A Beginner Guide To Gambas Pdf Printer
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If you are a new personal computer user, or would like to understand how your PC works, this article is for you! We explain the PC in easy-to-understand terms. Computers can be intimidating, but they can save us time and even give us new hobbies. However, to fully enjoy your computer, you need to know how it works.
In this article, we focus on the desktop computer, but most of the information will still make sense een if you're using a laptop.
Overview of the Personal Computer
To keep it simple, we will define a personal computer as not only the 'system unit' that does most of the work, but the other pieces of hardware that are either required (monitor, keyboard, and mouse) or that most PC users would have (printer).
And since everyone knows what a television is, we'll begin our tutorial by discussing the computer monitor, or video display.
The Monitor
The monitor is the easiest part of the computer system to understand. It looks like a television screen and its purpose is similar - to provide video output. For all sighted PC users, the monitor is how you interact and use your PC. There are 2 types of monitors:
The LCD Screen (Liquid Crystal Display)
LCD monitors are the flat panel monitors that you see in homes and offices today. Its technology, via back-lighting, passes light through a liquid crystal layer to produce a quality image. Images project well if one is positioned in front of the monitor, but images and colors distort when viewed on an angle. Many laptop monitors use LCD technology.
Compared to older CRTs, LCD flat monitors are lightweight, emit less heat, use less electricity, and have very little depth. A good flat panel has adjustable height and screen tilt.
The original and still popular LCD screen uses cold-cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) technology for back-lighting.
Newer monitors, sometimes called LED monitors, are Liquid Crystal Displays that use LED lights for back-lighting. LED lights are cooler, cheaper, more environmentally friendly, instant-on, and usually last longer than fluorescent lamps. And the LED back-lit monitors can be even thinner. But LED back-lit flat monitors are usually more expensive than traditional LCD monitors.
Both types of LCD screens can produce vivid pictures and few folks would be able to discern any difference in image quality between the two.
There are also specialty monitors available, such as touchscreen-equipped displays.
The CRT (Cathode Ray Tube)
This monitor is older technology, inexpensive, and reliable. It is compatible with most PCs and still used in many areas of the world. However, it is heavy and bulky, requires a lot of space (primarily depth), and generates heat. In addition, the CRT gives off radiation, which many think is harmful.
The System Unit
The system unit consists of a lot of electronic components neatly arranged inside a plastic or metal case that lies on the desktop or sits upright on the floor. Inside the case is a power supply and fans to keep the unit cool. PCs generate a lot of heat when powered on; but even with the fans, care must be taken to always provide adequate air circulation so the components will not overheat.
Inside the system unit is a large circuit board to which all the other components are attached. It's called the 'motherboard.' The motherboard connects all the components together and helps them talk to each other. Some of these components are the central processing unit (CPU), memory, and the various drives. And all external devices, like the keyboard, are attached to the motherboard.
If you look at the back of the System Unit, you will see various ports and plugs with which to attach cables. These ports are either part of the motherboard, or part of a component (like a sound card) that is attached to the motherboard.
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The System Unit: CPU, Hard Disk, and Memory
Let's begin by discussing the 'big three' components, the CPU, hard disk, and memory. To help you understand them, I'm going to create an analogy between these components and YOU working in your office.
Central Processing Unit
The CPU is the 'brains' of a computer. It performs all of the required calculations and coordinates the activity of the other components. The CPU is housed on a 'microchip' - a very small wafer packed with electronic circuits. Using our analogy, the CPU is like your brain. Your brain controls your calculations and coordinates the rest of your body.
Hard Disk or Hard Drive
The hard disk is where data is permanently stored. Using our analogy, the hard disk is like the filing cabinet in your office. The hard disk consists of platters and various mechanics and electronics. Often a PC's hard drive is called the 'C drive.' (All the drives in a PC have a letter assigned to them.) In your filing cabinet are individual papers inside of folders. And you may have folders inside of folders. This is how the hard disk is structured.
