Computer Hardware
Hardware
The term hardware refers to the physical
components of your computer such as the
system unit, mouse, keyboard, monitor etc.
Hardware Components
Input Devices – “How to tell it what to do”
- A keyboard and mouse are the standard
way to interact with the computer. Other
devices include joysticks and game pads used
primarily for games.
INPUT DEVICES
The Mouse
Keyboard
Tracker Balls
A pointing device consisting of a ball housed in a
socket containing sensors to detect rotation of the
ball about two axes - like an upside-down mouse.
The user rolls the ball with his thumb or the palm
of his hand to move a cursor. Tracker balls are
common on CAD workstations for ease of use and
on modern portable computers, where there may
be no desk space on which to use a mouse
Scanner
Touch Pads
A touchpad (or trackpad) is a pointing device
featuring a tactile sensor, a specialized
surface that can translate the motion and
position of a user's fingers to a relative
position on screen. Touchpads are a common
feature of laptop computers, and are also
used as a substitute for a mouse where desk
space is scarce.
Light Pens
A light pen, also called a selector pen, is a
computer input device in the form of a light-
sensitive wand used in conjunction with a
computer's CRT display. It allows the user to
point to displayed objects or draw on the
screen in a similar way to a touchscreen but
with greater positional accuracy
Joysticks
A joystick is an input device consisting of a
stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle
or direction to the device it is controlling. A
joystick, also known as the control column, is
the principal control device in the cockpit of
many civilian and military aircraft,.Joysticks are
often used to control video games, and usually
have one or more push-buttons whose state
can also be read by the computer.
Output Devices -- "How it shows you what it
is doing"
The monitor (the screen) is how the computer
sends information back to you. A printer is
also an output device.
OUTPUT DEVICES
Screen
The computer screen is used for outputting
information in an understandable format
Printers
There are many different types of printers.
In large organizations laser printers are
most commonly used due to the fact that
they can print very fast and give a very
high quality output.
Plotters
A plotter is an output device similar to a
printer, but normally allows you to print
larger images.
Speakers
Enhances the value of educational and
presentation products.
Storage Devices -- "How it saves data
and programs“
Hard disk
Hard disk drives are an internal, higher
capacity drive which also stores the operating
system which runs when you power on the
computer.
Hard disk
Speed:
Very fast!
The speed of a hard disk is often quoted as "average
access time" speed, measured in milliseconds. The
smaller this number the faster the disk.
Capacity:
Enormous! Often in Gigabytes. A Gigabyte is
equivalent to 1024 Megabytes.
Cost:
Hard disks costs are falling and normally
represent the cheapest way of storing data.
Diskettes (Floppy Disks)
Speed:
Very slow!
Capacity:
Normally 1.44 Mbytes.
Cost:
Very cheap.
CD-ROM Disks
Speed:
Much slower than hard disks. The original
CD-ROM speciation is given a value of 1x
speed, and later, faster CD-ROMs are quoted
as a multiple of this value.
Capacity:
Around 650 Mbytes and more
DVD Drives
Speed:
Much faster than CD-ROM drives but not as
fast as hard disks.
Capacity:
Up to 17 Gbytes or more
Cost:
Slightly higher than CD-ROM drives.
Memory -- "How the processor stores and uses immediate data“
RAM - Random Access Memory
The main 'working' memory used by the
computer. When the operating system loads
from disk when you first switch on the
computer, it is copied into RAM.
Data and programs stored in RAM are volatile
(i.e. the information is lost when you switch
off the computer).
ROM – Read Only Memory
Read Only Memory (ROM) as the name
suggests is a special type of memory chip
that holds software that can be read but not
written to.
A good example is the ROM-BIOS chip, which
contains readonly software. Often network
cards and video cards also contain ROM chips
How Computer Memory Is measured
Bit
All computers work on a binary numbering system, i.e.
they process data in one's or zero's. This 1 or 0 level of
storage is called a bit.
Byte
A byte consists of eight bits.
Kilobyte
A kilobyte (KB) consists of 1024 bytes.
Megabyte
A megabyte (MB) consists of 1024 kilobytes.
Gigabyte
A gigabyte (GB) consists of 1024 megabytes.
CPU (Central Processing Unit)
It determines how fast your computer will run
and is measured by its MHz speed. Thus a
600 MHz Pentium is much faster than say a
400 MHz Pentium CPU.
It is the CPU that performs all the
calculations within the computer
Some of the Factors that Impact on a
Computer's Performance
CPU speed
RAM size
Hard disk speed and capacity
Software
The software is the instructions that makes
the computer work. Software is held either
on your computers hard disk, CD-ROM,
DVD or on a diskette (floppy disk) and is
loaded (i.e. copied) from the disk into the
computers RAM (Random Access Memory),
as and when required.
Operating systems software
The operating system is a special type of
program that loads automatically when you start
your computer.
The operating system allows you to use the
advanced features of a modern computer
without having to learn all the details of how
the hardware works
The link between the hardware and you, the user
Makes the computer easy to use without having
to understand bits and bytes
Applications software
An application program is the type of
program that you use once the operating
system has been loaded.
Examples include word-processing programs,
spreadsheets and databases
Application Software
Word processing applications
Microsoft Word
Lotus Word Pro
WordPerfect
Spreadsheets
Microsoft Excel
Lotus 123
Database
Microsoft Access
Lotus Approach
Payroll
Sage software
Presentation tools
Microsoft PowerPoint
Lotus Freelance
Desktop publishing
Abode Photoshop
Multimedia applications
Microsoft's Encarta CD-ROM based
encyclopaedias
Software packages
Computer software, or just software, is a
collection of computer programs and related
data that provides the instructions for telling
a computer what to do and how to do it.
Software Packages it is a collection of many
different components that work together to
offer a functional service.
Eg-MS Office
