PROCESSING SYSTEM

Once data has been input into the computer and stored, the computer must be able to retrieve

and manipulate it in useful ways. This task is handled by the hardware that makes up the central

processing system, which includes the primary memory, the central processing unit (CPU), expansion

cards, ports, buses, and connectors. The various parts of the computer system are connected through a

printed circuit board called the system board or motherboard. The system board contains the primary

memory, the CPU, the system clock, expansion slots, and expansion ports. In a PC, the central processing

system is housed a box-like case called the system case or system unit.

MEMORY. As discussed above, instructions and data needed for immediate processing are

usually placed in memory. A computer has two types of memory: volatile and nonvolatile. They are used

for the long- and short-term retention of information, respectively. RAM and cache are examples of

volatile memory—the primary memory. ROM and CMOS are examples of nonvolatile memory.

Random-access memory (RAM) temporarily holds data, the operating system (instructions that

control the computer’s operation), and application software (instructions that manipulate data). The

operating system resides in RAM only while the computer is turned on. The application software remains

in RAM only while it is being used. Unless there is enough RAM to hold the application software for

more than one program at a time, when new application software is retrieved from secondary storage, it

is loaded into RAM, replacing the application software that was previously residing there. Most current

computers have enough RAM to run several applications simultaneously, a process called multitasking.

Data and instructions about to be processed are in RAM, as are the output of the processes. Recall that the

data and instructions in working memory (i.e., RAM) are electronically stored, as opposed to being

magnetically or optically stored. Thus, when the computer is shut down, all instructions and data in

RAM are lost because the flow of electricity ceases. In RAM, any address can be randomly accessed at any

time; hence the name random-access memory.

Cache memory is very fast RAM. It is used to store frequently used instructions. Computers that
have cache memory process data faster than computers without it because data travels faster from cache

to the CPU than from RAM to the CPU. Some cache is built directly in the processor chip, while other

cache is in a chip external to the processor chip.

Read-only memory (ROM) contains instructions that the computer uses to operate various

aspects of the hardware. Unlike RAM, the information stored in the ROM chip is not lost when the

computer is turned off. However, this information is written in the factory and cannot be altered by the

user. ROM, for example, contains the instructions the computer follows to load the operating system

when first turned on.

Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS), like ROM, is also nonvolatile memory.

Unlike ROM, the user can change CMOS. For example, CMOS contains date and time information that

the user can update.

CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT (CPU). The CPU consists of two components—an arithmetic/logic

unit (ALU) and a control unit. The ALU performs arithmetic calculations (addition, subtraction,

multiplication, and division), comparisons (greater than, less than, and equal to), and logical operations

(and, or, and not). All transformations of "meaningless" data into "useful" information ultimately are the

result of these three functions. The control unit retrieves instructions and data from primary memory and

determines which instructions the ALU will carry out. The CPU also contains registers, which are

temporary holding areas where data resides before an instruction is executed. Note the multiple layers of

information retention required by the computer: storage (where information is kept long-term), memory

(where information is kept short-term), and registers (where information is kept during processing). In a

PC, the CPU is usually contained in one chip, called the microprocessor or simply, processor; e.g., the Intel

Pentium III and the AMD Athlon. In larger computers, several chips are required.

The processing or transformation of data into information is called the Processing or Machine cycle.

The Machine cycle consists of two subsidiary cycles called the Instruction cycle and the Execution cycle,

each performing two processes, for a total of four stages. The ALU, primary memory, and the control unit
are involved in these cycles. In the Instruction cycle, the control unit first (1) fetches—the technical term—

instructions from the registers, where the data to be processed is also being kept. The control unit next (2)

decodes the instruction and sends it to the ALU, the thinking part of the processor. Now the Execution

cycle begins. The ALU (3) executes the instructions by performing an arithmetic, comparison, or logical

operation on the data in the registers. The result is then (4) stored or written to the registers where it will

eventually be displayed and saved in memory or storage. The time to complete the both the Instruction

cycle and Execution cycle is called machine time.

One measurement of the capacity of a computer system is how much RAM can be addressed.

This depends on the number of bits in an address. In the 1970s, microcomputers had a 16-bit address, or

65,536 bytes of addressable memory. Today’s microcomputers have a 32-bit address, which is over four

billion bytes of addressable memory.

A RAM address location stores either data or instructions. The size of the address—that is, the

number of bits at a specific address location—is called the word size. A computer address can have a word

size of 8, 16, 32, or 64 bits. The CPU chip is considered to be an 8-, 16-, 32-, or 64-bit CPU, according to its

capacity to receive data from RAM. The larger the word size, the more data the control unit can fetch

from RAM.

