Elements of the Computer System

Kristianne Aleza Marie L. Javier

Instructor
Three Basic Elements

1. Hardware
2. Software
3. Peopleware
Hardware
• Refers to the physical component of a computer that you can actually
touch.
• The hardware needs software to function properly.
• Consist of all the machinery and equipment in a computer system.
In general, computer hardware is categorized according to which of the five
computer operations it performs.
• Input Hardware
• Output Hardware
• Processing and Memory Hardware
• Secondary Storage Hardware (External Storage)
• Communication Hardware
Input Devices

• Consist of devices that allow people to put data into the computer in a
form that the computer can use.
PS/2 Keyboard Wireless Keyboard

USB Keyboard Virtual Keyboard

 Membrane
Keyboard

Gaming
Keyboard
Keyboard

• Used for entry of information

• A wide object that is equipped with buttons on which there are letters
or numbers.
• A computer keyboard has alphabetic, numeric and function keys for
the entry of information
 Mechanical Mouse USB Mouse

Optical Mouse PS/2 Mouse

Serial Mouse Wireless Mouse
Mouse
• A handheld pointing device that is used to move a pointer on the
screen.
• It is a device that can be rolled about on a desktop to direct a pointer
on the computer display screen. The pointer is a symbol usually as
arrow, on the computer screen that shows where that maybe entered
next, such as text in a word processing program.
Joystick
• A pointing device with a base and a vertical handle that pivots in all
directions and usually used in playing computer games.
Touch Screen
• Allows user to interact with the system by touching specific areas on
the screen.
Scanner
• Scanner translate images of text, drawings and photos into digital
form. The images can be processed by a computer, displayed on a
monitor, stored on a storage device or communicated to another
computer.

Biometric Scanner
Barcode Reader
• Use light rays to read a product code for the purpose of easy
monitoring of product movements and status.
Light Pen
• Can be used on personal digital assistants (PDA), handheld computers,
or table PCs, for inputting data. The other term for pen is a stylus.
Multimedia Device
• Records music and other sound signals and transforms them
into digital format to be used as input for PC’s.
• Digital Camera – capture images in electronic form for immediate
viewing on computer screen or TV.
• Webcam – a small camera which images can be accessed through
the internet, instant messaging or in video conferencing.
• Microphone – an input device to record speech. This is really
important in multimedia application when the presentation can
benefit from the narration of the user.
Multimedia Devices
Output Device

• A device that is used to display, print or transmits information from a

computer memory.
• It translate information processed by the computer into a form that
human can understand.
Monitor
• The video display that you will look at, most of the times, to evaluate
your work. Some are characterized by the flatness of their screen.
Monitor

LCD and LED Monitors

TFT (Thin Film

Transistor)
Monitor

CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) Monitor

Printer
• Used to output information from the computer and the
printed copy called hardcopy.
• Dot matrix printer – use dots to form characters
• Inkjet printer – shoots tiny drops onto paper to form a
character and provide good quality printing and can print
in color.
• Laser printer – use light source to print characters on the
paper and can also print color.
Printer

Dot Matrix Printer

Inkjet Printer

Laser Printer
Plotter
• Typically like a printer, but its primary use is in scientific and
engineering applications, since it can print large format images such as
house blueprint drawings designed by architects.
Synthesizer
• Are specialized type of computers that are designed to generate sounds
electronically.
• It can be used to produce music or noise. Most PC’s have built in
synthesizer for producing sounds.
Headphones or Headset
• We can play MP3 music in our PC or Laptop without disturbing
others. We will simply plug it in, into the sound card’s microphone
port at the back of or PC or in front of our Laptop
LCD Projector
• Is used for presentation purposes which is usually connected to our PC
or Laptop. With it we can watch he output of the computer like the
way we watch movies. WE display the output into the big white
screen, to a whiteboard, or to a white painted wall.
Speaker
• Produce sound output from the computer.
• It allows the user to listen to high quality music through their
computer.
Processing and Memory Hardware
• The brain of the computer are the processing and the main memory
devices, house in the computers system unit. The system unit or
system cabinet, houses the electronic circuitry called the CPU, which
does the actual processing and the main memory which supports the
processing.
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
Central Processing Unit (CPU)

• The processor of the computing part of the computer. It controls and

manipulates data to produce information. The CPU is usually a single
fingernail size “chip” called “microprocessor” with electrical circuits
printed on it. This microprocessor and other components are necessary
to make it work and mounted on a main circuit board called
motherboard or system board.
Primary Memory(RAM)
Primary Memory

