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1.*.Basic Organization Of a Digital Computer / Block Diagram of a computer

system
Components of a digital computer / parts of a computer system

A computer can be defined as an electronic device, which is organized to accept

input data, process it under the direction of a detailed step-by-step instructions and
produced the required output results. The block diagram of a computer is as follows.

CPU

Input Unit M U Output Unit

A LU

C U

Input Unit:- It is used to feed data to the computer. The best example of input unit is
Keyboard. Mouse is also another popular device used today with the computers.

CPU:- CPU stands for central processing unit. It is a heart of the any computer. CPU is
again is divided into the following parts.
a) MU (Memory Unit) :- It is a storage area, used to store and retrieving the data
b) ALU (Arithmetic & Login Unit):- It is the unit, which is designed to perform
arithmetic and logical operations.
c) CU (Control Unit):- It is the unit, which controls all the internal parts of the
computer system.
Output Unit:- It is a unit, which displays output results to the user. The best example of
output unit is Monitor.

2.* TYPES OF COMPUTERS

Based on size, memory and processing speed, the computers are divided into the
following types.
I. Micro Computers
II. Mini Computers
III. Super Computers
IV. Work Stations
I. Micro Computers:- A Micro Computer is the smallest and least expensive general
purpose processing system. Usually a microcomputer is designed for a single user at a
time. So, these computers are also called as “Personal Computers”.
II. Mini Computers:- A Mini Computer is a small size computers i.e., more costly and
more powerful than microcomputers. Mini computers are commonly used as servers in
network environment. Some minis are designed for a single user; most are designed for
multiple users. It is often feature somewhere between micro and super computer; so,
these computers are called as “Midrange Computers”.
IV. Super Computers:- These are the most powerful computers and physically they are
some of the largest. The fastest super computer can perform more than one trillion
calculations per second. These computers help to analyze global weather patterns. They
are often kept in protective rooms with special cooling system, with power protection.
Scientists and engineers frequently build their models using supercomputers.
V. Work Stations:- Workstations are also desktop computers. Its processor speed about
10 times that of desktop PCs. Most workstations have a large colour video display unit.
Normally they have main memory around 120 MB to 1GB.

3.* TYPES OF PERSONAL COMPUTERS OR MICRO COMPUTERS:

The Personal computers are classified into following models. They are
I. Desktop Computer or Personal Computer
II. Note Book Computer or Laptop Computers
III. Hand held computers
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I. Desktop Computers or Personal Computers:- .The first style of personal computers
is desktop model. The term Desktop means the full size computer i.e., small enough to be
used at the desk but too big to carry around. Today the popular desktop model is tower
model, which provides more space for the devices.
II. Note Book computers or Laptop computers:-.These computers are used by people
who need portable computing power out side of the office or away from home. These
computers can fit inside the briefcase easily; its looks like a notebook. So, these
computers are also called as “Notebook computers”. These Computers can operate on
current or special batteries.
III. Hand Held Computers:
1.In 1990s many new types of personal computers (PCs) have been introduced and all
they fall into the category of Hand held computers. They are
1. Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)
2. Cellular
3. H/PC Pro-devices
1.Personal Digital Assistant Computers: The PDA’s are small portable computers.
These computers are used for special applications such as displaying telephone numbers
and addresses.
2.Cellulars: Some advanced cellular phones combine analog and digital cell phone
services with e-mail capabilities.
3.H/PC Pro-Devices: The latest development in Hand held model is H/PC. The systems
are larger than PDA, but they are not as long as personal computers (desktop).
…………………………….
INPUT DEVICES:
Input devices are used to feed data to the computer. The following are the
important input devices.
4. KEY BOARD
Keyboard is one of the most commonly used input devices in a computer. The
keyboard is still the primary input device for entering text and numbers.
i. Alpha Numeric Keys
ii. Modifier keys
iii. Numeric Key Pad
iv. Function Keys
v. Cursor movement keys
i. Alpha Numeric Keys:. The alphanumeric keys are used to enter alphabets as well as
numbers.
ii. Modifier Keys: These are used to modify the input of other. The modifier keys Shift,
Ctrl and Alt.
iii. Numeric Keypad: Its looks like a non-scientific calculator, with this we enter digits (0
to 9) and arithmetic operations +, -, *, /, %, etc.,
iv. Function Keys: The function keys numbered from F1 to F12 are used to perform
different functions based on the application. For example F1 gives help for any topic
v. Cursor Movement Keys: They are four arrow keys () on the right hand side of the
keyboard. These are used to change the position of the cursor on the screen. In addition
this Home /End keys and Page Up / Page Down are used to move the cursor
5.* MOUSE
In 1980’s PCs was used only one input device called keyboard. Today all new
PCs include a pointing device is called a mouse. The mouse is a pointing device, which is
used to control the mouse pointer. The mouse pointer is an on-screen object usually an
arrow () that is used to select text, menus, files or data that appears on the screen. A mouse
lets the user the position the cursor any where on the screen quickly and easily. Mouse is a
versatile tool for graphic designs. By using the mouse we can perform the following
operations
 Clicking
 Double clicking
 Dragging
 Right clicking
Clicking: Pressing and releasing the mouse button once over an item is call clicking.
Double Clicking: Pressing and releasing the mouse button twice over an item is called
double clicking.
Dragging: Dragging is a technique, used to move an item form one place to another.
Right Clicking: Clicking the right mouse button is known as right clicking
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6. TRACK BALL:
A track ball is a pointing device. The trackball works like an “upside down mouse”. To
move the pointer around the screen, we roll the ball with our thumb. Because we do not
move the whole device, a trackball requires less space than a move. When space is limited,
a trackball can be an advantage. Track ball gained popularity with the invention of laptop
computers.
7.* WRITE ABOUT VIDEO INPUT DEVICES?
The following are the commonly used video input devices.
1. Scanner
2. Web Camera

