1.

6 THE COMPUTER SYSTEM

A computer can be viewed as a system, which consists of a number of interrelated components

that work together with the aim of converting data into information. In a computer system,
processing is carried out electronically, usually with little or no intervention from the user. To
attain information, data is entered through input unit, processed by central processing unit
(CPU), and displayed through output unit. In addition, computers require memory to process data
and store output. All these parts (the central processing unit, input, output, and memory unit) are
referred to as hardware of the computer.
The general perception of people regarding the computer is that it is an “intelligent thinking
machine”. However, this is not true. Every computer needs precise instructions on what is to be
done and how to do it. The instructions given to computers are called programs, which
constitute the software.

1.6.1 BASIC COMPONENTS OF A COMPUTER SYSTEM

There are several computer systems in the market with a wide variety of makes, models, and
peripherals. In general, a computer system comprises the following components:

 Input Unit: This unit accepts instructions and data.

 Central Processing Unit (CPU): This unit performs processing of instructions and data
inside the computer.
 Output Unit: This unit communicates the results to the user.
 Memory/Storage Unit: This unit stores temporary and final results.

Input Unit

The input unit is formed by attaching various input devices such as keyboard, mouse, light pen,
and so on to a computer. An input device is an electromechanical device that accepts instructions
and data from the user. Since the data and instructions entered through different input devices
will be in different form, the input unit converts them into the form that the computer can
understand. After this, the input unit supplies the converted instructions and data to the CPU for
further processing.

Central Processing Unit

The central processing unit (CPU) is referred to as “brain” of a computer system and it converts
data (input) into meaningful information (output). It controls all the internal and external
devices, performs arithmetic and logic operations, and operates only on binary data, that is, data
composed of 1s and 0s. In addition, it also controls the usage of main memory to store data and
instructions and controls the sequence of operations.
The central processing unit consists of three main subsystems, the Arithmetic/Logic Unit (ALU),
the Control Unit (CU), and the Registers. The three subsystems work together to provide
operational capabilities to the computer.

Arithmetic/Logic Unit

The arithmetic/logic unit (ALU) contains the electronic circuitry that executes all arithmetic and
logical operations on the data made available to it. The data required to perform the arithmetic
and logical functions are inputs from the designated registers. ALU comprises the following two
units:

 Arithmetic unit: The arithmetic unit contains the circuitry that is responsible for
performing the actual computing and carrying out the arithmetic calculations, such as
addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It can perform these operations at a
very high speed.
 Logic unit: The logic unit enables the CPU to perform logical operations based on the
instructions provided to it. These operations are logical comparison between data items.
The logic unit can compare numbers, letters, or special characters and can then take
action based on the result of the comparison. Logical operations of Logic unit test for
three conditions: equal-to condition, less-than condition, and greater-than condition.

Control Unit

The control unit of the CPU contains circuitry that uses electrical signals to direct the entire
computer system to carry out, or execute, stored program instructions. This unit checks the
correctness of sequence of operations. It fetches program instructions from the primary storage
unit, interprets them, and ensures correct execution of the program. It also controls the
input/output devices and directs the overall functioning of the other units of the computer.

Registers

Registers are special-purpose, high-speed temporary memory units that hold various types of
information such as data, instructions, addresses, and the intermediate results of calculations.
Essentially, they hold the information that the CPU is currently working on. Registers can be
thought of as CPU's working memory, a special additional storage location that offers the
advantage of speed. They work under the direction of the control unit to accept, hold, and
transfer instructions or data and perform arithmetic or logical comparisons at high speed.
Output Unit

The output unit is formed by attaching output devices such as printer, monitor, and plotter to the
computer. An output device is used to present the processed data (results) to the user. The basic
task of output unit is just opposite to that of input unit. It takes the outputs (which are in
machine-coded form) from the CPU, converts them into the user understandable form such as
characters, graphical, or audio visual, and supplies the converted results to the user with the help
of output devices.

Storage Unit

A computer system incorporates storage unit to store the input entered through input unit before
processing starts and to store the results produced by the computer before supplying them to the
output unit. The storage unit of a computer comprises two types of
memory/storage: primary and secondary. The primary memory holds the instructions and data
currently being processed by the CPU, the intermediate results produced during the course of
calculations, and the recently processed data. While the instructions and data remain in primary
memory, the CPU can access them directly and quickly. Due to the limited size of primary
memory, a computer employs secondary memory, which is extensively used for storing data and
instructions. It supplies the stored information to other units of the computer as and when
required.

