IT Essentials

Chapter 1: Introduction to personal computer

Computer Definition:
A computer can be defined as
1. A person who makes calculations, especially with a calculating machine.
2. A programmable device that can store, retrieve, and process data.
3. An electronic device that can retrieve, store, process, and output data, typically in
binary form, according to instructions given to it in a variable program.
4. A programmable electronic device designed to accept data, perform prescribed
mathematical and logical operations, store data, and display the results of these
operations.
5. Mainframes, desktop and laptop computers, tablets, smartphones, smartwatches, and
IoT devices are some of the different types of computers.
A computer system consists of hardware and software components.
Hardware is the physical equipment such as the case, storage drives, keyboards,
monitors, cables, speakers, and printers.
Software is the operating system and programs.
o The operating system instructs the computer how to operate.
o Programs or applications perform different functions.

Identify the name, purpose and characteristic of computer case and power
supply
Computer Case:
• Provides protection and support for internal components
• It made up of metal, plastic and Steel.
• Should be durable, easy to service, and have enough room for expansion
• The size and layout of a case is called a form factor
• The size and shape of computer case is influenced by size of Motherboard and CPU.
• The case houses the internal components such as the power supply, motherboard,
central processing unit (CPU), memory, disk drives, and assorted adapter cards.
• Many case manufacturers may have their own naming conventions, including super
tower, full tower, mid tower, mini tower, cube case, and more.
Power Supply

• Provides power to all computer components.

• Must be chosen based on current and future needs.
• Deliver different voltage levels to meet different internal component needs.
• Converts AC power from the wall socket into low voltage DC power.
• Input voltage selector on the back of the power supply.
• Must provide enough power for the installed components and future additions
 • Power supplies are measured in Wattage
• Ohm’s Law: W = V x A

Four Basic Units of Electricity

• Voltage (V) is a measure of the force required to push electrons through a circuit.
Voltage is measured in volts (V). A computer power supply usually produces
several different voltages.
• Current (I) is a measure of the amount of electrons going through a circuit.
Current is measured in amperes, or amps (A). Computer power supplies deliver
different amperages for each output voltage.
• Power (P) is voltage multiplied by current. The measurement is called watts (W).
Watts is the work required to move electrons through a circuit multiplied by the
number of electrons flowing through a circuit per second. Computer power
supplies are rated in watts.
• Resistance (R) is the opposition to the flow of current in a circuit. Resistance is
measured in ohms (Ω). Lower resistance allows more current to flow through a
circuit.
Ohm’s Law
There is a basic equation that expresses how three of the terms relate to each other. It
states that voltage is equal to the current multiplied by the resistance. This is known as
Ohm's Law V = IR.
In an electrical system, power (P) is equal to the voltage multiplied by the current
P = VI.
A power supply is rated (measured) in watts and is calculated by W = A X V.
A power supply should support 20 to 25 percent more wattage than all the attached
components require.
Form factor of Power Supply:
Desktop computer power supply form factors include:
• Advanced Technology (AT) – original power supply for legacy computer
systems.
• AT Extended (ATX) – updated version of the AT.
• ATX12V – the most common power supply on the market.
Connectors:
• A power supply includes several different connectors. They are used to power
various internal components such as the motherboard and disk drives.
• The amount of connector varies based on the wattage of the power supply.
Some examples are:
• 20-pin or 24-pin mail power connector
• SATA keyed connector
• Molex keyed connector
• Berg keyed connector
• 4-pin to 8-pin auxiliary power connector
• 6/8-pin PCIe power connector

Identify the name, purpose and characteristic of computer internal

components:
Below are internal components of PC
• Motherboard
• CPU
• Cooling system
• ROM/RAM
• Adapter cards
• Storage device
• Internal Cables/Ports
Characteristic and purpose of Motherboard:
• Backbone of the computer.
• Interconnects computer components.
• The motherboard is the main printed circuit board.
• Contains the buses, or electrical pathways found in a computer.
• Buses allow data to travel among the various components.
• Accommodates CPU, RAM, expansion slots, heat sink/fan assembly, BIOS chip, chip
set, sockets, internal and external connectors, various ports, and the embedded wires
that interconnect the motherboard components.
• These components may be soldered directly to the motherboard, or added using
sockets, expansion slots, and ports.
• Main power uses a 20 or 24-pin connector.
Major components on a motherboard include:
• Central Processing Unit (CPU)
• Random Access Memory (RAM)
• Expansion slots
• Chipset
• Basic input/output system (BIOS) chip
and Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) chip
• SATA connectors
• Internal USB connector

Motherboard Form Factors

• The form factor of motherboards pertains to the size and shape of the board.
• There are three common motherboard form factors: Advanced Technology eXtended
(ATX), Micro-ATX, and ITX.
 • The choice of motherboard form factor determines how individual components attach
to it, the type of power supply required, and the shape of the computer case.