SYSTEM CLOCK. The system clock, a vibrating quartz crystal chip that emits pulses, synchronizes

the operations of the CPU. The frequency of these pulses is the CPU’s clock speed, which is measured in

megahertz (MHz). (One megahertz equals one million cycles per second.) A CPU requires a fixed number

of clock cycles to execute an instruction. Thus, the faster the clock speed, the faster the computer can

process instructions. The newest Intel Pentium III and the AMD Athlon microprocessors have clock

speeds over 1000 MHz (or 1 GHz).

Another way to describe the CPU’s speed is by how many instructions it can process per second.

This measurement is given in millions of instructions per second (MIPS). Megahertz is a better

benchmark than MIPS because a computer’s system clock is constant, whereas instructions vary in their
difficulty and thus in the number of cycles required for their completion. A computer performing simple

instructions would be faster in terms of MIPS than the same computer performing more complex

instructions. For such reasons, IBM no longer advertises the MIPS capability of its computers.

In addition to increasing clock speed, processing may also be enhanced by pipelining, coprocessing,

and parallel processing. Traditionally, the entire Machine cycle (fetch, decode, execute, and store) has to be

completed before the next one can start. Pipelining allows the CPU to begin a second Machine cycle

before the first cycle is complete. With full pipelining, up to four cycles may be processed in a CPU

simultaneously. Coprocessors increase computer performance by the use of a specialized chip that

handles specific tasks, thereby freeing up the main processor to do other work. Common examples are

graphics coprocessors for displaying images on the monitor and floating-point coprocessors for handling

arithmetic calculations. Parallel processing enables a computer to use multiple processors to solve a

single problem. Special software divides the problem in to several parts, assigns the parts to different

processors where that parts are solve simultaneously, resembles the partial solutions, and completes any

remaining problem solving. Not all problems can be solved by this method and it is not usually found in

PCs.

EXPANSION SLOTS. Peripheral devices, such as keyboards, disk drives, and monitors, are

connected to the computer through expansion circuit boards (also called expansion cards, adapter cards,

add-ins, add-ons, and interface cards) plugged into the expansion slots provided on the motherboard.

Types of expansion cards include:

 A disk controller card connecting a disk drive

 An accelerator card increasing CPU speed

 A video graphic card connecting a monitor

 A fax/modem card connecting a telephone line

 A memory card for adding memory

 A PC-TV card for connecting to a television

 A game card connecting a joystick

 An interface card connecting peripherals such as mouse devices and scanners

 A local area network card connecting other computers

Laptops and notebooks have a special type of expansion card called a PC card. Unlike desktop-

type expansion cards, you can add or change a PC card without opening the system case of the computer.

The PC card is simply plugged into the appropriate opening in the laptop or notebook. PC cards can be

used to add memory, fax/modem, disk drives, and sound capabilities. Most PC cards follow standards

developed by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA). Following the

PCMCIA standards allow various PC cards to be interchanged between laptops and notebooks produced

by different manufacturers.

BUSES. Data in the form of electric on-off signals (bits) travel along pathways called buses that

connect the various parts of the computer. There are two types of buses: system buses and expansion buses.

The system bus connects the CPU to primary memory, allowing instructions and data to be exchanged.

Expansion buses connect the CPU to peripheral devices, allowing data to travel from the CPU to the

expansion slots and out through the expansion cards to the peripheral devices attached to the computer.

Buses consist of sets of parallel wires or lines. Each line carries one bit. (Eight bits equal one byte.)

Thus, a bus is measured by how many bits it can carry simultaneously. The wider the bus, the more

information it can carry. Most current computers have either 32-bit or 64-bit bus width. Another measure

of buses is their clock speed, measured in MHz. Like the processor, the bus clock speed determines how

fast the bus functions. Bus speeds are typically less than 200 MHz, much less than current processor clock

speeds.

Expansion buses are usually slower at transferring information than system buses. The expansion

buses also determine the types of expansion cards that can be added to the computer. Three of the most

common expansion buses, listed in order of speed, are:

 Industry Standard Architecture (ISA). This bus is the slowest and most common expansion
 bus. It is used to connect mouse devices, modems, sound cards, and some network cards.

 Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP). This expansion bus is faster than the ISA, and is used to

connect video cards and memory.

 Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI). A high-speed expansion bus used to connect hard

disks, video cards, and network cards.