1. Scanner:
1. Scanner is used to scan photograph, images, documents etc.
2. It acts like a photocopy machine, except that instead of copying the image on to paper,
it transfers the image directly into the computer.
1. Using scanner the image is on paper or a slide is translated into electronic (digital)
format can be stored on computers.
2. The scanner is an input device attached to the computer by a cable and controlled by
software.
3. The result of scanned image is a “bitmap file”.
2. Web Camera:

1.Web camera is one of the input devices of a computer system.

2. By using web camera we can load various images into the computer
3 using this we can interact with different people over the net
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OUTPUT DEVICES: -

Output devices are used to present the information to the users. The primary
output device of a computer is monitor.
MONITORS: -
This is the most commonly used output device on personal computer. The
monitors are used to produce output (processed information). There are two types of
monitors used with PCs.
1. CRT (Cathode Ray Tube)
2. Flat Panel Monitors

8.* CRT MONITORS:-

1.The CRT monitors displays the image with the help of phosphorus and chemical
coating and an electron gun.
2.The electron gun shoots a beam of electrons through a magnetic coil, it touches at the
front of the monitor.
2.The back of the monitors screen is coated with phosphorous, chemicals that glow when
they are struck by the electron beam.
3.The screen’s phosphorous coating is organized into a grid of dots. .
4.The smallest number of phosphorous dots that the gun can focus on is called a pixel.
Each pixel has a unique address.
5.Actually, the electron beam focus systematically at every pixel on the screen, starting at
the left corner and ending to the right edge.
6.The electron beam follow each line of pixel across the screen until it reaches the bottom
of the screen.
7.A colour monitor works like a monochrome one, except that there are three electron
beams RED, GREEN, BLUE instead of one.
8.These monitors can display different colours by combining various intensives of the
three beams.
9. FLAT PANEL DISPLAY :-
1.A thin and lightweight monitor is known as Flat Panel monitors.
2. It does not have a picture tube.
3.The flat panel monitor creates an image through transistors.
4.Flat panel display is used with Liquid Crystal Display (LCD).
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5.The LCD monitor creates images with liquid crystal that normally transparent (clearly)
but becomes opaque when charge with electricity.
6. Hand held calculators and digital watches usually used liquid crystal displays. There
are two types.
1. Passive matrix LCD
2. Active matrix LCD
1.Passive Matrix LCD :-
1. Passive matrix LCD creating images using transistors.
2. The colour displayed in LCD determined by the electricity coming from the transistor.
3 The cost of Passive Matrix LCD is less than the active matrix LCD.
4.It doesn’t refresh the pixels very often.
2.Active Matrix LCD:-
1.Active Matrix LCD creating images using thin-film transistors(TFT).
2. the cost of active matrix LCD is higher than the passive matrix LCD.
3.It refreshed much more quickly.
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10.* DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CRT AND FLAT PANEL MONITORS

CRT FLAT PANEL

1. CRT monitors are large size and 1. Flat panel monitors do not require a
occupy more area lot of desktop
2. They are heavy weight 2. They are light weight
3. They are less cost than flat panel 3. They are high cost than CRT
monitors monitors.
4. It operates with the help of power 4. It operates with the help of batteries
supply or power
5. It consists of an electronic gun 5. It consists of an transistors
6. CRT monitors creates an images 6. Flat panel monitors creates an
with the help of chemicals and image with the help of LCD
phosphorous. technology.
7. It consumes a great amount f 7. These monitors do not consume a
electricity to keep the screen lot of energy because they have tiny
refreshed transistors

