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Information
Technology Revision Notes
Fundamentals of Hardware and Software

Basic components of all computers

The computer
The computer is an electronic device designed to operate under the
control of stored programmed instructions, accept data (input),
process or manipulate (processing) that data and store (storage)
the result for future use or output it in a meaningful form for the
user.
Control Unit
The Control Unit (CU) is the circuitry that controls the flow of
information through the processor, and coordinates the activities of
the other units within the processor. It is the "brain within the
brain", as it controls what happens inside the processor, which in
turn controls the rest of the PC.
ALU
The arithmetic logic unit (ALU) is a digital circuit that calculates an
arithmetic operation (addition, subtraction, etc.) or a logic operation
(exclusive OR, AND, etc.) between two numbers. The ALU is a
fundamental building block of the central processing unit of a
computer.
Main memory/immediate access storage
The memory within the central processor. Also referred to as
internal use or main store.
Backing store/disc storage
Memory external to the computer used for storage of large
quantities of data or large programs. Backing store is also known as
secondary store, auxiliary store or external store.
Peripheral device
In computer hardware, a peripheral device is any device attached to
a computer in order to expand its functionality. Some of the more
common peripheral devices are printers, scanners, disc drives, tape
drives, microphones, speakers, and cameras. A peripheral device
can also refer to a non-physical item, such as a pseudo-tty, a RAM
drive, or a network adapter.

Primary storage devices and media

Bistable device
A device which can exist in two distinct stable states.
PROM
Short for Programmable Read-Only memory, a memory chip on
which data can be written only once. Once a program has been
written onto a PROM, it remains there forever. Unlike RAM (Random
Access Memory), PROMs retain their contents when the computer is
turned off.

The difference between a PROM and a ROM (Read-Only Memory) is


that a PROM is manufactured as blank memory, whereas a ROM is
programmed during the manufacturing process. To write data onto a
PROM chip, you need a special device called a PROM programmer or
PROM burner. The process of programming a PROM is sometimes
called burning the PROM.
EPROM
An EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) is a special
type of PROM that can be erased by exposing it to ultraviolet light.
Once it is erased, it can be reprogrammed.
RAM
Random Access Memory (usually known by its acronym, RAM) is a
type of data storage used in computers. It takes the form of
integrated circuits that allow the stored data to be accessed in any
order that is, at random and without the physical movement of
the storage medium or a physical reading head.
ROM
Acronym for Read-Only Memory, computer memory on which data
has been prerecorded. Once data has been written onto a ROM chip,
it cannot be removed and can only be read.

Unlike main memory (RAM), ROM retains its contents even when
the computer is turned off. ROM is referred to as being nonvolatile,
whereas RAM is volatile.

Most personal computers contain a small amount of ROM that stores


critical programs such as the program that boots the computer. In
addition, ROMs are used extensively in calculators and peripheral
devices such as laser printers, whose fonts are often stored in
ROMs.

Characteristics and uses of secondary storage devices and media

Magnetic tape
A storage medium consisting of a flexible plastic strip of tape
covered with magnetic material on one side, used to store data. It is
available in spools or cassettes.
Floppy disc
A flexible magnetic coated disc, commonly used with
microcomputers on which data can be stored magnetically.
Micro-floppy disc
Refers to 3.5 inch floppy discs. They are housed in a rigid plastic
casing having a sliding shutter which automatically closes when the
disc is removed from the disc drive.
Hard disc/fixed disc
A rigid disc used for storing data magnetically. Its rigid construction
allows for higher storage densities. Access times for a hard disc are
much faster than for a floppy disc.
Optical disc CD
Known by its abbreviation, CD, a Compact Disc is a polycarbonate
with one or more metal layers capable of storing digital information.
The most prevalent types of compact discs are those used by the
music industry to store digital recordings and CD-ROMs used to
store computer data. Both of these types of compact disc are read-
only, which means that once the data has been recorded onto them,
they can only be read, or played.
Optical disc DVD
Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc. A high-density compact
disc for storing large amounts of data, especially high-resolution
audio-visual material.

