Chapter Two

Basic Computer
Systems
 Chapter Contents
General parts of Computer (HW and
SW)
Hardware (HW)
CPU (Central Processing Unit)
Input unit
Output unit
Storage unit

Software (SW)
System software
Application software
 The Computer System
Computers vary in size, power and cost based
on the task they are designed for.
The internal architecture of computers may
vary from one manufacturer to the other.
However, the basic computer system
organization underlying all computers is the
same.
 The general computer system consists of

Hardware Software

A typical computer hardware consists of:

• Input devices
• Output devices
• Processor (CPU), and
• Storage
 Inside System Unit
 Motherboard - The motherboard is the main circuit board of
a microcomputer. It is also known as the main board or
system board.
 CPU - The CPU is the central electronic chip that determines
the processing power of the computer.
 Memory - Memory is the part of the computer that
temporarily stores applications, documents, and stem
operating information.
 Bus - is a subsystem that is used to connect computer
components and transfer data between them. For example, an
internal bus connects computer internals to the motherboard.
 Expansion Slots - Expansions slots appear on the
motherboard. They are sockets into which adapters are
connected.
Cont…
 Ports and Connectors - A port is a connector
located on the motherboard or on a separate adapter
usually seen at the back of the system unit and used
for connecting various input and output devices to the
system unit.
 Bays - A bay is a space inside the computer case
where a hard drive, floppy drive or CD-ROM drive
sits.
 Power Supply - A power supply changes normal
household electricity into electricity that a computer
can use.
 Sound Components - A sound card lets a computer
play and record high quality sound.
 CPU(Processor)
 It stands for Central Processing Unit.
 It is just like the brain of the computer.
 It executes instruction and processes data.
 It consists of components like:
• Control unit
• ALU
• Register, and
• Internal bus
 Cont…

Control unit:- controls activities in the

CPU.
Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU):
 Perform arithmetic operations such as
additions, subtraction, multiplication, division
 Perform Comparison operations such as AND,
OR, Greater than (>), Less than (<).
 Its operation controlled by the control unit.
 Cont…
Register:
Small amount of memory to store data.
High speed storage inside the CPU.
Stores data to be processed by next operations and
intermediary outputs.
There are different registers (Input register,
Output register, Address register, Program counter,
Data register, Accumulator, Temporary register,
Instruction register) to store different type of
information required for the operation of the CPU.
Internal bus: connects the different
components inside the CPU.
 Input Devices
Keyboard
Mouse
Scanner
Digital Pen
Camera
Microphone
Joystick
Keyboard
 The principal input device which is used o insert data and
instruction to the computer.
 It is an input device used to enter characters and functions
into the computer system by pressing buttons, or keys.
 It translates the human readable information into the
computer readable format.
Different Types of Keyboard

Wireless keyboard

Ordinary keyboard
Mouse
A pointing device of
computer.
It is one of the important
input devices with
Graphical User interface
operating systems by
initiating commands using
the variety of mouse actions
like a mouse click and
rollover.
Different types of mouse
 Optical mouse
 Cordless
mouse
 Wheel mouse
 Track ball
Scanner
Scanner – an input device used to convert printed
pictures into computer readable information.

Flat-bed
scanner
 Different Types of scanner
Bar code scanner
Finger print
scanner

Biometric
scanner
Digital Pen
 Digital Pen is electronic ballpoint pen that digitizes, stores and
transfers what is written or drawn to the computer. Instead of a
mouse, a digital pen provides a very natural way to hand write and
hand draw into the computer.
Cont…
 Optical character recognition system: a
combination of hardware and software
system that involves reading text from paper
and translating it into a form a computer
can manipulate (into ASCII or UNICODE).
 Optical mark recognition (OMR): is a device
that senses the presence or absence of a
mark
(e.g. pencil mark)
Camera
 Digital Camera – an input device used capture digital
pictures on the field. It is directly read by the computer
system.
 Webcam - to enter image data to the computer for
processing especially used for an online video communication
on the Internet.

