DOCSLIB.ORG

A Decade of Semiconductor Companies—1988 Edition to Keep Clients Informed of These New and Emerging Companies

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Decade of Semiconductor Companies—1988 Edition to Keep Clients Informed of These New and Emerging Companies 1988 y DataQuest Do Not Remove A. Decade of Semiconductor Companies 1988 Edition Components Division TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I. Introduction 1 II. Venture Capital 11 III. Strategic Alliances 15 IV. Product Analysis 56 Emerging Technology Companies 56 Analog ICs 56 ASICs 58 Digital Signal Processing 59 Discrete Semiconductors 60 Gallium Arsenide 60 Memory 62 Microcomponents 64 Optoelectronics 65 Telecommunication ICs 65 Other Products 66 Bubble Memory 67 V. Company Profiles (139) 69 A&D Co., Ltd. 69 Acrian Inc. 71 ACTEL Corporation 74 Acumos, Inc. 77 Adaptec, Inc. 79 Advanced Linear Devices, Inc. 84 Advanced Microelectronic Products, Inc. 87 Advanced Power Technology, Inc. 89 Alliance Semiconductor 92 Altera Corporation 94 ANADIGICS, Inc. 100 Applied Micro Circuits Corporation 103 Asahi Kasei Microsystems Co., Ltd. 108 Aspen Semiconductor Corporation 111 ATMEL Corporation 113 Austek Microsystems Pty. Ltd. 116 Barvon Research, Inc. 119 Bipolar Integrated Technology 122 Brooktree Corporation 126 California Devices, Ihc. 131 California Micro Devices Corporation 135 Calmos Systems, Inc. 140 © 1988 Dataquest Incorporated June TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Pagg Company Profiles (Continued) Calogic Corporation 144 Catalyst Semiconductor, Inc. 146 Celeritek, Inc. ISO Chartered Semiconductor Pte Ltd. 153 Chips and Technologies, Inc. 155 Cirrus Logic, Inc. 162 Conductus Inc. 166 Cree Research Inc. 167 Crystal Semiconductor Corporation 169 Custom Arrays Corporation 174 Custom Silicon Inc. 177 Cypress Semiconductor Corporation 181 Dallas Semiconductor Corporation 188 Dolphin Integration SA 194 Elantec, Inc. 196 Electronic Technology Corporation 200 Epitaxx Inc. 202 European Silicon Structures 205 Exel Microelectronics Inc. 209 G-2 Incorporated 212 GAIN Electronics 215 Gazelle Microcircuits, Inc. 218 Genesis Microchip Inc. 221 GigaBit Logic, Inc. 223 GL Micro Devices 229 Graphics Communications Technology 231 Harris Microwave Semiconductor, Inc. 232 Hittite Microwave Corporation 236 Hualon Micro-Electronics Corporation 238 HYPRES, Inc. 241 IC Sensors, Inc. 245 ICI Array Technology, Inc. 248 Inmos International, pic 250 Innovative Silicon Technology 254 Integrated CMOS Systems Inc. 256 Integrated Device Technology 259 Integrated Logic Systems, Inc. 268 Intercept Microelectronics 271 International CMOS Technology, Inc. 273 International Microelectronic Products 278 ii Isocom Limite©d 1988 Dataquest Incorporated June 284 IXYS Corporation 286 TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Page V. Company Profiles (Continued) Krysalis Corporation 290 Kyoto Semiconductor Corporation 293 Lattice Semiconductor Corporation 294 Level One Communications Inc. 300 Linear Integrated Systems Inc. 304 Linear Technology Corporation 306 Logic Devices Inc. 315 LOGICSTAR Inc. 319 LSI Logic Corporation 321 Lytel 333 Matra-Harris Semiconducteur 335 Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. 340 MCE Semiconductor Inc. 348 MemTech Technology Corporation 351 Micro Linear Corporation 353 Micron Technology, Inc. 356 Microwave Monolithics 362 Microwave Technology, Inc. 364 Mietec N.V. 367 Modular Semiconductor, Inc. 369 Molecular Electronics Corporation 371 MOS Electronics Corporation 373 Nihon Information Center Co., Ltd. 377 NMB Semiconductor Corporation 378 NovaSensor 381 Novix Inc. 383 Opto Diode Corporation 386 Opto Tech Corporation 387 Orbit Semiconductor, Inc. 389 Pacific Monolithics, Inc. 391 Performance Semiconductor Corporation 393 Photonic Integration Research, Inc. 397 PLX Technology Corporation 398 Powerex, Inc. 400 PromTech 403 Quasel Taiwan Company, Limited 405 Ramax Limited 407 Ramtron Corporation 409 Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. 