1.8 TYPES OF INPUT DEVICES

A computer accepts input in two ways, either manually or directly. In case of manual data entry,
the user enters the data into computer by hand, for example, by using keyboard and mouse. A
user can also enter data directly by transferring information automatically from a source
document into the computer. The user does not need to enter information manually. Direct data
entry is accomplished by using special direct data entry devices like a barcode reader. Some of
the commonly used input devices are keyboard, pointing devices like mouse and joystick, digital
camera, and scanners.

KEYBOARD

A keyboard is the most common data entry device. Using a keyboard, the user can type text and
commands. Keyboard is designed to resemble a regular typewriter with a few additional keys.
Data is entered into computer by simply pressing keys. The layout of the keyboard has changed
very little ever since it was introduced. In fact, the most common change in its technology has
simply been the natural evolution of adding more keys that provide additional functionality. The
number of keys on a typical keyboard varies from 84 keys to 104 keys.
Portable computers such as laptops quite often have custom keyboards that have slightly
different key arrangements than a standard keyboard. In addition, many system manufacturers
add special buttons to the standard layout. Keyboard is the easiest input device, as it does not
require any special skill. Usually, it is supplied with a computer and so no additional cost is
incurred. The maintenance and operational cost of keyboard is also less. However, using a
keyboard for data entry may be a slow process because the user has to manually type all the text.
In addition, it can be difficult for people suffering from muscular disorder.

Mouse

Mouse is a small hand-held pointing device with a rubber ball embedded at its lower side and
buttons on the top. Usually, a mouse contains two or three buttons, which can be used to input
commands or information. It may be classified as a mechanical mouse or an optical mouse,
based on the technology it uses. A mechanical mouse uses a rubber ball at the bottom surface,
which rotates as the mouse is moved along a flat surface, to move the cursor. It is the most
common and least expensive pointing device. An optical mouse uses a light beam instead of a
rotating ball to detect movement across a specially patterned mouse pad. As the user rolls the
mouse on a flat surface, the cursor on the screen also moves in the direction of the mouse's
movement. It is pricier than their mechanical counterparts but are accurate and often do not need
a mouse pad.
A mouse allows us to create graphic elements on the screen such as lines, curves, and freehand
shapes. Since it is an intuitive device, it is easier and convenient to work as compared to the
keyboard. Like a keyboard, it is also supplied with a computer; therefore, no additional cost is
incurred. However, it needs a flat space close to the computer. The mouse cannot easily be used
with laptop (notebook) or palmtop computers. These types of computers need a track ball or a
touch sensitive pad called a touchpad.
Figure 1.25 Mouse

Trackball

Trackball is another pointing device that resembles a ball nestled in a square cradle and serves as
an alternative to a mouse. In general, a trackball is as if a mouse is turned upside down. It has a
ball, which when rotated by fingers in any direction, moves the cursor accordingly. The size of
the ball in the trackball varies from as large as a cue ball, to as small as a marble. Since it is a
static device, instead of rolling the mouse on the top of the table the ball on the top is moved by
using fingers, thumbs, and palms. This pointing device comes in various shapes and forms but
with the same functions. The three shapes, which are commonly used, are a ball, button, and
square.
Like the mouse, a trackball is also used to control cursor movements and the actions on a
computer screen. The cursor is activated when buttons on the device are pressed. However, the
track ball remains stationary on the surface, only the ball is moved with the fingers or palm of
the hand. By moving just the fingers and not the entire arm, the user can get more precision and
accuracy, which is why many graphic designers and gamers choose to use trackball instead of
mouse. In addition, since the whole device is not moved for moving the graphic cursor, a
trackball requires less space than a mouse for operation. Trackball, generally, tends to have more
buttons. A lot of computer games enthusiasts and graphic designers also tend to choose to have
more buttons to cut down on keyboard use. These extra buttons can also be re-programmed to
suit whatever functions they require. Trackballs are not supplied normally so an additional cost is
always charged. Moreover, before using them, a user has to learn how to use them.

Figure 1.26 Trackball

Joystick

A joystick is a device that moves in all directions and controls the movement of the cursor. The
basic design of a joystick consists of a stick that is attached to a plastic base with a flexible
rubber sheath. This plastic base houses a circuit board that sits beneath the stick. The electronic
circuitry measures the movement of the stick from its central position and sends the information
for processing.

Figure 1.27 Joystick

Light Pen

A light pen (sometimes called a mouse pen) is a hand-held electro-optical pointing device which
when touched to or aimed closely at a connected computer monitor, will allow the computer to
determine where on that screen the pen is aimed. It facilitates drawing images and selects objects
on the display screen by directly pointing to the objects. It is a pen like device, which is
connected to the machine by a cable.

