How it's all pieced together?

S

surf

New Member
So, I'm a newb. I just recently turned 15, I've done computers my whole life and I know how they operate on the theoretical side of things. I've done programming (Java and Python mainly, a bit of C++) for about 2 years now, and when the terms 'processor' and 'motherboard' etc. were thrown around I always just thought of them as theoretical objects that didn't really matter as it was all just taken care of for me. I want to change that.

I have a basic (I think?) understanding of how a computer is all played out. I know that the processor is obviously in charge of all of the different processes that play out on the computer, the graphics card is obviously in charge of projecting those pixels onto the monitor, the motherboard is the central point for all of the hardware parts to be fused and ran in correlation to one another, etc. But it's all pretty basic.

I guess I want to know the physics behind how it's done. How when the power is supplied to the PSU, how it all works I guess. How the electrons flow through the circuits to the motherboard in which..., etc etc.

Does anyone have any good links to any articles which cover this? Or perhaps does anyone mind briefly explaining how it's all done from when that switch is turned on and the power button is hit? As I've looked around and they're all pretty irrelevant to what I'm trying to find out.

In a way, I guess I kind of want to understand from the point of when the power button is hit. I do understand most semi-basic physics terms as I have studied physics in my own spare time because I've been interested, so I don't think that should be a major issue. I obviously know how resistance etc. works so yeah.

Any help for an idiot like myself? Thanks. :o
 
I'm 15 too, and I got most of my knowledge from a book on how to build your own computer. It didn't get quite as detailed as you are asking, but I'd really recommend THIS book.

Are you looking to build a computer or just learn about it? either way, building a computer is a VERY valuable experience.
 
One of the best books I've found for some foundational knowledge is Enhanced A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC. The only problem is, in technology terms, it's ancient. But it's got some really good information in its 1000+ pages.
 
Computer uses abstraction in all manners, the data you store and retrieve are actually electric pulses. Don't know about SSDs but in HDDs the data is stored used magnetism, that is what our teacher told us. The 1 bits point to one direction and the 0 to other, that is how they differentiate between 1 and 0 binary numbers.

Well at that age I was really curious about stuff like this, I did so much research on it and actually ended up in a career in Computers.

To your main question, when power button in a computer is hit there is a circuit connection and power flows in your computer, then the BIOS checks the computer with POST. If POST is successful then the bootstrap loader is called which calls the MBR and boots your OS. this is all done in binary.
You C/C++ code is first converted to assembly language in most cases while programming and then the assembly language is converted to opcodes in binary that is fed to the CPU and performs the respective tasks.
 
start with basic electronics and the various components. learn and live by ohm's law.

then move on to microcontrollers and at least play with one. a very common one is the arduino.

i've bought some sensors from Jameco and got on their email list. they have a bunch of tutorials on their site.
 
Slightly off topic, but zombie, you should swap your E8400 out of the server box with the Q9550, they're mismatched.
 
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