7/28/2022

LECTURE 3 –The Computers System

COM 111- INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER

By Engr. Arolu K. A. Mnse.

The Computer System

The computer system is made up of the hardware
and the software.
Software controls the computer and makes it do
useful work. Without software a computer is useless

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The Hardware

Hardware refers to the physical components that

make up a computer system. The computer
hardware comprises
 the Input unit,
The processing unit
The output unit and
The storage unit

INPUT UNIT
 Input devices are used to interact with a computer system or used
to enter data and instructions to the computer.
These devices include the keyboard, mouse, scanner, digital pen,
microphone, and any other means of transmitting information or data
to the computer.

FUNCTIONS OF THE INPUT UNIT

Input unit performs the following function:
 It accepts data and instruction from the user.
 It converts these data and instruction into computer
understandable form(binary digits).
 It supplied the converted data and instruction to the computer
system for further processing.

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The Keyboard
 Keyboard is the most common and very popular input device which
helps in inputting data to the computer.
 They are of two sizes 84 keys or 101/102 keys, but now keyboards with
104 keys or 108 keys are also available for Windows and Internet.
 A computer keyboard is very much like a typewriter keyboard, but it
has some extra keys.
 Today, most desktop computer keyboards connect to the computer
using either USB or Bluetooth for wireless communication.
 Before USB, a computer used PS/2, serial port, as a keyboard
interface

QWERTY Keyboard
 .

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Using the KEYBOARD (Esc key)

The ESC key in the upper left corner can help you close a
program if it is not responding.

Using the KEYBOARD (Function keys)

The Function keys along the top of the keyboard each
have special uses, often in conjunction with the ALT or
CTRL keys, depending on the program you are using. F1
usually open the program’s Help options.

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Using the KEYBOARD (Ctrl, Alt keys)

In the bottom left corner are three keys unique to the
keyboard – CTRL, Windows, and ALT.
The CTRL key is used in conjunction with other keys to
perform various functions.
The Windows key works like pressing the Start button on
the screen.
The ALT key is another helper key used in conjunction
with other keys.

Using the KEYBOARD (Caps Lock key)

The Caps Lock key is used in typing. Pressing this key once will
make all letters you type CAPITALIZED. Press the Caps Lock key
again to turn off this feature.

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Using the KEYBOARD (Shift key)

The Shift key is used in typing to make one capital letter.
To capitalize a letter, press the Shift key and hold it down,
then press the letter you want capitalized. Release the
Shift key and continue to type.

Using the KEYBOARD (Arrow, Insert keys)

The Arrow keys help you move the cursor around the
screen.

The Insert key is used when typing to type over words

you have already typed.

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Using the KEYBOARD (Delete, Home keys)

The Delete key is used to remove text you have typed
that is to the right of the cursor, or to send selected items
to the Recycle Bin.

Pressing the Home key sends your cursor to the beginning

of a line. Pressing the End key sends the cursor to the end
of a line.

Using the KEYBOARD (Page U/D keys)

Page Up and Page Down move the cursor through a
document page by page, either up or down.

To the right of the space bar you see another Alt key,
Windows key, and Ctrl key. Notice the new Application
key. Pressing this key is the same as pressing the right
mouse button (right clicking).

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Using the KEYBOARD (Backspace, Enter keys)

The Backspace key is used to remove text you have
typed that is to the left of the cursor.

The Enter key gives a new line (like a carriage return)

when you are typing. At other times the Enter key works
like a left mouse click.

Using the KEYBOARD

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Mouse
The mouse is another input device of a computer, also known
as a pointing and Cursor Moving Device.
Its main task to detect the movement when being moved on a
flat surface and inputting the information by Left-Clicking,
Double Clicking, Right-Clicking, Dragging, Scrolling.

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Using the Mouse

 A mouse works on the principle that first you point to (place your
mouse on) something on your screen, and then you click with a
mouse button to perform an action on that item. As you move your
mouse, the pointer (an arrow) moves on the screen.

 The mouse can be picked up and moved, and the pointer will
remain in the same position on the screen. The left mouse button is
always used, unless the right button is specified.

 Note: The pointer on the screen assumes different forms depending

upon the program and what action you are performing. The tip of
the mouse pointer should be over the item or area you are pointing
to.