Figure 1.28 Light Pen

Touch Screen

A touch screen is a special kind of input device that allows the direct selection of a menu item or
the desired icon with the touch of finger. Essentially, it registers the input when a finger or other
object is touched to the screen. It is normally used when information has to be accessed with
minimum effort. However, it is not suitable for input of large amounts of data.

Figure 1.29 Touch Screen

1.7.3 DIGITAL CAMERA

Digital camera stores images digitally rather than recording them on a film. Once a picture has
been taken, it can be transferred to a computer system and then manipulated with an image
editing software and printed. The big advantage of digital cameras is that making photos is both
inexpensive and fast because there is no film processing.

Figure 1.30 Digital Camera

SCANNERS

There are a number of situations when some information (picture or text) is available on paper
and is needed on the computer for further manipulation. A scanner is an input device that
converts a document into an electronic format that can be stored on the disk. The electronic
image can be edited, manipulated, combined, and printed by using the image editing software.
The scanners are also called optical scanners as they use a light beam to scan the input data.
Note that most of the scanners come with a utility program that allows it to communicate with
the computer and save the scanned image as a graphic file on the computer. Moreover, they can
store images in both gray-scale and color mode. The two most common types of scanners
are hand-held and flat-bed scanner.

Hand-held Scanner

A hand-held scanner consists of light emitting diodes, which are placed over the document to be
scanned. This scanner performs the scanning of the document very slowly from the top to the
bottom with its light on. In this process, all the documents are converted and then stored as an
image. While working, the scanner is dragged very steadily and carefully over the document at a
constant speed without stopping, or jerking in order to obtain best results. Hand-held scanners
are widely used where high accuracy is not of much importance. The size of the hand-held
scanners is small. Furthermore, they are used when the volume of the documents to be scanned is
low.

Figure 1.31 Hand-held Scanner

Flat-bed Scanner

Flat-bed scanners look similar to a photocopier machine. It consists of a box containing a glass
plate on its top and a lid that covers the glass plate. This glass plate is used for placing the
document to be scanned. The light beam is placed below the glass plate and when it is activated,
it moves horizontally from left to right. For scanning, an A4 size document takes about 20
seconds. These scanners can scan black and white as well as colour images. The flatbed scanners
are larger in size and more expensive than the hand-held scanners. However, they usually
produce better quality images because they employ better scanning technology.

Figure 1.32 Flad-bed Scanner

BAR CODE READER

Bar code is a machine-readable code in the form of a pattern of parallel vertical lines of varying
widths. It is commonly used for labeling goods that are available in super markets and
numbering books in libraries. This code is sensed and read by a bar code reader using reflective
light. The information recorded in bar code reader is then fed into the computer, which
recognizes the information from the thickness and spacing of bars. Bar code readers are either
hand-held or fixed-mount. Hand-held scanners are used to read bar codes on stationary items.
With fixed-mount scanners, items having a bar code are passed by the scanner – by hand as in
retail scanning applications or by conveyor belt in many industrial applications.
Bar code data correction systems provide enormous benefits for just about every business with a
bar code data-collection solution; capturing data is faster and more accurate. A bar code scanner
can record data five to seven times faster than a skilled typist. A bar code data entry has an error
rate of about 1 in 3 million. Bar coding also reduces cost in terms of labour and revenue losses
resulting from data collection errors. Bar code readers are widely used in supermarkets,
department stores, libraries, and other places. You must have seen bar codes on the back cover of
certain books and greeting cards. Retail and grocery stores use a bar code reader to determine the
item being sold and to retrieve the item price from a computer system.

Figure 1.36 Bar Code Reader

1.8 TYPES OF OUTPUT DEVICES

Output is data that has been processed into useful information. It can be displayed or viewed on a
monitor, printed on a paper, or listened through speakers or a headset. Generally, there are two
basic categories of output: the output, which can be readily understood and used by the humans,
and which is stored on secondary storage devices so that the data can be used as input for further
processing. The out put, which can be easily understood and used by human beings, are of the
following two forms:

 Hard Copy: The physical form of output is known as hard copy. In general, it refers to
the recorded information copied from a computer onto paper. Hard copy output is
permanent and a relatively stable form of output. This type of output is also highly
portable. Paper is one of the most widely used hard copy output media.
 Soft Copy: The electronic version of an output, which usually resides in computer
memory and/or on disk, is known as soft copy. Unlike hard copy, soft copy is not a
permanent form of output. It is transient (lasting for a short period of time) and is usually
displayed on the screen. This kind of output is not tangible, that is, it cannot be touched.
Soft copy output includes audio and visual form of output, which is generated using a
computer
 1.8.1 PRINTERS

