Peter Norton's Inside the PC, Eighth Edition [Paperback]

Peter Norton (Author), John M. Goodman (Author)

Book Description

Series: Peter Norton Series | Publication Date: May 21, 1999

Peter Norton's Inside the PC, 8th Edition provides insight into the PC family. The book focuses on the exploration of the PC including the hardware and its interior as well as concentrating on the operating systems--Windows and DOS. The more you know about your PC the better you can truly realize the potential of the machine. This book will help you understand what goes on inside the PC, which will help you make more educated decisions in buying new or additional equipment. Peter Norton covers everything from processors to operating systems, monitors to multimedia, and mobile PCs to the Internet. Become well versed in all of these technologies and more!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Peter Norton's Inside the PC, this new edition included, is an excellent resource for those who need a broad-brush introduction to personal computer technology. It gives succinct explanations of important technologies--including information for shoppers--and even provides a high-level explanation of what computer programming is all about.

A book like this can't expect to stay current for long, and time has already introduced some shortcomings: There's no coverage of the new 66 Mbps Ultra DMA standard and the controller cards needed to implement it. Similarly, the authors neglect any discussion of the controversial serial number feature of the Intel Pentium III and (less excusably) barely touch on digital photography.

Nonetheless, Peter Norton's Inside the PC has a very readable style--it's possible to sit down with this book, enjoy reading it, and come away more knowledgeable than when you began. It's also handy as a reference--you can look up mysterious PC terms here and expect to find a good explanation. --David Wall

Topics covered: Inside IBM-standard PCs, processors, disks, memory, peripherals, networking (including the Internet), and the newest developments in 3-D audio and video.

Review

With advice from the experts, a user-friendly, hands-on approach, and a 16-page full-color insert, this book helps users better understand their PC, realize its potential, foresee possible problems, and make the right decisions. "Covers Windows 95, plug-and-play, RISC architecture, multimedia, and the new software trends. Ensures maximum productivity by providing a working knowledge of the PC at all levels. Includes a coupon for a utilities disk with DOS and Windows versions of ". Covers IBM & Compatibles. -- Sams Pub. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 800 pages
• Publisher: Pearson Sams Publishing; 8 Sub edition (May 21, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0672315327
• ISBN-13: 978-0672315329
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.8 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #666,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Feelings, January 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Peter Norton's Inside the PC, Eighth Edition (Paperback)

This was the first book I read on computers, when I didn't know anything about them. That was two years ago and now that I look back it was a decent book. I remember reading it and being fascinated, even though some stuff was a little complex. All in all this was a good book. If you're an absolute newbie then read it.

This book is not good for advanced users though. Whether it claims to be or not, DON'T BUY THIS BOOK IF YOU KNOW A FAIR AMOUNT ABOUT COMPUTER HARDWARE ALREADY. If you do you will be disappointed. That's why I always go for books that are more advanced to push myself.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Some good diagrams, but..., May 9, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Peter Norton's Inside the PC (Paperback)

Inside the PC has several good diagrams, one showing the physical connections between the CPU, cache, memory, video controller, chipsets, PCI and ISA buses, and another showing how data and address lines connect to a standard 32MB DIMM module. Many explanations in the book, however, head in a promising direction, but fall short, as this excerpt shows: "The CPU, with its 64 data wires, connects to 8 bytes of memory at a time. This means that the three least-significant bits of any address may be ignored in pointing to locations in main memory." It is unclear how the second sentence ties in with the first, and why the three least-significant bits may be ignored.

The book attempts to cover too many aspects of the PC, from CPUs and chipsets, to inkjet printers and the future of the Internet, with varying levels of detail and organization. Advanced readers will not need the chapter covering the basics of bits and bytes, but will wish for a more detailed and thorough discussion on paging, while novice readers just learning about bits and bytes in Chapter 3 are probably not ready for DEBUG and the probing of memory locations in Chapter 5, especially when Chapter 4 veers off in an unrelated direction to discuss motherboards, ribbon cables, and legacy standards; a more defined target audience (beginner, intermediate, or advanced) is needed, as is a narrower scope of topics, preferably one limited to the components and technology that is "Inside the PC."

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent reference, April 2, 2000

By 

J. Axelson "Jan Axelson" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Peter Norton's Inside the PC, Eighth Edition (Paperback)

Back in the 80's, many of us first learned about PC hardware from Peter Norton's excellent "Inside the IBM PC." John Goodman carries on the tradition with the 8th edition (probably 4x the size of the original). Covering this much material thoroughly, understandably, and accurately isn't a simple task. John has done a great job both in attention to detail and in making the text a pleasure to read. This book also has an excellent index (46 pages!), which you don't often find these days and which makes it easy to locate what you're looking for.