Computer System

components

Computer
Hardware
system

Computer system

Computer system
A computer system is the integration of physical
entities called hardware and non-physical entities called
software. The hardware components include input
devices, processor, storage devices
output devices and Communication technologies. The
software items are programs and operating
aids(systems) so that the computer can process data.
Functional Units of a Computer System
Computer system is a tool for solving problems. The
hardware
should be designed to operate as fast as possible. The
software
(system software) should be designed to minimize the
amount of idle computer time and yet provide flexibility

Accept the data and program as input

Store the data and program and retrieve as and when
required.
Process the data as per instructions given by the
program
and convert it into useful information
Communicate the information as output
Based on the functionalities of the computer, the
hardware
components can be classified into four main units,
namely
- Input Unit
- Output Unit

These units are interconnected by minute electrical wires

to
permit communication between them. This allows the
computer to
function as a system. The block diagram is shown below.

THE CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT

The central processing unit (CPU) performs the
actual computation or number crunching inside
any computer. The CPU is a microprocessor (for
example, a Pentium 4 by Intel) made up of millions
of microscopic transistors embedded in a circuit on a
silicon wafer or chip. (Hence, microprocessors are
commonly referred
to as chips.) Examples of specific microprocessors are
listed in Table

the microprocessor has different parts, which perform

different functions. The control unit sequentially
accesses program instructions, decodes them, and
controls the flow of data to and from the ALU, the
registers, the caches, primary storage, secondary
storage, and various output devices. The arithmeticlogic unit (ALU) performs the mathematic
calculations and makes logical comparisons. The
registers are high-speed storage areas that store
very small amounts of data and instructions for short
periods of time.

ow the CPU Works

The CPU, on a basic level, operates like a tiny factory.
Inputs come in and are stored until needed, at which
point they are retrieved and processed and the output
is stored and then delivered somewhere. Figure
illustrates this process, which works as follows:

 The inputs are data and brief instructions about what to

do with the data. These instructions come from software
in other parts of the computer. Data might be entered by
the user through the keyboard, for example, or read from
a data file in another part of the computer. The inputs
are stored in registers until they are sent to the next step
in the processing.
Data and instructions travel in the chip via electrical
pathways called buses. The size of the busanalogous
to the width of a highwaydetermines how much
information can flow at any time.
The control unit directs the flow of data and
instructions within the chip.
The arithmetic-logic unit (ALU) receives the data and
instructions from the registers and makes the desired
computation. These data and instructions have been
translated into binary form, that is, only 0s and 1s.

 The data in their original form and the instructions

are sent to storage registers and then are sent back to
a storage place outside the chip, such as the
computers hard drive Meanwhile, the transformed data
go to another register and then on to other parts of the
computer
This cycle of processing, known as a machine
instruction cycle, occurs millions of times per
second or more. It is faster or slower, depending on
the following four factors of chip design:
I. clock speed
The preset speed of the clock that times all chip
activities, measured in megahertz (MHz), millions of
cycles per second, and gigahertz (GHz), billions of
cycles per second. The faster the clock speed, the
faster the chip. (For example, all other factors
being equal, a 1.0 GHz chip is twice as fast as a 500

I. word length
The word length, which is the number of bits (0s
and 1s) that can be processed by the CPU at any one
time. The majority of current chips handle 32-bit word
lengths, and the Pentium 4 is designed to handle 64-bit
word lengths. Therefore, the Pentium 4 chip will process
64 bits of data in one machine cycle. The larger the word
length, the faster the chip.
II. bus width
The bus width. The wider the bus (the physical
paths down which the data and instructions travel
as electrical impulses), the more data can be moved and
the faster the processing. A processors bus bandwidth is
the product of the width of its bus (measured in bits)
times the frequency at which the bus transfers data
(measured in megahertz). For example, Intels Pentium 4
processor uses a 64-bit bus that runs