Chipset
Chipset consists of the integrated circuits on the motherboard that control how system
hardware interacts with the CPU and motherboard.
CPU: Central Processing Unit
• The central processing unit (CPU) is responsible for interpreting and executing
commands.
• The CPU is known as the brain of the computer.
• The CPU is a small microchip that resides within a CPU package.
• The amount of data that a CPU can process at one time depends on the size of the
processor data bus.
• Speed of the CPU is measured in cycles per second – megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz
(GHz).
• MMX is a set of multimedia instructions built into Intel processors.
• Two major CPU architectures related to instruction sets:
• Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC)
o Architectures use a relatively small set of instruction and RISC chips are
designed to designed to execute these instructions very rapidly.
• Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC)
o Architectures use a broad set of instruction, resulting in fewer steps per
instructions.
Hyperthreading – It enhance the performance of CPU. The CPU has multiple piece code of
code being executed simultaneously on each pipeline. A computer with a single CPU with
hyperthreading performs as though there are two CPUs.
Overclocking - Is a technique used to make a processor work at a faster speed than its
original specification.
The latest processor technology has resulted in CPU manufacturers finding ways to
incorporate more than one CPU core onto a single chip.
o Dual Core CPU - Two cores inside a single CPU
 o Triple Core CPU - Three cores inside a single CPU
o Quad Core CPU - Four cores inside a single CPU
o Hexa-Core CPU - Six cores inside a single CPU
o Octa-Core CPU - Eight cores inside a single CPU
o Some as high as sixteen cores

Cooling System
Electronic components generate heat. Too much heat can damage components. A case fan
makes the cooling process more efficient.
o A heat sink draws heat away from the core of the CPU.
o A Case fan on top of the heat sink moves the heat away from the CPU.
o Fans can be dedicated to cool the Graphics-processing unit (GPU)

Characteristic and purpose of RAM/ROM:

o A computer might use different types of memory chips.
o All memory chips store data in the form of bytes.
o A byte is a block of eight bits stored as either 0 or 1 in the memory chip.
ROM: Read Only Memory
o Basic instructions for booting the computer and loading the operating system are
stored in ROM
o ROM chips retain their contents even when the computer is powered down.
o Can’t be erased or rewritten.
Types of Read-only Memory include:
o Read-Only Memory (ROM) chips – Programmed at factory and can’t be erased or
rewritten.
o Programable Read-Only Memory (PROM) chips – Manufactured blank and can be
programmed only once.
o Erasable Programable Read-Only Memory (EPROM) chips – Can be erased by
exposing it to strong ultraviolet light.
o Electrically Erasable Programable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM) chips – Can be
reprogrammed while still in the computer.

Random-access memory (RAM)

o RAM is temporary storage for data and programs that are being accessed by the CPU.
o RAM is volatile memory, which means that the contents are erased when the
computer is powered off.
o All data moving in or out of the processor must be loaded into RAM first.
o More RAM means more capacity to hold and process large programs and files, as
well as enhance system performance.
o The maximum amount of RAM that can be installed is limited by the motherboard
(chipset).
Types of Random Access Memory (RAM) include:
Dynamic RAM (DRAM) – is a memory chip that is used as main memory.
Static RAM (SRAM) – is a memory chip that is used as cache memory. SRAM is faster than
DRAM.
Fast Page Mode (FPM) – DRAM is a memory that supports paging. Paging enables fast
access than normal DRAM.
Synchronous Dynamic RAM (SDRAM) – DRAM that operates in synchronization with
memory bus. The memory bus enables communication between main memory and CPU.
DDR2 Dynamic RAM (DDR SDRAM) – SDRAM is memory that transfer data twice as fast
as SDRAM.
DDR2 Dynamic RAM (DDR2 SDRAM) - SDRAM is faster than DDR-SDRAM memory.
DDR2 SDRAM improve performance over DDR SDRAM by decreasing noise.

