Connecting to the Internet

Abstract

To get online, a few pieces of electronic equipment, known as hardware, are necessary. A personal computer (PC) is first and foremost. PCs come in many shapes, sizes, brands, and price ranges. Two brands are commonly used: the Apple and the International Business Machines (IBM) computers. Technically, although Apple and IBM are brand names, they also represent a genre of computer. Most PCs fall into either the IBM or Apple genre. Compaq, Hewlett Packard, Packard Bell, Dell, Gateway, NEC, SONY, and many others are members of the IBM genre, and are often referred to as “IBM clones.” These computers use similar operating systems and software (programs) and, for the most part, are interchangeable. While very few Apple “clones” exist, software that functions on Apple computers generally is incompatible with the IBM genre. The IBM computer and its clones generally use the Windows operating systems, manufactured by Microsoft.