I. line width
The physical design of the chip. Back to our tiny
factory analogy, if the factory is very compact and
efficiently laid out, then materials (data and
instructions) do not have far to travel while being stored
or processed. We also want to pack as many machines
(transistors) into the factory as possible. The distance
between transistors is known as line width.
Historically, line width has been expressed in
microns
(millionths of a meter), but as technology has advanced,
it has become more convenient to express line width in
nanometers (billionths of a meter). Currently, most CPUs
are designed with 180-nanometer technology (0.18
microns), but chip manufacturers are moving to 130nanometer technology (0.13 microns). The smaller the
line width, the more transistors can be packed onto a
chip, and the faster the chip.

Functions of a Central Processing Unit

The CPU is the brain of the computer system. It
performs
arithmetic operations as well as controls the input,
output and storage units. The functions of the CPU
are mainly classified into two categories :
- Co ordinate all computer operations
- Perform arithmetic and logical operations on data
The CPU has three major components.
- Arithmetic and Logic Unit
- Control Unit
-Registers (internal memory)
The arithmetic and logic unit (ALU) is the part
of CPU where
actual computations take place. It consists of
circuits which perform

The control unit directs and controls the

activities of the computer system. It interprets the
instructions fetched from the main memory of the
computer, sends the control signals to the devices
involved in the execution of the instructions.
While performing these operations the ALU takes data
from
the temporary storage area inside the CPU named
registers. They
are high-speed memories which hold data for
immediate processing
and results of the processing.

Memory Unit
Memory units are the storage areas in a computer.
The term
memory usually refers to the main memory of the
computer,
whereas, the word storage is used for the memory
that exists on
disks, CDs, floppies or tapes.
PrimaryStorage
The main memory is usually called a
physical memory which refers to the chip
(Integrated Circuit) capable of holding data and
instruction.
There are different types of memory. They are
I.
II.

Random Access Memory (RAM),

Read Only Memory (ROM),

Random Access Memory - RAM

RAM is the most common type of memory found in
the modern
computers. This is really the main store and is the
place where the
program gets stored. When the CPU runs a program, it
fetches the
program instructions from the RAM and carries them
out. If the CPU needs to store the results of the
calculations it can store them in RAM. When we switch
off a computer, whatever is stored in the
RAM gets erased. It is a volatile form of memory.
Read Only Memory - ROM
In ROM, the information is burnt (pre-recorded) into
the ROM
chip at manufacturing time. Once data has been
written into a ROM chip, it cannot be erased but you

Programmable Read Only Memory - PROM

PROM is a memory on which data can be written only
once. A variation of the PROM chip is that it is not burnt
at the manufacturing time but can be programmed using
PROM programmer or a PROM burner. PROM is also a
non-volatile memory.
Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory EPROM
In EPROM, the information can be erased and
reprogrammed using a special PROM programmer.
EPROM is non-volatile memory. A EPROM differs from a
PROM in that a PROM can be written to only once and
cannot be erased. But an ultraviolet light is used to erase
the contents of the EPROM.
Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only
Memory
- EEPROM
EEPROM is a recently developed type of memory. This is

Cache memory
Cache memory is a type of high-speed memory that
a processor can access more rapidly than main
memory (RAM).
MemoryCapacity
As already noted, CPUs process only 0s and 1s. All
data are translated through computer languages
(covered in the next chapter) into series of these
binary digits, or bits. A particular combination of
bits represents a certain alphanumeric character or
simple mathematical operation. Eight bits are
needed to represent any one of these characters.
This 8-bit string is known as a byte. The storage
capacity of a computer is measured in bytes.
(Bits are used as units of measure typically only for
telecommunications capacity, as in how many
million bits per second can be sent through a

 Kilobyte. Kilo means one thousand, so a kilobyte

(KB) is approximately one thousand
bytes. Actually, a kilobyte is 1,024 bytes (210 bytes).
Megabyte. Mega means one million, so a
megabyte (MB) is approximately one million
bytes (1,048,576 bytes, or 1,024 1,024, to be exact).
Most personal computers have hundreds of megabytes
of RAM memory (a type of primary storage, discussed in
a later section).
Gigabyte. Giga means one billion; a gigabyte
(GB) is actually 1,073,741,824 bytes
(1,024 1,024 1,024 bytes). The storage capacity of a
hard drive (a type of secondary storage, discussed
shortly) in modern personal computers is often many
gigabytes.
Terabyte. One trillion bytes (actually,
1,078,036,791,296 bytes) is a terabyte.