• RAM (Random Access Memory)

• Memory of the computers “work space” where data and programs for
immediate processing are held. Computer memory is contained on memory
chips mounted on the motherboard. Memory capacity is important because it
determines how much data can be processed at once and how big and complex
a program maybe used to process the data.
• A volatile type of memory that holds the data and programs that are being
used in the computer at a given time. It is a short term memory where data is
temporarily stored until it saved to the hard drive or permanent storage
location.
Primary Memory
• ROM (Read Only Memory)
• A non-volatile type of memory that is capable of holding data and being read
from
Secondary Storage Hardware (External Storage)
• It is where data are stored permanently. It is outside the primary
storage and servers just like a filing cabinet. There are two reasons
why we need to store data in an auxiliary or secondary storage device.
First, the primary storage can only store a limited amount of data.
Second, the data stored in the primary storage are volatile and
temporary.
Internal Hard Disk
External Hard Disk
Hard Disk

• A disk made out of metal and covered with a magnetic recording

surface. It also holds data represented by the presence (1) and absence
(0) of magnetized spots.
Floppy Disk
Floppy Disk

• A magnetically sensitive and flexible plastic wafer housed in a plastic

case. The disk drive can retrieve or store information from any part of
a diskette. The PC usually include one disk drive that allows the
computer to read from or write to the diskette.
Flash Drive/Flash Disk
Flash Drive/Flash Disk

• A small and lightweight flash memory mass storage device that is

rewritable and removable. USB Flash drive is generally faster and can
hold more data and yet reliable to use. Its size is as small as our
thumb, that is why the other name of it is “thumb drive”.
Optical Disk

• An optical storage device such as CD and DVD is highly portable and

the data stored on optical medium is generally considered to be less
vulnerable to environmental damage than the data stored on magnetic
medium.
Optical Disk
• CD-R (Compact Disk Recordable)
• A CD-R is a writable disc, (the R stands for Recordable). This
type of disc can have data burnt to it once only. If the disc is not
finalized or closed with burning, then additional content can be
added to the disc, until it reaches its full capacity. A CD-R does
not allow for existing content to be deleted off the disc.

• CD-RW (Compact Disc-ReWritable)

• a digital optical disc storage format. A CD-RW disc is a compact
disc that can be written, read arbitrarily many times, erased and
written again. The technology was introduced in 1997.
Optical Disk

DVD-RW DVD-R HD-DVD

• DVD (digital versatile disc)

• is a digital optical disc storage format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony,
Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs can be played in multiple types of players,
including DVD players. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than compact discs while
having the same dimensions.
Optical Disk

BD-R
Optical Disk
• Blu-ray or Blu-ray Disc (BD, BRD)
• is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was designed to supersede the DVD format,
in that it is capable of storing high-definition video resolution (1080p). The plastic disc is
120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Conventional
(pre-BD-XL) Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs (50 GB) being
the industry standard for feature-length video discs. Triple layer discs (100 GB) and
quadruple layers (128 GB) are available for BD-XL re-writer drives. The name "Blu-ray"
refers to the blue laser (specifically, a violet laser) used to read the disc, which allows
information to be stored at a greater density than is possible with the longer-wavelength
red laser used for DVDs. The main application of Blu-ray is as a medium for video
material such as feature films and physical distribution of video games for the
PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Besides the hardware specifications, Blu-ray
is associated with a set of multimedia formats.
Optical Disk
Communication Hardware

