Julfha Mae C.

Ponce
SPJ10(AMP)-Elysium

History of PC Hardwares

We all use personal computers, and we all take them for granted in our everyday lives. It’s easy to
forget that PCs have only been around for a couple of decades, and initially were nowhere near the
powerhouses we have on our desks today.

The First Computer Mouse

The first computer mouse was invented in 1963 by Douglas Engelbart at the
Stanford Research Institute. (He is also one of the inventors of hypertext.) The
first mouse used two wheels positioned at a 90-degree angle to each other to
keep track of the movement (see picture below). The ball mouse wasn’t
invented until 1972, and the optical mouse was invented circa 1980, although it
didn’t come to popular use until much later.

Douglas Engelbart never received any royalties for his invention and his patent had run out by the
time the mouse became commonplace in the era of home PCs.

The First Portable Computer

A portable computer was a computer designed to be easily moved from one place to another and
that includes a keyboard and display. The IBM 5100 Portable Computer
was the first commercially sold portable, introduced in 1975 by Adam
Obserne. It held everything in the same unit, packing in a processor,
ROM (several hundreds of kilobytes) and RAM (16 – 64 KB), a five-
inch CRT display, keyboard, and a tape drive, which was an amazing
feat at the time. It also came with built-in BASIC and/or APL. The
different models of the IBM 5100 sold for $8,975 – $19,975.

Portable computers, by their nature, were generally microcomputers.

Larger portable computers were commonly known as 'Lunchbox' or
'Luggable' computers. They were also called a 'Portable Workstation' or
'Portable PC'.

The First Laptop Computer

The first laptop computer (or notebook) was the Grid Compass 1100
(called the GRiD) and was designed in 1979 by a British industrial
designer, Bill Moggridge. The computer didn’t start selling until
1982, then featuring a 320×200 screen, an Intel 8086
processor, 340KB of magnetic bubble memory (a now
obsolete, non-volatile memory type), and a 1200 bps modem.
It weighed 5 kg (11 lbs) and cost $8,000 –$10,000. The GRiD
was mainly used by NASA and the US military.
The First RAM

Arguably the first (writable) random access memory was Magnetic Core
Memory (also called Ferrite-Core Memory) and was invented in 1951 as a
result of work done by An Wang at Harvard University’s Computation Lab
and Jay Forrester at MIT.

Core memory was a family of related technologies that used the magnetic
properties of materials to give them a similar functionality to transistors.
They stored their information using the polarity of tiny, magnetic ceramic rings with wires threaded
through them. Unlike today’s RAM, core memory could keep its information even after the power
was turned off.

Core memory was common until it was replaced by integrated silicon RAM chips in the 1970s. The
“core” in core memory is why a memory dump is called a “core dump” even today.

The First Hard Disk Drive

The IBM Model 350 Disk File was the first hard disk drive and was part of the IBM 305 RAMAC
(Random Access Method of Accounting and Control) computer that IBM
started delivering in 1956 (mainly intended for business accounting). It had 50
24-inch discs that together could store about 4.4MB of data.

The first hard drive was invented by the IBM Company Engineers.

The Model 350 spun at 1200 rpm, had a data transfer rate of 8,800 characters
per second and an access time of approximately one second.

The First Laser Printer

The laser printer was invented by Gary Starkweather at XEROX in 1969. His initial prototype was a
modified laser copier where he had disabled the
imaging system and introduced a spinning drum with
eight mirrored sides. The first commercial
implementation of a laser printer didn’t happen until
IBM released the IBM model 3800 in 1976. It could
pretty much fill up a room on its own and had a speed
of 20,000 lines per minute. This machine was mainly
used for high-volume documents (for example,
preparing bank statements).
The First Web Server

And since the Web is such an integral part of today’s computer

experience, we couldn’t help but include another first; the first web
server was a NeXT workstation that Tim Berners-Lee used when he
invented the World Wide Web at CERN. The first web page was put
online on August 6, 1991.

The computer had a note on it that said, “This machine is a server.

DO NOT POWER IT DOWN!!” Understandable, considering that if
you had shut it down in the early days you would have shut down
the entire WWW.

The First IBM PC

The IBM Personal Computer was introduced in 1981 as the IBM 5150. The platform became so
pervasive in the 80s that although the term “personal computer” had been in use since the early 70s,
a PC became synonymous with an IBM PC-compatible computer.

During its development, the IBM 5150 had been internally referred to as “Project
Chess” and was created by a team of 12 people headed by Don Estridge and
Larry Potter. To speed up development and cut costs, IBM had decided to
use off-the-shelf parts, something they normally wouldn’t do.

The first IBM PC had an Intel 8088 processor, 64KB of RAM (extendible
to 256KB), a floppy disk drive (which could be used to boot the computer with a
rebranded version of MS-DOS (PC-DOS)), and a CGA or monochrome video card. The
machine also had a version of Microsoft BASIC in ROM. On the first IBM PC, the optional 10MB
hard disk drive could only be installed if the original power supply was replaced (the original one
was too weak).

