Learn the Basics. Your Computer.
By Matt Western.

In this multi part article I will explain to you the basic components of your Computer. I will also try and clear up some of the terminology used that describes various components of your computer.

This article is not intened to be detailed ot technical. It is just meant to offer you an introduction to the topic being discussed.

The Keyboard.

Computer keyboards haven't evolved much over the years.

In the early days of commercial PC's keyboards were known simply as keyboards. They had all the keys of the alphabet, plus a row of numbers, 0 - 9 along the top, a row of programmable function keys (F1 - F10), a few more keys for this and that and that was it.

This keyboard was known as the 83 key XT keyboard. This was because it was the style of keyboard used with IBM's computer at the time, the XT computer.

A few years later a new version of the computer keyboard came out that was a great improvement. This style of keyboard was known as the AT keyboard.

The AT keyboard was so called, because it was introduced when IBM released their new AT model computer.

The AT keyboard consisted of 101 keys.

The AT was a great improvement over the XT. It had a dedicated area for the alphabet keys, four defined arrow keys (up, down, left, right) and a separate numeric keypad. It was a lot easier to use than the old XT style.

Since the introduction of the AT keyoard, keyboards really haven't altered that much. The arrow keys are still in the same place, so is the numeric keypad. The letters are still in the same place and the function keys remain.

However things did change significantly when Microsoft introduced their ergonomic keyboard.

The ergonomic keyboard was designed to help reduce stress and strain on hands, wrists and fingers. It looks like someone has cut an AT keyboard in half, placed the two halves together in a wide upside down V shape, placed a bulge in the middle of the V and joined it all up together again.

Some people love them others don't.

Although the ergonomic keyboard looks different it is still the basic AT keyboard.

Keyboards have had keys added, extra functions included, like being able to activate programs from assigned buttons and being able to adjust the audio volume. But computer keyboards remain fairly unchanged.

That just about wraps it up for keyboards, there isn't a great lot to tell you. However here are just a few more bits and pieces.

Computer keyboards are known as QWERTY keyboards. This is because the keys along the top row of computer keyboard spells QWERTY.

Keyboards these days are usually called PS/2 keyboards. This is due to IBM once more. IBM released a range of PC's during the late 1980's early 1990's called the PS/2 range.

The keyboards used with these PC's had smaller plugs and sockets than normal keyboards at the time (they were the same size as mouse plugs and sockets). Since then the smaller socket and plug have been adopted as defacto standards and now keyboards are known as PS/2 keyboards.

Article © Matt Western - deTechnify.com

**********************************************************
Matt Western has been working in the electronics and IT areas since 1983. These days he heads up deTechnify.com a web site aimed at clearing away the technical haze surrounding computers computing and the internet.
You can contact Matt via http://www.detechnify.com