BASIC FUNDAMENTALS OF

COMPUTER
DIFFERENT PARTS OF A COMPUTER AND THEIR USES
The standard computer consists of a monitor, a
keyboard, a mouse and the system unit. One
can attach accessories such as printers and scanners by means of ports.
Increasingly in the workplace, computers are connected to printers and
other computers by means of a network.

The Monitor
This is the Visual Display Unit (VDU). There are various technologies for
the display unit, cathode ray tube (CRT) or Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
or electro luminescent screens or the projector. The monitor or screen
displays your work. Facing it down reduces reflected glare from room
lights. This reflection may affect your sight. Monitors come in different
sizes

The system box

The system box is where all the computations that the computer
performs take place. Inside are the CPU processor, the motherboard,
the hard disk, any network or sound cards, memory chips (RAM),
printer ports (at the back) and the drive bays for floppy disks, Zip disks
or CDs. Outside the casings are the power buttons (ON/OFF and
Restart) with some additional facilities like the casing USB ports,
Webcams, etc..

The keyboard (Pressing)

This is the basic input device. It is one of the ways you can tell the
computer what to do. It consists of the standard typewriter keys as well
as a numeric keypad and function keys. You can use it to give the
computer commands, name folders and files, and type text in word
processing documents. The keyboard is made of three main categories
of keys with each used for a different purpose.
The Mouse (Clicking and Dragging)
This is another input device used to move a small white arrow pointer-
the Cursor (but the shape will change depending on the context in
which the mouse is being used) on the screen. By pointing and clicking
you can carry out commands. The computer may ask you to verify that
you are sure to rename a file, by clicking on the ëOkí button. A mouse is
primarily made of three parts: the buttons, the handling area, and the
sensor (rolling object or light). There are either one, two or three
mouse buttons. By default, a mouse has two buttons: left and right.
Most mice nowadays are also equipped with a wheel on top of the
middle button called the Scroll Button.

ANATOMY OF COMPUTER SYSTEM

A typical computer system irrespective of its size, class or type consists
of hardware and software, integrated and harmonized together to
perform computational work (scientific or military) or data processing.
COMPUTER HARDWARE
Hardware system: Computer hardware consists of the components
that can be physically handled. It refers to the physical units or machine
of functional units, which makes up the computer configuration which
is done to suit the goals and objectives of the user. The function of
these components is typically divided into three main categories: input,
output, and storage. Components in these categories connect to
microprocessors, specifically, the computerís central processing unit
(CPU), the electronic circuitry that provides the computational ability
and control of the computer, via wires or circuitry called a bus.
Hardware may be classified into Central Processing Units (CPU) and the
peripherals. The CPU entails Control Unit (CU), Arithmetic and Logic
Unit (ALU) and the Internal Memory Unit (IMU) or main memory. The
peripherals consist of the input, output and Auxiliary Storage Units.
computer is made up of five district elements to include:
1. A central processing unit (ALU and CU)
2. Input unit
3. Output unit
4. Storage unit (Internal and Auxiliary)
5. The communication network; ìBusî that links all the elements of the
system, and connects
6. External world. (Cables and Cords)
MOTHERBOARD:
The motherboard is a printed circuit board that connects other
components through the use of traces, or electrical pathways. The
motherboard is indispensable to the computer and provides the main
computing capability. Personal computers normally have one central
processing unit (CPU) on the motherboard.
THE CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT (CPU)
‘This is the main brain of the computer that accepts data, performs
operations on the data and sends out the result.Information from an
input device or from the computerís memory is communicated via the
bus to the Central Processing Unit (CPU), which is the part of the
computer that translates commands and runs programs. It consists of
ALU and CU, and a single chip or series of chips that performs
arithmetic and logical calculations
INTRODUCTION TO THE INTERNET
Computer Network (Networking and Internetworking) Until recently,
getting a computer was mostly equivalent to getting a machine that
would be used to perform office-related assignments and other
calculations. This type of computer was commonly referred to as
standalone. A network is a group of computers linked together so that
they can share resources such as printers, software programs and
documents. Computer network is the interconnectivity of autonomous
computers. In order for two computers to share what they have, they
must establish some type of communication. This is easily done using a
cable and an appropriate object (a network card, also called NIC)
inserted in each computer. This means that a cable would go from this
object of one computer to the same type of object on the other
computer. This is perfectly possible to connect two computers. If you
have more than two computers, then you use a type of intermediary
object whose job is to "direct traffic". This object is called a hub
. For example, when one computer A requests to use or open a piece of
text that is located in a computer B but to print it in a printer that is
connected to a computer C, this intermediary object is able to know
what computer has the text, what computer has the printer, and what
computer needs these two services. For these reasons, most
connections use this intermediary object: the hub There are two types
of networking relationship: computer workstations (clients) are
connected to a number of central network servers, which allocate
resources. In a peer-to-peer relationship, computer workstations serve
each other: one workstation may have access to a printer and allocates
this resource to others in the network; another may have access to file
storage and allocates this to others (including the workstation with the
printer)