Moderate environmental conditions. Protect your computer from extremes in temperature, direct sunlight, or any other source of heat. High humidity also hinders operation, so select a cool, dry area. Avoid dust and smoke, which can damage disks and disk drives and cause you to lose valuable data.

Appropriate power sources. To prevent static charges, connect all your equipment to three-prong, 120-volt grounded outlets. You need one outlet for the computer, one for the monitor, and additional outlets for a printer and any other peripherals. You can plug one peripheral into the auxiliary power outlet on the back panel of the computer, reducing the number of wall outlets you need. (The current required by the peripheral must not exceed

1 amp.)

No electromagnetic interference. Locate your system away from any electrical device, such as a telephone, that generates an electromagnetic field.

Connecting a Monitor

Your computer comes with an MGA (multi-graphics adapter) card installed. This card controls the monitor and provides the connection to attach the monitor to the computer. You can connect a monochrome or color graphics monitor to this card.

Note

If you are using another type of monitor with your computer—such as an EGA (enhanced grapics adapter) or VGA (video graphics array)—you need a compatible display adapter card to control if. If the optional card is not already installed in the computer, you need to do this before you can connect the monitor. See Chapter 4 Fox instructions on installing an option card (in this case, the video card).

1-4 Setting Up Your System