Memory Modules:
Memory modules are memory chips that have been soldered on to a special circuit board for
easy installation and removal.
The speed of memory has a direct impact on how much data a processor can process because
faster memory improves the performance of the processor. As processor speed increases,
memory speed must also increase.
o Dual Inline Package (DIP) is an individual memory chip with dual rows of pins.
o Single Inline Memory Module (SIMM) is a small circuit board that holds several
memory chips. Comes in 30- and 72-pin configurations.
o Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMM) is a circuit board that holds SDRAM, DDR
SDRAM, and DDR2 SDRAM chips.
o RAM Bus Inline Memory Module (RIMM) is a circuit board that holds RDRAM
chips.
o Small Outline DIMM (SODIMM) is a smaller, more condensed version of DIMM
which provides random access data storage that is ideal for use in laptops, printers,
and other devices where conserving space is desirable.

Cache:
o SRAM is used as cache memory to store the most frequently used data.
o SRAM provides the processor with faster access to the data than retrieving it from the
slower DRAM, or main memory.
o The speed of memory has a direct impact on how much data a processor can process
in a given period of time.
o The fastest memory is typically static RAM (SRAM) which is used as cache memory
for storing the most recently used data and instructions by the CPU.
o The three most common types of cache memory are:
o L1 cache – integrated into the CPU
o L2 cache – was original mounted on the motherboard, but now integrated into
the CPU
o L3 cache – used some high-end workstations and server CPUs
Error Checking
Memory errors occur when the data is not stored correctly in the memory chips. The
computer uses different methods to detect and correct data errors in memory.
Different types of error checking methods include:
o Nonparity – Nonparity memory does not check errors in memory.
o Parity – Parity memory contains 8 bits for data and 1 bit for error checking.
o ECC – Error Correction Code memory can detect multiple bit errors in memory and
correct single bit errors in memory

Adapter Cards
Adapter cards increase the functionality of a computer by adding controllers for specific
devices or by replacing malfunctioning ports.
Computers have expansion slots on the motherboard to install adapter cards.
Common adapter cards include:
• Sound adapter
• Network Interface Card (NIC)
• Wireless NIC
• Video adapter or display adapter
• Video capture card
• TV tuner card
• Universal Serial Bus (USB) controller card
The type of adapter card connector must match the expansion slot.
Common expansion slots include:
o Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)
o Mini-PCI
o PCI extended (PCI-X)
o PCI Express (PCIe)

Identify the name, purpose and characteristic of Storage device

o Data drives provide non-volatile storage of data.
o Designed to permanently store user data, user applications and the Operating System.
o Can be internal or external to the computer.
o Some drives have fixed media, and other drives have removable media.
o Data storage devices can be classified according to the media on which the data is
stored:
• Hard Drive
• Optical Drive
• External flash drive

pHard Drive
 • Is a magnetic storage device that is installed inside the computer. It is a permanent
storage for data. The storage capacity of a hard drive is measured in giga bytes (GB).
• Magnetic hard drive has drive motors designed to spin magnetic platters and the drive
heads.
• Solid state drives do not have no drive motors so no moving parts uses very less
energy than magnetic hard drive. SSD have same form factor as magnetic hard drives
and uses ATA and SATA.

Optical Drive
• Optical drives are removable media storage devices that use lasers to read and write
data on optical media.
• They were developed to overcome the storage capacity limitations of removable
magnetic media such as floppy discs.
• There are three types of optical drives:
o Compact Disc (CD) - audio and data
o Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) - digital video and data
o Blu-ray Disc (BD) - HD digital video and data
CD, DVD, and BD media can be pre-recorded (read only), recordable (write once), or re-
recordable (read and write multiple times).
DVD and BD media can also be single layer (SL) or dual layer (DL). Dual layer media
roughly doubles the capacity of a single disc.

External flash drive

A flash drive is a removable storage device that connects to a USB port. A flash drive
requires no power to maintain the data.
These drives are accessed by OS like other drives.

Floppy Drive
A floppy disk drive (FDD) is storage device that uses removable 3.5-inch floppy disks that
can store up to 1.44MB of data.

