basic hardware components in a computer
Introduction
Computer systems, whether micro, mini, mainframe, or supercomputer, consist of hardware and software. Neither works without the other. In this unit, you'll learn what each component consists of and what it does. |
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By the end of this unit, you should be able to
carefully define the term hardware and describe the hardware components of a computer
The main input devices and outputs of a particular computer.
Describes the device and memory unit of a computer system.
gives an overview of various communication and network components.
Hardware
So far, we have said that a computer system consists of hardware and software components. In this section, we'll take a closer look at the components.
The hardware components of a computer system are essentially physical aspects. You can feel and touch. They usually consist of three basic units: input/output units (peripherals).
Basic Hardware Components
Input/Output Devices
Input Devices (Keyboards, Tape Devices, Floppies, Hard Disk Drives, etc.).
output devices (for example, video display units (VDUs) or monitors, printers, tape drives, floppy disks, and hard disks)
These are commonly called peripherals. Each is described in detail later in this section.
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
This includes:
Arithmetic/Logic Unit (ALU), which is a
processing unit.
Control Unit (CU)
Random Access Memory (RAM), Main Memory
, and Read Only Memory (ROM)
Unit (PU). Internal Memory (IM) and Control Unit:
Note: The CPU and memory unit are usually combined as a system unit and both form the heart of a personal computer as they house the microprocessor, memory, and hard disk drive. increase.
The microprocessor is the computer's information management center, performing specific instructions on the information stored in memory.
overall. A computer has five basic units: , where the computer is stored is usually coordinated. This is necessary for your computer to run effectively and efficiently. Temperature, current, humanity and dust must be controlled.
Components required for this include air conditioners, computer covers, power stabilizers, uninterruptible crossover systems, and voltage converters. (/O- device). The most common ones used in today's computer systems are described as follows. Key-to-disk and scanner.
keyboard
The keyboard described above resembles a typewriter keyboard, but has additional keys. With a few key presses, it automatically communicates with the central processing unit (CPU) and executes the necessary instructions. The results are displayed on the screen (VDU).
Mouse
A mouse is a small portable pointing device. This is another input device. The mouse is used to select and move items on the screen. A mouse is a very important input device when using Windows. In fact, application packages like Desktop Publishing (DTP) cannot operate without a mouse because DTP uses windows.
Card Reader
This is another input device for scanning cards. Works like a digitizer.
Light Pen
The Light Pen is a device that looks like a pen. Light sensitive. It is used by pointing the pen at a point on the visual display and drawing on the screen simply by touching the light pen and moving it along the screen.
THE OUTPUT DEVICES
The means by which computers send messages back to us are called output devices. We want to see the results of our interaction with the computer. Output devices allow it. Let's talk about the common ones.
The most common output device is a visual display unit. often called a computer screen
Other names you may come across are cathode ray tube (CRT) and computer monitor. All of them are used to display the data processed by the computer. The information displayed on the screen is called soft copy because it is not permanent.
Visual Display Unit (VDUX)
Printer
A printer is an output device used to copy computer output onto paper. It is called a hard copy because it is permanently printed on paper. There are many types of printers, such as dot-matrix printers, laser printers, inkjets, and inkjet printers. I will describe the characteristics of his first two printers because of their importance as output devices.
Dot Matrix Printer
A dot matrix printer is called a serial or character printer. Each letter is represented by activating and printing a combination of pens pressed against the charcoal. Dot-matrix printers are fast, versatile, and offer graphics capabilities.
A Laser Printer
The Laser Printer is a high quality non-impact printer. In this device, a laser beam is directed at a drum, paper is pressed through toner, and pages and images are printed on the paper. Create camera-ready documents for lithography work that can produce many copies in a minute.
PLOTTER
These output devices are used to draw charts such as pie charts and drafting on paper. Use a series of colored pencils of varying sizes to trace the shape of your drawing.
SCANNER
Scanner has his two types, handheld scanner and desktop scanner.
PLOTTER
These output devices are used to draw charts such as pie charts and drafting on paper. Use a series of colored pencils of varying sizes to trace the shape of your drawing.
SCANNER
Scanner has his two types, handheld scanner and desktop scanner.
THE PROCESSING AND STORAGE UNITS OF A COMPUTER
You already know that all computer systems consist of input devices, central processing units, and output devices. Now let's take a closer look inside the central processing unit COU.
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
This is where the computer does its work. It consists of a series of electronic components, called microchips, built to perform specific tasks. A central processing unit, or CPU, consists of three main parts:
Controller Unit (CU)
Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
Primary Storage Unit (PM)
In early computers, the controller, arithmetic unit, and logic unit and primary memory were all separate parts. However, as a result of advances in computer technology, all three parts have been combined into a single part called a microprocessor. In microcomputers, the microprocessor resides on a circuit board called the motherboard.