413 Saratoga Semiconductor Corporation 418 SEEQ Technology© 198, Inc8 Dataques. t Incorporated June 423ii i Sensym, Inc. 428 TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Page V. Company Profiles (Continued) SID Microelectronics S.A. 431 Sierra Semiconductor Corporation 433 Si-Fab Corporation 440 Silicon Systems, Inc. 442 SIMTEK Corporation 447 S-MOS Systems Inc. 448 Solid State Optronics Inc. 453 Spectrum Microdevices 455 Synaptics, Inc. 457 Synergy Semiconductor Corporation 458 Tachonics Corporation 461 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited 465 Telcom Devices Corporation 468 Teledyne Monolithic Microwave 469 Three-Five Systems, Inc. 471 Topaz Semiconductor Inc. 473 Triad Semiconductors International 476 TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc. 479 United Microelectronics Corporation 484 Universal Semiconductor Inc. 490 Vitelic Corporation 494 Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation 498 VLSI Design Associates, Inc. 504 VLSI Technology, Inc. 506 VTC Incorporated 519 WaferScale Integration, Inc. 526 Weitek Corporation 532 Wolfson Microelectronics Limited 538 Xicor, Inc. 540 Xilinx Incorporated 546 XTAR Corporation 549 Zoran Corporation 551 ZyMOS Corporation 556 iv © 1988 Dataquest Incorporated June FILE COPY LIST OF TABLES Do Not RemovG laMe Page la-Ik Start-up Activity By Year (1977-1987) 3 2a Companies No Longer Operating (11) 10 2b Companies That Have Been Acquired or Merged 10 3 Capitalization by Company 12 4 Alliances Matrix by Year/Product Area 17 5a-5k List of Alliances by Year 18 6 Emerging Technology Companies 56 7 Companies Offering Analog ICs 57 8 Companies Participating in the ASIC Market 58 9 Companies Offering DSP Products 59 10 Companies Offering Discrete Products 60 11 Companies Offering GaAs Products 61 12 Companies Offering Memory Products 63 13 Companies Offering Microcomponent Products 64 14 Companies Offering Optoelectronic Products 65 15 Companies Offering Telecommunication ICs 66 16 Companies Operating as Foundries 67 © 1988 Dataquest Incorporated June .j\' v Ti ^ r I C 'A w LIST OF FIGURES Figure £ag& 1 Start-Up Activity by Year (1957-1987) 2 2 Venture Capital Disbursements 11 3 Financing Raised by Year 15 4 Alliances By Year/Product 16 vi © 1988 Dataquest Incorporated June I. INTRODUCTION Dataquest has noted 157 semiconductor companies formed between 1977 and 1987. These companies are developing new niche markets and technologies that did not exist only a few years ago. Several companies have already become $100 million companies. Although several start-ups have failed, these have been replaced quickly by newcomers. For this reason, Dataquest believes that it is crucial to watch these swiftly moving companies—the industry's barometers of change—because they represent new emerging technologies, markets, and applications. For our clients' convenience, Dataquest has prepared A Decade of Semiconductor Companies—1988 Edition to keep clients informed of these new and emerging companies. The information contained in the report was gathered through surveys, telephone interviews, and publicly available material. Some of the text was integrated verbatim from background information provided by the companies. This information may or may not reflect Dataquest's view of these companies. This report provides the following information: • Recent company formations • Financing raised by companies • Strategic alliances • Product participation in the ASIC, digital signal-processing, gallium arsenide, linear, memory, microprocessor, and other markets. • Up-to-date profiles of 139 companies Definition of Start-Ups Dataquest defines IC start-ups as semiconductor manufacturers that design and ship finished products under their own labels; they need not have in-house wafer fabrication facilities. We observed that, due to the high cost of state-of-the-art plants and equipment, most start-ups use silicon foundries to reduce up-front costs. These companies complete circuit designs and subcontract manufacturing to other companies. Unlike custom design houses, these