Major Hardware Components of

a Computer System

Central Processing Unit

Auxiliary Storage
Input Devices
Output Devices

Central Processing Unit

Arithmetic/Logic Unit (ALU): processes data
arithmetically (addition, subtraction, multiplication,
division) or logically (greater than, less than, equal to)
Control Unit: works with the operating system to move
data between auxiliary storage and main memory; and
between main memory and the ALU
Main Memory: contains both program instructions and the
data that is required.
A single machine can have multiple CPUs to share
processing tasks (co-processors, multiprocessing), but
each CPU can execute only a single task.

Inside the System Unit

Main component: motherboard
Circuit board that houses integrated circuits
(microscopic elements wires, transistors,
etc) required to make the digital pulse flow
inside of the computer. Pulses flow from
component to component via the bus
Some microcomputers contain a special local
bus (VESA or PCI) which increase data transfer
rates to the display and/or storage devices

Motherboard (cont.)

Attachments to the motherboard include:

Main Memory: types of main memory include:

RAM - temporary (includes virtual memory storage). Include RAM
cache
ROM - permanent
CMOS - semipermanent battery powered
Memory chips attach with either a DIP (dual inline pin - old PCs)
or as a SIMM (single inline memory module) board
When add main memory, make sure add-on chips are compatible

Real time clock (current date and time)

Microprocessor or CPU (central processing unit)
Control Unit: traffic cop portion of the CPU
ALU: arithmetic logic unit processes all math and logical operations
performed by the computer

Motherboard (cont.)
Expansion slots/add on boards - allow cards that attach
various peripheral devices to the motherboard
monitors, hard drive, internal fax/modem, network cards,etc
PCMCIA slots: special slots developed for laptops to attach
devices and add on RAM

Expansion devices may provide an external port which you

connect a cable to. Device ports will either be from an internal
or external bay in the system unit.
Serial Port: transmits data one bit at a time (modem)
Parallel Port: transmits 8 bits simultaneously (printers, backup
devices, etc.)
SCSI Port: allows several devices to be chained together and
connected through a single SCSI (small computer system
interface)
MIDI Port: musical instrument digital interface

Main Memory
Random Access Memory (RAM): allows data
and instructions to be accessed randomly from any
memory location (address). Primary storage.
Volatile - lost when power is turned off

Read Only Memory (ROM): usually contains

programs that help the computer system operate:
can only be read: cannot be written to or altered by the
user (usually)
ROM is not volatile

Main Memory
Data and instructions are stored as BITS (binary
digits). Everything from our world is translated into
a computer recognizable format called binary
(zeros or ones)
The combination of binary digits represents our letters or
numbers. One character represented is equal to a byte.

Memory capacity is measured in bytes. Todays

most common measurement is megabytes
Kilo = 1,000 (KB) Thousand
Mega = 1,000,000 (MB) Million
Giga = 1,000,000,000 (GB) Billion

Bytes are composed using either the ASCII coding

system (7 bits = character) or EBCDIC (8 bits =
character)

Microprocessor Families
Intel (IBM) and Motorola (Macintosh
68000) two main manufacturers
Microprocessors are families - upward
increases in speed (early SX vs DX chips)
Increase in bus capacity indicates a new
generation

The Boot Process

When you turn your computer on, the following
activities happen:

Power is sent to the internal fan and the motherboard

The boot program stored inside of ROM activates
The Power-On Self-Test (POST)runs and tests required
system components
The operating system/environment is loaded
Configuration and customization routines are executed
which set your computer environment

Input/Output Peripheral Devices

Badge Reader
Bar-code Reader
Cartridge & cassette drives
CD Rom
Digital camera
Digital tables & scanners
Keyboard, mouse, pens
MICR
Voice
OCR
Touch screen

SASD & DASD drives

Printers
Page vs line or character
printers
Impact vs nonimpact

Plotter
Robotics
Speech synthesizer
VDT
Microforms

Storage
Required because main memory is limited, expensive
and volatile.
Sequential Access Storage Devices (SASD): data is stored
in sequential order. Retrieval is also sequential.
Storage media is magnetic tape.
Supports batch processing environment
Excellent form of backup
Direct Access Storage Devices (DASD): data can be stored
and retrieved randomly.
Storage capacity is referred to as density. How tightly
packed data is on the disk.
DASD is required for transaction processing.
Memory capacity is measured in bytes. Todays most
common measurement is kilobytes, megabytes and gigabits.