A modem (modulator-demodulator) is a device that

modulates signals to encode digital information and
MODEM
demodulates signals to decode the transmitted
information. The goal is to produce a signal that can
be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the
original digital data. Modems can be used with any
means of transmitting analog signals, from light
emitting diodes to radio. A common type of modem
is one that turns the digital data of a computer into
modulated electrical signal for transmission over
telephone lines and demodulated by another modem
at the receiver side to recover the digital data.
Router
A router is a device that forwards data packets
along networks. A router is connected to at least
two networks, commonly two LANs or WANs or
a LAN and its ISP's network. Routers are located
at gateways, the places where two or more
networks connect.
HUB
• common connection point for devices in a
network. Hubs are commonly used to
connect segments of a LAN. A hub contains
multiple ports. When a packet arrives at one
port, it is copied to the other ports so that all
segments of the LAN can see all packets.
Switch
In networks, a device that filters and
forwards packets between LAN
segments. Switches operate at the data
link layer (layer 2) and sometimes the
network layer (layer 3) of the OSI
Reference Model and therefore support
any packet protocol. LANs that use
switches to join segments are called
switched LANs or, in the case of
Ethernet networks, switched Ethernet
LANs.
Software
• A set of instruction or programs that tells the computer how to do a
specific task. It is untouchable and used to direct the hardware on how
to turn data into useful information for people to use.
Software
• System Software
• Application Software
• Productivity Software
• Graphics and Multimedia
• Home, Personal and Educational Use
• Communication
System Software
1. System Software - Performs tasks necessary to the efficient management of
the hardware. These are needed to control the function(running) computer.
A. Operating System – A set of programs which controls and
coordinates the whole operation of the computer system.
B. Utility Program - Are system software service program that help the
operating system efficiently mange files and do the housekeeping functions,
and security.e.g Virus scanner
C. Compilers and Interpreters - Are program that translate high level
language programs into object code. e.g Visual Studio, C++, Turbo C
Application Software
2. Application Software - Programs that help solve and meet user problems and
needs directly.
Three basic type of application software
a. Commercial Software – comes prepackaged and is available from
software vendor
b. Shareware Software – developed and released as demonstration
version of their commercial product.
c. Open Source – is created by generous programmers and released to
the public domain for free and for public use.
Productivity Software
3. Productivity Software
a. Word Processing Software- allows user to create and
manipulate documents that contain text graphic. e.g MS
Word
b. Spreadsheet Software- allows user to enter data into rows and
columns and perform computations or make graphs based on the
data given. e.g MS Excel
c. Database Software-allows user to manage data by organizing these
in database table. e.g. MS Access
Productivity Software
3. Productivity Software
d. Presentation Graphic Software- allows user to create
presentations that communicate ideas, messages and other
information through a slide show. E.g MS Powerpoint
e. Personal Information Manager Software – allows user to
maintain an address book and appointment calendar and make use
of notepad to record ideas and reminders. e.g. MS Outlook
f. Project Management Software – allows user to plan, schedule
track and analyze the progress of a project. E.g. MS Project,
Onenote
4. Graphics and Multimedia
a. Computer Aided Design (CAD) – Allows user to create
engineering architectural and scientific designs. E.g.
AUTOCAD
b. Desktop Publishing Software – allows user to design and
produce page layout and sophisticated documents. E.g. MS
Publisher
c. Web Page Design Software – Allows user ot design and
produce webpages. E.g. Adobe Dreamweaver
4. Graphics and Multimedia
d. Image Editing Software – gives user the capability to
modify existing images. e.g. Photoshop
e. Video/Audio Editing Software – allows user o modify
video/audio segments. e.g. Powerdirector
f. Multimedia Authoring Software – allows user to create
electronic interactive presentation that can include text
images, video, audio and animations. e.g. Adobe Flash
5. Home, Personal and Educational Use
a. Integrated Software – combines several productivity
software applications that share a similar interface and
common features into a single package.
b. Personal Finance Software – is an accounting program that
helps pay bills, balances a checkbook, tracks income and
expenses, follows investment and evaluates financial plans.
c. Legal Software – assists in the creation of legal documents
and provides legal advice.
5. Home, Personal and Educational Use
d. Photo-editing Software – is used to edit digital
photographs.
e. Clip Art/Image Gallery – is a collection of clip arts and
photographs that can be used in all types of documents.
f. Landscaping Software – assists users in planting and
remodeling.
g. Educational Software – teaches users a particular skill and
gives lesson about any subject
h. Entertainment Software – includes interactive games,
videos and other programs designed to support a hobby or
provide amusement.
6. Communications
a. Email Software – are used to create, send, receive, forward,
store, print and delete electronic mail.
b. b. Web Browser – is a software application used to access
and view web pages.
c. c. Chat Client Software – allows to connect to a chat room
and chat via computer.
d. d. Newsreader Software – is used to participate in a
newsgroup. It is an online area on the web where users
conduct written discussion about a particular subject.
6. Communications
e. Instant Messenger Software – is used or instant messaging
(IM) a real time communications service that notifies the
user when one or more people are online and allows the user
to exchange messages or files with them.
f. Groupware Software – help groups of people on a network
to work together and share information.
g. Video Conference Software – allows a meeting between two
or more geographically separated users to use a network of
the internet to transmit audio and video data.