Geeking the kids

[kjn]

Last spring, I told Hulda's kindergarten that I'd like to visit them and show them the insides of a computer. Now, I've finally managed to locate and get my hands on an old trash computer (a 1994-vintage Pentium, no less!), and I'll visit them tomorrow for a show-and-tell.

Things to show from the outside:

• network contacts (RJ45, coax, and old-school transceiver)
• display contact
• keyboard and mouse contacts (maybe with comparison to USB)

Things to show on the inside:

• processor
• hard drive - probably open up this as well
• RAM
• power supply
• graphics card
• diskette drive tape drive
• CD-ROM drive
• fans and cooling system

I've also prepared a short tutorial/play on network topology, using two different sets of strings. I intend to show star topology, and one set of circle or bus topology.

Any other good ideas to do or show? The kids will be four or five years old.