"In a computer the ROM is referred to as the BIOS" (funny!)

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V

VBboy

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2000
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Wow, what a "great" article:

(URL)

Read it for some good laughs. That guy shouldn't even be allowed on the Internet! :)
I know, it's not nice to make fun of fellow geeks. But hey, I'm tired of E-mailing in corrections and never hearing back from anyone. So..

I quote:

"In a computer the ROM is referred to as the BIOS (Basic-Input/Output System). When a machine is first started up, the microprocessor first looks for the BIOS. The BIOS runs some standard tests. These tests are called the [/b]POST (power up self-test)[/b]."

"The processor then saves this data onto the hard drive."

"All your memory is held here along with interrupts, addresses, ports, and DMA Channels and the data bus."

"Next, the BIOS goes to fetch the BOOT SECTOR." - wow, can it fetch one for me?


 
K

KDOG

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,525
14
81
Looks like it was written by a 13 yr. old. Alot of bad grammer.
 
L

Lord Evermore

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
9,558
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76


<< first we will delve into the brain of the system board; the Chip set >>




<< the motherboard. This is the heart and brain of every computer >>




<< First and most important is the CPU. This is the BRAIN of the computer >>



Lots of brains in a computer apparently.



<< You can easily recognise the bus. The are sets of slots that cards plug into. >>



Yeah, those other components don't run on a bus.



<< The motherboard contains the Central Processing Unit, known as the CPU >>



I suppose...in a way... (excluding systems where it really is soldered onto the board)



<< You may looking for an home/office computer for running the household accounts and writing documents, the kids want something to run the latest multimedia game, and mom wants to retouch old photographs. >>



Yep. God forbid that woman touch my banking information or try to write anything! :-D



<< The basic rule of thumb is that the AMD processors are mainly suited for high-end graphics and multimedia, great for games. The INTEL is for general computer use. >>




WHAT?!



<< Remember though, that using programs like Adobe Photo Shop and other image edited programs, you will need a very large hard drive with lots of RAM. >>



I only buy hard drives with at least 20GB of RAM, you know.



<< The number 1010 represents 10 in binary. 10 is a decimal number. >>



At least he got that right.



<< ROM stands for Read-Only-Access >>



So Access starts with an M, eh?

 
S

Sunner

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
11,641
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76


<< These processors range from 8086 & 8088 (earlier types) to the latest PENTIUM PRO, PENTIUM I, II & III and more recently, the 1 GHz. >>


Wow, I musta missed the "1 GHz" model.
 
G

Goldfish

Platinum Member
Jun 10, 2001
2,157
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0


<< Looks like it was written by a 13 yr. old. Alot of bad grammer. >>


EXTRA EXTRA: THE POT CALLS THE KETTLE BLACK!
 
V

VBboy

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2000
5,793
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This is too funny :)

(Lord Evermore: "Lots of brains in a computer apparently."). LOL.

Believe it or not, many college professors would make the same mistakes as the guy who wrote that article.
 
Snapster

Snapster

Diamond Member
Oct 14, 2001
3,916
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<<

<< Looks like it was written by a 13 yr. old. Alot of bad grammer. >>


EXTRA EXTRA: THE POT CALLS THE KETTLE BLACK! >>



The amount of people that get caught out with that is quite humorous at times :)
 
L

Lucky

Lifer
Nov 26, 2000
13,126
1
0
he's changed several statements substantially. Looks like someone emailed him this thread.
 
L

Lucky

Lifer
Nov 26, 2000
13,126
1
0


Comments:
Errors - name (Anonymous) at 13:17 EST on Sunday, February 10, 2002
This article is full of errors. You are confusing your readers. It's important that you KNOW something before trying to show off.

"In a computer the ROM is referred to as the BIOS (Basic-Input/Output System). When a machine is first started up, the microprocessor first looks for the BIOS. The BIOS runs some standard tests. These tests are called the POST (power up self-test)."

"The processor then saves this data onto the hard drive."

"All your memory is held here along with interrupts, addresses, ports, and DMA Channels and the data bus."

"Next, the BIOS goes to fetch the BOOT SECTOR."

 
B

Beatles

Banned
Nov 6, 2001
389
0
0


<<


<< You may looking for an home/office computer for running the household accounts and writing documents, the kids want something to run the latest multimedia game, and mom wants to retouch old photographs. >>



Yep. God forbid that woman touch my banking information or try to write anything! :-D

 >>


Hehehe.
 
Dulanic

Dulanic

Diamond Member
Oct 27, 2000
9,965
589
136
Well hes kinda right :p Like hes kinda right on most stuff, just never totally right hehe. The BIOS is stored on a type of ROM, most on a EEPROM.
 
V

VBboy

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2000
5,793
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Yeah, I'm the one who posted that comment on his Website. I hope I didn't offend him ;)

A lot of people have some general knowledge of how computers work, but are unable to put it in exact terms. That's the difference between that dude and Anand. Anand is a sweet hardware talker. I wonder if he is as successful when it comes to getting a girl's phone number :)
 
L

Lord Evermore

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
9,558
0
76
Any of you actually read Anand's book? I haven't, but according to one review, it's nearly as bad as this guy's article.
 