The Universal Serial Bus (USB) uses a new approach to connecting peripheral devices to the

computer. It does away with the need to install new expansion cards for each new device. Instead, USB-

capable devices are connected to each other in a daisy chain, and only one device is actually connected to

the computer through a cable attached to the USB port. The USB port feeds into the USB, which in turn

connects to the PCI, and then on to the motherboard.

BUFFERS AND CHANNELS. Peripheral devices are very slow compared to the speed of the CPU.

To keep the computer running efficiently, data traveling to and from peripheral devices are placed in a

buffer. A buffer is a storage area where data reside before being processed.

Microcomputers have buffers in RAM and in peripheral devices such as printers. The CPU

coordinates data being transferred to and from peripheral devices by using buffers. When the buffer is

empty, the CPU is interrupted and a special request is made to fill the buffer with more data.

On mainframe computers, channels are used to send data to and from peripheral devices.

Channels are small computers that control the flow of data to and from peripheral devices. Buffers hold

the data while the channels coordinate the sending of the data. Together, channels and buffers adjust for

the differences in speed of peripheral devices. As a result, they increase throughput, which is the time a

computer system requires to complete tasks.

PORTS. Peripheral devices, such as keyboards, monitors, printers, and mouse devices, must be

connected to the PC system case. This connection is made by attaching a cable from the device to an

interface point called a port. Most ports and cables have connectors that either male, with exposed pins, or

female, with matching holes for the exposed pins. The number of holes and pins ranges from 5 to 36.

There are three main types of ports. Serial ports transmit and receive data one bit at a time. One
wire in the cable is used to send a single bit stream of data, while another wire receives a single bit stream

of data. Serial ports are the slowest of the three types of ports for data transmission. Parallel ports are

capable of transmitting and receiving more than one bit at a time. Most parallel ports are able to send and

receive streams of 8 bits (1 byte) data simultaneously. These ports achieve this higher transfer rate by

having 8 wires dedicated for sending data and 8 wires dedicated for receiving data. Parallel ports are

much faster than serial ports. Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports can connect up to 127 different external

devices at a once with a single connector by means of a daisy chaining the devices together.

There are also several types of special purpose ports. Three of the most popular are:

 Musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) ports for connecting musical instruments, such as an

electronic keyboard

 Small computer system interface (SCSI) ports for connecting peripheral devices that require high-

speed data transfer; e.g., printers and disk drives. SCSI-equipped devices can also be daisy

chained together, similar to USB-capable devices.

 Infrared Data Association (IrDA) ports for connecting external devices without cables by means

of infrared transmission of data

OUTPUT SYSTEM

Like the input system, the output system provides an interface through which computers and

humans can interact with one another. However, now the human is on the receiving end of the process.

Output devices are used to display input data that has been processed by the computer into useful output

information. Through its output system, the computer presents the data it contains in a form that the user

can understand. The presentation is typically in one of four forms: graphics (e.g., charts and

photographs), text (e.g., words and numbers), video (e.g., photographic images in motion), or audio (e.g.,

music and speech). Probably the most common output devices are monitors for producing temporary

displays (soft copies) and printers for producing paper copies of documents (hard copies).

MONITORS. A monitor, or screen, can display graphics, text, and video output. To display video in
the monitor, the computer needs a video card (or graphics card) for converting the digital signal (i.e., data in

the form of 0s and 1s) from the processor to an analog signal (i.e., data in the form of a continuous

electrical wave) that the monitor can interpret.

Monitors are described in two ways. The first is by the number of colors that the screen can

display. This can range from 4 to 65,536. The second is by the quality, or resolution, of the screen, which is

measured in picture elements (pixels). Pixels are tiny dots of light that combine to form images on the

screen. Typical screens have 320 × 220 pixels, 640 × 480 pixels, or 1,024 × 768 pixels. The more pixels a

screen has, the greater its resolution. Both color and resolution are important for determining the

performance and quality of a computer monitor.

The IBM-compatible color/graphic monitors have evolved from the Color Graphic Adapter

(CGA) technology, which featured 4 colors and a resolution of 320 × 220, through the Enhanced Graphic

Adapter (EGA) and the Video Graphics Array (VGA) technologies. The current state-of-the-art for the

personal computer is the Super Video Graphics Array (SVGA); for these monitors, the number of colors

varies from 256 to 65,536, and the resolution varies from 800 × 600 to 1,600 × 1,200.

