At the end of the chapter the learner shall be able to;
Explain the different hardware units of a computer system such as in-
put, output, Central processing unit(CPU),main memory and secondary storage Explain how the different units of a computer interact with each other to give the user output Explain how information is stored in a computer Explain the different storage units of a computer such as byte, Kilo- byte, megabyte, Gigabyte and Terabyte
Hardware units (Devices)of a computer can be categorized into five units;
I. Input unit II. Output III. Central processing unit(CPU)or processor IV. Main Memory V. Secondary storage/Backing Storage
2.1 Input Devices
An input device lets you communicate with a computer. They are used to enter information and issue commands to the computer. Commands tell the computer to do something, like save the file. A keyboard, mouse, scanner, digital camera, touch pads and joystick are examples of input devices.
o Keyboard-Used to type data into the computer. It has special keys forgiving the com- puter commands called command or function keys o Pointing Devices- Pointing devices move some object on the screen and can do some action Mouse is a common pointing device o Scanner allows you to scan documents, pictures, or graphics and view them on the computer. You can also use software to edit the items you scan. Used to put printed pictures and text into a computer. It Converts an image into dots that the computer can understand .To scan text, opti- cal character recognition(OCR)software is needed o Digital Camera Used to take electronic pictures of an object. The pic- tures taken by a digital camera can be used directly by a computer o Microphone Used to put sound into a computer. Need sound recording software o Video Capture Card Usually place inside the computer's case. Use to put video into a computer. Need a video source, either a video camera or vid- eo recorder o Voice input device-A computer I/O device in which vocal commands
May been entered into a computer system.
character recognition (OCR) is computer software designed to translate images of
handwritten or type written text (usually captured by a scanner) into machine- editable text, or to translate pictures of characters into a standard encoding scheme representing them (e.g. ASCII or Unicode).
o Optical Mark Reader (OMR) A special scanning device that can read- carefully placed pencil marks on specially designed documents. OMR is
Frequently used informs, questionnaires, and answer-sheets
2.2 Output device
An output device displays information on a screen, creates printed copies or
generates sound. A monitor, printer, and speakers are examples of output devic- es.
o Monitors and Displays- Shows the processed information on a screen. A
monitor uses a Picture Tube like a television with the image displayed on the front of the tube, which is called the screen.
o Printers- produce a hard copy. The information is printed on paper and
Can be used when the device is off. It is also called a print out. There dif- ferent types of printers;
Dot-matrix printers (impact printer)
Uses metal pins to strike an inked ribbon to make dots on a piece of paper. Lowest print quality of all of the printers. Very low in cost per page to use. Inkjet printers (non-impact printer) Use drops of magnetic ink to produce dots on a page to produce text or images. The print quality is almost the same as a laser printers. The ink is very expensive The ink is water soluble and will run if the paper gets wet Highest cost per page of all the printers For producing color documents, it has the highest quality at a reasonable price.
Laser printers (non-impact printer)
A laser or LEDs make dots on a light sensitive drum Toner (very tiny particles of plastic) stick to the drum where the dots where made For black and white print outs, very low cost per page Print out is permanent
o Color laser printers are still fairly expensive Speakers- Used to output sound o LCD Projectors- Similartomonitorsbutprojectsanimageon- toascreen.Theyaremainlyusedforpresentations.
2.3 Central Processing Unit(CPU)/Processor:
It is the main part of a computer system like the brain of a human being. It interprets the instructions in the program and executes one by one. The CPU of a micro com- puter is called a micro processor. Central Processing Unit is implemented in a single piece of silicon device known as a computer chip.
The processor and main memory of a PC are commonly held on a single board called a mother board. The processor has the following functions:
It controls the transmission of data from input devices to memory;
It processes the data held in main memory; It controls the transmission of information from main memory to output devices. Theprocessorcontainsthecontrolunitandthearithmetic/logicunit(ALU).
The control unit coordinates and controls all the operations carried out by the computer. The control unit operates by repeating three operations which are:
Fetch–cause then exit instruction to be fetched from memory;
Decode- translate the program instruction into commands that the com- puter can process Execute– cause the instruction to be executed
The arithmetic /logic unit (ALU) plays two roles.
Arithmetic operations– these operations are addition, subtraction, mul-
tiplication and division.. Logical operations–it compares two data items to determine whether the first one is smaller than, equal to or greater than the second item. 2.4 Main Memory:
The cycle (input-processing-output) would not be possible without a holding place
for the instructions and data that the processors (CPU) can easily reach. This hold- ing place is known as memory also called main storage and is internal to the com- puter consisting of RAM and possibly ROM.
Random Access Memory (RAM)
Is the basic kind of internal memory that holds data and instructions while the computer is in use. It can be read from and written to. It is called random access because the process or computer can access any location in memory in any order as contrasted with sequential access devices which must be accessed in order. RAM is volatile; losing the stored information in an event of power loss, and quite expensive.
There are two basic types of RAM.
Static RAM does not need to be refreshed, which makes it faster; but it is also more expensive than dynamic RAM. Dynamic RAM needs to be refreshed thousands of times per second. Both types of RAM are volatile, meaning that they lose their contents when the power is turned off.
Over the years, newer computers have been introduced that contain faster micro- processors. To accommodate the increased speed, chip manufacturers have de- signed and built faster RAM chips. SD RAM (Synchronous DRAM) divides RAM into two separate memory banks to increase the processing of the memory requests. To overcome the performance limitations of SD RAM, two competing technologies have been developed. RD RAM (Ram busD RAM) involves a new memory design that achieves a higher data transfer speeds but it is expensive to manufacture. DDRS DRAM (Double Data Rate SD RAM) can transfer data twice as fast as SD RAM be- cause it reads data twice during each clock cycle. Newer technologies such as DDRII an SLDRAM (SynclinkD RAM) are emerging. ROM (Read only memory)
Is also random access but only for reads, once data has been written onto a ROM chip, it cannot be removed and can only be read. It refers to special memory used to store programs that boot the comput- er and perform diagnostics. Most personal computers have a small amount of ROM (a few thousand bytes). Retains its contents even when the computer is turned off and is therefore referred to as being non volatile.
