how does car guys exlplain computer terms
Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 11:02 pm
I read this in a car forum, and I though it was funny
some asked:
and this was one of thier responceI just bought a new laptop with that dual processor thing and I was wondering how having 2 processors benefits me.
I was also wondering if a program was to require a 2Ghz processor and my laptop has 2 1.73Ghz processors, would I have enough power? Does having the 2 processors mean I would have 1.73Ghz + 1.73Ghz = 3.46Ghz?
A processor can only do one action at a time. To give a processor the appearance of being able to multitask there are processor initiators. Imagine the processor as a distributor rotor and the spark plug wires as waiting lines or initiators.
Commands are queued up in the spark plug wires (initiators). The rotor (CPU) spins and addresses one command from the front of each line. It then rotates to the next line and so on. It goes so fast it gives the appearance that all 8 spark plug wires tasks are being executed at the same time. An operating system is coded on the hardware level (HAL) to handle this.
A dual core CPU would simply have 2 rotors and another set of spark plug wires. The OS needs to be capable of managing this.
Of course this explanation is purely conceptual. There are no moving parts in a CPU.