The smallest 'piece of paper' the hard disk recognizes is a 'file' - like a Word document or a photograph. The hard disk stores these files in folders, and often has folders inside of folders. So, the PC's hard drive is like your filing cabinet. There are basically 3 kinds of data that the PC stores on the hard disk. They are:
The Operating System (OS)
The OS is a large program that operates the computer's hardware - the most popular being Microsoft Windows. Without an OS, your PC is a useless pile of metal.
The OS 'talks' to the hardware and interfaces between it, the user, and the application programs (see below). It also receives input from the keyboard and mouse, sends information to the monitor, controls data going in and out of the CPU, and keeps track of files and folders on the hard disk.
Typically when you buy a PC the operating system is already loaded, or installed, on the hard disk and ready to run when you press the power button.
Application software
If the OS allows the PC to work, application programs allow YOU to work! An application is a software program, running underneath the Operating System (OS), that performs a specific function - like word-processing, creating spreadsheets, or manipulating photos.
You may opt to purchase your PC with some application software already on the hard disk, or you can buy software separately. Purchased software used to come on a CD, but the trend now is for the user to download programs from the vendor's website or another download site.
Some application software can be downloaded for free, or for a minimal charge, from the Internet. However, one must be careful when downloading free programs as many contain malware. For some recommended free software, see our tutorials Great Free Software and Free Antivirus and Anti-Malware Software.
User Data
The other information stored on the hard drive is the data YOU create; i.e. letters or publications, spreadsheets, and photos you've loaded in from your digital camera or saved from an email or text.
Memory
Memory is the place that the CPU temporarily puts the data it is currently working on. In fact, the central processing unit (CPU) cannot do anything with your data unless that data is first loaded into the computer's memory. Using our analogy, you won't get any work done while the data you need sits in the file cabinet. You must temporarily remove the file from your file cabinet and place it in front of you on your desk (memory) in order to work on it.
Computer memory consists of many circuits residing on microchips. The more memory you have, the more programs you can have running at the same time and the faster your PC will run. (The larger the top of your desk is, the more files and papers you can retrieve from your file cabinet and work on at the same time (multiprocess). Also, when your PC is running, key portions of the Operating System itself have to reside in memory.
The System Unit - Other Disk Drives
Now let's talk about drives that read and write to removable media. You need these drives to install some software, play songs or videos, backup data, copy files for someone else, or burn CDs or DVDs.
The CD drive and DVD drive attach to the motherboard inside the system unit. Prior to using CDs, DVDs, or flash drives (thumb drives) we had the diskette drive. But diskette drives are a thing of the past. Before buying a PC, sit down with an expert and discuss what you will be using your PC for so that you can determine your PC's required CD and DVD drives.
CD Drive (Compact Disc Drive)
CD stands for 'compact disc.' A CD drive may be read only, meaning it can only read from CDs, or it might be read / write which means it can both read and write to the CD.
When data is written to a CD, a laser 'burns' the data onto its surface. The CD drive is often the 'D' drive or 'E' drive, depending on how many hard disks the computer has.
DVD Drive (Digital Video Disc)
DVD stands for digital video disc. A DVD looks like a CD, but holds a lot more data and the recording format is different. New PCs usually come with a DVD reader which can only read DVDs, or a DVD writer which can both read and write to a DVD.
If you have a lot of user files to backup, ensure that your computer has a DVD that can write or 'burn' a DVD. The DVD drive is often the 'E' drive or the 'F' drive, depending on how many hard disks are in the PC
The System Unit - Other Components
Lastly, there are some other important components inside the system unit that control peripheral devices or external devices such as printers, scanners, and modems. These internal components all have external ports on the back of the system unit by which you attach these peripheral devices via cables.
The modem and/or Ethernet Network card
The Ethernet card and modem are used to establish a home network and to attach the PC to the Internet via a broadband connection, such as DSL or cable.
Controlling Peripheral Devices
Also inside the system unit and attached to the mother board are the electronics that control other peripherals, such as the monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, and printers. If you look at the back panel of the system unit, you'll see a myriad of ports and connectors in which to attach these peripherals.
Review
Let's quickly review! The monitor is like a TV and is where the video output is displayed. There are two types of monitors: CRTs and flat panel.
