I believe that it is important for everyone to be able to recognize and understand the usage of the basic computer components.
This thread is merely listing and defining some of the more basic (and important) computer components. I have chosen to put it here in the hardware forum since - well, it just seemed like an appropriate place for it.

Seasoned vets and Gurus turn back now - this is not meant for you!!!

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Transistor - Amplifies a signal or opens and closes a circuit.

Integrated Circuit - An electronic device made out of semiconductor material (material that can control the amount of electricity it conducts).

Resistor - A device that offers resistance to the flow of an electric current.

Capacitor - Electric component that stores energy in the form of an electrostatic field; it consists of 2 conducting metal plates separated by an insulating material.

Connector - The part of a cable that plugs into a port or an interface.

Light Emitting Diode (LED) - A device that lights up when electricity passes through it.

Printed Circuit Board (PCB) - A thin plate on which chips and other electronic components are placed.

Central Processing Unit - The brains of the computer where most calculations take place.

Microprocessor - A silicon chip that contains a CPU. Microprocessor and CPU are usually interchangeable.

Motherboard - Main circuit board of a personal computer.

Bus - Collection of wires through which data is transmitted from one part of a computer to another. It connects all the internal computer components to the CPU.

Random Access Memory (RAM) - A type of computer memory where any byte of memory can be accessed without touching the preceding bytes.

Read-Only Memory (ROM) - Computer memory on which data has been prerecorded; after data has been written onto a ROM chip, it cannot be removed and can only be read.

System Unit - The main part of a PC; the system unit includes the chassis, microprocessor, main memory, bus, and ports, but does not include the keyboard, monitor, or any external devices cnnected to the cmputer.

Expansion Slot - An opening in a computer where a circuit board can be inserted to add new capabilities to the computer.

Backplane - The large circuit board that contains sockets for expansion cards. A backplane is distinguished from a motherboard by the fact that it might contain almost no logical circuitry for performing computing functions.

Network Card - An expansion board inserted into a computer so the computer can be connected to a network.

Modem - The modem (modulator/demodulator) is a device that enables a computer to transmit data over telephone lines; there are internal (installed as expansion cards) and external (connected to ports) modems.

Interface - A piece of hardware, such as an electrical connector, that allows 2 devices to be connected together.

Port - An interface on a computer to which you can connect an electronic device.

Parallel Port - An interface capable of transferring more than one bit simultaneously. It is used to connect external devices such as printers.

Serial Port - An interface that can be used for serial communications (data comunication in which only 1 bit is transmitted at a time).


Data Flow

Boot instructions - Stored in ROM until they are sent out.

Software Applications - Stored in RAM after they have been loaded.

RAM and ROM - Constantly talk to the CPU via the bus

Application Information - Stored in RAM while applications are being used.

Saved information - Flows from RAM to some form of storage device.

Exported information - Flows from RAM and the CPU, via the bus and expansion slots, to the serial port, parallel port (usually for printers), video card, sound card, or network card.
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All definitions and information are from the Cisco Networking Academy