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- I.C.s can do many things. Some are
- R.O.M. chips. These are Read Only
- Memory. Memory of this sort is like
- a newspaper. You can read it as
- often as you like, but you can't
- change it.
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- Others are R.A.M. chips. RAM
- stands for Random Access Memory.
- These chips can be told something and
- will remember it. If you tell them
- something different, they will then
- remember the new information. They
- only work when the power is on. If
- you turn the computer off, the RAM
- chips forget everything.
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- Other chips can make decisions.
- Their individual thinking power is
- limited, but they team up to control
- the operation of your computer.
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- There is one special I.C.
- chip called the C.P.U., which
- stands for Central Processing
- Unit. It is often the largest
- bug in the box, with the most
- legs. Almost every bit of
- information the computer
- handles is controlled by this
- chip. Intel is the most famous
- manufacturer of CPUs for
- IBM-compatible computers. In
- PC-class machines the Intel CPU
- model number is 8088. In XT
- computers it is 8088-2. In
- AT-class machines it is 80286,
- in '386' computers it is number
- 80386 and in '486s'... you
- guessed it. (80486)
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