In the summary of the topics that the three videos that we’ve watched, we have been taught many things. Instruction of many of the computer’s components and operations have also been reviewed, as well as review of the maintenance of the computers. In the videos, we’ve learned of the interrupt request which is a communication channel from hardware device to CPU, causing the CPU to switch priorities from one task to anther during work. The I/O address wherein the CPU uses a particular address to send instructions to device and the device listens for the address as well as the communication between CPU and the hardware. The memory address, where each hardware device is assigned its own memory addresses and the CPU stores instructions in the memory.
Also, we’ve learned of Direct Memory Access where it allows direct communication channel between the device and the system memory that does not require the CPU and makes for faster communication speeds and use of the device manager, used to troubleshoot hardware and resolve resource conflicts in the system. We have also learned of the two main types of monitors on the market today, the Cathode Ray Tube monitor and the Liquid Crystal Display monitor. Liquid Crystal monitors use thin film transistors, also known as an active matrix to display images on the screen, whereas Cathode Ray monitors use tube as high electrical charges to display the images. LCD’s are designed to support a fixed resolution, called a native resolution they often come in flavors such as XGA – 1024 x 768, SXGA - 1280 x 1024, UXGA – 1600 x 1200 and WUXGA – 1920 x 1200. We’ve also learned of the contrast ratio, which is the ratio of purest white to purest black the monitor can produce, where the larger the ratio the better.