companies offer product lines. Dataquest has made the following observations: • The 157 companies reported in this edition represent a 19 percent increase over the 127 companies reported in IC Start-Ups 1987. • Fifteen companies were established in 1987. • Of the 157 companies formed between 1977-1987 (see Figure 1), 84 were in Silicon Valley; of the 15 companies formed in 1987, 7 are in Silicon Valley. © 1988 Dataquest Incorporated June The 11 companies that have closed represent 7 percent of the 157 companies formed. Seven companies were acquired. The companies have made numerous strategic alliances (more than 82 in 1987) in recent years. The companies raised about $685 million in financing in 1987 and raised a total of about $2.9 billion in the last 10 years. Figure 1 Start-Up Activity by Year (1957-1987) Number of Companies 40 1957 1962 1967 1972 1977 1982 1987 Source: Dataquest June 1988 Start-Up Activity, 1986 and 1987 In 1987, a remarkable number of new companies were formed after the dramatic drop in company formations in 1986. After the rapid emergence of companies between 1983 and 1985, venture capital firms shifted their interest from semiconductors to other areas, and only 9 companies received seed or first-round financing in 1986. However, 15 companies received seed or first-round financing in 1987, and based on past experience, we expect to see more companies as they raise initial financing and complete development efforts. One of the reasons for the increase in company formations in 1987 is the development of unique technologies. These new companies are using and/or commercializing a variety of technologies that include neural networks, super­ conductivity, ferroelectric memory, silicon carbide, and optical ICs. © 1988 Dataquest Incorporated June Another factor that has affected the number of companies being formed is the investment by companies that are relatively young themselves. Rather than
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Emerging Technologies Multi/Parallel Processing
    Emerging Technologies Multi/Parallel Processing Mary C. Kulas New Computing Structures Strategic Relations Group December 1987 For Internal Use Only Copyright @ 1987 by Digital Equipment Corporation. Printed in U.S.A. The information contained herein is confidential and proprietary. It is the property of Digital Equipment Corporation and shall not be reproduced or' copied in whole or in part without written permission. This is an unpublished work protected under the Federal copyright laws. The following are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation, Maynard, MA 01754. DECpage LN03 This report was produced by Educational Services with DECpage and the LN03 laser printer. Contents Acknowledgments. 1 Abstract. .. 3 Executive Summary. .. 5 I. Analysis . .. 7 A. The Players . .. 9 1. Number and Status . .. 9 2. Funding. .. 10 3. Strategic Alliances. .. 11 4. Sales. .. 13 a. Revenue/Units Installed . .. 13 h. European Sales. .. 14 B. The Product. .. 15 1. CPUs. .. 15 2. Chip . .. 15 3. Bus. .. 15 4. Vector Processing . .. 16 5. Operating System . .. 16 6. Languages. .. 17 7. Third-Party Applications . .. 18 8. Pricing. .. 18 C. ~BM and Other Major Computer Companies. .. 19 D. Why Success? Why Failure? . .. 21 E. Future Directions. .. 25 II. Company/Product Profiles. .. 27 A. Multi/Parallel Processors . .. 29 1. Alliant . .. 31 2. Astronautics. .. 35 3. Concurrent . .. 37 4. Cydrome. .. 41 5. Eastman Kodak. .. 45 6. Elxsi . .. 47 Contents iii 7. Encore ............... 51 8. Flexible . ... 55 9. Floating Point Systems - M64line ................... 59 10. International Parallel ........................... 61 11. Loral .................................... 63 12. Masscomp ................................. 65 13. Meiko .................................... 67 14. Multiflow. ~ ................................ 69 15. Sequent................................... 71 B. Massively Parallel . 75 1. Ametek.................................... 77 2. Bolt Beranek & Newman Advanced Computers ...........