Using the Mouse (Mouse techniques)

 There are three mouse techniques:
• Click
• Double-click
• Drag
 Click: Point to an icon, a menu or a button. Press the left mouse button
once and release. When the right mouse button is clicked and held once,
a shortcut menu appears.

 Double-click: Point to an icon or a button and quickly press and release

the left mouse button twice.

 Drag: Point to an item (an icon, for example), hold down the left mouse
button and drag the item to a different location. The drag feature is also
used to select (highlight) text.

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Using the Mouse (Mouse techniques)

Selecting Information
Use the mouse to drag across sections of text to perform
some task on the selected text. For example, selected
text can be bolded, copied, deleted, moved, etc.

OUTPUT UNIT
Output devices are used to present result produced by the
computer to the users.
The output from the computer is in the form electric signals,
which is then converted into human understandable form.
The examples of output devices are the monitor, printer and
speaker.
The main functions of the output unit are as follow:
 Accepts the result produced by the computer which is in
electric binary signals.
 It then converts the result into human readable form.
 Finally, it supplied the converted results to the user.

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Monitors

Monitors, commonly called as Visual Display Unit (VDU), are the

main output device of a computer.
 It forms images from tiny dots, called pixels that are arranged
in a rectangular form. The sharpness of the image depends
upon the number of pixels.

There are two kinds of viewing screen used for monitors.

 Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT)
 Flat- Panel Display

Flat-panel display Type

The flat-panel display is divided into two categories

Emissive Displays - The emissive displays are devices that

convert electrical energy into light. Example are plasma panel
and LED(Light-Emitting Diodes).
Non-Emissive Displays - The Non-emissive displays use optical
effects to convert sunlight or light from some other source into
graphics patterns. Example is LCD(Liquid-Crystal Device)

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Printers

Printer is an output device, which is used to print information

on paper.
There are two types of printers
 Impact Printers
 Non-Impact Printers

Impact Printers
The impact printers print the characters by striking them on
the ribbon which is then pressed on the paper. E.g Line
printers and Dot matrix printer.

Characteristics of Impact Printers

 Very low consumable costs
 Very noisy
 Useful for bulk printing due to low cost
 There is physical contact with the paper to produce an image

 Non-impact Printers
 Non-impact printers print the characters without using ribbon. These
printers print a complete page at a time so they are also called as Page
Printers.
 These printers are of two types
 Laser Printers
 Inkjet Printers

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Characteristics of Non-Impact Printers

Faster than impact printers.
They are not noisy.
High quality.
Support many fonts and different character size.

CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT (CPU)

 CPU is the component that actually responsible for interpreting and executing
most of the commands from the computer hardware and software.
 it also controls the operation of all other components such as memory unit, input
and output devices.
 It simply accepts binary data as input and processes data according to those
instructions and provides the result as output.
 In summary, the functions of CPU are as follow:
 Read instruction from memory
 Communicate with all peripherals using the system bus.
 It controls the sequence of instructions.
 It controls the flow of data from one component to another component.
 Performs the computing task specified in the program.

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Top Processor Manufacturers

• TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY (TSMC)
• BROADCOM
• INTEL CORPORATION
• QUALCOMM
• TEXAS INSTRUMENTS
• ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES (AMD)
• MEDIATEK

THE CPU

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Intel 4004 & 80286 Intel Processor

Core i9 –The Recent

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Memory Unit
 This unit is also called storage unit. The data and instructions, which are
entered through an input unit, must be stored on the computer before the
actual processing starts.
 In brief, the specific functions performed by the storage unit are as follow:
 It stored data and instructions, which are entered through input
devices.
 It stores an intermediate result of processing.
 It stores the final result of processing before these results are passed to
an output device.
 The storage unit of computers consists of two types of memory or storage:
primary and secondary storage:

Primary Storage
Memory storage that communicates directly with CPU is called
main memory. It enables the computer to store, at least
temporarily data and instruction. It is mainly used to hold data
and instructions and as well as the intermediate result of
processing which the computer system is currently working on.

 Primary memory is volatile, that is, it loses its content when

power supply is off.
 The Random Access Memory (RAM) is an example of a primary
memory.

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Secondary Storage
It is the memory that supplements the main memory.
These are a non-volatile memory. It is mainly used to transfer
data to program from one computer to another computer.
There are high capacity storage devices used to store data and
program permanently.
These are also used as backup devices which allow to store the
valuable information as backup on which you are working on.
The examples of secondary memory are Hard disk, Compact
disk, Flash drives etc.

