

•	Table of Contents
•	Index
•	Reviews
•	Reader Reviews
•	Errata

PC Hardware in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition
By Robert Bruce Thompson, Barbara Fritchman Thompson

Publisher	: O'Reilly
Pub Date	: July 2003
ISBN	: 0-596-00513-X
Pages	: 874

Dedication

We'd Like to Hear from You

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1. Fundamentals

Section 1.1. PCs Defined

Section 1.2. PC Components and Technologies

Section 1.3. System Resources

Section 1.4. Building or Buying a PC

Section 1.5. Upgrading a PC

Section 1.6. Smart Buying Practices

Section 1.7. Things to Do with Old PCs

Chapter 2. Working on PCs

Section 2.1. Rules to Upgrade By

Section 2.2. Tools

Section 2.3. General Procedures

Chapter 3. Motherboards

Section 3.1. Motherboard Characteristics

Section 3.2. Choosing a Motherboard

Section 3.3. Installing a Motherboard

Section 3.4. Upgrading the System BIOS

Section 3.5. Our Picks

Chapter 4. Processors

Section 4.1. Processor Design

Section 4.2. Intel Processors

Section 4.3. AMD Processors

Section 4.4. Choosing a Processor

Section 4.5. Forthcoming AMD and Intel Processors

Section 4.6. Installing a Processor

Section 4.7. Our Picks

Chapter 5. Memory

Section 5.1. Understanding Memory

Section 5.2. Memory Access Methods

Section 5.3. CAS Latency

Section 5.4. Memory Packaging

Section 5.5. How Much Memory Is Enough?

