1 BasicComputer Systems
Dec 25, 2015
A computer is . . .
A purely digital device Definition: Digital is a type of electronic
signal that is processed, sent and stored in bits—binary digits
Computers use binary coding—a coding system that uses two numbers--1 & 0
In computer terms, the bit is the smallest unit of measurement a computer can understand
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Bits to bytes . . .
8 bits equal 1 byte A byte is a single character of data, such
as a letter, number, etc.
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Term Abbreviation
Approximate Size
Kilobyte KB or K =1000 bytes (actual size is 1024 bytes)
Megabyte
MB =1 million bytes
Gigabyte
GB =1 billion bytes
Terabyte
TB =1 trillion bytes
A computer is device that . . .
Uses stored instructions (programs)
Accepts data that user supplies (input)
Manipulates data according to a program (processing)
Stores data (storage) Produces results (output)4
What types of data . . . ?
Text data – letters, numbers, and special characters
Graphic data – photographs, charts, and drawings
Audio data – voice and music Video data – moving pictures
and images5
Computer systems
The physical components of a computer system are called hardware.
Hardware typically includes: System unit, monitor, keyboard, mouse Peripheral devices (extra) such as a
printer or scanner
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Computer system vs. System unit
Computer system—the system unit along with input and output devices
System unit—the part of a computer system that processes data and stores information
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Embedded Smartphone Handheld Tablet Netbook Laptop
Desktop All-in-One
Server Mainframe Super Wearable
Computer systems
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Handheld
Smartphone
Netbook
Tablet
All-in-one
Supercomputer
Wearable
Server
Embedded Vehicle
Laptop
Mainframe
System unit
The main circuit board of a computer is the motherboard.
The central processing unit is located on the motherboard. The CPU is the circuitry that processes information—the “brain” of the computer.
The speed of the processor is controlled by the system clock.
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System clock
Controls the timing of ALL computer operations; measured in hertz—one cycle per second. Speed is measured in gigahertz (GHz)—a billion cycles per second. It takes about one-tenth of a second to blink
your eye; a computer can perform some operations 10 million times in the time it takes you to blink you eye.
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Main memory Main memory is located on
the motherboard. It is also known as primary memory: Random Access Memory (RAM)
Temporary memory available to the user; typically measured in gigabytes
Read Only Memory (ROM) Permanent memory that handles basic startup
functions, known as BIOS—basic input/output systems
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Input Devices:
Any hardware component that allows a user to enter information into a computer Keyboard
Pointing Devices
Scanners
Multimedia
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Keyboards
Solar Ergonomic-Split
Flexible
Blue-Tooth / iPad
Ergonomic-Split
Child’s Toddler Wireless
Gaming
Virtual
Virtual
LED-Color Changing
Pointing devices: Mouse
Trackball
Touch pad—typically found on laptops
Pen input—pen-like device touches surface of screen to digitally input data
Touch screen—touching the screen with your finger digitally inputs data
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Scanners Bar code reader—reads
universal product codes (UPC) Optical mark reader (OMR)—
reads “bubble” sheets marked with pencil
Optical character reader (OCR)-reads handwritten or typed text
Page scanner—digitally captures an image or text
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Multimedia
Microphone Electronic music keyboard Video camera Digital camera Virtual reality devices
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Output device
Any hardware component that can convey information to the user Display devices (soft copy: data projected
on a screen) Printers (hard copy: data printed on
paper) Speakers
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Display devices360°
Pico Projector HDTV
Flat-Screen MonitorProjector
Interactive Whiteboard
DocumentProjector
Printers
The two most common types of printersare ink-jet and laser
The speed of a printer is measured bythe number of pages per minute (PPM) that can be printed
The quality of a printer is measured bythe number of dots per inch (dpi) thatcan be printed
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Storage devices
The media on which data and information are kept
Three classifications: Magnetic—hard disk Optical—CD, DVD, Blu-ray
Information is burned on the disk by laser Flash—memory cards, flash drive
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Communication devices
Devices that make it possible for a user to communicate with another computer Most popular: modem
Phone, cable, DSL Computers on a network use
network interface cards (NIC) Wired or wireless
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Software
The instructions that allow the user to communicate with the computer; also called programs Three categories:
System software Application software Communications software
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System software Software responsible for the general
operation of a computer system, including the operation of hardware, running application software, and file management Operating system (OS)--system software that acts as a "go-
between", allowing computer hardware and other software to communicate with each other Microsoft Windows Mac OS Linux
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System software - utility
Utility—runs system checks and makes sure everything is working properly; One type of utility software is anti-virus
software, which checks for viruses (programs designed to disrupt or destroy the normal operation of a computer McAfee, Norton, Avast, AVG
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Word Processing Spreadsheet Presentation Database Painting/Drawing Accounting
Digital Imaging Desktop Publishing Web Design Gaming Video/Audio Production Podcasting
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Application softwarePrograms that allow the user to perform specific tasks:
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Communication software
Programs that make it possible for a computer to transmit and receive information to and from other computers. Web Browsers
Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome
Email Web-based (Yahoo, gmail, Live, etc.) Email clients (Outlook, Pegasus, Groupwise, etc.)
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