A printer prints information and data from the computer onto a paper. The quality of a printer is
determined by the clarity of a print it can produce, that is, its resolution.
Printers are divided into two basic categories: impact printers and non-impact printers. As their
names specify, impact printers work by physically striking a head or needle against an ink ribbon
to make a mark on the paper. This includes dot matrix printers, daisy wheel printers, and drum
printers. In contrast, inkjet and laser printers are non-impact printers. They use techniques other
than physically striking the page to transfer ink onto the page.

1.8.2 PLOTTERS

A plotter is a pen-based output device that is attached to a computer for making vector graphics,
that is, images created by a series of many straight lines. It is used to draw high-resolution charts,
graphs, blueprints, maps, circuit diagrams, and other line-based diagrams. It is similar to printer,
but it draws lines using a pen. As a result, it can produce continuous lines. Multi-colour plotter
uses different-coloured pens to draw different colours.

1.8.3 COMPUTER MONITOR

The monitor is the most frequently used output device for producing soft-copy output. A
computer monitor is a TV like display attached to the computer on which the output can be
displayed and viewed. The computer monitor can either be a monochrome display or a colour
display. A monochrome screen uses only one colour (usually white, green, amber or black) to
display text on contrasting background. Colour screens commonly display 256 colours at one
time from a selection of over 256,000 choices. Monitors are available in various sizes like 14, 15,
17, 19, and 21 inches. The size of the display is described based on two parameters: aspect
ratio and screen size. Aspect ratio is the ratio of the width of the display screen to the height,
that is, the ratio of vertical points to the horizontal points necessary to produce equal-length lines
in both directions on the screen. Generally, computer displays have an aspect ratio of 4:3. Like
televisions, screen sizes are normally measured diagonally (in inches), the distance from one
corner to the opposite corner.
Figure 1.43 Aspect Ratio and Screen Size

Sometimes, while watching television, you may notice that the picture looks a bit blurred. The
reason behind this is that the displayed image is not solid but is created by the configurations of
dots. These dots are known as picture elements, pels, or simply pixels. The golden rule of a
sharp image is that the more the pixels, the sharper the picture.

1.9 TYPES OF MEMORY

We can classify memory into two broad categories: primary memory and secondary memory.
 1.9.1 PRIMARY MEMORY

Primary Memory, also known as main memory: stores data and instructions for processing.
Logically, it is an integral component of the CPU but physically, it is a separate part placed on
the computer's motherboard (also known as main board). Primary memory can be further
classified into two types: random access memory (RAM) and read only memory (ROM).

Random Access Memory

Random access memory allows the computer to store data for immediate manipulation and to
keep track of what is currently being processed. It is the place in a computer where the operating
system, application programs, and data in current use are kept so that they can be accessed
quickly by the computer's processor. RAM is much faster to read from and write to than the
other kinds of storage in a computer like the hard disk or floppy disk. However, the data in RAM
stays there only as long as the computer is running. When the computer is turned off, RAM loses
all its contents. When the computer is turned on again, the operating system and other files are
once again loaded into RAM. When an application program is started, the computer loads it into
RAM and does all the processing there. This allows the computer to run the application faster.
Any new information that is created is kept in RAM and since RAM is volatile in nature, one
needs to continuously save the new information to the hard disk.

Figure 1.47 Random Access Memory

Note: Random access memory is also called read/write memory because, unlike read only
memory (ROM) that does not allow any write operation, random access memory allows CPU to
read as well as write data and instructions.
Read Only Memory (ROM)

Just as a human being needs instructions from the brain to perform actions in certain event, a
computer also needs special instructions every time it is started. This is required because during
the start up operation, the main memory of the computer is empty due to its volatile property so
there has to be some instructions (special boot programs) stored in a special chip that could
enable the computer system to perform start up operations and transfer the control to the
operating system. This special chip, where the start-up instructions are stored, is called ROM. It
is non-volatile in nature, that is, its contents are not lost when the power is switched off. The data
and instructions stored in ROM can only be read and used but cannot be altered thereby making
ROM much safer and secure than RAM. ROM chips are used not only in the computer but also
in other electronic items like washing machine and microwave oven.

Figure 1.48 ROM BIOS Chip