    [Show full text]
  • Microprocessor Design
    Microprocessor Design en.wikibooks.org March 15, 2015 On the 28th of April 2012 the contents of the English as well as German Wikibooks and Wikipedia projects were licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. A URI to this license is given in the list of figures on page 211. If this document is a derived work from the contents of one of these projects and the content was still licensed by the project under this license at the time of derivation this document has to be licensed under the same, a similar or a compatible license, as stated in section 4b of the license. The list of contributors is included in chapter Contributors on page 209. The licenses GPL, LGPL and GFDL are included in chapter Licenses on page 217, since this book and/or parts of it may or may not be licensed under one or more of these licenses, and thus require inclusion of these licenses. The licenses of the figures are given in the list of figures on page 211. This PDF was generated by the LATEX typesetting software. The LATEX source code is included as an attachment (source.7z.txt) in this PDF file. To extract the source from the PDF file, you can use the pdfdetach tool including in the poppler suite, or the http://www. pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-the-pdf-toolkit/ utility. Some PDF viewers may also let you save the attachment to a file. After extracting it from the PDF file you have to rename it to source.7z.
    [Show full text]
  • MCC ACADEMIC PROGRAMS ASSOCIATE in SCIENCE and ARTS DEGREE PROGRAMS Associate in Science and Arts
    Programs MCC ACADEMIC PROGRAMS ASSOCIATE IN SCIENCE AND ARTS DEGREE PROGRAMS Associate in Science and Arts ............................................................................................. Pg 55 Associate in Science and Arts - Criminal Justice ................................................................. Pg 59 Associate in Science and Arts - Early Childhood Education ............................................... Pg 59 Associate in Science and Arts - Nursing ............................................................................. Pg 59 ASSOCIATE IN APPLIED SCIENCE DEGREE PROGRAMS Criminal Justice ................................................................................................................... Pg 60 Corrections Certificates ...................................................................................................... Pg 60 ALLIED HEALTH PROGRAMS (Degrees, Certificates, and Diplomas) Nursing ...............................................................................................................................................Pg 62 Respiratory Therapy ............................................................................................................Pg 66 Massage Therapy ................................................................................................................Pg 67 BUSINESS PROGRAMS (Degrees, Certificates, and Professional Development Credits) Accounting/Office Management ........................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Lehman Brothers Holdings
    SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION FORM 13F-HR/A Initial quarterly Form 13F holdings report filed by institutional managers [amend] Filing Date: 2004-12-01 | Period of Report: 2004-09-30 SEC Accession No. 0000806085-04-000212 (HTML Version on secdatabase.com) FILER LEHMAN BROTHERS HOLDINGS INC Mailing Address Business Address LEHMAN BROTHERS LEHMAN BROTHERS CIK:806085| IRS No.: 133216325 | State of Incorp.:DE | Fiscal Year End: 1130 745 SEVENTH AVENUE 745 SEVENTH AVENUE Type: 13F-HR/A | Act: 34 | File No.: 028-03182 | Film No.: 041177215 NEW YORK NY 10019 NEW YORK NY 10019 SIC: 6211 Security brokers, dealers & flotation companies 2125267000 Copyright © 2012 www.secdatabase.com. All Rights Reserved. Please Consider the Environment Before Printing This Document NON-CONFIDENTIAL <TABLE> <CAPTION> TITLE OF VALUE SHRS OR SH/ PUT/ INVESTMENT OTHER VOTING AUTHORITY NAME OF ISSUER CLASS CUSIP (X$1000) PRN AMT PRN CALL DISCRETION MANAGERS SOLE SHARED NONE <S> <C> <C> <C> <C> <C> <C> -------------------------------- -------- --------- -------- ------- --- ---- ---------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ***DAIMLERCHRYSLER A.G. COMMON D1668R123 9514 227843 SH DEFINED 01 227843 0 0 ***SANOFI AVENTIS COMMON F5548N101 34013 491666 SH DEFINED 01 491666 0 0 PNM RESOURCES COMMON GKD49H100 0 50000 SH DEFINED 01 0 0 50000 PNM RESOURCES COMMON GKD49H100 0 200000 SH DEFINED 01 200000 0 0 ***ACE LTD-ORD COMMON G0070K103 9964 248616 SH DEFINED 01 0 0 248616 ***ASPEN INSURANCE HOLDINGS COMMON G05384105 3950 171680 SH DEFINED 01 171680 0 0 ***ASSURED GUARANTY
    [Show full text]
  • FEI COMPANY 5350 NE Dawson Creek Drive Hillsboro, Oregon 97124-5793
