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If You Want to
Know More
You can use your computer without knowing what the various
components do, just as you can drive your car without knowing
what is under the hood. However, people who understand auto
mechanics usually reckon their knowledge is useful, particularly
when things go wrong.
Knowing how your computer’s hardware functions can be helpful
in the same way. This chapter gives you details of how your com-
puter works.
What Is a Computer?
Your computer consists of a number of components. Some of
these—like the display panel, keyboard, PC Card slots, serial ports
and parallel ports—you are already familiar with. Others are hid-
den away inside the case.
The hidden components are the processor, main memory and PCI
bus.
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