text/4/2 I.C.s can do many things. Some are R.O.M. chips. These are Read Only Memory. Memory of this sort is like a newspaper. You can read it as often as you like, but you can't change it. ~ text/4/57 Others are R.A.M. chips. RAM stands for Random Access Memory. These chips can be told something and will remember it. If you tell them something different, they will then remember the new information. They only work when the power is on. If you turn the computer off, the RAM chips forget everything. ~ text/3/138 Other chips can make decisions. Their individual thinking power is limited, but they team up to control the operation of your computer. ~ text/350/3 There is one special I.C. chip called the C.P.U., which stands for Central Processing Unit. It is often the largest bug in the box, with the most legs. Almost every bit of information the computer handles is controlled by this chip. Intel is the most famous manufacturer of CPUs for IBM-compatible computers. In PC-class machines the Intel CPU model number is 8088. In XT computers it is 8088-2. In AT-class machines it is 80286, in '386' computers it is number 80386 and in '486s'... you guessed it. (80486) ~