Author Topic: I can't play the sample games  (Read 7940 times)

Jam0864

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Re: I can't play the sample games
« Reply #15 on: 2008-12-05, 04:15:42 AM »
why do people keep calling it a cpu...?
A cpu is a central processing unit, which is a COMPONENT of a computer.

bluemonkmn

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Re: I can't play the sample games
« Reply #16 on: 2008-12-05, 06:33:08 AM »
It may be a rhetorical question, but it's one I've wrestled with before so I'll answer it.  I think it's because, in an attempt to think of a name for the motherboard, all its attachments, and the case housing it, "CPU" was what a group of people started to use in the absence of a better option, and now a lot more people use the term because it's understood to refer to this even if it's not technically accurate.  Alternate terms have other problems:
"Box" -- too generic -- could be referring to the cardboard box in which the computer arrived
"PC" -- 1) Refers to the whole computer; 2) in another twist of misused terms, this tends to refer to the alternative to a Mac
"Case" -- Usually refers to the unit without its contents; also too generic
"Unit" -- too generic again
"CPU housing" -- no clear meaning -- does this refer to the case alone, and technically the case doesn't house just the CPU, so it's a confusing term
"CPU Box" -- close... I tend to use this, but people tend to prefer one word terms, and it's still a little awkward technically speaking.
"Computer" -- Not specific enough when one wants to refer to just the CPU Box and not include the monitor and all the attached components.

So what would you call it?

I used to be pedantic about using accurate terminology, but finally I accepted the fact that words are used for more than just their discrete denotations.  They slowly assume/acquire the meanings associated with their connotations, determined by the contexts in which they are used.  A person knows the meaning of a word primarily by the context in which it is used, and often times the definition of a word doesn't quite cover that, and we geeks complain when that happens :).  The word gets used in other contexts where a better word wasn't available or was too hard to think of, and words kind of change meaning.

SmartBoy16

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Re: I can't play the sample games
« Reply #17 on: 2008-12-05, 07:54:19 AM »
so what i was asking for was a pic of the motherboard
Looking to the skies.....

dutch_619

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Re: I can't play the sample games
« Reply #18 on: 2008-12-05, 12:51:06 PM »
At work we tend to call the CPU itself a "proc" and the motherboard+CPU+memory the CPU. This is due to the fact that we work on embedded systems and the proc tends to be a BGA soldered to the motherboard. We also call southbridge the IDX, unless we call it the superI/O (on PPC systems). It really confuses new people when we hire them.

Karisma

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Re: I can't play the sample games
« Reply #19 on: 2008-12-05, 03:50:57 PM »
so what i was asking for was a pic of the motherboard
oh ok, i will take the camera then, please wait  :)