Chapter 1 Introduction to a Typical PC 19
a picture, the data that represents the picture
is in RAM and is transferred to the screen. See
Figure 1-28. The text on the screen is really a
reflection of the data in RAM.
Firmware
Firmware is hardware-specific software
required to boot the computer and support
communication between the operating system and
hardware devices. Firmware interprets commands
of higher-level software programs, such as
operating systems, and translates the commands
into actions understandable by hardware devices,
such as the hard drive, memory, keyboard, and
mouse. Figure 1-29 shows the relationship of
firmware to hardware, application software, and
the operating system.
Firmware and drivers work hand in hand.
Firmware is not only found on the motherboard
but is also incorporated into many computer
devices such as graphic cards, hard drives, and
Goodheart-Willcox Publisher
Figure 1-27. Three different types of RAM module. Compare
the notch location at the pin edge on each module. Notice
that they do not line up. That is by design so that you do not
install the wrong type of memory into a motherboard.
RAM
Dear Uncle Bob
I want to tell you how much I enjoyed the vis
Goodheart-Willcox Publisher
Figure 1-28.
As you type data into
a word-processing
program, the
information is stored in
RAM.