Resistors

Function

Resistors restrict the flow of electric current, for example a resistor is placed in series with a light-emitting diode (LED) to limit the current passing through the LED.

Connecting and soldering

Resistors may be connected either way round. They are not damaged by heat when soldering.

Resistor values - the resistor colour code

Resistance is measured in ohms, the symbol for ohm is an omega Ώ. 1 Ώ is quite small so resistor values are often given in k Ώ and M Ώ. 1 k Ώ = 1000 Ώ 1 M Ώ = 1000000 Ώ.
Resistor values are normally shown using coloured bands. Each colour represents a number as shown in the table.
Most resistors have 4 bands:
· The first band gives the first digit.
· The second band gives the second digit.
· The third band indicates the number of zeros.
The fourth band is used to shows the tolerance (precision) of the resistor, this may be ignored for almost all circuits but further details are given.

Small value resistors (less than 10 ohm)

The standard colour code cannot show values of less than 10 Ώ. To show these small values two special colours are used for the third band: gold which means × 0.1 and silver which means × 0.01. The first and second bands represent the digits as normal.
For example:red, violet, gold bands represent 27 × 0.1 = 2.7 Ώgreen, blue, silver bands represent 56 × 0.01 = 0.56 Ώ

Tolerance of resistors (fourth band of colour code)

The tolerance of a resistor is shown by the fourth band of the colour code. Tolerance is the precision of the resistor and it is given as a percentage. For example a 390 Ώ resistor with a tolerance of ±10% will have a value within 10% of 390 Ώ, between 390 - 39 = 351 Ώ and 390 + 39 = 429 Ώ (39 is 10% of 390).
A special colour code is used for the fourth band tolerance:silver ±10%, gold ±5%, red ±2%, brown ±1%. If no fourth band is shown the tolerance is ±20%.
Tolerance may be ignored for almost all circuits because precise resistor values are rarely required.

Resistor shorthand

Resistor values are often written on circuit diagrams using a code system which avoids using a decimal point because it is easy to miss the small dot. Instead the letters R, K and M are used in place of the decimal point. To read the code: replace the letter with a decimal point, then multiply the value by 1000 if the letter was K, or 1000000 if the letter was M. The letter R means multiply by 1.
For example:
560R means 560 Ώ2K7 means 2.7 k Ώ= 2700 Ώ39K means 39 k Ώ1M0 means 1.0 M Ώ = 1000 k Ώ

Real resistor values (the E6 and E12 series)

You may have noticed that resistors are not available with every possible value, for example 22k Ώ and 47k Ώ are readily available, but 25k Ώ and 50k Ώare not!
Why is this? Imagine that you decided to make resistors every 10 Ώ giving 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and so on. That seems fine, but what happens when you reach 1000? It would be pointless to make 1000, 1010, 1020, 1030 and so on because for these values 10 is a very small difference, too small to be noticeable in most circuits. In fact it would be difficult to make resistors sufficiently accurate.
To produce a sensible range of resistor values you need to increase the size of the 'step' as the value increases. The standard resistor values are based on this idea and they form a series which follows the same pattern for every multiple of ten.
The E6 series (6 values for each multiple of ten, for resistors with 20% tolerance) 10, 15, 22, 33, 47, 68, ... then it continues 100, 150, 220, 330, 470, 680, 1000 etc. Notice how the step size increases as the value increases. For this series the step (to the next value) is roughly half the value.
The E12 series (12 values for each multiple of ten, for resistors with 10% tolerance) 10, 12, 15, 18, 22, 27, 33, 39, 47, 56, 68, 82, ... then it continues 100, 120, 150 etc. Notice how this is the E6 series with an extra value in the gaps.
The E12 series is the one most frequently used for resistors. It allows you to choose a value within 10% of the precise value you need. This is sufficiently accurate for almost all projects and it is sensible because most resistors are only accurate to ±10% (called their 'tolerance'). For example a resistor marked 390Ώ could vary by ±10% × 390 Ώ= ±39 Ώ, so it could be any value between 351 Ώ and 429 Ώ.

Resistors in Series and Parallel

For information on resistors connected in series and parallel please see the Resistance page.

Power Ratings of Resistors

Electrical energy is converted to heat when current flows through a resistor. Usually the effect is negligible, but if the resistance is low (or the voltage across the resistor high) a large current may pass making the resistor become noticeably warm. The resistor must be able to withstand the heating effect and resistors have power ratings to show this.
Power ratings of resistors are rarely quoted in parts lists because for most circuits the standard power ratings of 0.25W or 0.5W are suitable. For the rare cases where a higher power is required it should be clearly specified in the parts list, these will be circuits using low value resistors (less than about 300 Ώ) or high voltages (more than 15V).
The power, P, developed in a resistor is given by:

P = I² × R where: P = power developed in the resistor in watts (W) or I = current through the resistor in amps (A) P = V² / R V = voltage across the resistor in volts(V) R = resistance of the resistor inohm (Ώ)

Examples:

· A 470 Ώ resistor with 10V across it, needs a power rating P = V²/R = 10²/470 = 0.21W. In this case a standard 0.25W resistor would be suitable.

