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Hardware

Started by nullsquared May 20, 2006 at 6:58 PM 4 replies 600+ views

Original Post

May 20, 2006 at 6:58 PM

I lost my interest in programming (atleast in the little project I'm doing)... Not permanently, but I want to try something different with computers for a while before returning to programming... So, I want to learn a lot about hardware now... All about harddrives, mobos, processors, gfx cards, etc.. What's what, what all those technical terms mean (I get *really* confused when some people start talking using a lot of hardware terms - bus speed, latency, etc.), what goes under-the-hood, you know, a good amount of knowledge. It'll probably take a long time to learn a good amount of stuff, but I know what it's like starting from 0 knowledge because that's what happened when I started programming. So, I'm here to ask, what are some *good* hardware resources/tutorials/websites/etc.? I could also probably buy a book, but only if you *highly* suggest it because I'm saving right now... Thanks! P.S. AGI_SHI (publicly known as agi_shi) - what's this all about? I think I accidentally entered everything in caps...

daviangel

May 20, 2006 at 11:35 PM

Well I started by reading maximumpc magazine back when it was still called bootmag!
cpu is a pretty good mag too that will expose you to the in/outs of pc hardware.

etothex

May 21, 2006 at 12:17 AM

If you do buy a detailed, rigorous book, buy this book. Computer Organization, by Hamacher, Vranesic, and Zaky. It's a little dry and dense, but it's an excellent textbook into design and construction of computer hardware. It's the standard textbook used in many college computer engineering courses.

However, if you're not willing to buy a book (or not ready for a "dense" introduction) try looking up on wikipedia all the terms you want to know. While some of the articles are somewhat technical and unreadable most of the articles are the best review you can find on the web.

Spoonbender

May 21, 2006 at 5:40 AM

Other brilliant books are Hennessy & Patterson: Computer Organization and Design, as well as Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach (Same authors)

Other than that, read what you can online. There are plenty of hardware sites, some better than others. For keeping up with new hardware, I currently prefer www.anandtech.com, but your mileage may vary. :)

etothex

May 21, 2006 at 7:36 AM

I forgot about the henessey book. That's also a wonderful text. Henessey, and the Vranesic & Zaky book. Those are the two standards.

echohead

May 21, 2006 at 8:37 AM

I second the Patterson and Hennessy book.

I took a course where I implemented a pipelined CPU in an FPGA, using just the information in that book.

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