SecondaryStorage
Secondary storage is designed to store very large
amounts of data for extended periods of time.
Secondary storage can have memory capacity of
several terabytes or more and only small portions of
that data are placed in primary storage at any one
time. Secondary storage has the following
characteristics:
It is nonvolatile.
It takes much more time to retrieve data from
secondary storage than it does from
RAM because of the electromechanical nature of
secondary storage devices.
It is much more cost effective than primary storage
(see Figure 3.6).
It can take place on a variety of media, each with its
own technology, as discussed

 The overall trends in secondary storage are toward

more direct-access methods, higher capacity with
lower costs, and increased portability.
Magnetic disks
come in a variety of styles and are popular because
they allow
much more rapid access to the data than does
magnetic tape. Magnetic disks, called hard disks or
fixed disk drives, are the most commonly used mass
storage devices because of their low cost, high speed,
and large storage capacity. Fixed disk drives read from,
and write to, stacks of rotating magnetic disk platters
mounted in rigid enclosures and sealed against
environmental or atmospheric contamination. These
disks are permanently mounted in a unit that may be
internal or external to the computer.

The read/write heads are attached to arms that hover

over the disks, moving in and out (see Figure 3.8).
They read the data when positioned over the correct
track and when the correct sector spins by. Because
the head floats just above the surface of
the disk (less than 25 microns), any bit of dust or
contamination can disrupt the device. When this
happens, it is called a disk crash and usually results
in catastrophic loss of data. For this reason, hard
drives are hermetically sealed when manufactured.

Optical storage devices.

Unlike magnetic media, optical storage devices do not
store data via magnetism. As shown in Figure 3.9, to
record information on these devices, a pinpoint laser
beam is used to burn tiny holes into the surface of a
reflective plastic platter (such as a compact disk).
When the information is read, another laser, installed
in the optical disk drive of the computer (such as a
compact disk drive), shines on the
surface of the disk. If light is reflected, that
corresponds to one binary state. If the light shines on
one of the holes burned by the recording laser, there is
no reflection and the other binary state is read.
Compared to magnetic media, optical disk drives are
slower than magnetic hard drives. On the other hand,
they are much less susceptible to damage from
contamination and are also less fragile.

Memory cards.
PC memory cards are credit-card-size devices that can be installed in an
adapter or slot in many personal computers. The PC memory card
functions as if it were a fixed hard disk drive. The cost per megabyte of
storage is greater than for traditional hard disk storage, but the cards do
have advantages. They are less failure prone than hard disks, are
portable, and are relatively easy to use. Software manufacturers often
store the instructions for their programs on a memory card for use with
laptop computers. The Personal Computer Memory Card International
Association (PCMCIA) is a group of computer manufacturers who are
creating standards for these memory cards.
EnterpriseStorageSystems
The amount of digital information is doubling every two years. As a
result, many companies are employing enterprise storage systems. An
enterprise storage system is an independent, external system
with intelligence that includes two or more storage devices. These
systems are an alternative to allowing each host or server to manage its
own storage devices directly. Enterprise storage systems provide large
amounts of storage, high-performance data transfer, a high degree of
availability, protection against data loss, and sophisticated management
tools.
There are three major types of enterprise storage subsystems:
redundant arrays of