· A 27 Ώ resistor with 10V across it, needs a power rating P = V²/R = 10²/27 = 3.7W. A high power resistor with a rating of 5W would be suitable.

Computers at home

The 1977 Apple II, one of the 1977 Trinity. Floppy drive pictured a model designed for the Apple III.

One early use of the term "personal computer" appeared in a November 3, 1962, New York Times article reporting John W. Mauchly's vision of future computing as detailed at a recent meeting of the American Institute of Industrial Engineers. Mauchly stated, "There is no reason to suppose the average boy or girl cannot be master of a personal computer.[11]"
The minicomputer ancestors of the modern personal computer used early integrated circuit (microchip) technology, which reduced size and cost, but they contained no microprocessor. This meant that they were still large and difficult to manufacture just like their mainframe predecessors. After the "computer-on-a-chip" was commercialized, the cost to manufacture a computer system dropped dramatically. The arithmetic, logic, and control functions that previously occupied several costly circuit boards were now available in one integrated circuit, making it possible to produce them in high volume. Concurrently, advances in the development of solid state memory eliminated the bulky, costly, and power-hungry magnetic core memory used in prior generations of computers.
There were a few researchers at places such as SRI and Xerox PARC who were working on computers that a single person could use and could be connected by fast, versatile networks: not home computers, but personal ones.
A programmable terminal called the Datapoint 2200 is the earliest known device that bears any significant resemblance to the modern personal computer[12][13]. It was made by CTC (now known as Datapoint) in 1970 and was a complete system in a small case bearing the approximate footprint of an IBM Selectric typewriter. The system's CPU was constructed from a variety of discrete components, although the company had commissioned Intel to develop a single-chip processing unit; there was a falling out between CTC and Intel, and the chip Intel had developed wasn't used. Intel soon released a modified version of that chip as the Intel 8008, the world's first 8-bit microprocessor[14]. The needs and requirements of the Datapoint 2200 therefore determined the nature of the 8008, upon which all successive processors used in IBM-compatible PCs were based. Additionally, the design of the Datapoint 2200's multi-chip CPU and the final design of the Intel 8008 were so similar that the two are largely software-compatible; therefore, the Datapoint 2200, from a practical perspective, can be regarded as if it were indeed powered by an 8008, which makes it a strong candidate for the title of "first microcomputer" as well.
Development of the single-chip microprocessor was an enormous catalyst to the popularization of cheap, easy to use, and truly personal computers. The Altair 8800, introduced in a Popular Electronics magazine article in the January 1975 issue, at the time set a new low price point for a computer, bringing computer ownership to an admittedly select market in the 1970s. This was followed by the IMSAI 8080 computer, with similar abilities and limitations. The Altair and IMSAI were essentially scaled-down minicomputers and were incomplete: to connect a keyboard or screen to them required heavy, expensive "peripherals". These machines both featured a front panel with switches and lights, which communicated with the operator in binary. To program the machine, one didn't simply power up: one first had to key in the bootstrap loader program in binary, then read in a paper tape containing a BASIC interpreter, using a massive paper-tape reader. Keying the loader required setting a bank of eight switches up or down and pressing the "load" button, once for each byte of the program, which was typically hundreds of bytes long. This was before one could begin to do any computing. (At the first West Coast Computer Faire, a three-year-old girl amused herself by flipping random switches and pressing the Load button, which were at her eye level, then moving on to the next demo. By doing so, she had inserted a random number into the location whose address was in the Program Counter, thus crashing the machine. She was followed by gasps and screams as the vendors discovered that they had to repeat the whole start-up cycle—her parents found her by heading for the commotion. The next Computer Faire banned small children. A Few years later, personal computers lost the switches and lights; thirty years later, they have memory protection, so that crashing a single program doesn't crash the machine.)[citation needed]
In 1976, the Kooro Manufacturing & Electronics Cooperative in Skopje, Macedonia produced in limited quantities, an all in one (integrated keyboard, monochrome monitor, 8 inch floppy disk drive and 16k of ram) for use by government officials. Similar in appearance to the TRS-80 Model III computer using a proprietary operating system.[15]
It was arguably the Altair computer that spawned the development of Apple, as well as Microsoft which produced and sold the Altair BASIC programming language interpreter, Microsoft's first product. The second generation of microcomputers — those that appeared in the late 1970s, sparked by the unexpected demand for the kit computers at the electronic hobbyist clubs, were usually known as home computers. For business use these systems were less capable and in some ways less versatile than the large business computers of the day. They were designed for fun and educational purposes, not so much for practical use. And although you could use some simple office/productivity applications on them, they were generally used by computer enthusiasts for learning to program and for running computer games, for which the personal computers of the period were less suitable and much too expensive. For the more technical hobbyists home computers were also used for electronics interfacing, such as controlling model railroads, and other general hobbyist pursuits.
The MOS Technology 6502 series microprocessor lead to a reduction in the expense of creating computing systems. The Commodore PET, the TRS 80, and the Apple II, also known as the 1977 Trinity by Byte magazine, are often cited as the first personal computers. Specifically, the Commodore PET, which Byte called the first [16]. The design of the Commodore PET, a single integrated machine with a built in monitor, keyboard, and datasette device, and the operating system of the Xerox Alto went on to inspire the popular Macintosh computer, by Apple.
A 1978 ad for the Apple II used the wording "Apple, the personal computer". There was no trademark symbol. Three years later, the term "personal computer" was a trademark of IBM, which had decided to invade the microcomputer market and had done it successfully; a few years later, a judge declared that "personal computer" was no longer an IBM trademark, but a generic term for any personal computer not made by Apple.

