There are four basic functions that a computer can perform:

Data processing Data may take a wide variety of forms and the range of processing requirements is broad
Data storage Short-term Long-term Data movement Input-output (I/O) - when data are received from or delivered to a
device (peripheral) that is directly connected to the computer Data communications – when data are moved over longer
distances, to or from a remote device Control A control unit manages the computer’s resources and orchestrates the
performance of its functional parts in response to instructions.
Central processing unit (CPU)
Portion of the computer that fetches and executes instructions Consists of an ALU, a control unit, and registers Referred to
as a processor in a system with a single processing unit Core An individual processing unit on a processor chip May be
equivalent in functionality to a CPU on a single-CPU system Specialized processing units are also referred to as cores
Processor A physical piece of silicon containing one or more cores Is the computer component that interprets and executes
instructions Referred to as a multicore processor if it contains multiple cores.

Multiple layers of memory between the processor and main memory Is smaller and faster than main memory Used to speed
up memory access by placing in the cache data from main memory that is likely to be used in the near future A greater
performance improvement may be obtained by using multiple levels of cache, with level 1 (L1) closest to the core and
additional levels (L2, L3, etc.) progressively farther from the core

Registers
Memory buffer register (MBR)
•Contains a word to be stored in memory or sent to the I/O unit
•Or is used to receive a word from memory or from the I/O unit
Memory address register (MAR)
•Specifies the address in memory of the word to be written from or read into the MBR
Instruction register (IR)
•Contains the 8-bit opcode instruction being executed
Instruction buffer register (IBR)
•Employed to temporarily hold the right-hand instruction from a word in memory
Program counter (PC)
•Contains the address of the next instruction pair to be fetched from memory
Accumulator (AC) and multiplier quotient (MQ)
•Employed to temporarily hold operands and results of ALU operations

Instruction Execution (1)

•Fetch next instruction from memory •Change program counter to point to next instruction •Determine type of instruction just
fetched •If instruction uses a word in memory, locate it •Fetch word, if needed, into a CPU register. •Execute instruction. •Go to
step 1 to begin executing following instruction

Data Bus

a) Data lines that provide a path for moving data among system modules b) May consist of 32, 64, 128, or more separate lines c)
The number of lines is referred to as the width of the data bus d) The number of lines determines how many bit scan be
transferred at a time e) The width of the data bus is a key factor in determining overall system performance

Address Bus a) Used to designate the source or destination of the data on the data bus – If the processor wishes to read a
word of data from memory it puts the address of the desired word on the address lines b) Width determines the maximum
possible memory capacity of the system c) Also used to address I/O ports – The higher order bits are used to select a particular
module on the bus and the lower order bits select a memory location or I/O port within the module

