BASICS OF

COMPUTER

COMPUTER
A computer is an electronic device used for the information
processing.
It has got four main functions to perform:
1) Excepting the data
2) Processing the data
3) Producing the data
4) Storing the data

INPUT UNIT
Input unit is an external device connected to the CPU like
keyboard,
mouse, scanner etc.

SYSTEM UNIT
The data and instructions received from the input unit are stored
and processed in this unit. The system unit has two functions
to perform and they are:
5) Control Unit
6) Arithmetic and logical unit

CONTROLLED UNIT
This unit acts as a supervisor which has following functions to
perform
1) Receiving the data from the main memory
2) Controlling or transfer of data

ARITHMETIC AND LOGICAL UNIT

It performs the basic arithmetic operations such as addition,
subtraction, multiplication and logical operations such as
conversion of
English language into binary format.

MEMORY UNIT
1 KB=1024 bytes
1 MB=1024 KB
1 GB=1024 MB
1TB=1024 GB
This is sub divided into two parts:
3) Main memory
4) Secondary memory

MAIN MEMORY
The data supplied by the input devices are temporarily stored in the
main memory which consists of RAM.

SECONDARY MEMEORY
This is permanent memory which stores large amount of
information.

RAM ( RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY )

It is a temporary memory device used to read and write memory
and
can be accessed whenever we want it suddenly and it is a temporary
memory. This memory is lost once the CPU is switched off.

ROM ( READ ONLY MEMORY )

It is a permanent memory and information stored can only be read
and
cannot neither be written neither erased.
OUTPUT UNIT
It displays the results obtained after completion of a program.

MODELS OF COMPUTER
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)

Desktop
Laptop
Palmtop
Handheld
PDA ( Personal Digital Assistance )
Pocket PC
Tablet PC
Mainframe computer
Super computer

PHYSICAL COMPONENTS OF COMPUTER

10) Motherboard
11)Processor chip
12)Memory unit
13)FDD ( Floppy Disk Drive )
14)HDD ( Hard Disk Drive )

6) CDD ( Compact Disk Drive )

7) SMPS ( Switch Mode Power Supply )
8) Port ( Serial and Parallel )
9) Display Card or Internet Card
10)Sound Card
11)Network Card or Internet Card
12)Modem Card
13)Keyboard, mouse, printer etc.

MOTHERBOARD
It is the main circuit board of a computer which provides
connection for
all the peripherals. It houses the main processor and the
memory chip.

PROCESSOR CHIP
It is an integrated circuit made up of silicon material and
consists the
computer CPU. It is considered as computer memory.

MEMORY UNIT
It is the data storage space inside a computer, memory refers to the
data stored using chips. It is encoded in the following format:
1) 1024 bytes=1 KB
2) 1024 KB=1MB
3) 1024 MB=1GB
4) 1024 G=1TB

HDD ( Hard Disk Drive )

It is an internal computer hardware device that reaches the data from
the hard disk.

FDD ( Floppy Disk Drive )

It is the external computer hardware device that re aches the
data from the floppy disk.

CDD ( Compact Disk Drive )

It is an external computer hardware device that reads or writes the
data
on the compact disk.

PORTS
It is a slot on computer that allows it to be connected to another
computer or hardware for the purpose of input or output information
which may exist both internally and externally. There are two types
of
cores available in the computer:
1) Serial code
2) Parallel code
In case of serial code only single card is available where as in case of
parallel codes more than one card can be connected at a time in the
computer.

DISPLAY CARD
Display card is the main device which is responsible for displaying
the
information on the monitor like VGA by IBM corporation.

NETWORK CARD
It is an add on card that allows a computer which help in interconnection of data.

MODEM CARD
It is also an add on card that allow communication b/w
computers
through telephone line to get connected to the internet we
need
modem and internet service provider.

SMPS ( Switch Mode Power Supply )

It is used to receive AC input supply and convert it into DC
output supply
to the mother board, FDD, HDD, CDD etc.

FRONT PANEL OF CPU

It consists of the following :
1) Compact disk or DVD drivers
2) Floppy Disk Drive
3) 3.5 mm speaker jack with mike
4) Shut on and off button with LED indicator

BACK PANEL OF CPU

It consists of the following :
1) A series of USB ports
2) CPU plug unit
3) Monitor plug unit
4) Keyboard plug unit
5) Blank space for cooling by fans
6) Space for graphic card
7) Space for network card
8) Mouse plug unit
9) 3.5 mm jack for audio
10)Space for network and modem jack

INPUT AND OUTPUT DEVICES

1) Keyboard -Input
2) Mouse - Input
3) Joystick- Input
4) Light pen- Input
5) Tracker ball- Input
6) Scanner - Input
7) Digitizer- Input
8) Floppy Disk- Input and output device
9) Compact disk- Input and output device
10)Microphone- Input
11)Optical recorder- Input or output device

KEYBOARD
It is used to enter both universal and character type of
data.

