|
SuperIO
Super I/O (sometimes Multi-IO) is a class of Input/output, I/O controller integrated circuits that began to be used on personal computer motherboards in the late 1980s, originally as Expansion card, add-in cards, later embedded on the motherboards. A super I/O chip combines interfaces for a variety of low-Bandwidth (computing), bandwidth devices. Now it is mostly merged with Embedded controller, EC. Functions The functions below are usually provided by the super I/O if they are on the motherboard: * A floppy-disk controller * An IEEE 1284-compatible parallel port (commonly used for Computer printer, printers) * One or more 16550 UART, 16C550-compatible serial port Universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter, UARTs * Keyboard controller (computing), Keyboard controller for PS/2 port, PS/2 Computer keyboard, keyboard and/or Mouse (computing), mouse Most Super I/O chips include some additional low-speed devices, such as: * Temperature, voltage, and fan speed interface * Connect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Motherboard Diagram
A motherboard, also called a mainboard, a system board, a logic board, and informally a mobo (see #Nomenclature, "Nomenclature" section), is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expandable systems. It holds and allows communication between many of the crucial electronic components of a system, such as the central processing unit (CPU) and computer memory, memory, and provides connectors for other peripherals. Unlike a backplane, a motherboard usually contains significant sub-systems, such as the CPU, the chipset's input/output and Memory controller, memory controllers, interface (computing), interface connectors, and other components integrated for general use. Nomenclature ''Oxford English Dictionary'' traces the origin of the word ''motherboard'' to 1965, its earliest-found attestation occurring in the magazine ''Electronics (magazine), Electronics''. The term alludes to its importance and size compared to the components attached to i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keyboard Controller (computing)
In computing, a keyboard controller is a device that interfaces a keyboard (computing), keyboard to a computer. Its main function is to inform the computer when a computer keyboard keys, key is pressed or released. When data from the keyboard arrives, the controller raises an interrupt (a ''keyboard interrupt'') to allow the CPU to handle the input. If a keyboard is a separate computer peripheral, peripheral system unit (such as in most modern desktop computers), the keyboard controller is not directly attached to the keys, but receives scancodes from a microcontroller embedded in the keyboard via some kind of serial interface. In this case, the controller usually also controls the keyboard's LEDs by sending data back to keyboard through the wire. The IBM PC AT used an Intel 8042 chip to interface to the keyboard. This chip had two additional functions: it controlled access to the Intel 80286 CPU's A20 line in order to implement a workaround for a chip bug, and it was used to in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Consumer IR
Consumer IR, consumer infrared, or CIR is a class of devices employing the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum for wireless communications. CIR ports are commonly found in consumer electronics devices such as television remote controls, PDAs, laptops, computers, and video game controllers. The functionality of CIR is as broad as the consumer electronics that carry it. For instance, a television remote control can convey a "channel up" command to the television, while a computer might be able to surf the internet solely via CIR. The type, speed, bandwidth, and power of the transmitted information depends on the particular CIR protocol employed. CIR is the most common type of free-space optical communication. Protocol description Since the consumer IR protocols are for the most part not standardized, computers and universal remotes often memorize a bit stream, possibly with compression and possibly without determining the actual bit rate, and play it back. Similar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Watchdog Timer
A watchdog timer (WDT, or simply a ''watchdog''), sometimes called a ''computer operating properly timer'' (''COP timer''), is an electronic or software timer that is used to detect and recover from computer malfunctions. Watchdog timers are widely used in computers to facilitate automatic correction of temporary hardware faults, and to prevent errant or malevolent software from disrupting system operation. During normal operation, the computer regularly restarts the watchdog timer to prevent it from elapsing, or ''timeout (computing), timing out''. If, due to a hardware fault or program error, the computer fails to restart the watchdog, the timer will elapse and generate a timeout signal. The timeout signal is used to initiate corrective actions. The corrective actions typically include placing the computer and associated hardware in a safe state and invoking a computer reboot. Microcontrollers often include an integrated, on-chip watchdog. In other computers the watchdog may re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Device Driver
In the context of an operating system, a device driver is a computer program that operates or controls a particular type of device that is attached to a computer or automaton. A driver provides a software interface to hardware devices, enabling operating systems and other computer programs to access hardware functions without needing to know precise details about the hardware being used. A driver communicates with the device through the computer bus or communications subsystem to which the hardware connects. When a calling program invokes a routine in the driver, the driver issues commands to the device (drives it). Once the device sends data back to the driver, the driver may invoke routines in the original calling program. Drivers are hardware dependent and operating-system-specific. They usually provide the interrupt handling required for any necessary asynchronous time-dependent hardware interface. Purpose The main purpose of device drivers is to provide abstraction b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Windows XP
Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct successor to Windows 2000 for high-end and business users and Windows Me for home users. Development of Windows XP began in the late 1990s under the codename "Windows Neptune, Neptune", built on the Architecture of Windows NT#Kernel, Windows NT kernel and explicitly intended for mainstream consumer use. An updated version of Windows 2000 was also initially planned for the business market. However, in January 2000, both projects were scrapped in favor of a single OS codenamed "Whistler", which would serve as a single platform for both consumer and business markets. As a result, Windows XP is the first consumer edition of Windows not based on the Windows 95 kernel or MS-DOS. Upon its release, Windows XP received critical acclaim, noting increased performance and stability (especially compared to Wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Game Port
The game port is a device port that was found on IBM PC compatible and other computer systems throughout the 1980s and 1990s. It was the traditional connector for joystick input, and occasionally MIDI devices, until made obsolete by USB in the late 1990s. Originally located on a dedicated Game Control Adapter expansion card, the game port was later integrated with PC sound cards, and still later on the PC's motherboard. During the transition to USB, many input devices used the game port and a USB adapter dongle was included for systems without a game port. History Pre-IBM game ports At the time IBM was developing its game port, there was no industry standard for controller ports, although the Atari joystick port was close. It was introduced in 1977 with the Atari Video Computer System, and was later used on the VIC-20 (1980), Commodore 64 (1982), and Amstrad's PC1512 (1986). In contrast with the IBM design, the Atari port was primarily designed for digital inputs (includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Infrared Data Association
IrDA is a wireless standard designed for exchanging data using infrared (IR). Infrared ports for this purpose have been implemented in portable electronic devices such as mobile telephones, laptops, cameras, printers, and medical devices. The main characteristics of this kind of wireless optical communication are physically secure bidirectional data transfer, line-of-sight and very low bit error rate, using point-and-shoot principles. IrDA has been made dormant by newer improved technologies like Bluetooth. History and usage The protocols and specifications of the standard were developed by the Infrared Data Association (abbreviated IrDA, giving the name to the standard itself), an industry-driven interest group that was founded in 1994 by around 50 companies. IrDA was popular on PDAs, laptops and some desktops from the late 1990s through the early 2000s. However, it has been displaced by other wireless technologies such as Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi, favored because they don't ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Fan Control
Fan control is the management of the rotational speed of an electric fan. In computers, various types of computer fans are used to provide adequate cooling, and different fan control mechanisms balance their cooling capacities and noise they generate. This is commonly accomplished by the motherboards having hardware monitoring circuitry, which can be configured by the end-user through BIOS or other software to perform fan control. Need for fan control As modern PCs grow more powerful so do their requirements for electrical power. Computers emit this electrical power as heat generated by all major components. Heat production varies with system load, where periods of compute-intensive activity generate much more heat than the idle time does. Processors in most early x86-based computers, up to some of the early 486s, did not need active ventilation. Power supplies needed forced cooling, and power supply fans also circulated cooling air through the rest of the PC with the ATX ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pulse-width Modulation
Pulse-width modulation (PWM), also known as pulse-duration modulation (PDM) or pulse-length modulation (PLM), is any method of representing a signal as a rectangular wave with a varying duty cycle (and for some methods also a varying period). PWM is useful for controlling the average power or amplitude delivered by an electrical signal. The average value of voltage (and current) fed to the load is controlled by switching the supply between 0 and 100% at a rate faster than it takes the load to change significantly. The longer the switch is on, the higher the total power supplied to the load. Along with maximum power point tracking (MPPT), it is one of the primary methods of controlling the output of solar panels to that which can be utilized by a battery. PWM is particularly suited for running inertial loads such as motors, which are not as easily affected by this discrete switching. The goal of PWM is to control a load; however, the PWM switching frequency must be sele ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Voltage Regulator Module
A voltage regulator module (VRM), sometimes called processor power module (PPM), is a buck converter that provides the microprocessor and chipset the appropriate supply voltage, converting , or to lower voltages required by the devices, allowing devices with different supply voltages be mounted on the same motherboard. On personal computer (PC) systems, the VRM is typically made up of power MOSFET devices. Overview Most voltage regulator module implementations are soldered onto the motherboard. Some processors, such as Intel Haswell and Ice Lake CPUs, feature some voltage regulation components on the same CPU package, reduce the VRM design of the motherboard; such a design brings certain levels of simplification to complex voltage regulation involving numerous CPU supply voltages and dynamic powering up and down of various areas of a CPU. A voltage regulator integrated on-package or on-die is usually referred to as ''fully integrated voltage regulator'' (''FIVR'') or si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SMBus
The System Management Bus (SMBus or SMB) is a single-ended simple two-wire bus for the purpose of lightweight communication. Most commonly it is found in chipsets of computer motherboards for communication with the power source for ON/OFF instructions. The exact functionality and hardware interfaces vary with vendors. It is derived from I²C for communication with low-bandwidth devices on a motherboard, especially power related chips such as a laptop's rechargeable battery subsystem (see Smart Battery System and ACPI). Other devices might include external master hosts, temperature sensor, fan or voltage sensors, lid switches, clock generator, and RGB lighting. Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) add-in cards may connect to an SMBus segment. A device can provide manufacturer information, indicate its model/part number, save its state for a suspend event, report different types of errors, accept control parameters, return status over SMBus, and poll chipset registers. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
