Computer System Chapter- Two

OBJECTIVE
To enable students get fundamental concepts and
background about computer systems

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TOPICS INCLUDED:
Hardware
 CPU
 Input unit
 Output unit
 Storage Device
Software
 System Software
 Application Software

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COMPUTER SYSTEM
•Any system is defined as a group of integrated parts which are
designed to achieve a common objective.
•Thus, a system is made up of more than one element or part
•All the elements (parts) are logically related and controlled in such a way that the
goal (purpose) of the system is achieved.

The basic parts of computer system are:

 Hardware
 All Physical equipment's that make up a computer

 Software
 set of instruction that tells the hardware what to do

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COMPUTER HARDWARE
Hardware

 is the collection of physical parts of a computer system which you can touch
and sense it

 Examples: Monitor, keyboard, mouse etc

 Peripherals:
 are devices that connects to the system unit and is controlled by the processor
in the computer.

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COMPONENTS OF A COMPUTER
A computer has the following primary HW components:
1. Input unit/devices
2. Processing unit (CPU)
3. Memory
4. Output unit/devices,
5. Storage devices
6. Communication devices

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THE COMPONENTS OF A COMPUTER …

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COMPONENTS…
1. Input Devices/Input Unit/
 The input unit of the computer system is used for feeding data and
instructions to the computer.
 These data and instructions given to the computer are called as
input and the devices used for giving input are called input unit or
input devices.
• Keyboard
Input Units:
• Mouse
• Touch screen
• Scanning devices
• Web Cam
• Digital cameras
• Microphone
• Joystick ICT AS A COMMON COURSE 9
INPUT DEVICES: KEYBOARD
Keyboard: the primary input devices for personal computers.
Whereas a keyboard can be used to enter characters and
symbols, a mouse is useful for selecting menu items and for
drawing.

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INPUT DEVICE – POINTING DEVICES
Mouse:
These devices are used to move an on-screen pointer or cursor (usually an arrow). They are commonly
used with graphical User interface (GUI).
A pointing device found on most PCs.
Sensors on the bottom of the mouse detect when the mouse is moved. Data about this movement is sent to
the computer.
Often used to control the pointer in a GUI.
Track balls is also a pointing device like mouse
Touchpad / Track pad
A pointing device found on most laptops.
Used instead of a mouse since it takes up less space.
The user moves a finger across the touch pad and this movement data is sent to the computer. Usually
used to control the pointer in a GUI. ICT AS A COMMON COURSE 11
INPUT DEVICES: TOUCH
SCREEN
Touch screen: is an alternative to a separate pointing device
 A transparent, pressure-sensitive covering that is attached to the
screen of the monitor.
 Users make selections and control programs by pressing onto the
screen.

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INPUT DEVICES: SCANNER
an electronic device that generates a digital representation
of an image or book pages etc. for data input to a computer

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INPUT DEVICES: OCR (OPTICAL
CHARACTER RECOGNITION)
It is a scanner with a Software that attempts to recognize individual
characters.
convert images of text into an actual text file that can then be
edited, e.g. using word-processing software).
The result is just as if the text had been typed in by hand.
OCR is typically used after a page of a book has been scanned.
 The scanned image of the page is then analyzed by the OCR software which
looks for recognizable letter shapes and generates a matching text file

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INPUT DEVICES: DIGITAL CAMERA
A digital camera is a camera that encodes digital images and videos
digitally and stores them for later reproduction.
Most digital cameras do not directly input data into a computer - they
store photographs on memory cards.
 The photographs can later be transferred to a computer.
Most cameras sold today are digital.

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INPUT DEVICES: WEB CAM
This is a very basic video camera used to feed live video into
a computer.
Usually a web cam is clipped to the top of a monitor, but many laptops now
have web cams built into the edge of the screen

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INPUT DEVICES: BARCODE READER
A barcode is simply a numeric code represented as a series of lines or
printed bars
Barcode Reader is an input device that converts a pattern of printed
bars into a number that a computer can read.
They are often used by businesses to quickly input price and product
information.
 The code for each item to be purchased needs to be entered into the
computer.

