Today we moved into Chapters 3, 4, and 5 in the book, in what turned out to be a pretty enjoyable class time. We started out talking about Chapter 4 first, covering the shapes, and therefore the compatibility of, the various parts inside the computer. You’ll need to know the form factors of motherboards (mostly ATX, MicroATX and FlexATX boards) and need to know how to pick out a proper power supply for the computer that you’re running — make sure that you look for a power supply that can actually supply the amount of watts the sum of your computer components require and make sure that the power supply you select both fits your case and has the proper connections to properly power your components. For example, you’ll likely need a power supply that supports SATA connections if you’re using a computer hard drives or optical drives manufactured in the last 5 years or so. Also, make sure you keep track of how many pins your motherboard requires — you’re looking at either 20 pins or 24 pins. If you’re unsure, make sure you purchase a power supply with a 20/24 pin adapter.
We then talked about motherboards specifically, looking at the various parts on it. We discussed for example the socket for the processor, the integrated components, and the expansion slots.
Class finished up with discussion on customers and how to appropriately handle them. We talked about various do’s and don’ts and had some good laughs.
Homework:
- Read Chapters Six and Seven
- Homework #2 – available on http://class.benbedo.com