S

Shalmanese

Platinum Member
Sep 29, 2000
2,157
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<< When you see that a computer has 16 MB; then you know it can handle 16 Megabytes of memory before it tells you to fog off. >>



If any computer told me to fog off, Id slap the biatch :)!

Looks to me like the author's first language wasnt english, either that or they learnt it from a book and never communicate with people.

Here is my comments:

- Cache is no longer pluggable, its part of the CPU core
- What is the difference between the System board and the Motherboard? they should be the same thing.
- The "bus" is not the slots but the wires leading form the slots.
- The Video card is on a port not a bus
- Stuff from the bus is usually cached on RAm, not the HD
- you mention the PS can transform AC into 4 types of DC yet you only mention 3
- processors over 2 Ghz do not constitute a seperate category. " Pentium I, II, III & IV of which the latest has exceeded a clock speed of 2 Ghz" would be better
- Cyrix is now Via
- AMD and Via CPU's are fully compatible with all software now, some chipsets have issues with some HW/SW but the same is true for Intel
- MIPS has been widely disregarded in terms of performance, maybe use something more modern like flops or just stick with Mhz
- Maybe a quick note about how AMD CPU's have more IPC so they have more performance for a given clockspeed when compared to P4's Hence, the PR rating (Performance rating Rating? that cant be right :))
- Boot up would be the technical term, not wake up
- Accesories not Accesory
- "10 is the decimal number" not "10 is a decimal number"
- A typical computer has at least 128 if not 256 MB of RAM, not 8MB
- Maybe 1MB = 1024 KB = 1,048,576 bytes would demonstrate the principal better
- gigabytes cant "handle memory", why not just "a gigabyte is a lot (roughly a thousand times? ) more memroy than a megabyte
- Computers dont tell people to "fog off" :)
- Not all ROM is BIOS, maybe "the BIOS is made up purely of ROM" would be better
- The first paragraph from Hard disks would work better in the intro, not here
- Stadard HD's are ranging from 20 - 40 GB, nobody sells 8GB HD's anymore except in Xbox's
- HD's actually send bits in parralel so they dont send them one at a time.
- "A rate between 5 and 40 megabytes per second would be considered the norm"

Sorry if any of the points seem minor, its a decent article overall with some flaws that make it seem sloppy.
 
S

splice

Golden Member
Jun 6, 2001
1,275
0
0


<< When a program is executed, the computer sends a request to the hard drive to retrieve the bytes. These bytes are then sent to the CPU. >>



LOL, what happened to main memory? Is it now part of the CPU? ;)
 
J

joohang

Lifer
Oct 22, 2000
12,340
1
0


<< Any of you actually read Anand's book? I haven't, but according to one review, it's nearly as bad as this guy's article. >>


I took a glance at it. I thought it was quite good and informative.

Definitely better than the ZDNet sh*t, for sure. Who reviewed his book, btw?
 
T

TwilightZone77

Member
Dec 26, 2001
160
0
0


<< Comments:
Thank you - editor (Registered) at 03:45 EST on Monday, February 11, 2002
I would like to thank those of you who have pointed out inconsistencies in this article. In the future, I would rather you email questions and/or corrections to editor@techhc.hwgn.net. >>



Heh. Well, if I were him, I wouldn't want to be made fun of in front of an entire forum either :D
 
L

Lord Evermore

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
9,558
0
76
vboy made is seem like he wasn't responding to email, so it's kind of his own fault if he gets made fun of publicly.

Aside from that, I think that the things like hard drives being 8GB and using Cyrix instead of VIA, may be due to the article having been written some time ago. While reading it I immediately thought most of it was written at least a couple of years ago.

The review of Anandtech's book is here: http://www.overclockers.com/tips773/
 
C

CTho9305

Elite Member
Jul 26, 2000
9,214
1
81


<< vboy made is seem like he wasn't responding to email, so it's kind of his own fault if he gets made fun of publicly.

Aside from that, I think that the things like hard drives being 8GB and using Cyrix instead of VIA, may be due to the article having been written some time ago. While reading it I immediately thought most of it was written at least a couple of years ago.

The review of Anandtech's book is here: http://www.overclockers.com/tips773/ >>



I dont know of any books at are aimed at the same audience as the article that are in fact really accurate and detailed. The textbook for one of the courses here is pretty decent, but after reading the CPU section, my roommate asked me the difference between pentiums and athys.... the way the book puts it, the main difference is number of ALUs, FPUs, etc. I would still consider it a decent book, but I dont think any one book in existence is perfect. (i haven't read this article we're discussing yet)
 
C

CTho9305

Elite Member
Jul 26, 2000
9,214
1
81


<< Thank you - editor (Registered) at 03:45 EST on Monday, February 11, 2002
I would like to thank those of you who have pointed out inconsistencies in this article. In the future, I would rather you email questions and/or corrections to editor@techhc.hwgn.net. >>



thtas at the bottom of the article now.
 
L

Lord Evermore

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
9,558
0
76
Read the review and you'll see why I equated it to this kid's article. I'd have expected something much better written from AnandTech, whether it's written for the mainstream or not. You'd think that in order to "dumb down" the information to be more easily used, it'd be easier to make it detailed and correct than if they'd been trying to keep it written for the high-power users.
 
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