The system unit houses the PC's internal components that are attached to, and managed by, the motherboard (large circuit board). The three largest components of the system unit are the CPU (your brain), the hard disk (filing cabinet), and memory (working area on your desk). Three kinds of information are stored on the hard disk: the operating system (OS), application software, and your data. And we know the PC hardware is useless without the OS.
In addition, there are other useful drives inside the system unit that read and write to removable media (CDs and DVDs).
Peripherals: External Devices Attached to the System Unit
Now let's talk about peripherals. A peripheral is an 'external' device that attaches to the computer, such as the monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, and scanner. As mentioned above, though they are external devices, there are still attached to the mother board and the mother board manages them. Let's go into a bit more detail.
Monitor
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We began this tutorial talking about the monitor—the video output of our PC. One side of the video card attaches to the mother board so that the operating system can control it, while the other side of the video card has a port, visible on the back of the system unit, into which the monitor cable is attached.
Folks who use graphic intensive applications such as Photoshop, or individuals who use the PC for gaming (online or PC-based video games) will need a separate, powerful video card installed on the mother board. Casual PC users can probably make do with a simple video card that is part of the mother board.
PC Speakers
Most PCs come with speakers and the speakers are controlled by the sound card. The sound card is attached to the motherboard and has ports on the back of the system unit by which you attach the speakers, microphone, and other devices. Sound cards also vary in power and price depending on the user's needs.
Keyboard and Mouse
We use these devices to enter data into to the PC. The motherboard has the necessary controllers to manage the keyboard and mouse. On the back panel you'll see round ports for attaching these devices. However, today keyboards and mice, especially cordless, are attached to the PC via a 'USB port.' (See below).
Printers and Scanners
In the old days, printers were always attached the parallel port: a port on the back panel consisting of two long rows of pins. Today, wired printers and scanners are attached via a USB port. So let's talk about USB!
USB Ports and the Devices That Use Them
USB (Universal Serial Bus) is a popular technology for transferring data to and from digital devices, and many peripherals (external devices) attach to the System Unit via a USB port. If you are buying a new PC, make sure it comes with an adequate number of USB ports and make sure a few ports are located on the front of the system unit for easy access.
Some of the devices that connect via a USB port are printers, scanners, All-in-one print/scan/fax devices, digital cameras, video cameras, mice, keyboards, external disk drives, and flash drives.
A very popular device that connects to a USB port is the flash drive—also called thumb drive or memory stick. It is a small device about 2' x ¾' that plugs directly into a USB port and is used to store data. Flash drives are inexpensive and can hold gigabytes of data. There are useful for backing up large files and transporting files between computers.
Because of USB technology, external disk drives are also popular. They are much larger than a flash drive but can hold more data. They vary in size, capacity, and price, and attach to a USB port via a short cable .
How Storage is Measured
Computers talk in 'bits' and eight bits equals one 'byte.' And 1,024 bytes equal 1 kilobyte (KB). We seldom talk in bytes or KB these days; we talk in bigger numbers.
- 1,024 kilobytes (KB) = 1 megabyte (MB)
- 1,024 megabytes (MB) = 1 gigabyte (GB)
- 1,024 gigabytes (GB) = 1 Terabyte
Let's put this information to practical use. Here are the capacities today of the various media we've discussed: A diskette could only hold 1.44MB. A CD holds 700MB. A DVD holds 4.7GB. A two-page letter in Microsoft Word is about 25KB. But the size of quality photos produced by new digital cameras or smart phones can be 2-12MB. If your photos average 2MB in size, a DVD can hold about 2,400 photos.
You know, in many ways YOU are just like a PC. Your brain is a Central Processing Unit. Your long-term memory (file cabinet) is like the hard disk where data is permanently stored, and your short-term memory (working area) is like the computer's memory. And all of them work together to control your eyes, ears, fingers, toes and to produce work! I hope you now have a much clearer picture of what a PC is all about. Please see my other articles that will help you use your PC!
The Diskette Drive?
This tutorial was one of our first in 2008, and we've kept it updated through the years. Below is the original information about the diskette drive. We can't bear to delete it totally, so let's go down memory lane.