Laptop computers

A laptop computer or simply laptop, also called a notebook computer or notebook, is a small personal computer designed for mobility. Usually all of the interface hardware needed to operate the laptop, such as parallel and serial ports, graphics card, sound channel, etc., are built in to a single unit. Most laptops contain batteries to facilitate operation without a readily available electrical outlet. In the interest of saving power, weight and space, they usually share RAM with the video channel, slowing their performance compared to an equivalent desktop machine.
One main drawback of the laptop is that, due to the size and configuration of components, relatively little can be done to upgrade the overall computer from its original design. Some devices can be attached externally through ports (including via USB); however internal upgrades are not recommended or in some cases impossible, making the desktop PC more modular.

Video card

The video card - otherwise called a graphics card, graphics adapter or video adapter - processes and renders the graphics output from the computer to the computer display, also called the visual display unit (VDU), and is an essential part of the modern computer. On older models, and today on budget models, graphics circuitry tended to be integrated with the motherboard but, for modern flexible machines, they are supplied in PCI, AGP, or PCI Express format.
When the IBM PC was introduced, many existing personal computers used text-only display adapters and had no graphics capability.

Mass storage

Internals of a Winchester hard drive with the disks removed.

Mass storage devices store programs and data even when the power is off; they do require power to perform read/write functions during usage. Although semiconductor flash memory has dropped in cost, the prevailing form of mass storage in personal computers is still the electromechanical hard disk.
The disk drives use a sealed head/disk assembly (HDA) which was first introduced by IBM's "Winchester" disk system. The use of a sealed assembly allowed the use of positive air pressure to drive out particles from the surface of the disk, which improves reliability.
If the mass storage controller provides for expandability, a PC may also be upgraded by the addition of extra hard disk or optical drives. For example, DVD-ROMs, CD-ROMs, and various optical disc recorders may all be added by the user to certain PCs. Standard internal storage device interfaces are ATA, Serial ATA, SCSI, and CF+ Type II in 2005.

Main memory

A four-megabyte RAM card measuring about twenty-two by fifteen inches (56 by 38 centimeters); made for the VAX 8600 minicomputer (ca. 1986). Dual in-line package (DIP) Integrated circuits populate nearly the whole board; the RAM chips are the most common kind, and located in the rectangular areas to the left and right.

A PC's main memory (i.e., its 'primary store') is fast storage that is directly accessible by the CPU, and is used to store the currently executing program and immediately needed data. PCs use semiconductor random access memory (RAM) of various kinds such as DRAM or SRAM as their primary storage. Which exact kind depends on cost/performance issues at any particular time. Main memory is much faster than mass storage devices like hard disks or optical discs, but is usually volatile, meaning it does not retain its contents (instructions or data) in the absence of power, and is much more expensive for a given capacity than is most mass storage. Main memory is generally not suitable for long-term or archival data storage.

Central processing unit

The central processing unit, or CPU, is that part of a computer which executes software program instructions. In older computers this circuitry was formerly on several printed circuit boards, but in PC class machines, has been from the first personal computers, a single integrated circuit. Nearly all PCs contain a type of CPU known as a microprocessor. The microprocessor often plugs into the motherboard using one of many different types of socket. IBM PC compatible computers use an x86-compatible processor, usually made by Intel, AMD, VIA Technologies or Transmeta. Apple Macintosh computers were initially built with the Motorola 680x0 family of processors, then switched to the PowerPC series (a RISC architecture jointly developed by IBM, Motorola, and Apple Computer), but as of 2006, Apple has switched again, this time to x86 compatible processors.