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INPUT DEVICES: MICROPHONE

An input device that converts sound into a signal that can be fed
into a computer
Allows the user to record sounds as input to the computer.
Many headphones now come with microphones to allow them to be
used with chat and phone applications

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INPUT DEVICES: JOYSTICK
Joystick is Used mainly for playing games. The user moves the
joystick left/right, forward/back and data about these
movements are sent to the computer.
Small joysticks can also be found on some mobile phones

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COMPONENT…
2. Processing Unit (CPU)
 This is the brain of any computer system.
 It is responsible for executing the computer Instruction
 You may see many different names used to describe the CPU
including
 processor,
 computer processor,
 microprocessor,
 central processor, and
 "the brains of the computer.“
 The processor, memory, and storage devices are housed in a box-
like case called the system unit. ICT AS A COMMON COURSE 20
SYSTEM UNIT

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COMPONENTS…
CPU (central processing unit)
This is the brain of any computer system.

CPU is made of three parts:

Register
Control Unit
Arithmetic and Logical Units

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CPU: COMPONENTS…
2.1 Register:
 It is a high-speed storage circuitry element
 hold instruction and data while the processor is executing the
instruction.
 Stores data and programs during actual processing
 Stores temporary results of intermediate processing
 Stores results of execution temporarily
Examples of Register
 Instruction Register - Instruction placed here for analysis.
 Program Counter - Which instruction will be performed next?
 Accumulator - Results of intermediate computations kept here
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COMPONENTS…
2.2. Control Unit:
The Control Unit controls the operations of the entire computer
system.
 It gets the instructions from the programs stored in primary storage unit
 interprets these instruction and
 subsequently directs the other units to execute the instructions.

Thus it manages and coordinates the entire computer system.

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COMPONENTS…
2.3. Arithmetic/Logic unit:
 An arithmetic-logic unit (ALU) is the part of a computer processor
that carries out arithmetic and logic operations in computer
 Arithmetic Unit
 Performs mathematical calculations
 Addition, Subtraction, Division…..
 1+2*3-4^2/2
 Logic Unit
 logical comparisons.
 Is used to make a decision on the logical operation
 AND,OR,>,<,>=,<=,==,!= ……

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COMPONENT…
4. Output unit/device:
 is any peripheral that receives data from a computer, usually for
display, projection, or physical reproduction.
 In other words:
 An output device is any piece of computer hardware after
converting the electronically generated information into human-
readable form
 Monitor
Output device are:  Speaker
 Printer
 Projector
 Plotter

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OUTPUT DEVICE: MONITOR
A display screen to provide “output” to the user. It is
where you view the information your are working on
(LCD (Liquid-Crystal Display or CRT (Cathode Ray
Tube).

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OUTPUT DEVICE: PRINTER
An output device that produces a hard copy on paper.
It gives information to the user in printed form.

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OUTPUT DEVICE: PLOTTER
A plotter is a printer that interprets commands from a
computer to make line drawings on paper with one or more
automated pens. Unlike a regular printer , the plotter can draw
continuous point-to-point lines directly from graphics.

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OUTPUT DEVICE: SPEAKER
Used to generate or reproduce voice, music, and other
sounds.

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OUTPUT DEVICE: PROJECTOR
Projector is used to project for displaying video, images or
computer data on a screen or other flat surface. It is a modern
equivalent of the slide projector or overhead projector. To
display images, LCD projectors

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COMPONENTS…
5. Storage Device:
 is the computer hardware capable of holding information either
temporarily or permanently.

There are two types of storage device

 Primary Storage Device
 Secondary Storage Devices

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COMPONENTS…
2.1. Main Memory:
 Holds the data being processed and also holds the
instructions for doing the processing

 There are two types of memory

 RAM and ROM

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COMPONENTS…
 RAM (Random Access Memory)
 Information stored in it and can immediately locate and
communicate the information when required

 RAM is volatile:

 This means that RAM does not retain its bit configuration
when the power is turned off.

