Unit I : Computer Systems and Organisation

Topic : Basic Computer Organisation

Introduction : A computer is an electronic device, under the control of instructions stored in its
memory that can accept data (input), process the data according to specified rules(Program), produce
information (output), and store the information for future use.

Data vs Information:

• Data are raw numbers or other findings which, by themselves, are of limited value.

• Information is data that has been converted into a meaningful and useful context.

Functionalities of a computer: Any digital computer performs following functions.

 Take data as input

 Stores data/instructions

 Process those stored data

 Generate the output

 Control all above steps

Basic Computer Organization:

Input Units: A device through which data and programs from the outside world enter the computer
system.

Output Units: A device through which results stored in the computer memory are made available
outside the computer system.

Control Unit:

Control Unit organizes the computer to work computer as single unit.

Arithmetic/Logic Unit performs basic arithmetic operations such as addition and subtraction

Memory A collection of cells, each with a unique physical address. Most computers are byte-
addressable

Cell at address 1100101101 contains 1111110111

Cell address
Value Stored

Input Devices: Input devices can send data or information to a computer or another device.
Keyboard: It is an input device which sends data in to the computer. The data send depends on the
key pressed by the user.

Mouse: A mouse is a small handheld input device which controls a cursor in a graphical user
interface. It can move and select text, files, folders etc. on our computer according to the user input.

Scanner: Scanner optically reads and document, file or image and then changes it into digital signal
and sends to the computer.

OMR: optical mark recognition/ reader, is used to read marks on a document and send them to
computer.

OCR: OCR stands for optical character Recognition, is an input device which reads printed text and
sends that to computer.

MICR: Magnetic Ink Character Reader is an input device which generally finds application is banks
to process cheques.

Microphone: it receives audio generated by some input source and sends the same to a computer.

Webcam: it sends the captured images to a computer.

Graphics Tablets: This input device is used to draw using hand.

Trackballs: an upside down mouse ,encased within a socket. Is a cursor control device.

Barcodereader: It is used to read the barcode of various items and feed the same to computer.

Gamepad: Also known as joy pad is the input controller for video games.

Joystick: these input devices are used to control video games.

Output Devices: A device that can receive data from computer or another device and create output
with that data is called output device. Examples of various output devices are as :

Monitor: A monitor is an output device that is responsible for receiving data from a computer and
displaying that information as text or images for users to see.

Speakers: Receives sound signal from a computer and then plays that sound signal and thus we hear
songs or music or any other audio.

Projector: Gets data from a computer and displays or projects the same information onto a screen
or a wall. Projector cannot directly accept data from a user and send that data to another
device.generated by some input source and sends the same to a computer.

Both Input/Output Devices : An input/output device is capable of receiving data from users or
another devices and also sending data to another devices or computers. That means a devices which
can be used as both input device and output device are called Input / Output (I/O) devices. Some
examples of input/output devices are as:

USB drive: Also known as pen drive or flash stick works as both input device to computer and as an
output device. USB drives receive or save data from a computer as an input and it can also send data
to a computer or another device.
Facsimile: Facsimile or FAX machine has a scanner which is an input device and a small printer to
provide output.

Modems: It is used to transmit and receive data from one computer to another computer or other
devices using telephone lines

CD-RW drives and DVD-RW drives: Receives data from a computer as input to copy onto and save
into writable CD or DVD. We also use CDs or DVDs to transfer data to a computer.

Touch Screen: Touch screen is both input and output device. By touching the screen input is
provided and being a screen, it is used as an output device.

Headsets: Headset consists of speaker as an output device and microphone functions as an input
device.

Memory Units:

Name Equal To Size(In Bytes)

Bit 1 Bit 1/8
Nibble 4 Bits 1/2 (rare)
Byte 8 Bits 1
Kilobyte 1024 Bytes 1024
Megabyte 1, 024 Kilobytes 1, 048, 576
Gigabyte 1, 024 Megabytes 1, 073, 741, 824
Terabyte 1, 024 Gigabytes 1, 099, 511, 627, 776
Petabyte 1, 024 Terabytes 1, 125, 899, 906, 842, 624
Exabyte 1, 024 Petabytes 1, 152, 921, 504, 606, 846, 976
Zettabyte 1, 024 Exabytes 1, 180, 591, 620, 717, 411, 303, 424
Yottabyte 1, 024 Zettabytes 1, 208, 925, 819, 614, 629, 174, 706, 176

Storage Devices:

Primary
Random Access Memory (RAM)
Memory in which each location can be accessed and changed
Read Only Memory (ROM)
Memory in which each location can be accessed but not changed
RAM is volatile, ROM is not

Secondary Storage Devices

HDD
Magnetic Tape
mass auxiliary storage device
 ROM vs RAM

1. ROM stands for Read Only Memory. RAM stands for Random Access Memory.
2. ROM data is permanent. Data remains RAM data is volatile. Data is present till power
even after power supply is not present. supply is present.
3. ROM data is readonly. RAM data can be read, erased or modified.
4. ROM is used to store data that in needed RAM is used to store data that CPU needs for
to bootstrap the computer. current instruction processing.
5. ROM speed is slower than RAM. RAM speed is quite high.
6. Data to be copied from ROM to RAM so CPU can access data stored on RAM.
that CPU can access its data.
7. ROM is generally small and of low capacity. RAM memory is large and high capacity.
8. ROM is used as firmware by RAM is used as CPU Cache, Primary Memory.
microcontrollers.
9. ROM is cheap. RAM is costly.