Storage drive interface

o Storage devices inside a computer connect to the motherboard
using Serial AT Attachment (SATA) connections.
o The interface standards define the way that data is transferred, the
transfer rates, and physical characteristics of the cables and
connectors.
o IDE : Integrated Drive electronics also called ATA. It connect
computer and hard disk drive. It has 40 pins.
o The legacy interface is Parallel ATA (EIDE). Enhanced Integrated
Drive Electronics it supports hard drives larger than 512MB. It
enables direct memory. It has 40-pin connector.
o There are three main versions of the SATA standard: SATA 1,
SATA 2, & SATA 3.
o The cables and connectors are the same, but the data transfer
speeds are different.

Small computer system Interface(SCSI) : A driver controller interface that connect up to

15 device. It has 50 or 68 or 80 pin connector.

Identify the name, purpose and characteristic of input/output device

Input Device
Input devices all the user to communicate with a computer.
Some of the first input devices include:
Keyboard and Mouse – these are the two most commonly used input devices
ADF / Flatbed Scanner – these devices digitize an image or document
Joystick and Gamepad – these devices are used for playing games
KVM Switch – a hardware device that can be used to control more than one computer while
using a single keyboard, video (monitor), and mouse
Touch screen – input devices with touch or pressure sensitive screens
Stylus – a type of digitizer that allows a designer or artist to create artwork by using a pen-
like tool
Magnetic strip reader – a device that reads information magnetically encoded on the back
of plastic cards
Digital camera – devices that capture digital images and videos
Webcams – video cameras that can be integrated into a computer
Signature pad– a device that electronically captures a person’s signature
Smart card reader – a device used on a computer to authenticate the user. A smart card may
be the size of a credit card with an embedded microprocessor that is typically under a gold
contact pad on one side of the card.
Microphone – a device that allows a user to speak into a computer and have their voice
digitized
Barcode scanner – a device that reads the information contained in the barcodes affixed to
products
Output Device:
An output device takes binary information from the computer and converts it into a form that
is easily understood by the user.
Examples of output devices include monitors, projectors, printers, speakers, headphones, and
VR headsets.
Speakers:
o Most computers and mobile devices have audio support either integrated into
the motherboard or on an adapter card.
o Headphones, earbuds, and the earphones found in headsets are all auditory
output devices.
o These may be wired or wireless. Some are Wi-Fi or Bluetooth-enabled.
Plasma - Plasma displays are another type of flat panel monitor
All-in one printer: Printer are output devices that create hard copies of computer files. It has
printing(colour and black/white),scanning, faxing and copying

Identify the name, purpose and characteristic of Ports and Cables

I/O ports on a computer connect peripheral devices, such as printers, scanners, and portable
drives. The following ports and cables are commonly used:
• Serial
• USB
• FireWire
• Parallel
• SCSI
• Network
 • PS/2
• Audio
• Video
Serial Port and Cables
• A serial port can be either a DB-9 or a DB-25 male connector.
• Serial ports transmit 1 bit of data at a time.
• To connect a serial device, such as a modem or printer, a serial cable must be used.
• A serial cable has a maximum length of 50 feet (15.2 m).

USB Ports and Cables

• The Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a standard interface that connects peripheral
devices to a computer.
• It was originally designed to replace serial and parallel connections.
• USB devices are hot-swappable, which means that users can connect and disconnect
the devices while the computer is powered on.
• USB connections can be found on computers, cameras, printers, scanners, storage
devices, and many other electronic devices.
• A single USB port in a computer can support up to 127 separate devices with the use
of multiple USB hubs.
• Some devices can also be powered through the USB port, eliminating the need for an
external power source.
• USB 1.1 allowed transmission rates of up to 12 Mbps in full-speed mode and 1.5
Mbps in low-speed mode.
• USB 2.0 allows transmission speeds up to 480 Mbps.
Firewire Ports and Cables
• FireWire is a high-speed, hot-swappable interface that connects peripheral devices to
a computer.
• A single FireWire port in a computer can support up to 63 devices.
• Some devices can also be powered through the FireWire port
• The IEEE 1394a standard supports data rates up to 400 Mbps and cable lengths up to
15 feet (4.5 m).
• This standard uses a six-pin connector or a four-pin connector.
• The IEEE 1394b standard supports data rates in excess of 800 Mbps and uses a nine-
pin connector.