CONTROL UNIT (CU) The
Control Unit, as the name suggests, controls the overall operation of the CPU. Think of it like a police officer directing traffic through the system. The control unit uses the system clock to ensure smooth data flow. Clock speed is measured in megahertz (Mhz). The more megahertz a computer has. Data is processed faster. Computer speed is measured in millions of instructions per second, or MIPS. Microcomputers operate at speeds up to 10 MPS. Mainframes run at about 20-50 MIPS, while supercomputers exceed 200 MIPs.
Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are all done in this unit. It also performs all necessary logic functions. Logical functions are those that make decisions such as: Is the number less than 20 or is A>C? etc Basically, its operations consist of comparisons. H. Compare two dates to see if one is equal to, less than, or greater than the other.
PRIMARY MEMORY (PM)
Primary memory, or main memory, is the place in a computer where programs and data are stored. Most storage, sometimes referred to as primary storage, main storage, real storage, instant access storage (AIS), or internal storage, consists of semiconductor materials attached to silicon chips. Semiconducting materials can only conduct current under certain conditions. Primary storage holds data, instructions, and results awaiting output to an output device or awaiting transfer to backing storage. Some memory contents are retained only while the computer is on. If you turn it off, the content will be lost.
Data is stored in the chip in binary format. Memory is divided into cells. Each cell can only contain one character. A cell consists of 8 bits called the I byte. A bit is a placeholder for exactly one binary O or I. Therefore, 1 byte is 8 binary placeholders corresponding to 1 character. This means that bytes is the amount of storage a character can hold
Amount of computer memory. A measure, in bytes, of the number of characters that memory can hold. In addition to speeding up your computer, using more memory will improve your computer's performance.
As mentioned earlier, a computer's memory contains the data to be processed, the data being processed, the data that has been processed, and the instructions (programs) for processing the data. Computer memory is divided into two parts:
Random Access Memory (RAM)
Read Only Memory (ROM)
ROM is used by manufacturers to store common and permanent instructions as an operating system and program utility for booting and testing computers. increase. ROM is read-only, so you can read it but not write to it. The information here is permanent and will not be lost when you turn off your computer.
RAM - Data can be written and erased to this area, allowing new data to flow in. This is the computer user's workspace when the program is running. RAM is power dependent, and stored data is lost when power is lost. Information in RAM is read by a computer faster than information in secondary storage.
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
This is where the computer does its work. It consists of a series of electronic components, called microchips, built to perform specific tasks. A central processing unit, or CPU, consists of three main parts:
Controller Unit (CU)
Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
Primary Storage Unit (PM)
In early computers, the controller, arithmetic unit, and logic unit and primary memory were all separate parts. However, as a result of advances in computer technology, all three parts have been combined into a single part called a microprocessor. In microcomputers, the microprocessor resides on a circuit board called the motherboard.
CONTROL UNIT (CU) The
Control Unit, as the name suggests, controls the overall operation of the CPU. Think of it like a police officer directing traffic through the system. The control unit uses the system clock to ensure smooth data flow. Clock speed is measured in megahertz (Mhz). The more megahertz a computer has. Data is processed faster. Computer speed is measured in millions of instructions per second, or MIPS. Microcomputers operate at speeds up to 10 MPS. Mainframes run at about 20-50 MIPS, while supercomputers exceed 200 MIPs.
Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are all done in this unit. It also performs all necessary logic functions. Logical functions are those that make decisions such as: Is the number less than 20 or is A>C? etc Basically, its operations consist of comparisons. H. Compare two dates to see if one is equal to, less than, or greater than the other.
PRIMARY MEMORY (PM)
Primary memory, or main memory, is the place in a computer where programs and data are stored. Most storage, sometimes referred to as primary storage, main storage, real storage, instant access storage (AIS), or internal storage, consists of semiconductor materials attached to silicon chips. Semiconducting materials can only conduct current under certain conditions. Primary storage holds data, instructions, and results awaiting output to an output device or awaiting transfer to backing storage. Some memory contents are retained only while the computer is on. If you turn it off, the content will be lost.
Data is stored in the chip in binary format. Memory is divided into cells. Each cell can only contain one character. A cell consists of 8 bits called the I byte. A bit is a placeholder for exactly one binary O or I. Therefore, 1 byte is 8 binary placeholders corresponding to 1 character. This means that bytes is the amount of storage a character can hold
Amount of computer memory. A measure, in bytes, of the number of characters that memory can hold. In addition to speeding up your computer, using more memory will improve your computer's performance.
As mentioned earlier, a computer's memory contains the data to be processed, the data being processed, the data that has been processed, and the instructions (programs) for processing the data. Computer memory is divided into two parts:
Random Access Memory (RAM)
Read Only Memory (ROM)
ROM is used by manufacturers to store common and permanent instructions as an operating system and program utility for booting and testing computers. increase. ROM is read-only, so you can read it but not write to it. The information here is permanent and will not be lost when you turn off your computer.
RAM - Data can be written and erased to this area, allowing new data to flow in. This is the computer user's workspace when the program is running. RAM is power dependent, and stored data is lost when power is lost. Information in RAM is read by a computer faster than information in secondary storage.