    FEI COMPANY 5350 NE Dawson Creek Drive Hillsboro, Oregon 97124-5793 NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS To Be Held On May 7, 2015 To the Shareholders of FEI Company: Notice is hereby given that the Annual Meeting of Shareholders of FEI Company, an Oregon corporation, will be held on Thursday, May 7, 2015, at 9:00 a.m. local time, at our corporate headquarters located at 5350 NE Dawson Creek Drive, Hillsboro, Oregon 97124-5793. The purposes of the annual meeting will be: 1. To elect members of FEI's Board of Directors to serve for the following year and until their successors are duly elected and qualified; 2. To consider and vote on a proposal to amend FEI's 1995 Stock Incentive Plan to increase the number of shares of our common stock reserved for issuance under the plan by 250,000 shares; 3. To consider and vote on a proposal to amend FEI's Employee Share Purchase Plan to increase the number of shares of our common stock reserved for issuance under the plan by 250,000 shares; 4. To approve, on an advisory basis, the appointment of KPMG LLP as FEI's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2015; 5. To approve, on an advisory basis, FEI's executive compensation; and 6. To transact such other business as may properly come before the meeting or at any and all postponements or adjournments of the meeting. Only shareholders of record at the close of business on March 2, 2015 and their proxies will be entitled to vote at the annual meeting and any adjournment or postponement of the meeting.
    [Show full text]
  • Brief History of Microprogramming
    Microprogramming History -- Mark Smotherman A Brief History of Microprogramming Mark Smotherman Last updated: October 2012 Summary: Microprogramming is a technique to implement the control logic necessary to execute instructions within a processor. It relies on fetching low-level microinstructions from a control store and deriving the appropriate control signals as well as microprogram sequencing information from each microinstruction. Definitions and Example Although loose usage has sometimes equated the term "microprogramming" with the idea of "programming a microcomputer", this is not the standard definition. Rather, microprogramming is a systematic technique for implementing the control logic of a computer's central processing unit. It is a form of stored-program logic that substitutes for hardwired control circuitry. The central processing unit in a computer system is composed of a data path and a control unit. The data path includes registers, function units such as shifters and ALUs (arithmetic and logic units), internal processor busses and paths, and interface units for main memory and I/O busses. The control unit governs the series of steps taken by the data path during the execution of a user- visible instruction, or macroinstruction (e.g., load, add, store). Each action of the datapath is called a register transfer and involves the transfer of information within the data path, possibly including the transformation of data, address, or instruction bits by the function units. A register transfer is accomplished by gating out (sending) register contents onto internal processor busses, selecting the operation of ALUs, shifters, etc., through which that information might pass, and gating in (receiving) new values for one or more registers.
    [Show full text]
  • Council Workshop Item
    COUNCIL WORKSHOP ITEM ITEM: Public Safety System Upgrade DATE: July 7, 2002 PREPARED BY: The Technology Commission The Public Safety System Project Team PURPOSE: To seek the Village Council’s approval of the agreement with H.T.E. BID AMOUNT: $1,425,539 (Option One) Recommended $1,168,598 (Option Two) DISCUSSION The task of updating the Village’s public safety system has been on village staff’s desks for several years. In the last year, village staff has evaluated public safety systems from five vendors through an RFP process. Each vendor’s system was evaluated based on a demonstration provided by the vendor. Village staff also contacted other towns that use that vendor’s system, and in some cases, visited other towns to see how the system performed in a live environment. Earlier this year, the staff and the Technology Commission rejected all RFP responses and requested of council that we be allowed to evaluate the possibility of upgrading our current public safety system (H.T.E.). For details, please refer to the report presented to the Village Council on February 12, 2002 (www.vil.downers-grove.il.us/govt/mmemo/02-12- 02/readindex.PDF). As indicated in that report, the project team would now look at upgrading the current public safety system manufactured by H.T.E. Following the same process followed in the RFP portion of the project, the team reviewed H.T.E’s products. Again site visits to other government agencies where H.T.E.’s system is used were conducted. In addition, the Technology Commission helped conduct a financial background analysis on H.T.E.
