 Computer is a device that

receives Data (input), processes

that Data , and display results
(outputs) in form of information.

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Arvind.S.Baradhwaj Joies
 In the beginning ...
        A generation refers to the state of
improvement in the development of a product. 
This term is also used in the different
advancements of computer technology.  With each
new generation, the circuitry has gotten smaller
and more advanced than the previous generation
before it.  As a result of the miniaturization, speed,
power, and memory of computers has
proportionally increased.  New discoveries are
constantly being developed that affect the way we
live, work and play.
 The first generation computers were huge, slow, expensive, and often undependable.  In 1946 two
Americans, Presper Eckert, and John Mauchly built the ENIAC electronic computer which used vacuum
tubes instead of the mechanical switches of the Mark I.  The ENIAC used thousands of vacuum
tubes, which took up a lot of space and gave off a great deal of heat just like light bulbs do.  The
ENIAC led to other vacuum tube type computers like the EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable
Automatic Computer) and the UNIVAC I (UNIVersal Automatic Computer).
 The vacuum tube was an extremely important step in the advancement of computers. 
Vacuum tubes were invented the same time the light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison and worked
very similar to light bulbs.  It's purpose was to act like an amplifier and a switch.  Without any
moving parts, vacuum tubes could take very weak signals and make the signal stronger
(amplifyit).  Vacuum tubes could also stop and start the flow of electricity instantly (switch). 
These two properties made the ENIAC computer possible.
The ENIAC gave off so much heat that they had to be cooled by gigantic air conditioners. 
However even with these huge coolers, vacuum tubes still overheated regularly.  It was time for
something new.
         The transistor computer did not last as long as the vacuum tube computer
lasted, but it was no less important in the advancement of computer technology.  In
1947 three scientists, John Bardeen, William Shockley, and Walter Brattain working
at AT&T's Bell Labs invented what would replace the vacuum tube forever.  This
invention was the transistor which functions like a vacuum tube in that it can be
used to relay and switch electronic signals.
         There were obvious differences between the transisitor and the vacuum
tube.  The transistor was faster, more reliable, smaller, and much cheaper to build
than a vacuum tube.  One transistor replaced the equivalent of 40 vacuum tubes. 
These transistors were made of solid material, some of which is silicon, an abundant
element (second only to oxygen) found in beach sand and glass.  Therefore they were
very cheap to produce.  Transistors were found to conduct electricity faster and better
than vacuum tubes.  They were also much smaller and gave off virtually no heat
compared to vacuum tubes.  Their use marked a new beginning for the computer. 
Without this invention, space travel in the 1960's would not have been possible. 
However, a new invention would even further advance our ability to use computers.
        Transistors were a tremendous breakthrough in advancing the computer.  However no
one could predict that thousands even now millions of transistors (circuits) could be
compacted in such a small space.  The integrated circuit, or as it is sometimes referred to
as semiconductor chip, packs a huge number of transistors onto a single wafer of silicon.
Robert Noyce of Fairchild Corporation and Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments
independently discovered the amazing attributes of integrated circuits. 
Placing such large numbers of transistors on a single chip vastly increased the
power of a single computer and lowered its cost considerably.
          Since the invention of integrated circuits, the number of transistors that can be
placed on a single chip has doubled every two years, shrinking both the size and
cost of computers even further and further enhancing its power.  Most electronic devices
today use some form of integrated circuits placed on printed circuit boards-- thin pieces of
bakelite or fiberglass that have electrical connections etched onto them -- sometimes called
.