Section 5.6. Memory Selection Guidelines

Section 5.7. Installing Memory

Section 5.8. Troubleshooting Memory Installation and Operation

Section 5.9. Our Picks

Chapter 6. Floppy Disk Drives

Section 6.1. Diskette Types and Formats

Section 6.2. Drive Types

Section 6.3. FDD Interface and Cabling

Section 6.4. Installing an FDD

Section 6.5. Working with FDDs

Section 6.6. Working with Obsolete Diskette Formats

Section 6.7. Salvaging Diskette Data

Section 6.8. Our Picks

Chapter 7. High-Capacity Floppy Disk Drives

Section 7.1. High-Capacity FDD Types

Section 7.2. Choosing a High-Capacity FDD

Section 7.3. Using an ATAPI Zip or SuperDisk Drive as the Boot Device

Section 7.4. Drive Letter Assignment Problems

Section 7.5. Our Picks

Chapter 8. Removable Hard Disk Drives

Section 8.1. Uses for Removable and External Hard Disk Drives

Section 8.2. Cartridge-Based Removable Hard Disk Drives

Section 8.3. Frame/Carrier-Based Removable Hard Disk Drives

Section 8.4. Our Picks

Chapter 9. Tape Drives

Section 9.1. Tape Technologies

Section 9.2. Choosing a Tape Drive

Section 9.3. Installing and Configuring a Tape Drive

Section 9.4. Care and Feeding of a Tape Drive

Section 9.5. Troubleshooting Tape Drive Problems

Section 9.6. The Dirty Little Secret of Long Filenames

Section 9.7. Developing a Backup Strategy

Section 9.8. Our Picks

Chapter 10. CD-ROM Drives

Section 10.1. Compact Disc Fundamentals

Section 10.2. CD-ROM Drive Performance

Section 10.3. Choosing a CD-ROM Drive

Section 10.4. Installing and Configuring a CD-ROM Drive

Section 10.5. Cleaning a CD-ROM Drive

Section 10.6. Our Picks

Chapter 11. CD Writers

Section 11.1. CD Writers and Media

Section 11.2. Writable CD Formats

Section 11.3. CD Recording Methods

Section 11.4. Buffer Underrun Protection

Section 11.5. Choosing a CD Writer

Section 11.6. CD Writer Software

Section 11.7. Installing and Configuring a CD Writer

Section 11.8. Updating CD Writer Firmware

Section 11.9. Media Issues

Section 11.10. Burning CDs

Section 11.11. Special Problems and Applications

Section 11.12. Writable CD Troubleshooting

Section 11.13. Additional CD-R(W) Source Material

Section 11.14. Our Picks

Chapter 12. DVD Drives

Section 12.1. DVD-ROM

Section 12.2. DVD Writable and Rewritable

Section 12.3. Installing and Configuring a DVD Drive

Section 12.4. Troubleshooting DVD Problems

Section 12.5. Our Picks

Chapter 13. Hard Disk Interfaces

Section 13.1. IDE

Section 13.2. Serial ATA

Section 13.3. SCSI

Section 13.4. ATA Versus SCSI

Section 13.5. Our Picks

Chapter 14. Hard Disk Drives

Section 14.1. How Hard Disks Work

Section 14.2. Choosing a Hard Disk

Section 14.3. Installing a PATA (Standard ATA) Hard Disk

Section 14.4. Installing an SATA Hard Disk

Section 14.5. Installing a SCSI Hard Disk

Section 14.6. Preparing a Hard Disk for Use

Section 14.7. Our Picks

Chapter 15. Video Adapters

Section 15.1. Video Adapter Characteristics

Section 15.2. Choosing a Video Adapter

Section 15.3. Installing a Video Adapter

Section 15.4. Configuring Video Under Windows 98/Me/2000/XP

Section 15.5. Configuring Video under Linux

Section 15.6. Troubleshooting Video Adapter Problems

Section 15.7. Our Picks

Chapter 16. Displays

Section 16.1. CRT Monitors

Section 16.2. Flat-Panel Displays

Section 16.3. Installing and Configuring a Display

Section 16.4. Troubleshooting Display Problems

Section 16.5. Our Picks

Chapter 17. Sound Adapters

Section 17.1. PC Audio Types

Section 17.2. MIDI Synthesis Methods

Section 17.3. Downloadable Sounds

Section 17.4. Sound Card Components

Section 17.5. Sound Card Characteristics

Section 17.6. Choosing a Sound Card

Section 17.7. Installing a Sound Card

Section 17.8. Configuring a Sound Card Under Windows 95/98/2000/XP

Section 17.9. Configuring a Sound Card Under Linux

Section 17.10. Troubleshooting Sound Card Problems

Section 17.11. Our Picks

Chapter 18. Speakers and Headphones

Section 18.1. Speaker and Headphone Characteristics

Section 18.2. Choosing Speakers and Headphones

Section 18.3. Our Picks

Chapter 19. Keyboards

Section 19.1. Keyboard Switch Types

Section 19.2. Keyboard Styles

Section 19.3. Keyboard Interfaces

Section 19.4. Choosing a Keyboard

Section 19.5. Configuring a Keyboard

Section 19.6. Cleaning a Keyboard

Section 19.7. Troubleshooting and Repairing Keyboards

Section 19.8. Our Picks

Chapter 20. Mice and Trackballs

Section 20.1. Mice Versus Trackballs

Section 20.2. Mouse Characteristics

Section 20.3. Choosing a Mouse

Section 20.4. Configuring a Mouse or Trackball

Section 20.5. Cleaning a Mouse

Section 20.6. Troubleshooting a Mouse

Section 20.7. Our Picks

Chapter 21. Game Controllers

Section 21.1. Game Controller Characteristics

Section 21.2. Gameport Interface

Section 21.3. Choosing a Game Controller

Section 21.4. Installing a Game Controller

Section 21.5. Troubleshooting Game Controllers

Section 21.6. Our Picks

Chapter 22. Serial Communications

Section 22.1. Serial Communications Overview

Section 22.2. Serial Ports

Section 22.3. Serial Cables

Section 22.4. Installing and Configuring Serial Port Hardware

Section 22.5. Troubleshooting Serial Port Problems

Section 22.6. Our Picks

Chapter 23. Parallel Communications

Section 23.1. Mapping Parallel Ports to LPTs

Section 23.2. Our Picks

Chapter 24. USB Communications

Section 24.1. USB Characteristics

Section 24.2. USB Host Controller Interfaces

Section 24.3. Configuring USB

Section 24.4. Troubleshooting USB

Section 24.5. Our Picks

Chapter 25. Cases

Section 25.1. Case Characteristics

Section 25.2. Choosing a Case

Section 25.3. Our Picks

Chapter 26. Power Supplies

Section 26.1. Power Supply Characteristics

Section 26.2. Volts, Amps, Watts, and Regulation

Section 26.3. Power Connectors

Section 26.4. Choosing a Power Supply

Section 26.5. Installing a Power Supply

Section 26.6. Troubleshooting Power Supplies

Section 26.7. Our Picks

Chapter 27. Backup Power Supplies

Section 27.1. What BPSs Protect Against

Section 27.2. BPS Types

Section 27.3. BPS Characteristics

Section 27.4. Choosing a BPS

Section 27.5. Our Picks

Chapter 28. Building a PC

Section 28.1. Purchasing Components

Section 28.2. Building the System

Colophon

Index

[ Team LiB ]