Few PCs have diskette drives as diskettes are seldom used today. Why? Because they hold so little data compared to portable discs and flash drives. However, if you have an older computer, let's review.
The diskette drive is always called the 'A drive.' A diskette is a 3 ½' square disc. If you have a lot of data stored on diskettes from prior years, you can request that a diskette drive be installed in a new PC, or attach an external diskette drive via a USB port.
NOTE: If a diskette is loaded in the drive when booting up the PC, an error message will display 'non-system disk or disk error.' Just remove the diskette from the drive and press any key on the keyboard to resume.
We hope you've enjoyed our Beginner's Guide to the PC tutorial. Cheers!
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A Beginner Guide To Gambas Pdf Printers
If you owned a computer in the 80s, you almost certainly knew BASIC. Each microcomputer came with their own spin on the language, and it wasn’t uncommon to while away a Saturday afternoon copying code from a magazine line by line. The end product would almost always be some kind of game, or an interesting visual effect.
It inspired an entire generation of coders. But BASIC died around the same time the Commodore 64 did, and it wasn’t really replaced. As Windows came on to the scene, it was no longer required to write code in order to use a computer. Even if you wanted to, Windows didn’t really come with a BASIC-like programming language rolled in.
But a handful of people are trying to revive it with a programming language called GAMBAS – Gambas Almost Means Basic, which is available for Linux and FreeBSD. Here’s what you need to know.
What Is GAMBAS
So, let’s start off with a bit of history.
Back in the 1980s, Microsoft was a shade of what it is right now. Few people had computers at home, and those who did tended to have ones made by Amstrad, Atari, and Commodore; the giants of the era.
These didn’t really come with operating systems as we now know them, but rather a minimalist approach to running code from tapes and jumbo-sized floppy disks. They also came with interpreters for a simple, human-readable programming language called BASIC. This allowed programmers of all abilities to make games and applications, and freely distribute them. In many respects, BASIC kickstarted the hobbyist developer market, and can be regarded as a spiritual ancestor to the modern day App Store.
But, then the computer market changed.
Atari, Amstrad and Commodore all went out of business, or pivoted from making hardware, to exclusively software. The computer market transformed from consisting of multiple, smaller players, to just two; Apple and Microsoft. A casualty of this transformation was BASIC.
GAMBAS is a spiritual throwback to this era. But it comes with some key differences.
Firstly, syntactically (meaning, the grammar and structure of the language), it differs significantly to ‘old-school’ BASIC, adopting a similar structure to that of Microsoft’s Visual Basic language. If you’ve used this, GAMBAS will be incredibly familiar to you. If not, you’ll probably have a bit of learning to do.
Secondly, GAMBAS uses an object-oriented approach to programming, where the code is logically organized in ‘real-world’ terms. This is incredibly unusual, given the BASIC languages of yesteryear used a more procedural style, where code is organized in steps to be followed sequentially.
Finally, GAMBAS is more than just a language. It also comes with an IDE (Integrated Development Environment), as well as a toolkit for making rudimentary user environments. It even supports QT, which is the engine behind a dizzying array of Linux applications, as well as SDL, which is the gold-standard of computer graphics engines.
Surprisingly, GAMBAS also comes with a CGI engine, allowing you to make websites. I wouldn’t recommend this though, largely due to it being exceptionally slow, and GAMBAS lacking support common developer tools, including the likes of MongoDBHow a MongoDB Database Can Better Organize Your DataHow a MongoDB Database Can Better Organize Your DataMongoDB (from 'humongous') is a cross-platform document-oriented database used as an alternative to MySQL. But what does that mean?Read More, which is used by a variety of web applications to store data.
How Can I Get It?
Well, this is simple. GAMBAS is currently available for Linux and FreeBSD, and can be downloaded from the repositories of your chosen distro. If you’re using Ubuntu, run sudo apt-get install gambas3. This will then install over 100 megabytes of data.
If you’re on Windows, you can get it running with a bit of wrestling with Cygwin. It’s probably easier to use a VM, though.
Then, it’s just a matter of diving in, and getting your feet wet. A good place to start is with one of GAMBAS’s many templates, which make it easy for you to start coding without the laborious step of finding libraries and linking them to your project.