Types of ROM
ROM: A mask programmed read only memory that can be only be produced by the manufacturer. It is designed to perform a specific function and cannot be changed. This is inflexible and so regular ROMs are only used generally for pro- grams that are static (not changing often) and mass-produced. This product is analogous to a commercial software CD-ROM that you purchase in a store.
Programmable ROM (PROM): This is a type of ROM that can be programmed
using special equipment (a PROM programmer.); it can be written to, but only once. This is useful for companies that make their own ROMs from softwarethey write, because when they change their code they can create new PROMs with- out requiring expensive equipment. This is similar to the way a CD-ROM record- er works by letting you "burn" programs onto blanks once and then letting you read from them many times. In fact, programming a PROM is also called burn- ing, just like burning a CD-R, and it is comparable in terms of its flexibility.
Erasable Programmable ROM(EPROM): An EPROM is a ROM that can be
erased and reprogrammed. A little glass window is installed in the top of the- ROM package, through which you can actually see the chip that holds the memory. Ultra violet light of a specific frequency can be shined through this window for a specified period of time, which will erase the EPROM and allow it to be reprogrammed again. Obviously this is much more useful than a regular PROM, but it does require the erasing light. Continuing the "CD" analogy, this technology is analogous to a reusable CD-RW. Electrically Alterable Read- Only Memory (EAROMs) can be modified abit at a time, but writing is a slow process and uses non-standard voltages (usually higher voltages around 12 volts). Rewriting an EA ROM is intended to be an infrequent operation-most of the time the memory is used as a ROM. EAROM may be used to store critical system set up information in a non-volatile way. For many applica- tions, EAROM has been supplanted by CMOSRAM backed-up by alithium battery.
Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM): The next level of erasa-
bility is the EEPROM, which can be erased under software control. This is the most flexible type of ROM, and is now commonly used for holding BIOS pro- grams. When you hear reference to a "flash BIOS" or doing a BIOS up grade by "flashing", this refers to reprogramming the BIOS EEPROM with a special Soft- ware program. Here we are blurring the line abit between what "read-only" really means, but remember that this rewriting is done may be once a year or so, Com- pared to real read- write memory (RAM) where rewriting is done often many times per second! Cache memory
After Random Access Memory (RAM)
Cache memory is a type of very fast memory that is used to improve the speed of a computer doubling it in some cases. It acts as an intermediate store between the CPU and the main memory, and works by storing the most frequently or recently used instructions and data so that it will be very fast to retrieve them again. Processor
Cache Memory
Main Memory
2.5 Secondary storage
These are devices which are used to store huge information for future use. This is mostly hard drives and removable media such as floppy disks, optical media (CD ROM) etc.
Hard Drive:
Floppy Disk: Floppy disks allow information to be transported easily from one
Computer to another they have limited storage capacity, generally 1.44MB. Sav- ing and retrieving information from a floppy disk is slower than on a hard drive. They are more susceptible to physical damage and viruses than the hard drive. The size of a hard drive is usually expressed in terms of megabytes and gige- bytes. Compact Disk Read Only Memory (CD ROM): CDROMs are read only storage medium. Typically, a CDROM holds upto 650MB of information. While information retrieval is faster than from a floppy disk, it is still not as fast as from the hard drive.
Compact Disk-Writable (CD-R): A CD-R is highly effective for storing a large
amount of data. Can hold up to 700MB of information. A CD-R is a onetime re- cordable compact disc.
Compact Disk-Re-Writable (CD-RW):
A CD-RW allows you to read, write, erase and write again. Writing takes place in a single pass of the focused laser beam. This is sometimes referred to as direct overwriting and can be repeated several thousand times per disc.
2.6 Computer units interaction diagram
Main Memory Input Devices The diagram above shows how the units interact with each other in the pro- cessing of data. Input devices enter information to be processed by the proces- sor. The processor can read and write into the secondary storage devices.
The processor also stores the instructions being currently executed into the main memory. So can be able to read and write into the main memory (RAM). Once the data has been processed by the processor, the data can be displayed by the output devices. Please note the direction of the arrows as it depicts the flow of the data and instructions. 2.7 How information is stored in computers
Information is stored in computers in the form of bits. A bit is used to represent
information in the computer. They are referred to as binary digits i.e. the 0’s and 1’s with 0 representing an OFF state and 1 representing an ON state.
The stored bits are usually retrieved from computers memory for manipulation by the processor
A single bit alone cannot represent a number, letters or special characters, to
represent information; bits are combined into groups of eight. A group of eight bits is called a byte. Each byte can be used to represent a number, letter or spe- cial character.
2.8 Size 2.9 Chapter Review Questions
1. Which are the five basic units of a computer?
(a) Central processing unit, Arithmetic and Logic Unit, Input Unit, Output Unit, Visual Display unit (b) Central processing unit, Random Access Memory, Input Unit, Output Unit, Visual Display unit (c) Central processing unit, Random Access Memory, Input Unit, Output Unit, Visual Display unit (d) Central processing unit, Main Memory, Input Unit, Output Unit, Backing Storage
2. Which of the following is not an input device
(a) Mouse (b)speaker (c)Scanner (d)Digital Camera
3. Which of the following is not an output device
(a) Printer (b)Scanner (c)speaker (d)Monitor
4. Which of the following is not a task of the Central Processing Unit?