The First Apple Computer

The first Apple personal computers (Apple I) were designed and hand-built
by Steve Wozniak. The Apple I went on sale in 1976 for the price of
$666.66. Only about 200 units were produced. The Apple I was
basically just a motherboard with a processor, a total of 8KB of RAM,
a display interface, and some additional functionality. To have a
working computer, the buyer would have to add a power supply, a
keyboard, and a display (and a case to keep mount it all in).

In 2018, Apple claimed to be the first trillion-dollar company.

Julfha Mae C. Ponce
SPJ10(AMP)-Elysium

Components of a Computer

Motherboard

The motherboard is an important computer component because it's what

everything else connects to! The motherboard is a decently sized circuit board
that lets other components communicate. A motherboard has ports that face
outside a PC's case, so you can charge your computer, plug in a monitor, or
connect a mouse.

The first computer motherboard was invented by IBM Company.

Power Supply

True to its name, the power supply powers all other

components of the machine. It usually plugs into the
motherboard to power the other parts. The power supply
connects to either an internal battery (on a laptop) or a plug
for an outlet (on a desktop).

Random-access Memory (RAM)

RAM is temporary memory. Whenever you open up a Microsoft Word window, your
computer places it in RAM, and when you close the window, that RAM is freed.
Since RAM is volatile, its contents are lost if the machine loses power.
This is why you lose a Word document when the power goes out if you didn't
save it.

The more RAM you have, the more programs you can run at once. A common cause of slow
computers is a lack of sufficient RAM.

The first RAM was created by Robert Dennard.

Hard Disk Drive

Since RAM is temporary, your computer needs a place to store data

permanently. That's where the hard drive comes in. The traditional hard
drive consists of several spinning platters with an arm that physically
writes data to the disk. However, this drives are slow the and are starting to be
replaced by the faster solid-state drives.

Solid-state drives consist of flash memory, like your smart-phones or flash

drive. They are much faster than traditional hard disk drives, though cost
more for the increased efficiency. Both types of hard drives come in various
sizes to suit different needs.

The first hard drive was created by an IBM Company team led by Reynold Johnson.
Central Processing Unit (CPU)

A CPU, sometimes referred to as computer's brain, is the workhorse of the

machine. It performs the calculation needed by a system and can carry
vary in speed. The work that the CPU does generates heat which is why
your computer has a fan inside. A more powerful CPU is necessary for
intense computer work like anything high definition video or
programming complex software.

The first CPU was created by Federico Faggin.

Video Card

A video card is a dedicated unit for handling the output of images to a

display. Video cards have their own dedicated RAM for
performing this functions. A high-end video card is required
to process extremely intense visual functions, such as
computer drafting by engineers. Like many components,
many types of video cards are available with varying power and
prices.

The first video card was popularized by Nvidia.

Optical Drives

The less common than they used to be, many machines still have an optical
drive for reading CDs and DVDs. This can be used to listen to music or watch
movies, please information onto a blank disc, install software from a disc.
Since most software nowadays is installed from the internet instead
of using discs, these aren't as important as they once were, especially
on laptop.

The first optical drive was created by James Russell.

Keyboard

The history of the modern computer keyboard begins with a direct inheritance from the invention of
the typewriter. It was Christopher Latham Sholes who, in 1868, patented the first practical modern
typewriter.

Soon after, the Remington Company began mass marketing

the first typewriters starting in 1877. After a series of
technological developments, the typewriter gradually evolved
into the computer keyboard your fingers know so well today.

A computer keyboard is a typewriter-style device which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys to

act as mechanical levers or electronic switches. Following the decline of punch cards and paper
tape, interaction via teleprinter-style keyboards became the main input method for computers.
Mouse

The mouse is another important tool for communicating with computers. Commonly known as a
pointing device, it lets you point to objects on the screen, click on them, and
move them.

There are two main mouse types: optical and mechanical. The optical
mouse uses an electronic eye to detect movement and is easier to clean. The
mechanical mouse uses a rolling ball to detect movement and requires
regular cleaning to work properly.

The computer mouse was invented by Douglas Engelbart during 1970.

Touchpad

Touchpad is a touch-sensitive pad that lets you control the pointer by making a
drawing motion with your finger. Touch Pads are common and laptop computers.

The touchpad was manufactured by Hewlett-Packard.

Monitor

The monitor works with a video card located inside the computer case to
display images and text on the screen. Most monitors have control buttons that
allow you to change your monitors display settings, and some monitors have
built-in speakers.

Newer monitors usually have LCD or LED displays. This can be made very
thin and they are often called flat panel displays.

According to some research, computer monitors were possible due to a German

scientist named Karl Ferdinand Braun.

Computer Case

The computer case is the metal and plastic box that contains the main components of
the computer including the motherboard, CPU ,and power supply. The front of the case usually has
an on/off button and one or more optical drives.
PAPAAAAAAA!!!

HAPPY FATHER'S
DAY!!!