Terms associated with backing storage devices and media

Read/write head
The mechanism that reads data from or writes data to a magnetic
disc or tape. If the head becomes dirty, it will not work properly.
Sector
A pie-shaped division of each track.
Track
The path on a tape, disc or drum on which data are stored. On a
disc these paths are concentric circles; on a tape there are several
tracks parallel to the edge of the tape; on a drum there are bands of
equal size along the circumference of the drum.
Buffer
A temporary storage area, usually in RAM. The purpose of most
buffers is to act as a holding area, enabling the CPU to manipulate
data before transferring it to a device.

Because the processes of reading and writing data to a disc are


relatively slow, many programs keep track of data changes in a
buffer and then copy the buffer to a disc. For example, word
processors employ a buffer to keep track of changes to files. Then
when you save the file, the word processor updates the disc file with
the contents of the buffer. This is much more efficient than
accessing the file on the disc each time you make a change to the
file.
Cylinder
A single track location on all the platters making up a hard disc. For
example, if a hard disc has four platters, each with 600 tracks, then
there will be 600 cylinders, and each cylinder will consist of 8 tracks
(assuming that each platter has tracks on both sides).
Access time
The time a program or device takes to locate a single piece of
information and make it available to the computer for processing.
DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) chips for personal
computers have access times of 50 to 150 nanoseconds (billionths
of a second). Static RAM (SRAM) has access times as low as 10
nanoseconds. Ideally, the access time of memory should be fast
enough to keep up with the CPU. If not, the CPU will waste a certain
number of clock cycles, which makes it slower.
Sequential access
Refers to reading or writing data records in sequential order, that is,
one record after the other. To read record 10, for example, you
would first need to read records 1 through 9. This differs from
random access, in which you can read and write records in any
order.

Some programming languages and operating systems distinguish


between sequential-access data files and random-access data files,
allowing you to choose between the two types. Sequential-access
files are faster if you always access records in the same order.
Random-access files are faster if you need to read or write records
in a random order.

Devices can also be classified as sequential-access or random-


access. For example, a tape drive is a sequential-access device
because to get to point q on the tape, the drive needs to pass
through points a through p. A disc drive, on the other hand, is a
random-access device because the drive can access any point on
the disc without passing through all intervening points.
Random access
Refers to the ability to access data at random. The opposite of
random access is sequential access. To go from point A to point Z in
a sequential-access system, you must pass through all intervening
points. In a random-access system, you can jump directly to point
Z. discs are random-access media, whereas tapes are sequential-
access media.

The terms random-access and sequential-access are often used to


describe data files. A random-access data file enables you to read or
write information anywhere in the file. In a sequential-access file,
you can only read and write information sequentially, starting from
the beginning of the file.

Both types of files have advantages and disadvantages. If you are


always accessing information in the same order, a sequential-access
file is faster. If you tend to access information randomly, random
access is better.

Random access is sometimes called direct access.

Input devices and media

OMR
Short for Optical Mark Recognition, the technology of electronically
extracting intended data from marked fields, such as checkboxes
and fill-in fields, on printed forms. OMR technology scans a printed
form and reads predefined positions and records where marks are
made on the form. This technology is useful for applications in
which large numbers of hand-filled forms need to be processed
quickly and with great accuracy, such as surveys, reply cards,
questionnaires and ballots. A common OMR application is the use of
"bubble sheets" for multiple-choice tests used by schools. The
student indicates the answer on the test by filling in the
corresponding bubble, and the form is fed through an optical mark
reader (also abbreviated as OMR, a device that scans the document
and reads the data from the marked fields). The error rate for OMR
technology is less than 1%.
OCR
Often abbreviated OCR, Optical Character Recognition refers to the
branch of computer science that involves reading text from paper
and translating the images into a form that the computer can
manipulate (for example, into ASCII codes). An OCR system enables
you to take a book or a magazine article, feed it directly into an
electronic computer file, and then edit the file using a word
processor.

All OCR systems include an optical scanner for reading text, and
sophisticated software for analyzing images. Most OCR systems use
a combination of hardware (specialized circuit boards) and software
to recognize characters, although some inexpensive systems do it
entirely through software. Advanced OCR systems can read text in a
large variety of fonts, but they still have difficulty with handwritten
text.
MICR
Magnetic Ink Character Recognition is a character recognition
system that uses special ink and characters. When a document that
contains this ink needs to be read, it passes through a machine,
which magnetizes the ink and then translates the magnetic
information into characters.