Parallel Ports and Cables

• A parallel port on a computer is a standard Type A DB-25 female connector.
• The parallel connector on a printer is a standard Type B 36-pin Centronics connector.
• Some newer printers may use a Type C high-density 36-pin connector.
• Parallel ports can transmit 8 bits of data at a time and use the IEEE 1284 standard.
• To connect a parallel device, such as a printer, a parallel cable must be used has a
maximum length of 15 feet (4.5 m)
SCSI Ports and Cables (Small computer system interface)
• A SCSI port can transmit data at rates in excess of 320 Mbps and can support up to 15
devices.
• If a single SCSI device is connected to a SCSI port, the cable can be up to 80 feet
(24.4 m) in length.
• If multiple SCSI devices are connected to a SCSI port, the cable can be up to 40 (12.2
m) feet in length.
• A SCSI port on a computer can be one of three different types,
o DB-25 female connector
o High-density 50-pin female connector
o High-density 68-pin female connector

Network port and cables

• Network port, also called an RJ-45 port, connects a computer to a network.
• Fast Ethernet can transmit up to 100 Mbps, and Gigabit Ethernet can transmit up to
1000 Mbps.
• The maximum length of network cable is 328 feet (100 m).
PS/2 Ports
• A PS/2 port connects a keyboard or mouse to a computer.
• The PS/2 port is a six-pin mini DIN female connector.
• The connectors for the keyboard and mouse are often colored differently.

Audio Port
An audio port connects audio devices to the computer. The following audio ports are
commonly used,
• Line In connects to an external source, such as a stereo system.
• Microphone In connects to a microphone.
• Line Out connects to speakers or headphones.
• Auxiliary In is an additional line in.
• Gameport/MIDI connects to a joystick or MIDI-interfaced device.
Video port and connector
A video port connects a monitor cable to a computer. Several video port and connector
types exist:
• Video Graphics Array (VGA) has a three-row 15-pin female connector and provides
analog output to a monitor.
• Digital Visual Interface (DVI) has a 24-pin female connector or a 29-pin female
connector and provides compressed digital output to a monitor. DVI-I provides both
analog and digital signals. DVI-D provides digital signals only.
• High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) has a 19-pin connector and provides
digital video and digital audio signals.
• S-Video has a four-pin connector and provides analog video signals.
Component/RGB has three shielded cables (red, green, and blue) with RCA jacks and
provides analog video signals.

System Resources and their purpose

System resources are used for communication between the CPU and other components in a
computer. The three common system resources are
• Interrupt requests (IRQ)
 • I/O port addresses
• Direct Memory Access (DMA)

Input/Output Port Address

• Input/output (I/O) port addresses are used to communicate between devices and software.
• The I/O port address is used to send and receive data for a component.
• As with IRQs, each component has a unique I/O port assigned.
• A computer has 65,535 I/O ports, and they are referenced by a hexadecimal address in the
range of 0000h to FFFFh.

Direct Memory Access

• High-speed devices use Direct Memory Access (DMA) channels to communicate directly with
the main memory.
• These channels allow the device to bypass interaction with the CPU and directly store
information in memory and retrieve it.
• Only certain devices can be assigned a DMA channel, such as SCSI host adapters and sound
cards. Older computers had only four DMA channels to assign to components. Newer
computers have eight DMA channels that are numbered 0 to 7
Interrupt Request

• Computer components use interrupt requests (IRQ) to request information from the CPU.
• When the CPU receives an interrupt request, it determines how to fulfil this request.
• The priority of the request is determined by the IRQ number assigned to that computer
component. Older computers had only eight IRQs to assign to devices.
• Newer computers have 16 IRQs, which are numbered 0 to 15.
IRQ 0 System timer. Reserved for the system. The user cannot change it.
IRQ 1 Keyboard. Reserved for the system. Cannot be altered, even if no keyboard is present
or needed
Important Question: Assignment 1
1.) Write a short note on
a. Computer Case
b. Power Supply
c. Describe computer
d. Chip socket and chipset
e. Cache
f. Error checking

2.) Identify the name, purpose and characteristic of Input/output device

3.) Identify the name, purpose and characteristic of internal components of
computer.
4.) Explain about system resources and types
5.) Identify the name, purpose and characteristic of port and cables.