posting into two parts. The first part is about System Recourse. The second part is about the types of Expansion Buses.

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In the old days of computers the only way to get video, sound or anything else we take for granted in today’s computers required a trip to the computer store. You would have to purchase an expansion card and add it to your computer.

Mr. Ford’s Rambling:

When I was at USF (Tampa), back in the early 90’s we had a suite mate in our dorms (Iota Hall) that had a computer. He bought some type of Mech video game. Later in the semester he went to the computer store and bought a sound card. Once he had the card installed he went back to the software store to buy the expansion pack for the game that added sound. The game did not original come with sound because sound cards were not on the typical system. Sadly, he also did nothing but play video games in his dorm room, so he had to go away the following semester.

When I bought my first computer (the 486) I had to buy an expansion card so I could install a serial mouse. I also had to buy a video card, a sound card, and a modem. My computer only came with a keyboard interface (the old DIN connection) and cost around $2,500.

What does any of this have to do with our topic?

When IBM put together the first PC back in the 80’s they knew that they needed to create in their computers, the ability to add features. This goal was accomplished by the concept of expansion buses.

Expansion Buses are places in the motherboard were the user could install Expansion Cards that add functionality (more bells and whistles) to their computer. Some of the more common expansion cards are sound cards, video cards, network interface cards, etc…

Before we get into the different types of expansion buses, we need to take a quick look at System Resources.

System Resources

In the world of the computer, the CPU acts like a brain. In the computer the CPU and all components must have a way to talk to each other. This method of communication is collectively known as System Resources.

There are four separate methods of communication, each with their own purpose, and job.

The four methods:

• IRQs
• I/O Addresses
• DMA Channels
• Memory Addresses

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Mendel wants to know what to study in order to prepare for the A+ certification exam.

This is an excellent question and one that many of you have asked out there. First let me get my biases out there, so you can take what I say with a grain of salt.  In the last four years my high school students have had one of the highest, if not the highest pass rate in Texas.  We used the Total Seminars Mike Meyers’ All in One A+ Certification book, the LearnKey Mike Meyers A+ videos and the Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ Practice Exams.  After four years of teaching high school kids I now work for Mike and Total Seminars, so I will naturally push the Total Seminars products, but I also would not work for them if I did not believe in their products.

There are three types of people who prepare for the A+ exam: 1) The neophyte, they know close to nothing about how a computer works, 2) The advanced user, these people have replaced components in their computer and can basically keep their computer up and running, 3) The expert, these folks work on computers on a regular basis, they know how to fix computers and they just need a piece of paper to show to the rest of the world they know what they are doing.

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One of the things that I hope I bring to computer training is the ability to explain in everyday English the working of a computer. When I explain how computers or technology work, I always imagine how I would explain things to my mom.

This week in anticipation of my upcoming graduation (4 days and counting) my mom and dad flew in from Venice, Florida to stay with my family. The other day we went to Fry’s Electronics in Houston to look around.

PS: I had fun writing this post, not my usually style, but entertaining and education nevertheless I hope. Enjoy.

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This is me and my mom

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