MICR technology is used by banks. Numbers and characters found


on the bottom of checks (usually containing the check number, sort
number, and account number) are printed using Magnetic Ink. To
print with Magnetic Ink, you need a laser printer that accepts MICR
toner.

MICR provides a secure, high-speed method of scanning and


processing information.
Mouse
A device that controls the movement of the cursor or pointer on a
display screen. A mouse is a small object you can roll along a hard,
flat surface. Its name is derived from its shape, which looks a bit
like a mouse, its connecting wire that one can imagine to be the
mouse's tail, and the fact that one must make it scurry along a
surface. As you move the mouse, the pointer on the display screen
moves in the same direction. Mice contain at least one button and
sometimes as many as three, which have different functions
depending on what program is running. Some newer mice also
include a scroll wheel for scrolling through long documents.
Joystick
A lever that moves in all directions and controls the movement of a
pointer or some other display symbol. A joystick is similar to a
mouse, except that with a mouse the cursor stops moving as soon
as you stop moving the mouse. With a joystick, the pointer
continues moving in the direction the joystick is pointing. To stop
the pointer, you must return the joystick to its upright position. Most
joysticks include two buttons called triggers.

Joysticks are used mostly for computer games, but they are also
used occasionally for CAD/CAM systems and other applications.
Light pen
An input device that utilises a light-sensitive detector to select
objects on a display screen. A light pen is similar to a mouse, except
that with a light pen you can move the pointer and select objects on
the display screen by directly pointing to the objects with the pen.
Touch terminal
Also called a touch screen. A device that allows data to be input by
touching a screen with the finger or other object. The surface of the
screen consists of a number of programmed touch points each of
which may trigger a different action when selected by the user.
Voice recognition
The field of computer science that deals with designing computer
systems that can recognize spoken words.

A number of voice recognition systems are available on the market.


The most powerful can recognize thousands of words. However,
they generally require an extended training session during which the
computer system becomes accustomed to a particular voice and
accent. Such systems are said to be speaker-dependent.

Because of their limitations and high cost, voice recognition systems


have traditionally been used only in a few specialised situations. For
example, such systems are useful in instances when the user is
unable to use a keyboard to enter data because his or her hands are
occupied or disabled. Instead of typing commands, the user can
simply speak into a headset. Increasingly, however, as the cost
decreases and performance improves, speech recognition systems
are entering the mainstream and are being used as an alternative to
keyboards.
POS
Point Of Sale, or POS as it is more commonly abbreviated, refers to
the capturing of data and customer payment information at a
physical location when goods or services are bought and sold. The
POS transaction is captured using a variety of devices including
computers, cash registers, optical and bar code scanners, magnetic
card readers, or any combination of these devices.
Bar code
A series of thick and thin black bars separated by spaces of varying
widths representing data.
Keyboard
The main input device on most PCs. It consists of a "board" with a
set of buttons on it that represent all the letters in the alphabet, the
numbers 0 through 9, and any extra keys, like cursor keys and
function keys, that enable some keys to represent additional
characters.
Key-to-disc
Keyboard entry of data directly to magnetic disc without previous
preparation on another medium.
Scanners
A device that can read text or illustrations printed on paper and
translate the information into a form the computer can use. A
scanner works by digitizing an image dividing it into a grid of
boxes and representing each box with either a zero or a one,
depending on whether the box is filled in. (For color and gray
scaling, the same principle applies, but each box is then represented
by up to 24 bits.) The resulting matrix of bits, called a bit map, can
then be stored in a file, displayed on a screen, and manipulated by
programs.

Optical scanners do not distinguish text from illustrations; they


represent all images as bit maps. Therefore, you cannot directly edit
text that has been scanned. To edit text read by an optical scanner,
you need an optical character recognition (OCR ) system to
translate the image into ASCII characters. Most optical scanners
sold today come with OCR packages.
Output devices and media

Monitor
A monitor is a display device that consists of a screen housed in a
plastic metal case. A colour monitor displays text, graphics and
video information in colour. The image on a screen is viewed by
pixels, which are also known as dots. A pixel is a single point in an
electronic image. A monitor consists of hundreds, thousands or
millions of pixels arranged in rows and columns that can be used to
create images. The pixels are so close together that they appear
connected. The monitor is said to output "soft copy" of data because
it is temporary output that is lost once electricity is removed from
the device.
Resolution
The resolution of a monitor indicates how densely packed the pixels
are. In general, the more pixels (often expressed in dots per inch),
the sharper the image. Most modern monitors can display 1024 by
768 pixels, the SVGA standard. Some high-end models can display
1280 by 1024, or even 1600 by 1200.
Printer
A printer is an output device that produces text and graphics on a
physical medium such as paper or transparency film. Printed
information is called hard copy because the information exists
physically and is a more permanent form of output than that
presented on a display device (soft copy), for example, a monitor.