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COMPONENTS…
 ROM (Read Only Memory)
 The ROM is used to store any program or data that need to be
permanently resident in memory
 A permanent memory that provides startup instructions when the
computer is turned on.
 Information can be read from ROM but can not be written in ROM
 The instructions in ROM are set by the manufacturer and cannot be
changed by the user.
 ROM is nonvolatile and
 ROM is Pre-programmed Memory

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SECONDARY STORAGE DEVICE…
Storage devices hold data, even when the computer is turned off.

The two primary storage technologies are magnetic and optical.

Data can be accessed in Direct or Sequential way.

There are several types of SSD used today in the world:

 each of these can be compared to each other in terms of portability,
speed and capacity.

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 CONT’D
Types of SSD:
Magnetic Tape
Hard Disk
Floppy Disk
Optical Disks
Flash Drive

Flash Memory cards

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MAGNETIC TAPE
Magnetic Tape is sequential access storage medium.
The capacity of tape media are generally on the same
order as hard disk drives (The largest being about 5
Terabytes in 2011).
Magnetic Tapes are a bit slower than hard drives, however
magnetic tapes are cheaper and are more durable.

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HARD DISK
The hard disk drive is the main, and usually largest data storage
device in a computer.
It is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage
device.
Is generally the fastest of the SSD.
Largest storage capacity, approximately the same as Magnetic Tapes.
Hard drives however, are not very portable and are primarily used
internally in a computer system.

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OPTICAL DISKS
Optical disk is an electronic data storage medium from which data is read
and written to by using a low-powered laser beam.
There are three basic types of optical disks:
 Read-only optical disks (CD-ROM)
 Write once read many Optical disks(CD-R) and
 Rewritable Optical disks (CD-RW).
Three main types of optical disks are:
 CD (Compact Disc)
 DVD (Digital Versitile Disk)
 Blu-ray

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CD
A standard data storage capacity up to 700 MB of data, or about 70
minutes of audio.
There are three types of CD:
 CD-ROM
 CD-Read Only Memory and they function the same way Read
Only Memory Does
 CD-R
 CD-Recordable of the type of Write Once Read Many times
 CD-RW
 CD-Rewritable, these disks can be erased and rewritten at any
time.
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DVD
an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage.
The DVD supports disks with capacities of 4.7 GB to 17 GB.
A standard DVD disc store up to 4.7 GB of data.
There are three types of DVD's:
 DVD-ROM
 CD-Read Only Memory and they function the same way Read Only
Memory Does
 DVD-R
 CD-Recordable of the type of Write Once Read Many times (WORM)
 DVD-RW
 CD-Rewritable, these disks can be erased and rewritten at any time.

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BLU-RAY
Blu-Ray disks are a recent replacement for DVDs
A Blu-Ray disc can hold 25 - 50GB of data (a dual-layer Blu-
Ray disc can hold twice that
 New disks use blue laser light instead of the red laser light
used in traditional CD players
 Blu-Ray discs are used in the same way as DVD-ROMs but,
since they can hold more data, they are also used by peoples

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FLASH DRIVE
A flash drive is a small external storage device, typically the size of a
human thumb that consists of flash memory.
USB flash drives are removable and rewritable reads and writes to
flash memory.
They are inexpensive and durable.
 More commonly used sizes vary from 2 Gigabytes -16 Gigabytes.
 USB Flash drives vary in sizes from 8 Megabytes to 512 Gigabytes.

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FLASH MEMORY CARDS
Many of our digital devices (cameras, mobile phones, MP3
players, etc.) require compact, non-volatile data storage.
Flash memory is a EEPROM non-volatile computer storage
chip. These Memory cards currently vary in sizes between 1GB
-16GB
Many phones also have extra memory cards to store music,
video, photos, etc. (e.g Tiny Micro-SD cards).