    [Show full text]
  • 2 9215FQ14 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Category Pages Facilities & Buildings 3-10 General Reference 11-20 Human Resources
    2 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Category Pages Facilities & Buildings 3-10 General Reference 11-20 Human Resources 21-22 Legal 23-25 Marketing 26 Personal Names (Individuals) 27 Predecessor Companies 28-29 Products & Services 30-89 Public Relations 90 Research 91-97 April 10, 2007 9215FQ14 3 Facilities & Buildings Q. When did IBM first open its offices in my town? A. While it is not possible for us to provide such information for each and every office facility throughout the world, the following listing provides the date IBM offices were established in more than 300 U.S. and international locations: Adelaide, Australia 1914 Akron, Ohio 1917 Albany, New York 1919 Albuquerque, New Mexico 1940 Alexandria, Egypt 1934 Algiers, Algeria 1932 Altoona, Pennsylvania 1915 Amsterdam, Netherlands 1914 Anchorage, Alaska 1947 Ankara, Turkey 1935 Asheville, North Carolina 1946 Asuncion, Paraguay 1941 Athens, Greece 1935 Atlanta, Georgia 1914 Aurora, Illinois 1946 Austin, Texas 1937 Baghdad, Iraq 1947 Baltimore, Maryland 1915 Bangor, Maine 1946 Barcelona, Spain 1923 Barranquilla, Colombia 1946 Baton Rouge, Louisiana 1938 Beaumont, Texas 1946 Belgrade, Yugoslavia 1926 Belo Horizonte, Brazil 1934 Bergen, Norway 1946 Berlin, Germany 1914 (prior to) Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 1938 Beyrouth, Lebanon 1947 Bilbao, Spain 1946 Birmingham, Alabama 1919 Birmingham, England 1930 Bogota, Colombia 1931 Boise, Idaho 1948 Bordeaux, France 1932 Boston, Massachusetts 1914 Brantford, Ontario 1947 Bremen, Germany 1938 9215FQ14 4 Bridgeport, Connecticut 1919 Brisbane, Australia
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction to Bit Slices and Microprogramming
    - 220 - INTRODUCTION TO BIT SLICES AND MICROPROGRAMMING Andries van Dam Brown University, Providence, Rhode-Island, USA Abstract Bit-slice logic blocks are fourth-generation LSI com­ ponents which are natural extensions of traditional multi­ plexers, registers, decoders, counters, ALUs, etc. Their functionality is controlled by microprogramming, typically to implement CPUs and peripheral controllers where both speed and easy programmability are required for flexibility, ease of implementation and debugging, etc. Processors built from bit-slice logic give the designer an alternative for approaching the programmability of traditional fixed- instruction-set microprocessors with a speed closer to that of hardwired "random" logic. Introduction The purpose of this set of annotated lecture tran­ sparencies is to give a brief introduction to the use of bit-slice logic in microprogrammed engines (CPUs) and con­ trollers. A basic understanding of the goals of the tech­ nology and its potential will allow one to read the litera­ ture with some idea of what the important issues and design parameters might be. Bit slices will be placed in the spec­ trum of hardware/software building blocks, and their basic types and uses will be briefly illustrated. Since slices are controlled typically by microprograms, an elementary review of that subject will also be given, especially to stress the crucial point that working with bit slices requires a proper (and integrated) understanding of hardware, firmware and software, as well as the use of proper tools and methodologies for each of these levels of design. The reader is referred to Glenford J. Myers' excellent brand-new book Digital SX£i&m U&&Î3R X±£h LSI £JL£-SJJL££ Logic (Wiley-Interscience, 1980) for a full treatment, to Prof.