Printers can be grouped into two categories:

1.Impact printers

2.Non-impact printers

Impact printers

An impact printer forms graphics and characters on paper by


striking a mechanism against an ink ribbon that physically contacts
the paper. Impact printers are generally noisy. The print quality is
not the best. These printers are ideal for printing mailing labels,
envelopes or invoices, and multipart forms because they can easily
print through many layers of paper. Impact printers are also used in
many factories, hardware stores, etc., because they can withstand
dusty environment, vibrations and extreme temperatures.

Two commonly used types of impact printers are the character


printer and the line printer.

Character Printer. A character printer prints one character at a


time. The typical character printer is the dot matrix printer.

This is an impact printer that produces printed images when tiny


wire pins on a print head mechanism strike an inked ribbon. When
the ribbon presses against the paper, it creates dots that form
characters and graphics.

The speed of a dot-matrix printer is measured by the number of


characters per second (cps) it can print. The speed of dot-matrix
printers ranges from 50-700 characters per second.

Line Printer. A line printer is a high speed impact printer that


prints an entire line at a time. The speed of line printers is
measured by the number of lines per minute (lpm) it can print. A
line printer is capable of printing 3000 lines per minute.

Non-impact printers

A non-impact printer forms characters or graphics on a piece of


paper without actually striking the paper. Some spray ink while
others use heat and pressure to create images. Because there is no
striking on the paper, these printers tend to be quiet. Common
types of non-impact printers are inkjet printers, laser printers and
thermal printers.

Inkjet Printer. An inkjet printer is a non-impact printer that forms


characters and graphics by spraying tiny drops of liquid ink onto a
piece of paper. The print quality is usually high. These printers are
ideal for printing on T-shirts, transparencies, labels, envelopes,
banners and greeting cards.

One factor that determines the quality of an inkjet printer is its


resolution or sharpness and clarity. Printer resolution is measured
by the number of dots per inch (dpi) a printer can output. The
higher the dpi and the better the print quality the more costly the
printer will be. The speed of an inkjet printer is measured by the
number of pages it can print per minute (ppm). Most inkjet printers
print one to 12 pages per minute.

Laser Printer. A laser printer is a high-speed, high-quality, non-


impact printer. These printers can print text and graphics in very
high-quality resolutions ranging from 600 dpi to 1200 dpi. The print
speeds are four to 30 pages per minute. Laser printers are mainly
used with mainframe computers. Laser printers are sometimes
called page printers. A laser printer creates images using a laser
beam and toner.
Plotter
Like printers, plotters are devices that can produce output on paper.
Instead of producing images and text using print heads, ink ribbons
or lasers, they use a row of charged wires called styli as in the case
of an electrostatic plotter to draw an electrostatic pattern on
specifically coated paper and then they fuse toner to the pattern.
Plotters are used in specialised fields, such as engineering, drafting
and graphic art. They are also used to print maps and blueprints.
Microfiche
An output medium consisting of microfilm sheets. Very high-density
storage can be attained using this method of storage.
Permanent copy (hard copy)
Information printed on paper in contrast to being electronically
displayed on a computer screen. This term is now used by many
people to represent all paper documents, including memos, order
forms, letters, print advertisements, books, catalogs, and so on.
Hard copy has the advantage of being accessible to everyone
everywhere, without the expense or inconvenience of a computer. In
addition, even the best electronic images cannot duplicate an
original image as well as a printed image can. However, hard copy is
not easily modified or transmitted over distances and takes space
and time to store and retrieve.
Temporary copy (soft copy)
A soft copy (sometimes spelt "softcopy") is an electronic copy of
some type of data, such as a file viewed on a computer's display or
transmitted as an e-mail attachment.
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