CHAPTER 2: BASIC HARDWARE UNITS OF A COMPUTER

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.
 Keyboard Used to type data into the computer. It has special keys for
giving the computer commands called command or function keys
 Pointing Devices Pointing devices move some object on the screen and
can do some action Mouse is a common pointing device
 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, optical character
recognition (OCR) software is needed
 Digital Camera Used to take electronic pictures of an object. The pictures
taken by a digital camera can be used directly by a computer
 Microphone Used to put sound into a computer. Need sound recording
software
 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
video recorder
 Voice input device-A computer I/O device in which vocal commands
may be entered into a computer system.
 Optical character recognition (OCR) is computer software designed to
translate images of handwritten or typewritten 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).
 Optical Mark Reader (OMR) A special scanning device that can read
carefully placed pencil marks on specially designed documents. OMR is
frequently used in forms, questionnaires, and answer-sheets

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 devices.
 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.
 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 printout. There different 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.
 Ink jet 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 printer's.
 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 printouts, very low cost per page
 Printout is permanent
 Color laser printers are still fairly expensive
 Speakers Used to output sound
 LCD Projectors Similar to monitors but projects an image on to a screen.
They are mainly used for presentations.

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 microcomputer is
called a microprocessor. 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.
The processor contains the control unit and the arithmetic/logic unit(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 the next instruction to be fetched from memory;

Decode – translate the program instruction into commands that the
computer can process
 Execute – cause the instruction to be executed

The arithmetic/logic unit(ALU) plays two roles.

 Arithmetic operations – these operations are addition,
subtraction, multiplication 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.
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 holding
place is known as memory also called main storage and is internal to the computer
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 processor 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
microprocessors. To accommodate the increased speed, chip manufacturers have designed
and built faster RAM chips. SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM) divides RAM into two
separate memory banks to increase the processing of the memory requests. To overcome
the performance limitations of SDRAM, two competing technologies have been
developed. RDRAM (Rambus DRAM) involves a new memory design that achieves a
higher data transfer speeds but it is expensive to manufacture. DDR SDRAM (Double
Data Rate SDRAM) can transfer data twice as fast as SDRAM because it reads data
twice during each clock cycle. Newer technologies such as DDR II and SLDRAM
(Synclink DRAM) 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 computer 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 nonvolatile.
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 programs 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 software they write, because when
they change their code they can create new PROMs without requiring expensive
equipment. This is similar to the way a CD-ROM recorder 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 burning,
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. Ultraviolet 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 a bit at a time,

but writing is a slow process and uses non-standard voltages (usually higher voltages
around 12 volts). Rewriting an EAROM 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
setup information in a non-volatile way. For many applications, EAROM has been
supplanted by CMOS RAM backed-up by a lithium battery.

Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM): The next level of erasability

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 programs. When you hear
reference to a "flash BIOS" or doing a BIOS upgrade by "flashing", this refers to
reprogramming the BIOS EEPROM with a special software program. Here we are
blurring the line a bit between what "read-only" really means, but remember that this
rewriting is done maybe once a year or so, compared 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 maim 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

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 1.44 MB. Saving
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 gigabytes.
Compact Disk Read Only Memory (CD ROM): CD ROMs are read only storage
medium. Typically, a CD ROM holds up to 650 MB 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 one time recordable 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.

Computer units interaction diagram

Main Memory

Input Output
Devices Processor Devices

Secondary/Backing
Storage

The diagram above shows how the units interact with each other in the processing
of data. Input devices enter information to be processed by the processor. 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.
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 special character.
Size

Byte – a string of 8 bits

Kilobyte – 1,024 bytes Megabyte –
1,024 Kilobytes Gigabyte – 1,024
Megabytes Terabyte – 1,024
Gigabytes

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?

(a) It controls the transmission of information from application programs to output
devices
(b) It controls the transmission of data from input devices to memory; (c) It
processes the data held in main memory;
(d) It controls the transmission of information from main memory to output
devices
5. Which of the following is used to store programs and data that are currently being used
(a) Read only Memory (b) Hard Disk
(c) Random Access Memory (d) Magnetic Disk