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11. PC- PROJECTORS:-
1. The projector is an output device, which are used to display the images or colorful
presentations on a wall on the big screen.
2. The PC projectors plugs into one-computer ports, then projects the video output on to
wall.
3. These small devices typically weightless and display over 16 million colours
4. Most PC-Projectors use LCD technology to create image.
5. An LCD projector requires the room to be darkened.
6. They display image in low lighting conditions.
7. Newer model Digital Light Processing (DLP) technology projectors can display
clear image in normal lighting conditions
12. SOUND SYSTEM:-
1. A multimedia system is nothing but a sound system. Usually it contains a
CD/DVD ROM, video controller, microphone, speakers and sound card.
2. The speakers produce sound like a stereo. The only difference is that they are
usually smaller and they contain their own amplifiers.
3. The important part of the sound output system is sound card.
4. The sound card translates digital sounds in to the electric current. i.e., send to the
speakers.
5. to digitize sound, the waves are converted to an electric current measured
thousands of time per second and recorded as number.
6. When the sound is played back the sound card reverse this process, translating the
numbers into electric current i.e., send to the speakers.
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13.* HARD COPY DEVICES:
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Hard copy devices are used to produce ”Hard Copies”. Printers are commonly called as
“Hard Copy Devices”.

Dot matrix printers:- A Dot Matrix Printers is common type of impact printer. These
Printers are used to print images on to the page or to print carbon copy or presser-sensitive
copies. These printers can produce sheets of plain text very quickly. A Dot Matrix Printers
creates an image by using a print head. The print head contains a number of tiny pins. It
prints the character or digits by putting group of dots on to the paper. Dot matrix name
implies that a single pin strikes the ribbon and single dot ink is printed on to the page.
Characters get printed as the head travel from left to right and in some cases it travels from
reverse direction as well. The speed of this printer is measured in Character Per Second
(CPS).

Ink jet printers:- Ink Jet printers create an image directly on the paper by spraying ink
through tiny nozzles. The Ink jet printer can print from 2 to 4 pages per minute. The
operating cost is very low when compared to laser printer. Expensive maintenance is rare,
and only part that needs routine replacement is the Ink Cartridge. Color inkjet printers
have four ink nozzles; they are Red, Blue, Yellow and Black. These four colors are used in
almost all color printing. The print quality is good than dot matrix printer. But print quality
is not good as laser printer.

Laser printers: Laser printers are used to produce high quality images. These printers
produce the image like as a photocopy. As their name implies, a laser is at the heart of
these printers. These printers are more expensive than inkjet printers, their print quality is
higher and printing is very fast. A color laser printer works like a single colour model
except that the process is repeated 4 times and different toner colors are used for each pass.
A colour laser printer used RED, BLUE, BLACK, YELLOW colours. Finally, the
maintenance cost of laser printer is high but print quality is very good.
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14. PLOTTERS:
A plotter is special kind of out put device. It is like a printer because it produces
images on paper, but it is used to print large-format images, such as construction or
engineering drawings. Plotters are two types. They are
1. Flatbed Table plotters
2. Drum or Roller plotters
1. Flatbed or Table plotters:
1. The flatbed plotter is less expensive and is used in small computing systems.
2. These plotters are used to produce images with the help of two robotic arms, which
holds a set of colored ink pens or pencils.
3. The two arms are working performance operating at right angles as they draw on a
stationary piece of paper.

2. Drum or Roller plotters:

1. It has only one robotic arm, which moves side to side as the paper is rolled back and
front through roller.
2. The roller plotter working together the arm and roller can draw perfect circles and
other graphical shapes.
3.In recent years mechanical plotters have been produced the drawings very quickly and
the maintenance cost is very low compared to other plotters.

RAM ROM
1. RAM stands for Random Access 1. ROM stands for Read Only
Memory Memory
2. It is temporary memory
3. It permits read and write operations. 2. It is permanent memory
4. The contents of RAM are destroyed 3. It permits only read
when the power is turned off so it is called operations.
“volatile memory”. 4. The contents of ROM are
5. RAM is used for storing programs unchanged when the power is turned off
and data needed for programs so it is called “Non Volatile memory”.
6. User can write information on 5. ROM is used for store
RAM permanent system programs
6. Manufacturers can write the information on
ROM
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15. Explain in detail about different types of memories available in a computer?