Chapter 2

Component of computer

Instructor Tadele D
1
Ambo University
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They are two basic component in computer system.

 Hardware: physical parts.

 Software: Set of instruction/program that tells the hardware of the

computer what to do and how to do.
Hardware:
- is the physical parts of computer that we can touch and see.

- mainly classified as
 Input device  Output device
 Storage device  Processing unit/CPU

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Input device:
- used to insert data into the computer system for processing.
- also called peripheral devices.
• Ex 1. Keyboard: Contains alphanumerical characters w/c entry of
textual information.
 Ex 2. Mouse : a device that locate the insertion point for the data.
 Ex 3. Scanner :device that converts an image (such as a photograph,
hardcopy, or handwriting) to a digital files on the computer.
 Ex 4 Digital camera: is an electronic device that used to take pictures
and store electronically in a digital format .
 Ex 5 Microphone: a device that used to insert sound data.
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• Ex 6. Barcode Reader:

– a device that used to maintain their stock control system in

shop.
– contains the product details such as product name, size,
manufacturer, country of origin, price etc.
 Output device
– A device that used to display data in a human understandable format
(i.e. in softcopy and hardcopy).
– Ex. Monitor (CRT) /Screen/VDU/LCD ….. Soft copy data output

• VDU: use to displays information in soft copy

• LCD: use for presentation
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Printer - is used to display hard copy data.

- differ in their speed and printing quality

1.Impact Printer
ex. dot matrix, Daisy-wheel Printers, Drum or Line Printers

•dot matrix

–is cheapest and noisiest of the printer

–also called character printer, b/c print one character at a time
•Daisy-wheel Printers

–loud and slow

–cannot print graphics, and cannot change fonts
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• Drum or Line Printers

– similar to the daisy-wheel

– print one line at a time

– is much faster than dot-matrix or daisy-wheel printers.
– have limited multi-font capability, and often produce lower print
quality

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• 2. non impact printer

– Is high printing quality and speed . ex. Laser jet, ink jet printer.

– Laser jet
• use a laser beam and dry powdered ink to produce a fine dot matrix
pattern.
• produce a very high quality output
• are very quiet, very fast and expensive.
• also called a page printer b/c print one page at a time

– ink jet
• black and white or color printer with reduced levels of quality and speed.

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• Plotters
 used to produce high quality, accurate, A3 size or bigger drawings
 Ex. it used for Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided
Manufacture (CAM) applications such as printing plans of houses or car parts.

 Speaker…. Display audio data

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• Storage device:
– Device that used to store data before and after processing ,and
intermediate result of processing.
– Mainly classified into two:
Primary storage device
Secondary storage device

Primary storage device:

 Ex. Main and internal memory

 holds the immediate instruction that performed by the CPU

 Has fast access time.
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 There are two types of primary storage device

 RAM (Random Access Memory)

o a temporary storage for the current data and instructions w/c current
processed by the CPU and storing results
o can writeable and readable
o is volatile and Expensive .i.e. any data that store in it is lost when a
computer is turned off or power failure .
o Its content changed frequently.
o vary in size like 512MB, 256MB and so on i.e.
o attached to motherboard by using slot
o possible to increase the size.
o ex.SRAM and DRAM
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 ROM (Read Only Memory)
 Permanent storage , Non-volatile memory.
 Store a few instruction which is important for the
computer system
 store the start up instructions
• primary storage has three limitation such as Limited capacity,
Volatile, High cost per bit. So to overcome this limitation,
additional memory called external or auxiliary or secondary
storage, innovated.

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Secondary storage device:
 Auxiliary and External storage device
 has low cost per bit & store large volume of data
 not attached on motherboard i.e. out of the motherboard
 is non volatile memory i.e. it store &retain the programs &
data even after the computer is switched off.
 supplement the main memory
 is useful in transferring data or programs from one to another
 also function as backup devices w/c allow copy the valuable
information.

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1. Based on the materials used in developing it ,it is

mainly classified into 3.such as:

1. Magnetic tape
2. Radom/direct-access storage device

3. Optical disk

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1. Magnetic tape
 a sequential access device b/c it retrieve / access data is
according to sequence it stored.
 has large storage capacities i.e. from a few hundred kilobytes
to several Giga bytes.
– Limitation of magnetic tape
– Low access time , b/c of sequential access plus the gap b/n
records
2. Radom/direct-access storage device
– secondary storage device w/c permit access to individual
information in a more direct or immediate manner.
– access to the information stored directly. 14
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– Magnetic storage device
• is a thin polarize iron/plastic materials
• common magnetic disk storage device are –floppy
disk, hard disk & flash disk.

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• Hard disk:

– is made up of metal (i.e. Aluminum core)

– available as internal and external.
– The one which installed inside the computer system is
internal i.e. fixed in a system unit.
– can store up to 1 terabyte of data

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• Advantage of magnetic disk
– Fast access time b/c of randomness access.
– Store very high data sets.
– used as a backup device.
– erased &reused many times.
– used to transfer data &program from one computer to other.
– used simultaneously by multiple users as shared device.

• Limitation: difficult to maintain security b/c it used

simultaneously by multiple users as shared device /disk

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3. Optical disk
– is storage medium from w/c data is read and write by lasers
beam
– also known as laser disks or optical laser disks
– store 1.44MB, up to 17.4 giga bytes
 Optical storage device:

– Use laser technology to capture and write data.

– Has slower access time than magnetic disk
– two types CD (i.e. CD-R and CD-WR)& DVD(Digital Versatile
Disk).
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Central Processing Unit

 is part of computer hardware w/c made up of millions of

transistors placed into integrated circuits.

 executes program/ instructions

 Also know as a processor.

 Brain/heart of the computer system w/c oversee and

control all of the activities of the computer

 That means, it Perform Coordination and controlling

tasks including the input and output units
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Consists of 3 parts

 ALU

 CU and

 Registers
ALU (Arithmetic and Logic Unit)

 Perform Arithmetical operations (such as, addition,

subtraction, division or multiplication) and Logical
operations (comparison between two elements either
less than, greater than or equal to the other
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• CU (Control Unit)

 serves as central nervous system.

 Controls the over all operation of the computer

system including input unit, output unit, ALU and

storage unit.

 Responsible for fetching, interpreting and controlling

the execution of data but doesn't actually execute the

instruction
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• Register
• A memory element in CPU, temporarily store the

intermediate result.

• is a part of CPU that facilitates the speed of

information transfer.
• is 32 bit or 64 bit length.

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 The End!
Thank you!!

Instructor Tadele D
23
Ambo University