CENGO309 LEC 092411 THE BASIC COMPUTER All computers consists of basic functional blocks that include a CPU,

memory and input/output ports. These functional blocks are connected together with 3 internal buses, these are the DATA BUS, the ADDRESS BUS, and the CONTROL BUS. Input and output devices are connected through the input/output ports. PORT - A physical interference on a computer through which data are passed to and from peripherals. BASIC COMPUTER BLOCK DIAGRAM MEMORIES/STORAGE RAM, ROM, CACHE, HARD DISK

INPUT/OUTPUT PORTS

CPU P

NOTE: Instructions and data are stored in memory in specific locations determined by the program.

PROGRAM - A list of instructions designed to solve a specific problem. CPU -

Central Processing Unit The brain of the computer A P (microprocessor) with associated circuits that control the running of the computer software programs. Oversees everything that the computer does.

NOTE: Basically, the CPU obtains (fetches) each program instructions from memory and carries out (executes) the instruction.

MEMORIES AND STORAGE

ROM BIOS -

Read Only Memory Stores a permanent system program called the BIOS (Basic Input / Output System) and certain locations of system programs in memory Non volatile Sometimes referred to as firmware because it is permanent software for a given system.

Is the lowest level of computers operating system. It contains instructions that tell the CPU what to do when power is first applied; the first instruction executed is in the BIOS. It controls the computers base start up functions that include a self test and a disk self-loader to bring up the rest of the operating system.

BIOS stores locations of the system programs that handle certain requests from peripherals called INTERUPTS, which cause the current processing to be temporarily stopped.