Monitors come in three main varieties: cathode-ray tubes (CRT), flat-screen liquid-crystal

displays (LCD), and gas-plasma displays. All of these are now capable of either monochrome (black-and-

white) or color displays. Desktop PCs usually come with CRTs, although flat-screen LCDs are becoming

more common. Flat-screen LCDs are generally used in notebooks and laptops. The common desktop CRT

sizes range from 15 to 21 inches. Laptop LCDs sizes are commonly 14.1 to 15.1 inches. Gas-plasma

displays are capable of larger displays with good resolution and can be in excess of 42 inches.

PRINTERS. It was once thought that as computers became more common in business and in the

home, we would move toward a “paperless society.” That is, all data would be circulated and used in

electronic form, eliminating the need for printed material. This vision has yet to be realized. In businesses,

homes, and most settings where computers are found, users still produce hard copy (information in

printed form). For most applications, soft copy (information in electronic form) is not adequate.

To produce hard copy, a computer must be connected to a printer. This is typically done through
a parallel port, which enables the computer to communicate with the printer one byte at a time.

Microcomputers may have one or more parallel ports.

When microcomputers first invaded the workplace, the most popular type of printer was the dot-

matrix printer, which can still be found in service today. These inexpensive printers are appropriate for

tasks that do not require high-quality images. As its name implies, the dot-matrix printer produces a

series of dots in a matrix to form both characters and images. A print head containing 9, 18, or 24 tiny

pins strikes an inked ribbon to create the dots that make up the image on paper. The number of pins

determines the quality of the output; the greater the number, the smoother the output.

In the 1980s, business people who wanted better-quality output than a dot-matrix printer could

provide began to use daisy-wheel printers. The printing element of this type of printer is a round plastic

disk that resembles a daisy, with petals protruding from the center. The “petals” each contain a letter,

number, or other character. When printing, the daisy wheel rotates to bring the desired character into

position, and a “hammer” strikes the wheel, forcing the character to press against an inked ribbon and

mark the paper. Daisy-wheel printers do not produce graphic images.

Thanks to its decreasing cost and very high image quality, the laser printer has become the printer

of choice for most microcomputer applications. The laser printer can produce both characters of any size

and high-quality graphic images. A laser beam draws the desired image on the printer’s metal drum. The

drum attracts toner (powdered ink) where the light strikes it, and the image is transferred from the drum

to the paper using heat.

A fourth type of printer used with microcomputers is the ink-jet printer, which produces letter-

quality images by spraying droplets of ink onto the surface of the paper. It has many of the advantages of

the laser printer, including high-quality output and the ability to produce both characters and graphic

images. In addition, ink-jet printers are often less expensive than laser printers and can produce color

images of very good quality.

The resolution quality of both laser printers and ink-jet printers is measured in the number of

dots per inch (dpi) the printer is able to produce when generating characters: the higher the dpi, the
greater the resolution of the characters. The average PC printer today provides 300 to 600 dpi. High-

quality laser printers go up to 1200 dpi, while high-quality ink-jet printers range up to 1440 dpi.

Chain printers are often used with mainframe computers. Chain printers are extremely fast,

producing up to 3,000 lines per minute. A chain with characters on it revolves in front of the paper; when

the desired character passes by, the hammer in that position presses the paper and inked ribbon against

the chain.

OTHER OUTPUT DEVICES. Plotters are used in some settings to produce architectural drawings,

bar charts, and high-quality graphic images. They often use paper that is larger than most printers can

handle. There are three types of plotters. Pen plotters use colored pens positioned so that a mechanical

arm can access them. The mechanical arm draws the graphic image with one colored pen, then selects

another, repeating the process until the image is complete. Pen plotters are widely used and produce very

high quality images. Electrostatic plotters use electrostatic charges to create images on specially treated

paper. This paper must then be developed like a photograph to produce high-resolution images. Direct-

image plotters, also called thermal plotters, create images on heat sensitive paper. This process is limited

to two-color output.

Speakers and headsets are the two most common devices used for audio output. A voice output

device produces voice commands by imitating phonic sounds. These prerecorded phonic sounds produce

synthetic-sounding words. Some telephone companies use voice output to automate directory assistance,

and some automobiles contain voice output devices that remind drivers to fasten their seat belts.

Projectors are used to display graphics, text, video output from a computer. In the case of

projectors, the output is displayed onto a screen for an audience to view instead of into a monitor for a

single user's viewing. Like monitors, projectors are attached to the computer through a parallel port.

Projector technology varies widely, but the two most common types are LCDs projectors and digital light

processing (DLP) projectors.