Where Can I Learn About It?
GAMBASCodecademy - Hands Down The Easiest Way To CodeCodecademy - Hands Down The Easiest Way To CodeCodecademy is a new website slash interactive programming tutorial that walks you through the basics of JavaScript. While it hasn't been around very long, the site has already been generating a lot of buzz on...Read More is very much a niche language.
As a result, there’s not the same amount of learning material available for it, as there are for other languages. CodeAcademy haven’t (and almost certainly never will) written a GAMBAS course, and there are only two books about the language on amazon.com.
With this respect, your options for learning this language are very limited.
A good first step is the documentation, which is freely available on the GAMBAS Wiki. Failing that, check out A Beginners Guide to GAMBAS [No Longer Available], by John Rittenhouse. This can be read online.
After that, try looking for open-source projects written in the language, and see if you can get a feel for the language from that. Great places to start include BitBucketLove GitHub? 4 Reasons Why You Should Host Your Code On BitBucketLove GitHub? 4 Reasons Why You Should Host Your Code On BitBucketYou have to think about where you intend to store your code. It's likely you've have heard of GitHub. That's not surprising. GitHub is used by individuals and enterprises to host code, collaborate on documentation...Read More, and its more popular cousin, GithubWhat Is Git & Why You Should Use Version Control If You’re a DeveloperWhat Is Git & Why You Should Use Version Control If You’re a DeveloperAs web developers, a lot of the time we tend to work on local development sites then just upload everything when we’re done. This is fine when it’s just you and the changes are small,...Read More..
Is It Worth Learning?
If you’re planning on learning a programming language in order to advance your career, GAMBAS shouldn’t be that language. In the real world, hardly anybody uses it as their working language. It just isn’t practical, on so many levels.
Unlike a significant proportion of mainstream programming languages, code written with GAMBAS cannot easily be ported to Windows or OS X. Furthermore, if you decided to learn GAMBAS with an expectation of there being an active, expansive developer community to learn from, you’ll be sorely disappointed.
It’s also immensely impractical. One of the core strengths of Python, for example, is the wealth of libraries available for it, which allow you to do anything from manipulate HTML, to build your own web servers. There’s nothing really like that for GAMBAS.
I can’t even recommend it as a teaching languageWhich Programming Language Should You Learn For Software Development?Which Programming Language Should You Learn For Software Development?When starting on the path of programming, it’s important you invest your time wisely in choosing to learn something that will both benefit you in the immediate future with visible results on your platform of...Read More. Python and Ruby are both cleaner, less opaque and are actually used. There’s also a massive amount of learning material surrounding these languages, unlike GAMBAS, which is relatively limited in that regard.
So, who should learn GAMBAS? Well, if your eyes go misty whenever you think of the hours you spent copying code from magazines in the 80s, you might get a kick out of it.
But everyone else? Just learn Python.
Photo Credits: Commodore Amiga 500 (Quagmire)
I personally love gambas - it is a wonderfully written language that just 'works'. It is visual BASIC but better. I think more and more people will realize its power for hobyist programmers.
And yes..im one of those commodore 64 programmers as a child and the vic 20 before that! (both in machine language and basic)
Linux is just better for arduino and pi programming and windoews has some way to catch up.
you can see a video about GAMBAS and raspberry pie here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRoy5G2BexUAoh2LqpXZThA
Thank you, Matthew.
No, I'm just a user who's tried to keep up with the original language. I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in October of 2003, so doing much of anything technical is difficult now. Still, I do what I can.
Please take a look at the current status of True BASIC on their website at http://www.truebasic.com, Matthew. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at what is going on with True BASIC there.
Yep, eyes got a bit misty there... Me, RUN magazine, my trusty Commodore 64 (and later, the C128), and a Saturday afternoon.
It sure was laborious and frustrating, but it was geek kid cutting edge.
We won't get I to the Timex /Sinclair 1000 I had before that... :DIt's kind of sad we'll never have anything like that again, isn't it?
I remember the uninitiated laughing at the 'pokes' and 'peeks' in my C64 code. Those were the good old days.