    [Show full text]
  • Keyboard Shortcuts and Mouse
    3 KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS AND MOUSE The .mouse and keyboard are your PC’s eyes and ears, without them you could not execute commands or input text. ❖ Introduction to Keyboard • A computer keyboard is an input device used to enter characters and functions into the computer system by pressing buttons, or keys. It is the primary device used to enter text. • A keyboard typically contains keys for individual letters, numbers and special characters, as well as keys for specific functions. A standard keyboard has 104 keys. ❖ Keyboard Shortcuts • Shortcut keys provide an easier and usually quicker method of navigating and executing commands in computer software programs. • These are the keyboard shortcuts to help you use your computer easily. Press this key To do this Ctrl + N Create a new document Ctrl + O Open an existing document Ctrl + S Save a document Ctrl + P Print a document Ctrl + W/F4 Close the active document Ctrl + Z Undo the selected item Ctrl + Y Redo the selected item Ctrl + X Cut the selected item Ctrl + C Copy the selected item Ctrl + V Paste the selected item Ctrl + A Select all items in a document Ctrl + B Bold Ctrl + I Italic Ctrl + U Underline Ctrl + L Align text left Ctrl + E Align text center Ctrl + R Align text right Ctrl + Esc Open the start menu Ctrl + [ Decrease font size Ctrl + ] Increase font size Ctrl + J Justify text Alt + F4 Close the active program or application F1 Display help F2 Rename the selected item F3 Search for a file or folder F5 Refresh F12 Save the document as a new file Esc Stop or leave the current task ❖ Mouse • A mouse is a hand held pointing device used to position a cursor on the computer screen.
    [Show full text]
  • Unit I: Computer Fundamentals What Is a Computer?
    Unit I: Computer Fundamentals I) Introduction to Computers What is a computer? A computer is an electronic data processing device, capable of accepting data, applying a prescribed set of instructions to the data, and displaying the processed data in a desired manner as output. Characteristics of a Computer • Automatic • Speed and accuracy of computing • Diligence • Power of remembering ( Mass Storage) • Versatility Basic Computer Organization Almost all computer systems perform following basic five operations 1. Inputting 2. Storing 3. Processing 4. Outputting 5. Controlling The internal architecture of computers differs from one computer model to another; however, the basic organization remains the same for all computers. 1/18 A BLOCK DIAGRAM is shown below which displays the five building blocks (functional units) of a computer. These five units correspond to the five basic operations performed by all computes. Applications of Computers Computers have their application or utility everywhere. We find their applications in almost every sphere of life–particularly in fields where computations are required to be done at a very fast speed and where data is so complicated that the human brain finds it difficult to cope up with. Computer now-a-days are being used almost in every department to do the work at a greater speed and accuracy. They can keep the record of all the employees and prepare their pay bill in a matter of minutes every month. They can keep automatic checks on the stock of a particular item. Some of the prominent areas of computer applications are: In Education : Computers have proved to be excellent teachers.
    [Show full text]
  • MICROCOMPUTERS a Microcomputer Is a Small, Relatively
    MICROCOMPUTERS A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer with a microprocessor as its central processing unit (CPU). It includes a microprocessor, memory, and input/output (I/O) facilities. Microcomputers became popular in the 1970s and 80s with the advent of increasingly powerful microprocessors. microcomputer contains a microprocessor (a central processing unit on a microchip ),memory in the form of read-only memory and random access memory , I/O ports and a bus or system of interconnecting wires, housed in a unit that is usually called a motherboard . Monitors, keyboards and other devices for input and output may be integrated or separate. Computer memory in the form of RAM, and at least one other less volatile, memory storage device are usually combined with the CPU on a system bus in one unit. Other devices that make up a complete microcomputer system include batteries, a power supply unit, a keyboard and various input/output devices used to convey information to and from a human operator (printers, monitors, human interface devices). Microcomputers are designed to serve only one user at a time, although they can often be modified with software or hardware to concurrently serve more than one user. Microcomputers fit well on or under desks or tables, so that they are within easy access of users. Bigger computers like minicomputers, mainframes, and supercomputers take up large cabinets or even dedicated rooms. A microcomputer comes equipped with at least one type of data storage, usually RAM. Although some microcomputers (particularly early 8-bit home micros) perform tasks using RAM alone, some form of secondary storage is normally desirable.
    [Show full text]