        These third generation computers could carry out instructions in billionths of a
second.  The size of these machines dropped to the size of small file cabinets. Yet, the single
biggest advancement in the computer era was yet to be discovered.
 The Fourth Generation:  1971-Today (The Microprocessor)
        This generation can be characterized by both the jump to monolithic integrated
circuits(millions of transistors put onto one integrated circuit chip) and the invention
of the microprocessor (a single chip that could do all the processing of a full-scale
computer).  By putting millions of transistors onto one single chip
more calculation and faster speeds could be reached by
computers.  Because electricity travels about a foot in a billionth of a
second, the smaller the distance the greater the speed of
computers.   However what really triggered the tremendous growth of
computers and its significant impact on our lives is the
invention of the microprocessor.  Ted Hoff, employed by Intel (Robert
Noyce's new company) invented a chip the size of a pencil eraser that
could do all the computing and logic work of a computer.  The
microprocessor was made to be used in calculators, not computers. It
led, however, to the invention of personal computers, or microcomputers.
          It wasn't until the 1970's that people began buying computer for
personal use.  One of the  earliest personal computers was the Altair 8800 computer
kit.  In 1975 you could purchase this kit and put it together to make your own
personal computer.  In 1977 the Apple  II was sold to the public and in 1981 IBM
entered the PC (personal computer) market.
         Today we have all heard of Intel and its Pentium® Processors and now we know
how it all got started.  The computers of the next generation will have millions upon
millions of transistors on one chip and will perform over a billion calculations in a
single second.  There is no end in sight for the computer movement. 
 1. Input: This is the process of entering data and programs in to the computer
system. You should know that computer is an electronic machine like any other
machine which takes as inputs raw data and performs some processing giving out
processed data. Therefore, the input unit takes data from us to the computer in an
organized manner for processing.

 2. Storage: The process of saving data and instructions permanently is known as

storage. Data has to be fed into the system before the actual processing starts. It is
because the processing speed of Central Processing Unit (CPU) is so fast that the
data has to be provided to CPU with the same speed. Therefore the data is first
stored in the storage unit for faster access and processing. This storage unit or the
primary storage of the computer system is designed to do the above functionality. It
provides space for storing data and instructions.
 The storage unit performs the following major functions:
 All data and instructions are stored here before and after processing.
 Intermediate results of processing are also stored here.
 3. Processing: The task of performing operations like arithmetic and logical operations is
called processing. The Central Processing Unit (CPU) takes data and instructions from
the storage unit and makes all sorts of calculations based on the instructions given and
the type of data provided. It is then sent back to the storage unit.

 4. Output: This is the process of producing results from the data for getting useful
information. Similarly the output produced by the computer after processing must also be
kept somewhere inside the computer before being given to you in human readable form.
Again the output is also stored inside the computer for further processing.

 5. Control: The manner how instructions are executed and the above operations are
performed. Controlling of all operations like input, processing and output are performed
by control unit. It takes care of step by step processing of all operations in side the
computer.
 In order to carry out the operations mentioned in the
previous section the computer allocates the task between its
various functional units. The computer system is divided into
three separate units for its operation. They are 1) arithmetic
logical unit, 2) control unit, and 3) central processing unit.
 Arithmetic Logical Unit (ALU)

After you enter data through the input device it is stored in the primary storage unit. The actual
processing of the data and instruction are performed by Arithmetic Logical Unit. The major
operations performed by the ALU are addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, logic and
comparison. Data is transferred to ALU from storage unit when required. After processing the
output is returned back to storage unit for further processing or getting stored.

 Control Unit (CU)

The next component of computer is the Control Unit, which acts like the supervisor seeing that
things are done in proper fashion. The control unit determines the sequence in which computer
programs and instructions are executed. Things like processing of programs stored in the main
memory, interpretation of the instructions and issuing of signals for other units of the computer
to execute them. It also acts as a switch board operator when several users access the
computer simultaneously. Thereby it coordinates the activities of computer’s peripheral
equipment as they perform the input and output. Therefore it is the manager of all operations
mentioned in the previous section.

 Central Processing Unit (CPU)