Redundant array of independent disks. Hard drives in all computer

systems are susceptible
to failures caused by temperature variations, head crashes, motor failure,
controller failure, and changing voltage conditions. To improve reliability
and protect the data in their enterprise storage systems, many computer
systems use redundant arrays of independent disks (RAID) storage
products. RAID links groups of standard hard drives to a specialized
microcontroller. The microcontroller coordinates the drives so they appear
as a single logical drive, but they take advantage of the multiple physical
drives by storing data redundantly, thus protecting against data loss due
to the failure of any single drive.
Storage area network. A storage area network (SAN) is an architecture
for building
special, dedicated networks that allow rapid and reliable access to storage
devices by
multiple servers. Storage over IP, sometimes called IP over SCSI or
iSCSI, is a technology
that uses the Internet Protocol to transport stored data between devices
within
a SAN. Storage visualization software is used with SANs to
graphically plot an entire
network and allow storage administrators to view the properties of, and
monitor, all

1.5 INPUT DEVICES

Input devices accept data and instructions from the
user. Following are the examples of various input
devices, which are connected to the computer for this
purpose.
1. Keyboard
2. Mouse
3. Light Pen
4. Optical/magnetic Scanner
5. Touch Screen
6. Microphone for voice as input
7. Track Ball

1.5.1 Keyboard
A keyboard (as shown in
figure 1.3) is the most
common input
device. Several kinds of
keyboards are available, but
they
resemble each other with
minor variations. The
keyboard in most common
use is the QWERTY board.
Generally standard
keyboard has 104 keys. In
these keyboards, the cursor
control keys are duplicated
to allow easier use of the

1.5.2 Mouse
A mouse is an electro-mechanical, hand-held device (as
shown in figure 1. 4). It is used as a pointer. It can
perform functions like selecting menu commands,
moving icons, resizing windows, starting programs, and
choosing options.

The most common mouse uses an internal,

magnetically coated
ball, to detect the movement of the mouse across a
flat surface,
usually a desktop. Now a days Optical or laser
mouse is used to
detect the movement. All windows based
applications today are
designed to work with a mouse. A mouse is used to
replace hard
-to-remember key combinations with easier "Point
and Click"
actions. However, it cannot substitute all keyboard
operations.
It can be alternative for commands based
operations.

1.5.3 Light pen

An input device that utilizes a light-sensitive detector to
select objects on a display screen. A light pen is similar
to a mouse (as shown in figure 1.5), except that with a
light pen you can move the pointer and select objects
on the display screen by directly pointing to the objects
with the pen.

1.5.4 Optical Scanner

These devices are used for automatic data collection. The
devices of this category completely eliminate manual
input of data. For example, the bar-code reader is actually
just a special type of image scanner. An image scanner
translates printed images into an electronic format that
can be stored in a computers memory, and with the right
kind of software, one can alter a stored image. Another
example of scanner is optical character recognition (OCR)
device, used by banks to convert the scanned image of a
typed or printed page into text that can be edited on the
computer.

1.5.5 Touch Screen

Touch panel displays and pads are now being offered
as lternatives to keyboard. Here the input can be
given through the computer screen, that accepts the
input through monitor; users touch electronic buttons
displayed on the screen or they may use light pen.

1.5.6 Microphone
Microphone is an input device, which takes voice as
input. The voice communication is more error-prone
than information through keyboard. There are two
types of microphones available (as shown in figure
1.8):

1.5.7 Track Ball

Trackball, a pointing device, is a mouse lying on its
back (as shown in figure 1. 9). To move the pointer, you
rotate the ball with your thumb, your fingers, or the
palm of your hand. There are usually one
to three buttons next to the ball, which you use just like
mouse buttons. The advantage of trackballs over
mouse is that the trackball is stationary so it does not
require much space to use it. In addition,
you can place a trackball on any type of surface,
including your lap. For both these reasons, trackballs
are popular pointing devices for portable computers.