Digital
camera

Webcam
Microphone
 Microphone– an input device used capture audio
signals. It is directly read by the computer system.
Joystick
Joystick is a an input device for pointing and controlling device that is
used to control the object on the screen and is widely used in controlling
video games.

Games controller
 Output Devices
Output devices are used to translate
computer readable bits into human characters
or formats (allows data to be transmitted by the
computer in a human-friendly form).
Examples of Output devices:
 Monitor
 Printer
 Speaker
 Plotter
 LCD Projector
Monitor
It is similar to a TV screen. It displays soft
copy information on the computer screen.

Flat screen
Printer
It is used to print the output on a paper. There
different type of printers.

Laser

Dot-matrix Inkjet
Plotter
It is similar to a printer. It is special
device used to print large maps.
Speaker
Speaker – is used to listen sound files such as
music from the computer system.
LCD (Liquid Crystal Display)
• LCD is a type of flat panel display which uses liquid crystals
in its primary form of operation.
• The liquid crystal display (LCD) panel is designed to project
on-screen information of a microcomputer onto a larger screen
with the aid of a standard overhead projector, so that large
audiences may view on-screen information without having to
crowd around the TV monitor.
 Storage devices

Primary storage device Secondary storage device

• RAM (Random Access Memory) and ROM (Read Only Memory)

are examples of primary storage devices.
• Primary storage (memory) holds the immediate instructions that
are to be performed by the CPU.
• RAM: It stands for Random Access Memory. It is used to store
information that is used immediately or we can say that it is a
temporary memory. RAM is volatile.
• ROM: It stands for Read Only Memory. The data written or
stored in these devices are non-volatile, i.e. once the data is stored
in the memory cannot be modified or deleted.
Cont…
Hard disks have massive storage
capacity and found inside the system
unit. It can store more than 40GB.

Secondary storage devices: stores data

permanently. These includes:
Hard disks: the hard disc is a non-removable
storage media inside its driver ( Hard drive).
Floppy discs- a removable storage media.
CD and DVD discs
 Hard disk drive
A computer hard disk drive (HDD) is a non-
volatile data storage device.
Most computers have one hard disk drive (HDD)
installed within the systems case.
They are used to store the operating system,
applications (Word, Excel, Turbo C etc) and files
written by the user.
The HDD is usually a stack of rigid magnetic disks
contained within a sealed unit so that dust and dirt
will not damage the disks.
Data is transferred to or from the disk using
read/write heads close to the surface of each disk
(top and bottom) that detect magnetic variations on
the disk surfaces as they rotate.
Cont…
The operating system uses letters to identify the
different types of secondary storage installed in the
computer.
The HDD is allocated the letter C and is known as the
root drive. It is possible to separate the HDD to include
virtual drives D,E etc. according to the users wishes.
HDD’s come with varying storage capacities, measured
in gigabytes (GB).
Floppy Disk Drive
It detect magnetic variations
Write-protect Window

on the disk surface.

The standard 5 ½ inch floppy
has a storage capacity of 1.44
MB.
The FDD is always allocated
the letter A and so is known as
the A drive.
If another FDD is installed 3 ½”, 1.44MB Diskette