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COMMUNICATION DEVICE
 Communication devices are :
 hardware devices capable of transmitting and receiving information
or instruction from one computer to another.

 Example: Modem, NIC (Network interface card, wi-fi devices, and

access point.

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MODEM
Is a device which is capable of sending and receiving a signal to
allow computers to talk to each other over the telephone.
 For example, a Cable Modem and DSL Modem are two
examples of these types of Modems.

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NIC (NETWORK INTERFACE CARD)
It is an expansion card that enables a computer to connect
to a network; such as a home network, or the Internet using
an Ethernet cable with an RJ-45 connector.
Due to the popularity and low cost of the Ethernet standard,
most new computers have a network interface build directly into
the motherboard.

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WI-FI AND ACCESS POINT
Wi-fi :
 Is a technology for wireless networking with devices based on the
IEEE 802.11 standards.
Access point:
 is a wireless receiver which enables a user to connect wirelessly to
a network or the Internet
 This term can refer to both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices

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SOFTWARE

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SOFTWARE
is set of instructions that enable the user to interact with a
computer.

According to what is designed to accomplish, software is

divided in to two:
1. System Software
2. Application Software

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SOFTWARE…
1. System Software:

programs that are dedicated to managing the computer itself.

to provide a platform for running application software

Example: Operating System (Linux, windows etc), utilities

(Disk Cleanup, Screensaver etc) and Device Drivers (A
computer program that allows the operating system to
communicate with the device)

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OPERATING SYSTEM
OS is an interface between the computer and its user
OS is the master controller within a computer.

An Operating System interacts with:

 All hardware installed in or connected to a computer system using
GUI.

Examples of OS
 Windows, MacOS, DOS, UNIX, Linux, Ubuntu, Linux Mint and their
flavor

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FUNCTION OF OS
Memory management: Allocation of main memory and other storage to the system
programs and the user data and programs.
Input/output management: Management of the input/output devices and their
assignment to the various programs that are being executed
File management: The files have to be stored in various storage devices. Supports file
operations like rename, copy, move and delete. This is taken care of by the Operating
System.
Data security and integrity: The data and programs have to be handled in such a way
that they do not interfere with each other.
Protection against unauthorized access

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OS TYPES
Desktop operating systems: The most popular operating systems for personal computers
are the followings:
1. Microsoft Windows
 Most popular operating system.
 Proprietary system.
2. MacOS
 For Macintosh computers.
 Proprietary system.
3. Ubuntu: it is the most popular Linux distribution for personal computers.
It is open source, hence we can download it from the internet and use it for
free
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TYPES OF OS…CONT’D
Network operating system (NOS)
 Manages network resources.
 Maintains security.
 Tracks user accounts.
 Handles communication between workstations and servers.
Popular network operating systems
 Windows Server, Novell Netware, Linux Server

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UTILITIES
Utilities augment functionality of operating systems.
 Utilities includes device drivers and Troubleshooting
capabilities.
 Norton Utilities includes an undelete function that can recover
deleted files.
 Symantec and McAfee Virus checkers add protection for all
system and data files.

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SOFTWARE…
2. Application Software

- software created for a specific purpose.

- It is generally a program or collection of programs used by

end users

Example: Microsoft office, Internet browsers, Graphics

Creation and Manipulation, Animation and 3D Graphics,
website creation etc.

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ACCESSIBILITY OF SOFTWARE
Software's can be: Open source or Proprietary
Open Source Software:
Open Source Software can be defined as
 software distributed under a licensing agreement which allows
the source code (computer code)
 to be shared, viewed and modified by other users and
organizations
 ACCESSIBILITY OF SOFTWARE…
Proprietary Software:
The principal character of Proprietary Software is that
 its source code is dependably kept a mystery from the outside
world.
 Accordingly, the inside structure of exclusive programming will
be not revealed
APPLICATION SW CLASSIFICATION

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END OF CHAPTER II

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