The ALU and the CU of a computer system are jointly known as the central processing unit.
You may call CPU as the brain of any computer system. It is just like brain that takes all major
decisions, makes all sorts of calculations and directs different parts of the computer functions
by activating and controlling the operations.
 Computer hardware is the physical part of a computer, including the
digital circuitry, as distinguished from the computer software that executes
within the hardware. The hardware of a computer is infrequently changed, in
comparison with software and data, which are "soft" in the sense that they are
readily created, modified or erased on the computer. Firmware is a special type
of software that rarely, if ever, needs to be changed and so is stored on
hardware devices such as read-only memory (ROM) where it is not readily
changed (and is, therefore, "firm" rather than just "soft").
 Most computer hardware is not seen by normal users. It is in embedded systems
in automobiles, microwave ovens, electrocardiograph machines, compact disc
players, and other devices. Personal computers, the computer hardware
familiar to most people, form only a small minority of computers (about 0.2% of
all new computers produced in 2003). See Market statistics.
 Monitor
 Keyboard & Mouse
 Mother Board
 Power Supply
 Storage Controllers of IDE
 Video Display Controller
 Removable Media Writer
 Internal Storage
 Sound Card
 CRTs, or video monitors, are the most common output device on computers today. The
figure below illustrates the basic structure of a CRT. A CRT is an evacuated glass
bottle, with a heating element on one end and a phosphor coated screen on the other.
When a current flows through this heating element, called a filament, the
conductivity of the metal filamant is reduced due to the high temperature.
This cause electrons to pile up on the filament, because they can not move as fast
as they would like to (Notice I'm wearing my "electrons-are-particles" hat).
Some of these electrons actually boil off of the filament.

These free electrons are attracted to a strong positive charge from the outer
surface of the focusing anode cylinder (sometines called an electrostic lens).
However, the inside of the cylinder has a weaker negative charge. Thus when the
electrons head toward the anode they are forced into a beam and accelerated by the
repulsion of the inner cylinder walls in just the way that water is speeds up when its
flow though a smaller diameter pipe. By the time the electrons get out they're going so
fast that they fly past the cathode they were heading for.
 The next thing that the electrons run into are two sets of weakly charged deflection plates.
These plates have opposite charges, one positive the other negative. While their charge is not
strong enough to capture the fast moving electrons they do influence the path of the beam. The
first set displaces the beam up and down, and the second displaces the beam left and
right. The electrons are sent flying out of the neck of the bottle until they smash into the
phosphor coating on the other end of the bottle. The impact of this collision on the out
valence bands of the phosphor compounds knocks some of the electrons to jump into the
another band. This causes a few photons to be generated, and results in our seeing a
spot on the CRT's face
CRTs were embraced as output devices very early in the development of digital
computers. There close cousins, vacuum tubes, were some of the first switching elements
used to build computers. Today, the CRT is a the last remaining vacuum tube in most systems
(Even the flashing lights are solid-state LEDs).
 Most likely, oscilloscopes were some of the first computer graphics displays. The results of
computations could be used to directly drive the vertical and horizontal displacement plates in
order to draw lines on the CRT's face. By varying the current to the heating filament the output
of the electron beam could also be controlled. This allowed the intensity of the lines to vary
from bright to completely dark.
 These early CRT displays were called vector, calligraphic or affectionately stroker displays.
The following demostration gives some feel for how they worked.
 Color CRT's are more complicated than the simple monochrome
models summarized above. The phosphors on the face of a
color CRT are laid out in a precise geometric pattern. There are
two primary variations, the stripe pattern of in-line tubes
shown on the left, and the delta pattern of delta tubes as shown
on the right.

Within the neck of the CRT there are three electron guns, one
each for red, green, and blue (the actual beams are all the same
color-invisible). There is also a special metal plate just behind the
phosphor cover front face, called a shadow mask. This mask is
aligned so that it simultaneously allows each electron beam to see
only the phosphors of its assigned color and blocks the phosphor of
the remaining two colors.
 The figure shows the configuration of an example in-line tube.
A significant portion of the electron
beam's energy strikes the mask rather
than the phosphors. This has two
side effects. The shadow mask has to be
extremely rigid to stay aligned with the
phosphor patterns on the CRT face. The
collision of electrons with
metal mask causes the mask to
emit some of it absorbed energy as
eletromagnetic radiation. Most of
this energy is in the form of heat, but some fraction is emitted as x-
rays. X-rays can present a health hazard. This wasn't a large
problem for television because the intensity of the x-ray radiation
falls off quickly as you move away from the screen. However,
computer monitors are supposed to be viewed from a short
distance. This health concern along with the high voltages and
power dispations of CRTs has motivated the development of new
display technologies.
Arvind.S.Baradhwaj Joies
A keyboard is a set of typewriter-like keys that enables you, the
user, to enter information and
instructions into a
computer .

