BASIC COMPUTER

CONCEPT

Lesson 1
 COMPONENTS OF A COMPUTER SYSTEM

HARDWARE SOFTWARE

APPLICATION SYSTEM
SYSTEM UNIT PERIPHERALS SOFTWARE SOFTWARE
Computer Hardware
– is the physical components of a
computer system, including peripheral
equipment such as printer, modems, and
mouse devices.
4 Basic Hardware Components:

1. Input device (or input unit)

2. CPU (Central Processing Unit)

3. Memory (or Memory unit)
4. Output device (Output unit)
System Unit
is the metal and plastic box that contains the
main components of the computer, including the
motherboard, central processing unit (CPU), and
power supply. The front of the case usually has
an On/Off button and one or more optical drives.
Computer Case
• Where all of the components are stored.

• The computer case serves mainly as a

way to physically mount and contain all of
the actual computer components.

• Cases typically come bundled with a

power supply.
 Computer Case
Two types of casing:
– Tower
– Desktop

• Desktop and tower computers are two

different styles of computer case that
use desk space in varying ways.

• Desktop computers are designed to

lay flat on the desk, while towers stand
upright
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
This acts as the “brain of the computer” , CPU will
interpret and executes the program instructions and
coordinates how all the other hardware devices
work together.
Computer Memory
refers to the computer hardware devices involved to
store information for immediate use in a computer.

There are two categories of memory

o Primary Memory (Main Memory)

o Secondary Memory (Auxiliary Memory/Storage Devices)

Primary Memory
This is the main memory of the
computer where data and programs are
placed for execution by the CPU. The
memory is also directly connected to
the motherboard through a slot also
called a socket.

1.RAM (Random Access Memory) - is a

temporary memory. The information stored in
this memory is lost as the power supply to the
computer is turned off. That’s why it is also
called Volatile Memory. It stores the data and
instruction given by the user and also the
results produced by the computer temporarily.
Secondary Memory
Hard Disk Drive - It is a non-volatile,
random access digital data storage device.
It is a data storage device used for storing
and retrieving digital information using
rotating disks (platters) coated with
magnetic material. All programs of a
computer are installed on a hard disk.

ROM(Read Only Memory) - information stored in

ROM is permanent in nature, i.e., it holds the data
even if the system is switched off. It holds the
starting instructions for the computer. ROM cannot
be overwritten by the computer. It is also called
Non-Volatile Memory.
 COMPONENTS OF A COMPUTER SYSTEM

HARDWARE SOFTWARE

APPLICATION SYSTEM
SYSTEM UNIT PERIPHERALS SOFTWARE SOFTWARE
Peripherals
– Any external device that is used to put
information into or get information out of the
computer.

INPUT OUTPUT STORAGE

Used to interact with or Provides output to the Stores data processed by
send data to the user from the computer the computer
computer
INPUT DEVICES
- is a tool used to capture information and commands
Examples include:
Keyboard
Point-of-sale (POS)
Microphone
Mouse
Bar code reader
Scanner
Keyboard
- is the main input device of most computer. It has additional
keys to handle special functions required by a computer.

Parts of the keyboard:

o Alphanumeric Keys (Alphabet & Numeric)
o Special purpose keys
o Function Keys
o Numeric keys
 Mouse
- A small hand-held device that controls the position of the cursor &
select items on the computer screen.

Mouse Cable
Hand Stroke Scroll Wheel

o Right Click- an item by pressing and Right Mouse Button

releasing the right mouse button.

o Click- means pressing and releasing the

one button at a time.

o Dragging- is the procedure for moving or

copying an object from one place to
another on the screen with the mouse.

o Double click- command means press and

release the left mouse button TWICE in Left Mouse Button
quick succession.
Palm Rest
Other Input Devices
Joystick
- is also a pointing devices which is used to move cursor
position on a monitor screen.

Light Pen
- is a pointing device which is similar to pen. It is used to select
a displayed menu item or draw pictures on the monitor screen.

Scanner
- is an input device which works more like a photocopy
machine. It is used when some information is available on a paper
and it is to be transferred to the hard disc of the computer for
further manipulation.
Other Input Devices
Digitizer
- is an input device which converts analog information
into digital form. Digitizer can convert a signal from the
television or camera into series of number that could be
stored in a computer.

Magnetic Ink Card Reader (MICR)

- is generally used in banks because of a large number of
cheques to be processed every day.

Optical Character Reader (OCR)

- is an input device used to read a printed text. OCR
scans text optically character by character, converts them
into a machine readable code and stores the text on the
system memory.
Other Input Devices
Bar Code Reader
- is a device used for reading bar code data
(data in form of light and dark lines). Bar coded data is
generally used in labelling goods, numbering the books
etc.