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Dynamic RAM (DRAM) RAM technology is divided into two technologies:
Dynamic RAM (DRAM),Static RAM (SRAM)
DRAM
Made with cells that store data as charge on capacitors Presence or absence of charge in a capacitor is interpreted as a binary 1 or 0
Requires periodic charge refreshing to maintain data storage
The term dynamic refers to tendency of the stored charge to leak away, even with power continuously applied
Static RAM (SRAM)
Digital device that uses the same logic elements used in the processor
Binary values are stored using traditional flip-flop logic gate configurations
Will hold its data as long as power is supplied to it
SRAM versus DRAM
Both volatile Power must be continuously supplied to the memory to preserve the bit values
Dynamic cell Simpler to build, smaller More dense (smaller cells = more cells per unit area)
Less expensive
Requires the supporting refresh circuitry
Tend to be favored for large memory requirements
Used for main memory
Static Faster
Used for cache memory (both on and off chip)
Programmable ROM (PROM)
Less expensive alternative
Nonvolatile and may be written into only once
Writing process is performed electrically and may be performed by supplier or customer at a time later than the original chip fabrication
Special equipment is required for the writing process
Provides flexibility and convenience
Attractive for high volume production runs
Flash Memory
Used both for internal memory and external memory applications.
First introduced in the mid-1980’s Is intermediate between EPROM and EEPROM in both cost and functionality Uses an electrical erasing
technology like EEPROM
It is possible to erase just blocks of memory rather than an entire chip Gets its name because the microchip is organized so that a section of
memory cells are erased in a single action Does not provide byte-level erasure
Uses only one transistor per bit so it achieves the high density of EPROM.
Resolution
Scanners convert the scanned image into a grid of dots
Resolution = Grid size
Higher resolution => better look (even when scaled up)
Color depth
Number of bits of information the scanner can use to describe each individual dot
Higher => better picture quality
Each extra bit => double the quality
Question: 8-bit vs 16-bit scan
48-bit scanner is common now
Grayscale depth
Important if you work with black-and-white images
Number of bits use to store the different shade of gray for a dot 8-bit, 12-bit or 16-bit
Connection USB (full speed, high speed), Firewire
Scan speed Maximum speed defined by manufacturer
Increase the amount of detail captured => slower Connection also affects speed
How long does it take to scan an 8inch x 10inch photo using a resolution of 300 dpi and a 48-bit (i.e. 48 bits/dot) scan. Ans: Total number of bits of information
(n) = 8 x 10 x 300 x 300 x 48 = 34.56 Gbits
Universal Serial Bus (USB)
Widely used for peripheral connections
Is the default interface for slower speed devices
Commonly used high-speed I/O Has gone through multiple generations USB 1.0 Defined a Low Speed data rate of 1.5 Mbps and a Full Speed rate
of 12 Mbps
USB 2.0 Provides a data rate of 480 Mbps
USB 3.0 Higher speed bus called Super Speed in parallel with the USB 2.0 bus
Signaling speed of Super Speed is 5 Gb ps, but due to signaling overhead the usable data rate is up to 4 Gbps
USB 3.1 Includes a faster transfer mode called Super Speed+
This transfer mode achieves a signaling rate of 10 Gbps and a theoretical usable data rate of 9.7 Gbps Is controlled by a root host controller which
attaches to devices to create a local network with a hierarchical tree topology
Ethernet
Predominant wired networking technology Has evolved to support data rates up to 100 Gbps and distances from a few meters to tens of km Has
become essential for supporting personal computers, workstations, servers, and massive data storage devices in organizations large and small
Began as an experimental bus-based 3-Mbps system
Has moved from bus-based to switch-based Data rate has periodically increased by an order of magnitude
There is a central switch with all of the devices connected directly to the switch Ethernet systems are currently available at speeds up to 100 Gbps
ATX Power Supply They’re always “on” even when powered down. The power switch you press to power up the PC isn’t a true switch but simply tells the
computer whether it has been pressed. The BIOS or operating system takes over from there and handles the chore of turning the PC on or off. This is called
soft power.
Hard Drives Technologies (cont’d)
Run length limit – ones and zeros can be stored in a preset combination. The hard drive looks for those runs and reads them as a group
Partial Response Maximum Likelihood (PRML) encoding – as hard drives pack more and more fluxes on the drive, the individual fluxes start to interact with
each other, making it more and more difficult for the drive to verify where on flux stops and another starts.
PRML uses powerful, intelligent circuitry to analyze each flux reversal and to make a “best guess” as to what type of flux reversal it just read. As a result, the
maximum run length can reach up to 16 to 20 fluxes, far more than the 7 or so on RLL drives
RAID 0 – Disk striping
RAID 1 – Disk mirroring / duplexing
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RAID 5 – Disk striping with distributed parity. Need at least 3 drives. Distributes data and parity information evenly across all drives. Use one drive’s
worth of space for parity.
Hard Drive Formatting
File allocation table (FAT) – special data structure to keep track of stored data on the hard drive. “Catalog” that keeps track of which sectors store the various
parts of a file
Clustering – refers to combining a set of contiguous sectors and treating them as a single unit in the FAT. These units are called file allocation units or clusters.
Size of a cluster is not fixed
Fragmentation
Under normal usage, over time the files begin to separate in a process called fragmentation Fragmentations take place when files expand and there are no
adjacent spaces on the physical locations of the files on the disk. Windows will then have to store parts of the files elsewhere at non-adjacent addresses.
Future accesses to a fragmented file will force read/write heads to travel all over the hard drive to retrieve the records.
Laser Printers
Electro-photographic imaging – high quality and speed.
Rely on photo-conductive properties of certain organic compounds. Photo-conductive means that particles of these compounds, when exposed to light, will
conduct electricity.
Lasers is commonly use as the light source due to its precision
Toner cartridge: supply toner that creates the image. Some other laser printer parts that suffer most wear and tear are also incorporated into the toner
cartridge so that they are replaced every time we replace the toner cartridge.
Photosensitive drum is an aluminum cylinder coated with particles of photosensitive compounds. The cylinder is grounded to drain out any electric charges on
the coating.
Erase lamp exposes the entire surface of the drum with light and the charges formed on the photosensitive coating are then bleeds away via the drum making
the surface neutral.
Primary corona wire located near the drum is charged with an extremely high voltage to create an electric field, enabling voltage to pass to the drum and
charge the photosensitive particles on its surface. The drum is negatively charged.
Laser acts as the writing mechanism. Any particle on the drum struck by the laser becomes conductive and its charge is drained away into the grounded core
of the drum. Using this method, the laser write an image onto the drum
Toner powder is made up of plastic particles bonded to iron particles. The tone cylinder charges the toner to a voltage between that of the drum and that of
the areas strike by the laser. This causes the toner particles to be attracted to the areas of the photosensitive drum that have been hit by the laser (i.e. areas
that have a relative positive charge with reference to the toner particles).
Transfer corona applies a positive charge to the paper, thus drawing the negatively charge toner particles onto the paper.

