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- te27 37 DEFAULT
- I.C.s can do many things. Some
- are R.O.M. chips. These are Read
- Only Memory. Memory of this
- sort is like a newspaper. You
- can read it as often as you
- like, but you can't change the
- news.
- Others are R.A.M. chips. RAM
- stands for Random Access Memory.
- These chips can be told
- something and will remember it.
- If you tell them something
- different, they will then
- remember the new information.
- They only work when the power is
- on. If you turn the computer
- off, the RAM chips forget
- everything.
-
- ~
- te320 37 DEFAULT
- Other chips are decision-
- makers. Their individual thinking
- power is limited, but they team up
- to control the operation of your
- computer.
- There is one special I.C. chip
- called the C.P.U., which stands for
- Central Processing Unit. It is often
- the largest bug in the box, with the
- most legs. Almost every bit of
- information the computer handles
- is controlled by this chip. Intel
- is the most famous manufacturer of
- CPUs for IBM-compatible computers.
- In PC-class machines the Intel CPU
- model number is 8088. In XT com-
- puters it is 8088-2. In AT-class
- machines it is 80286, in '386'
- computers it is number 80386 and in
- '486s'... you guessed it. (80486)
- ~
-