Optical Mark Reader (OMR)

- is a special type of optical scanner used to recognize
the type of mark made by pen or pencil. It is used where
one out of a few alternatives is to be selected and marked. It
is specially used for checking the answer sheets of
examinations having multiple choice questions.
OUTPUT DEVICES
- is the equipment used to see, hear, or
otherwise accept the results of information
processing.
o Monitor
o Graphic Plotter
o Printer
o Speaker
Monitor
- is commonly called as Visual Display Unit, is the main
output device of a computer. It forms images from tiny
dots, called pixels that are arranged in a rectangular
form. The sharpness of the image depends upon the
number of pixels.
There are two kinds of viewing screens used for the monitor.
o Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) Monitor - This is a type
of monitor, is large and consume more electricity
o Flat-Panel Display Monitor
• Emissive Displays – are devices that convert
electrical energy into light. Example are: plasma
panel and LED (Light-Emitting Diodes)

• Non-Emissive Display – use optical effects to

convert sunlight or light from some other source
into graphics patterns. An Example is LCD ( Liquid-
Crystal Display)
LCD Monitor Panel Types
• TN – (Twisted Nematic Panel)
• IPS – (In-Plane Switching Panel)
• VA– (Vertical Alignment Panel)
• OLED – (Organic Light Emitting Diode Panel)
• PLS – (Plane-to-Line Switching Panel)
• AHVA – (Advance Hyper Viewing Angle Panel)
Printer
- is an output device that is used to print information on paper.

There are two types of printers

o Impact Printers – print the characters by striking them on the ribbon

which is then pressing on the paper.

include:

Dot Matrix-Printer - is a type of computer

printing that uses a print head that moves back-and-
forth, or in an up-and-down motion, on the page and
prints by impact, striking an ink-soaked cloth ribbon
against the paper, much like the print mechanism on
a typewriter
Other example for Impact Printer

Line Printer

- This is a fast printer that prints one row at a time. This can print
about 3000 lines per minute
o Non-Impact Printers
– print the characters without using ribbon. These print a
complete page at a time so they are also called Page
Printers.

Laser Printer- is an electrostatic digital

printing process. It produces high-quality
text and graphics by repeatedly passing a
laser beam back and forth over a
negatively charged cylinder called a
"drum" to define a differentially charged
image
Other example for Non-Impact Printer

Inkjet Printers - is a type of computer

printing that recreates a digital image by
propelling droplets of ink onto paper, plastic,
or other substrates

Multifunction Printer - is an office machine that

incorporates the functionality of multiple devices
in one A typical MFP may act as a combination of
some or all of the following
devices: Email, Fax, Photocopier, Printer, Scanner.
Speaker
Devices that allow you to hear sound from the
computer.
Plotter
This is commonly used in computer-based planning
(architectural designs, town planning, designing
sailing boats, etc.) A plan is drawn by moving a pen
on the paper.
STORAGE DEVICES
- it means to hold and store data from present
and future use.
Optical Drive - It is a storage device that
uses a laser to read data on the optical
media.

a. Compact Disk (CD)

b. Digital Versatile Disc (DVD)
c. Blue-ray Disc (BD)
Other different types of secondary storage devices

Optical Disk:
•Compact Disk (CD) - is capable of being used as a data
storage device along with storing of digital audio.

•Digital Video Disk (DVD) – is also known as super Density

Disk (SD). It is an optical storage device that reads data
faster than a CD.A single layer, single sided DVD can store
data up to 4.7 GB ,i.e., around 6 times than that of CD and a
double layer DVD can store data up to 17.08 GB ,i.e., around
25 times that of CD

•Blue-ray Disk - Blue-ray disk (official abbreviation BD) is an

optical disk storage medium designed to recapture the data
normally in DVD format. Blu-ray discs contain 25 GB (23.31
GB) Per Layer space.
Pen/Thumb Drive - is also known as a flash drive. A flash drive is a data storage
device that consists of flash memory (key memory) with a portable USB
(universal Serial Bus) interface. USB flash drives are typically removable,
writable and much smaller than a floppy disk. A USB flash drive is the same as
the size of a thumb that plugs into a USB port on the computer.
External Hard Disk- is just a hard disk drive (HDD) or
solid-state drive (SSD) that needs to be connected to the
computer rather than being inside the computer. External
hard disks are sometimes referred to as portable hard
drives or mobile hard drives.
Motherboard
- is considered the main board of a Computer system
that holds all the connectors and circuitry to connect
several system components
Motherboard or MOBO
Complete set-up of a computer system
Block Diagram of Computer