Evaluation of Computer:
Data Transfer between Memory and CPU

Data are transferred between different components of a computer system using physical wires
called bus.

 Data bus : Transfers data between different components.

 Address bus : Transfers addresses between CPU and main memory.

 Control bus : Communicates control signals between different components of a computer.

Microprocessors

 A processor (CPU) which is implemented on single microchip is called microprocessor.

 Microprocessor is a small-sized electronic component inside a computer that carries out

various tasks involved in data processing as well as arithmetic and logical operations.

 These days, a microprocessor is built over an integrated circuit comprising millions of small
components like resistors, transistors and diodes.
Microprocessor Specification:

Microprocessors are classified on the basis of different features which include chip type, word size,
memory size, clock speed, etc.

 Word Size: Word size is the maximum number of bits that a microprocessor can process at a
time.

 Memory Size: Depending upon the word size, the size of RAM

 Clock Speed : Computers have an internal clock that generates pulses (signals) at regular
intervals of time.

 Cores : Core is a basic computation unit of the CPU.

Microprocessors

Maximum
Generation Era Chip type Word size memory Clock Speed Cores Example
size
108 KHz-
First 1971-73 LSI 4 / 8 bit 1 KB Single Intel 8080
200 KHz
Second 1974-78 LSI 8 bit 1 MB Upto 2 MHz Single Motorola 6800 Intel 8085
4 MHz – 6
Third 1979-80 VLSI 16 bit 16 MB Single Intel 8086
MHz
Upto 133 Intel 80386 Motorola
Fourth 1981-95 VLSI 32 bit 4GB Single
MHz 68030
1995 till 533 MHz –
Fifth SLSI 64 bit 64 GB Multicore Pentium, Celeron, Xeon
date 34 GHz

Microcontroller & Microprocessor

The microcontroller is a small computing device which has a CPU, a fixed amount of RAM, ROM and
other peripherals all embedded on a single chip as compared to microprocessor that has only a CPU
on the chip.
 Software
Hardware needs to be operated by a set of instructions. These sets of instructions are referred to as
software.
 A software knows how to make different hardware
components of a computer work and communicate with each
other as well as with the end-user.
 The software comprises a set of instructions which on
execution deliver the desired outcome.
 Depending on the mode of interaction with hardware and
functions to be performed, the software can be broadly
classified into three categories:
 System software,
 Programming tools and
 Application software.

System software: The software that provides the basic functionality

to operate a computer by interacting directly with its constituent
hardware is termed as system software.
Examples of system software include operating systems, system utilities, device drivers, etc.
Operating System: An operating system is the most basic system software, without which other
software cannot work. The operating system manages other application programs and provides access
and security to the users of the system. Some of the popular operating systems are: Windows, Linux,
Macintosh, Ubuntu, Android, iOS.

System Utility:
Software used for maintenance and configuration of the computer system is called system utility.
 Some system utilities are shipped with the operating system.
Example Tools:
• disk defragmentation tool,
• formatting utility,
• system restore utility, etc.
 Another set of utilities are those which are not shipped with the operating system but are
required to improve the performance of the system.
Example:
• anti-virus software,
• disk cleaner tool,
• disk compression software, etc.
Device Drivers:
The purpose of a device driver is to ensure proper functioning of a particular device. The device
driver acts as an interface between the device and the operating system. It provides required
services by hiding the details of operations performed at the hardware level of the device.

Programming tools:
 It is important to understand here that computers can understand only 0s and 1s i.e, binary.
 In order to get some work done by the computer, we need to give instructions which are
applied on the input data to get the desired outcome.
 Computer languages are developed for writing these instructions.
  Humans are able to write programs in high-level language, computers understand machine
language through translators.
 to write the instruction, code editors (IDLE) are needed.
Classification of Programming Language:
 Low level language
• Machine language (0s and 1s) • Assembly language
Difficult to write the instructions
Machine dependent.
 High level language
Similar to English following rules
Machine Independent
Example: C, C++, Python, Java, etc.,
Language Tanslators
 Assembler
 Compiler and
 Interpreter

Programming Development Tools

 An editor is a software that allows us to create a text file where we type instructions and
store the file as the source code.
 An appropriate translator is used to get the object code for execution.
 In order to simplify the program development, there are software called Integrated
Development Environment (IDE).IDE Consist of following:
• Text editor
• Building tools and
• Debugger.
Operating System (OS):
 It is the most important system software.
 An operating system can be considered to be a resource manager which manages all the
resources of a computer.
 Controls various application software and device drivers, manages system security and
handles access by different users.
 Main objectives of an OS:
 Provide services for building and running application programs. When an
application
 provide an interface to the user through which the user can interact with the
computer.

Types of User Interface of OS

 Command based user interface  Voice based user interface
 Graphical user interface  Gesture based user interface
 Touch based user interface
Functions of Operating System
 Process Management  Memory Management
 File Management  Device Management