It contains ….
Alphanumeric Keys: Letters
and numbers
Punctuation Keys: Comma,
semicolon, etc.
Special Keys: control keys,
arrow keys, Caps Lock key, and
so on.
Function Keys:
Num Pad: Number keys.
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 Standard Two-Button: Left
button for selecting, right button
for properties

 Wheeled Mouse - Wheel for

scrolling.
 Wireless mouse.
 Sensor mouse.

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 Laser Printer

 Desk Jet Printer

Arvind.S.Baradhwaj Joies
 Motherboard:
The main circuit board of a microcomputer. The
motherboard contains the
connectors for attaching
additional the cpu, Bios, memory,
mass storage boards. Typically, the
motherboard contains interfaces,
serial and parallel ports,expansion
slots, and all the controllers required
to control standard peripheral
devices,  such as the display screen,
keyboard,and disk drive. Collectively,
all these chips that reside on the
motherboard are known as the
motherboard's chipset.
Arvind.S.Baradhwaj Joies
Arvind.S.Baradhwaj Joies
Arvind.S.Baradhwaj Joies
 What is a processor?

The CPU or the Central Processing unit is the

brain of the computer and the single
most important chip in the computer. Modern
processors contain millions of
transistors which are etched onto a tiny square
silicon called a die, which is about the with of
a standard thumb. The CPU performs the
system's calculating and processing. The majority of
personal computers included the Intel processors.
Intel released the first processor, the 4004 in
1970. Today the market is being shared by
other companies such as the popular
AMD processor manufactured by the
AMD company.
 What is Ram or Memory?
Although memory is technically any form of electronic
storage, it is used most often to identify fast, temporary forms
of storage. If your computer's Cpu had to constantly access the
hard drive to retrieve every piece of data it needs, it would
operate very slowly. When the information is kept in
memory,the CPU can access it much more quickly. Most forms
of memory are intended to store data temporarily. The
primary storage is referred to as random access memory
(RAM) because it is possible to randomly select and use
any location of the memory directly store and retrieve data. It
takes same time to any address of the memory as the
first address. It is also called read/write memory.
The storage of data and instructions inside the
primary storage is temporary. It disappears from
RAM as soon as the power to the computer is
switched off. The memories, which loose their
content on failure of power supply, are known
as volatile memories So now we can say that RAM
is volatile memory.
 What is a hard drive?

The mechanism that reads and

writes data on a hard disk. Hard
disk drives (HDDs) for PCs
generally have seek times of about
12 milliseconds or less. Many
disk drives improve their
performance through a technique
called caching.
 What is a cpu fan?

A cpu fan is a fan that cools the

cpu. [go figure] Without the fan it
will cause the cpu to
overheat which in turn
causes lockup problems.
 What is a power supply?

A power supply is where you

normally plug the power cord
into. The unit converts
110 volts to 12 volts to
supply the computer and its
components power.
 What is a ribbon cable?

The ribbon cable is what connects

the hard-drive, cd rom, and floppy to
the motherboard.
 Modem

•Modems accept digital data,

and convert it to a
modulated analog wave form
that can be transmitted over
a normal analog phone line.
And conversely, modems also
accept a modulated analog
wave from the telephone
line, convert it to a digital
form, and pass it on.

42
Shafqat Ullah
Shafqat Ullah
◦ DVD stands for “Digital Versatile Disk” or “Digital
Video Disk”
◦ DVD was first created just to be a bigger CD capable of
holding more info
◦ A DVD disk can hold between 4.4 and 16gb of data,
depending on the disk

46
 Tracks are concentric
circles, and Sectors Sector

are pie-shaped wedges

on a tracks.
 A sector contains a
fixed number of bytes
– 512 bytes.
 low-level formatting a
drive establishes the
tracks and sectors on
the platter.
 High-level formatting
then writes the file-
storage structures, like
the file-allocation
table, into the sectors.
Track
47
48
49
 External Bus Controllers - used to connect to
external peripherals, such as printers and input
devices. These ports may also be based upon
expansion cards, attached to the internal buses.
◦ parallel port
◦ serial port
◦ USB
◦ firewire
 Universal Serial Bus is an external
bus that supports transfer rates of
12 Mbps, can support 127
devices and supports hot
plugging.

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 Analog Computer
 Special Thanks to
Arvind.S.Baradhwaj Joies

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