(rarely) then it is allocated the

letter B.
Cont…
Floppy disks (floppy or diskettes) contain a
single small magnetic disk housed within a
protective plastic case.
They are used to transfer data between
computers or to provide back-up copies of
data stored on the HDD.
Data is transferred from or to a floppy by
using read/write heads in the floppy disk
drive (FDD).
 CD (compact discs) and DVDs
Optical storage medias
Stores data in the circular tracks where each
track is divided into various sectors
A typical CD can store about 700MB
 CD types
CD-R
CD-RW
 DVD ( Digital Versatile Discs )
• Digital video disk (DVD) drives look similar
to a CD except that they can store from 4.7 –
17 GB of data.
• A standard DVD can store over 2 hours of
high quality video and CD quality audio.
• DVD discs have more tracks and sectors than
the CD’s.
 Software
Software is a set of instructions, data or
programs used to operate computers and
execute specific tasks.
Software can be considered as anything stored
electronically and could be able to instruct the
computer to do something.
Firmwares are some where between the hardware and
software. Firmwares are software programs that has
been permanently written onto Read Only Memory
(ROM).
ROMs and PROMs are Firmwares
Two kinds of software's:
System software and Application software
 Cont…
System software is a program designed to run a
computer's hardware and applications and manage its
resources, such as its memory, processors, and devices.
It also provides a platform for running application
software, and system software is typically bundled with
a computer's operating system.
There are different systems software types, including
Windows, Linux, MacOS, etc. Each type of system
software has its own set of unique characteristics.
System software's enable the computer to function
( from a mere digital machine to a versatile computing
device).
Consists of low-level programs that interact with the
computer at the very basic level (e.g. of system
software's are: operating system, utilities, compilers.
 Application software helps the user to do
specific jobs like writing a document, watching
a movie, drawing a picture etc.

User

Application software

System software

The computer’s hardware

 System software Application software

Operating system Word processors

 Language software's Spreadsheets
Database Management
(programming languages) system ( DBMS)
Compilers Image processors
Assemblers
Games
Utilities
Operating systems
 The most important program that runs
other software's.
 Perform basic tasks like
Recognizing inputs inserted from input devices

Sending out put to the display and other output

devices
Keeping track of files and directories on the
disc
Controlling peripheral devices like printers..
e.g. Microsoft Windows, MS-DOS, Mac OS,
Unix, Linux, Windows Vista, etc
Cont…
Manages and coordinates the functions
performed by the computer’s hardware
components.
Vary in complexity from those on a PC to
those running on the multi-user mainframes.
Helps as an interface between the user and
the application software’s.
The operating system must be loaded and
activated before you can accomplish other
tasks.
 Functions of an Operating System
 Scheduling tasks which are waiting to be
processed based on prioritizing tasks and run
each job at the appropriate moment.
 Data management tasks like storage and
retrieval of data.
 Manages the allocation of virtual memory by
breaking a job into sequences of instructions,
keeping only few of them on RAM and the
remaining on the secondary storage devices.
 Ensure that different programs and user are not
interfering
 Ensuring security of the data, the software and the
computer as a whole.
 Classification of operating system
 Multi user operating systems:
Allow two or more users to run programs at the same time. Some OS
supports hundreds of users (OS of mainframes and minicomputers )
e.g. UNIX, MVS
 Multiprocessing OS--- OS- refers to the utilization of multiple CPU’s
in a single computer system. This is also called parallel processing
e.g. UNIX, MVS (Multiple Virtual Storage)
 Multitasking OS---allows
OS- performing multiple tasks at the same
time with different programs.
- By quickly switching back and forth among different programs
so fast that they all appear to be active.
 Multithreading OS: allows different parts of a single program,
threads, to run concurrently. Similar with multitasking but takes
place within the same program
 Real-time OS: Respond to input immediately they are used for
such tasks like navigation in which the computer must react to the
steady flow of new inputs without interruption.
Cont…

Command line OS: - Needs the user to write

lines of codes to interact / instruct the
computer
e.g. MS-DOS
Graphical User Interface (GUI)- Allows users to
enter commands by pointing and clicking at
icons ( small pictures) and menus ( by using
Pointing devices )that appears on the
screen
e.g. Microsoft Windows
 Utilities ( Utility software's)
A utility or software utility is computer system
software intended to analyze, configure,
monitor, or help maintain a computer.
Usually, a utility is smaller than a standard
program and may be included with an
operating system or installed separately.
Used to perform specific tasks that are related
with managing system resources ( individual
parts of the computer, printer, speaker).
 Used to manage disc drives, files, printer and
others tools.
Example: Antivirus, File Management System,
Compression Tools, Disk Management Tools
and others.
End of Chapter Two

Happy Learning!!