Laser printing process

1. Clean the drum
2. Charge the drum To make the drum receptive to new images, it must be charged using the primary corona wire to a uniform negative charge for the whole
surface of the drum.
3. Write and develop the image A laser is used to write a positive image on the surface of the drum. Every particle on the drum hit by the laser releases most
of its negative charge into the drum, thus becoming relatively positive charged.
4. Transfer the image The transfer corona gives the paper a positive charge, so that negatively charged toner particles will leap from the drum to the paper.
5. Fuse the image Two rollers, a heated roller coated in a nonstick material and a pressure roller – melt the toner to the paper, permanently affixing it.
Fixing some common printer problems
Blank paper: Print a diagnostic print page to check.
Possible reason: out of toner or failed transfer corona or high-voltage power supply.
Dirty printout: Possible reason: fusing mechanism gets dirty.
Ghosting: Ghost images appear at regular intervals
Possible reason: Imaging drum has not fully discharged and is picking up toner from a previous image. If the problem does not become better after a while, it
may be due to worn-out clearing blade that isn’t removing the toner from the drum.
Vertical white lines:
Possible reason: Clogged toner. Shake the toner.
Blotchy print:
Possible reason: Check for wet spots on paper. Change the paper in the tray. Also, check for foreign objects on drums.
Spotty print:
Possible reason: Dirty rollers. If cleaning doesn’t help, change the toner cartridge.
Creased pages:
Possible reason: Wrong paper quality.
Pulling multiple sheets:
Possible reason: Check for wet paper. Other reason may be worn separation pad.
Which of the following is not a common component on a motherboard: HD.
The following term means more then one program is working at the same time: Multitasking
Which of the following statements following the cache memory are true: cache is used to store what the cpu has needed from RAM most recently and what the
cache controller predicts is needed next.
The following terms define numbers assigned to hardware devices that software uses to and a command to a device: I/O addresses
All of the following are differences between DRAM and SRAM except: SRAM requires periodic refreshing and DRAM doesn’t.
The following types of devices allows you to move a pointer on a screen and perform tasks such as executing, clicking a command button: Pointing Device
Which of the following items are not commonly found on external usb attached hard disk drive: DC power input
All of the following statements about USB are true Expect: USB 1.1 supports data rates of up to 12MBps.
Which of the following components are responsible for facilitating communications between cpu and memory: North bridge
What can be found on a memory modules: memory chips
Which of the following statements of memory are true: ?
While trouble shooting a paper feed jam problem with a page printer you confirm that the drive gear is operating smoothly but jams still occur regularly. Which of
the following is another possible problem that can cause paper-feed jams: worn feed rollers

Which statement about RAID are true:

Differentiate the difference between resolution and color depth of a scanner: Resolution • Scanners convert the scanned image into a grid of dots • Resolution =
Grid size • Higher resolution => better look (even when scaled up) Color depth • Number of bits of information the scanner can use to describe each individual
dot • Higher => better picture quality • Each extra bit => double the quality

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What is the memory space required to store one 20inch x 16inch screen of display if each primary color is represented in 16-bits depth and the resolution of a
screen is 1600x1200dpi: 16bits x 3colors x 1600dpi x 1200dpi / 8 bits x 20in x 16in

What is soft power? What is the advantage of using soft power: They’re always “on” even when powered down. The power switch you press to power up the PC
isn’t a true switch but simply tells the computer whether it has been pressed. The BIOS or operating system takes over from there and handles the chore of
turning the PC on or off. This is called soft power. Adv: prevent components from damage by power surge cause by on and off physical switch.

Can uninterruptable power supple be used as an alternative source of power supple for our normal computing needs: Example: No. The main function of an UPS
is to sustain the power supply to the PC for a limited time when there is a power outrage and not for normal computing.

List and describe the advantages of laser printers over dot matrix printers:

Print page by page versus character by character (ii) Precision (laser is much more precise compare to mechanical rollers and chains and print rods) (iii) Multi-page
printing is possible once a laser image is form, dot matrix printer cannot do so (iv) Noise level (dot matrix printer is much noiser) (v) Color (vi) Using standard size
papers.

A)CPU executes each instruction in a series of steps, list them down:

1. Fetching instruction from memory

2. Change program counter to next instruction
3. Analyze instructions fetched
4. Instruct a word used in memory and locate it
5. Fetch word if needed, into a CPU register
6. Execute instructions
7. Go back to step 1 and begin executing following instruction
a. Fetch
b. Decode
c. Execute
d. Write
A1) What would happen if step 2 is omitted?

If we omit step 2 then the step will keep repeating itself. You will be stuck at the first step forever; therefore the next instruction will not be executed but will
repeat the previous program again and again.

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