Number System

 Commonly used number systems are the decimal, octal, binary and
hexadecimal.

Computers happen to operate using the base-2 number system,

also known as the binary number system (just like the base-10
number system is known as the decimal number system).

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Binary Number System

Computers need information in order to do what they do.

This digital information, or data, is made up of something
called bits. Bit is short for a binary digit.
The reason computers use the base-2 system is because it
makes it a lot easier to implement them with current
electronic technology.
Bits can be combined to create larger units like bytes,
megabytes, etc. that we use to measure our files. The
larger a file is, the more bits it has.

Binary to Decimal Conversion Formula:

 (Decimal Number)10 = (d0 × 20 )+ (d1 × 21 )+ (d2 × 22 )+ ..... + (dn−1 × 2n-1)
where, d0, d1, d2 are the individual digits of the binary number starting
from the right-most position.

Decimal To Binary Conversion Steps

 Step 1: Divide the given decimal number by “2” where it gives the
result along with the remainder.
 Step 2: If the given decimal number is even, then the result will be
whole and it gives the remainder “0”
 Step 3: If the given decimal number is odd, then the result is not
divided properly and it gives the remainder “1”.
 Step 4: By placing all the remainders in order in such a way, the
Least Significant Bit (LSB) at the top and Most Significant Bit (MSB) at
the bottom, the required binary number will be obtained.

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Converting Binary to Decimal(Questions)

 Convert the following numbers from binary to decimal.

a)01112
b)000101012
c) 00112
d)10012
e) 110100112
f) 10112
g)11112
h) 101101012
i) 00002
j) 11012
k) 011010002

Converting Decimal to Binary(Questions)

 Convert the following numbers from decimal to binary.

a) 29410
b) 10810
c) 9610
d) 1710
e) 910
f) 120410
g) 5810

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Measurement Units
There are three main types of measurement units in computer
system:
Storage measurement unit
Throughput measurement unit
Processing speed measurement unit

Storage measurement unit

Measures the capacity of a storage device including, magnetic,
optical, solid-state, ROM and RAM.
The most common unit of storage in computer is called a byte
which is equal to 8 bits.

Data Measurement Chart

Data Measurement Size

Bit Single Binary Digit (1 or 0)

Byte 8 bits

Kilobyte (KB) 1,024 Bytes

Megabyte (MB) 1,024 Kilobytes

Gigabyte (GB) 1,024 Megabytes

Terabyte (TB) 1,024 Gigabytes

Petabyte (PB) 1,024 Terabytes

Exabyte (EB) 1,024 Petabytes

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Measurement Units (Cont..)

Throughput measurement unit
Measure the speed at which data is transfer between endpoints.
Usually measured in bps – number of bits transmitted or received
each second.
1Kbps = 1000bps (low performance DSL internet connections 256
– 768Kbps)
1Mbps = 1000Kbps (high speed and broadband internet
connections, LAN connections, USB 1.1 & 2.0)
1Gbps = 1000Mbps ((high speed and broadband internet
connections, LAN connections (Giga Ethernet), USB 3.1Gen
1(5Gbps) & 3.1Gen 2(10Gbps)).

Measurement Units (Cont..)

Throughput measurement unit

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Measurement Units (Cont..)

Processing speed measurement unit
Also known as clock speed, is the speed at which a
microprocessor executes instructions, i.e. the number of cycles a
processor can perform per second.

1MHz = 1000KHz
1GHz = 1000MHz

Some size examples

 90 bytes: Enough to store a typical line of text from a book.
 512 bytes = ½ KB: The typical sector of a hard disk.
 1024 bytes = 1 KB
 2048 bytes = 2 KB: A CD-ROM sector.
 4 kB: About one page of text from a novel.
 120 kB: The text of a typical pocket book.
 1 MiB: A 1024×1024-pixel bitmap image with 256 colours
 3 MB: A three-minute song
 650–900 MB – a CD-ROM.
 1 GB: 114 minutes of uncompressed CD-quality audio at 1.4 Mbit/s.
 20 TB: Largest hard disk drive (as of August 2020)
 100 TB: Largest solid state drive (as of early 2018)
 1.3 ZB: Prediction of the volume of the whole internet in 2016.

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Questions?

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