Printer Considerations
Dot matrix - low price & inexpensive to
operate. Lower quality. Impact - can print
carbon forms. Color option. Slow.
Ink jet - moderate price & better output.
Color option. Nonimpact. Quieter.
Laserjet - more expensive. Faster. High
quality. Nonimpact.

Display Considerations
Screen size- diagonal measurement from corner to corner.
Popular sizes are 14, 15 and 17
Dot pitch - measure of image clarity. The smaller the dot
pitch, the crisper the image or resolution.
Video adapters/cards impact image resolution and display
speed. Today, most monitors are Super VGA (1024 x
768)and use non-interlaced projection technology (flicker)
Laptop - liquid crystal display (LCD). Passive matrix vs
active matrix screen (display method which impacts
image quality). Active matrix is much better but more
expensive and can have problems.

DASD
Floppy Disk: removable DASD. Most common
density is 1.44Mb.
Hard Disk: usually dont remove (but newer devices
you can). Higher storage capacity than floppy disks.
Faster access.
Winchester drive architecture is not removable.
Can be drives that have removable disk platters.
Optical disk: CD_ROM (read-only) Erasable optical disk is
also available. WORM - write once, read many.
Flash memory: main memory on a card. Non volatile.
PCMCIA card.

DASD cont.
All data stored on DASD media is stored in pieshaped sectors that determines how much data is
moved into and out of main memory at a time.
Virtual storage: operating system uses hard disk
drive as an extension of main memory.
Cache memory: operating system assumes that
most data used by an application is accessed over
and over again. Cache is a special area in main
memory where such data is put instead of paging it
back and forth to DASD.

DASD cont
WORM: write-once, read many. (CD
ROM). Also have rewriteable CD ROM.
Floptical Disk: optical storage capacities on
floppy disk.
DVD: Digital video disk
Hierarchical Storage: use of many different
types of DASD & SASD devices to achieve
storage requirements.

Other considerations:
Desktop vs Laptop - expansion slots and
capability

Port replicators vs docking station

Pointing device. Track ball, touch pad, erase point.
Power management & battery considerations (hot
swap)

Multimedia devices - sound cards, speakers and

MPC standards
Bundled software

Common File Types

Data Files: files of information created when
people use various types of software
Executable Files: Types of systems files that are
used by the computer to perform certain tasks.
With some executable files (.exe., .com, .bat) you
can initiate the processing while with others the
computer initiates the process (.dll, .sys, .drv, etc.)
You and your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

Anatomy of a Filename
Rules for creating valid filenames
(appropriate characters, length of names,
etc.) depends on the operating system being
used.
Components of a filename consist of:
File name from
you

Drive Designation

C:/foldername/filename.ext
Folder/subdirectory
name

File extension
supplied by the
program

File Storage
Logical Storage:
How you perceive that data
is stored on an auxiliary
storage media

Physical Storage
How data actually
resides on your
auxiliary storage
media

File/disk directory
No indication of
fragmentation

File Allocation Table

(FAT)
Fragmentation is normal

Measurements of Computer Power

Clock speed: electronic pulses used to synchronize
processing. Faster clock speeds result in more operations in
a give amount of time. Measured in megahertz (MHz).
Bus width: determines how much data can be transferred at
any one time. 16 bit, 32 bit, 64 bit.
IBMs Microchannel (MCA) Architecture vs EISA (open
architecture)

Word size: number of bits/bytes manipulated at once.

Same as the bus width.
Other determinants include main memory capacity, MIPs.
This is not the same as throughput but it can affect
throughput..