1.6 OUTPUT DEVICES

Output devices return processed data that is
information, back
to the user. Some of the commonly used output
1. Monitor (Visual Display Unit)
devices are:
2. Printers
3. Plotter
4. Speakers

1.6.1 Monitor
Out of all the output devices, monitor (as shown in
figure 1.10) is perhaps the most important output
device because people interact with this device
most intensively than others. Computer
information is displayed, visually with a video
adapter card and monitor. Information processed
within the CPU, that needs to be visually displayed,
is sent to video adapter. The video adapter
converts information from the format used, in the
same manner as a television displays information
sent to it by a cable service.

Two basic types of monitors are used with

microcomputers, which are as follows:
Cathode Ray Tube (CRT): CRT or Cathode Ray Tube
Monitor is the typical monitor that you see on a
desktop computer. It looks a lot like a television
screen, and works the same way. This type uses a
large vacuum tube, called cathode ray tube (CRT).
Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD): This type of
monitors are also known as flat panel monitor. Most of
these employ liquid crystal displays (LCDs) to render
images. These days LCD monitor are very popular.
When people talk about the capabilities of various
monitors, one
critical statistic is the resolution of the monitor. Most
monitors have a resolution of at least 800 x 600
pixels. High-end monitors

1.6.2 Printer
After a document is created on the computer, it can be
sent to a
printer for a hard copy (printout). Some printers offer
special
features such as colored and large page formats.
Some of the
most commonly used printers are:
1. Laser Printer
2. Ink Jet Printer
3. Dot Matrix Printer
4. Line Printer
Laser Printer: A laser printer produces high quality
print that one normally finds in publishing. It is
extremely fast and quiet. Moreover, the operation of a
laser printer is easy with automatic paper loading and

Ink-Jet Printer: An ink-jet printer creates an image

directly on paper by spraying ink through as many as
64 tiny nozzles. Although the image it produces is not
generally quite as sharp as the output of a laser printer,
the quality of ink-jet images is still high. In general, inkjet printer offers an excellent middle ground between
dot matrix and laser printer. Like laser printer, an inkjet printer is quiet and convenient, but not particularly
fast. Typically, an ink-jet printer is more expensive than
a dot-matrix printer, but costs only half as much as a
laser printer.

Dot Matrix Printer: The dot matrix printer was very

popular at one point of time. It is a very versatile and
inexpensive output device. In dot matrix printer the
print head physically "hits" the paper through the
ribbon and produces text (or images) by combinations
of dots; hence
the name dot matrix printer. Its speed is measured in
characters per second (CPS). Although it is less
expensive, it is louder, slower and produces lower print
quality.

Line Printer: A line printer is generally used with large

computer systems to produce text based data
processing reports. Line printers are high-speed
printers with speeds ranging anywhere from 100 to
about 3800 lines per minute. In the past, print quality
on line printers
was not high. Developments in technology are
improving the print quality on line printers. These are in
the cost range of lacs of Rupees.

1.6.3 Plotter
A plotter is a special kind of output device that, like a
printer,
produces images on paper, but does so in a different
way. Plotters
are designed to produce large drawings or images,
such as construction plans for buildings or blueprints
for mechanical
objects. A plotter can be connected to the port normally
used by
a printer.
An array of different colored pens in a clip rack and a
robotic arm
is part of plotter. The instructions that a plotter receives

coordinates for a line. With that information, the

plotter picks up
the appropriate pen through its arm, positions it at
the beginning coordinates drops the pen down to
the surface of the paper and
draws to the ending coordinates. Plotters draw
curves by creating a sequence of very short straight
lines.
Plotters usually come in two designs:
1. Flat Bed: Plotters of small size to be kept on table
with
restriction of paper size.
2. Drum: These plotters are of big size using rolls of
paper of
unlimited length.
Fig. 1.15 Flat bed and Drum Plotter

1.6.4 Speaker
Speakers (as shown in figure 1.16) are another type
of output device, which allow you to listen to voice
like music, and conversation with people.