MOUSE
It is an input device, shaped light and actual mouse that
allows the user
to select the command displayed on the monitor.
The two types of mouse are:
1) Two button mouse
2) Pressing the button and releasing to is called click, by
clicking the buttons on the monitor command is
executed.

LIGHT PEN
It is a pencil shaped device used to select screen
coordinates
by selecting the light coming from the monitor

JOYSTICK
It is an input device similar to the mouse but with greater
level of
functioning it is designed primarily to play the games.

TRACKER BALL
It is also similar to joystick except that an operation controller. It is
rotated to move the cursor in the desired direction on the screen.

SCANNER
It is an input device that reads images and texts, it scans the
image of
the photograph or written image and communication it to CPU

DIGITIZER
It is an input device used for selecting screen coordinates.

FLOPPY DISK
It is a thin circular plastic plate coated with magnetic oxide. It is
used to
record the information as well as to send the information

COMPACT DISK
It is used to send the information into the compact disk. The
information
maybe is software program, picture etc.

OUTPUT DEVICES
1) MONITOR: It is the most commonly used output device. It is
used to display the result obtained after the execution of the
program.
2) PRINTER: It is an electro mechanical device which receives
signal from the computer and acts according. Types of printers
are
) Dot matrix
) Inkjet
) Laser

OPERATING SYSTEM
An operating system is a software which acts as an interface b/w the
user and the computer.

TYPES OF OPERATING SYSTEMS

1)
2)
3)
4)

Microsoft Windows
DOS ( Disk Operating System )
MAC ( Macintosh Operating System )
Whit Apple Corporation

SINGLE USER SINGLE TASKING

A single user operating system permits only one program to run at a
time and allows only one person to operate it.

MULTI USER MULTI TASKING

A multi user operating system permits more than one program to be
run at a time and allows more than one person to operate at a time.

BATCH PROCESSING
In this method no of program are submitted by the user at a time.
During this time the programs are executed one by one in order on
first
term first serve place.

DOS ( Disk Operating System )

It is a software that provides an interface b/w the computer hardware
and the user DOS commands and can be divided into two types:
1) Internal DOS commands
2) External DOS commands

INTERNAL DOS COMMANDS

These are the instructions that are fed into the computers memory.

EXTERNAL DOS COMMANDS

These are stored on the hard disk by the programmer.

INTERNET
The internet is a network of networks linking two computers by
speaking the same language called TCP-IP when two or more
networks
are connected they become internet.

NETWORK
Two or more computers linked together for the purpose of
communicating with each other is called networks.

CLASSIFICATION OF NETWORKS
Based on size, capability, communication medium and cost the
computer are classified as below:
1) LAN-Local Area Network
2) WAN-Wide Area Network

LAN ( Local Area Network )

It is an inter connection of independent computers within a single
building or a small campus it is called LAN. Here security is very
low.]

WAN ( Wide Area Network )

It is a wider computer network which covers an entire city or b/w
the
cities is called WAN. Here security is very high.

INTRANET
It is a group of computers often belonging to a company or a
private
enterprise linked together for the purpose of communication.

INTERNET SERVER
It is a network computer that performs wide variety of functions
such
as delivery data to the connected computers providing data upon
demand etc.

INTERNET BROWSER
It is a software application that opens web pages or files on the www
web browser are the set of programs that allows the user to call for
and
read information online.
E.g. : Opera mini, Mozilla Firefox, Internet explorer etc.

WEBPAGE
A webpage usually associated with a group of related pages
connected
by hyperlinks located on the www.

HTTP ( Hyper Text Transfer Protocol )

It is the protocol that allows the transfer of many documents on the
www denoted as http.

WWW ( World Wide Web )

It is an extremely large group of computers linked together utilizing
many networks offering information to the users through the web
servers and browsers.

E-MAIL
It is an acronym for electronic mail. It is used for sending letters or
messages also receiving letters and messages electronically
using a
computer having an internet facility.

CREATING AN E-MAIL ID
1) Open the internet explorer and type the name of the website
like gmail.com on the browsers address bar and press enter.
2) Click sign up icon
3) Click sign up your Gmail ID with mail window will be displayed
on the screen
4) Fill up the personal details like your full name, surname, DOB
etc.
5) Click submit this form button
6) After filling the form completely click on I accept button to
complete the process, a welcome message will be displayed on
the screen to indicate that your e-mail account has been
successfully created.