Types and Components of Computers

Notes covering this section:

Hardware and Software Main Computer Components What is an Operating System? User Interfaces Types of Computer

What is Hardware?
Hardware is the physical parts of the computer system the parts that you can touch and see.

An analogy

Your hardware is all of the parts that make up your body: bones, A motherboard, CPU, keyboard , mouse , muscles, skin, blood, etc. monitor , Hard Drive, Memory(RAM),

Speakers, Printer are all items of hardware.

What is Software?

To continue the analogy

Software is a collection of instructions that can Your software is all be run on a computer. These instructions tell of your thoughts the computer what to do. and mental Software is not a physical thing (but it can of processes: these course be stored on a physical medium such as a are the instructions that tell your CD-ROM), it is just a bunch of codes. physical body what to do

An operating system such as Windows XP or Mac OS X, applications such as Microsoft Word, and the instructions that control a robot are all examples of software.

The Difference Between Hardware and Software

Computer hardware is the physical components that make up the computer system. Hardware is useless without software to run on it. Completing the analogy

Software is instructions that tell computer hardware what to do. Software is useless unless there is hardware to run it on.
For a computer system to be useful it has to consist of both hardware and software. +

Your physical body cannot function without your thoughts. And your thoughts need a physical body to exist within

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

The CPU is the 'brain' of the computer. It is the device that carries out software instructions.

The speed of a CPU is measured in Hertz (Hz).

The speed generally corresponds to the number of actions the CPU can perform every second. 1 Megahertz (MHz) is 1,000,000 (1 million) Hertz 1 Gigahertz (GHz) is 1,000,000,000 (1 billion) Hertz A typical, modern, fast CPU runs at around 2.8GHz. That means it can perform almost 3 billion actions every second!
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Main Memory
Any data or instructions that are to be processed by the CPU must be placed into main memory (sometimes known as primary storage). Random Access Memory (RAM) Random Access Memory (RAM) is the part of the computer that temporarily stores the instructions that the computer is running, and the data it is processing. RAM is a volatile storage device. This means that if the computers power is turned off the contents of RAM disappear and are lost. RAM, like the CPU, also plugs in to sockets on the motherboard.
When a computer is in use, its RAM will contain The operating system software The application software currently being used Any data that is being processed

Read-Only Memory (ROM)

Read-Only Memory (ROM) is used in most computers to hold a small, special piece of software: the 'boot up' program. This software runs when the computer is switched on or 'boots up'. The software checks the computers hardware and then loads the operating system. ROM is non-volatile storage. This means that the data it contains is never lost, even if the power is switched off.

Peripheral Devices
Technically, a computer need only be made up of a CPU and some RAM. But a computer like this would not be much use to anybody other devices need to be connected to allow data to be passed in and out of the computer.
The general name for these extra devices is peripheral devices. They are usually categorised into input devices, output devices and storage devices.

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What Are Input Devices?

Devices that pass data into the computer are known as input devices. A keyboard, a mouse and a webcam are all examples of input devices.

They all take information from the outside world (key presses, hand movements, images), convert them into data and then send this data into the computer for processing.

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What Are Output Devices?

Devices that take data from the computer are known as output devices.

A monitor, a printer and a loudspeaker are all examples of output devices.

They all take information from the computer and convert it into real world things (images, paper hardcopy, sound).

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What is Secondary / Backing Storage?

Secondary storage (sometimes called backing storage) is the name for all of the devices (apart from ROM and RAM) that can store data in a computer system.

A hard drive, a CD-ROM, a floppy disc and a USB memory stick are all examples of secondary storage devices. Secondary storage is non-volatile, so data that is stored on these devices remains there safely.
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Please Note

When we talk about 'saving' a file, what we mean is moving data from volatile RAM to non-volatile secondary storage.

e.g. If we are typing a letter using Word, the data for the letter is in RAM (if the power goes off we lose it all).
When we save the letter, the data is copied from RAM to a storage device such as a memory stick or hard-drive for safe-keeping.

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What is an Operating System?

An operating system is a bit like the manager of a factory - the managers job is to keep the factory running smoothly, to make sure all the sections of the factory work together, to check that deliveries arrive on time, etc. But, for the factory to actually make anything, other people (the workers) are required - the manager cannot make anything him/herself.
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What is an Operating System?

An operating system is a special piece of software that manages the general operation of a computer system:
It provides a user interface so that we can interact with the computer It manages applications that are running on the computer, starting them when the user requests, and stopping them when they are no longer needed It manages files, helping us save our work, organise our files, find files that we have saved and load files It manages the computers memory, deciding what should be loaded into memory and what should be removed It looks after computer security, preventing unauthorised access to the system It manages the computers input and output hardware such as printers, 17 etc.

Without an operating system, a computer is of little use. But, just having an operating system running alone on a computer is also not very useful - we need to have application software (such as Word, Excel, etc.) so that we can actually do useful tasks with the computer.

Useless! On its own, the hardware of a computer is a fairly useless lump of plastic and metal!
It Works! (But it's not very useful) Add in an operating system and you have a computer that actually works.

Useful! To do any useful work you will also have to add application software.

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User Interfaces
The system that people use to interact with a computer (to give it commands, to see the results of those commands, etc.) is known as the user interface. There are two that you need to be aware of: Graphical User Interface (GUI) Command-Line Interface (CLI)

Graphical User Interface (GUI) A GUI is an interface built around visual (graphical) things: Windows are regions of the screen used to display information Icons are small pictures that are used to represent folders, software, etc. Menus are lists of options the user can select from A pointer is an arrow that can be moved around the screen and 19 is used to select things

A GUI is sometimes called a WIMP interface:

Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointer

Windows XP is an example of an operating system with a GUI.

GUIs are quite easy to use due to the visual nature of the interface the user has lots of visual clues as to what things do. However, to display all of the nice graphics required by a GUI takes a lot of computing power so quite a powerful computer is needed. 20

Command Line Interface (CLI)

Many years ago when computers were not very powerful they could not display the colourful graphics required for a GUI. The only interface available to most computer uses was the command line.

The user would see nothing but a black screen. They would have to type a command to make anything happen.
e.g. To copy a text file called NOTES from a floppy disc to the hard drive the user would have to type: > COPY A:\NOTES.TXT C:\
The user would have to learn a whole set of strange commands so that they could make use of the computer system. Plus it was not very interesting look at no visual clues to tell you what to do next. This meant computers used to be quite difficult to use, so this type of interface is only really suitable for expert users.

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Types of Computer
Computers come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. You are all familiar desktop PCs and laptops, but did you know that computers can be as small as your mobile phone (in fact your phone is a computer!) and as large as a room?! Mainframe Computer Personal Computer (PC) Laptop Computer Palmtop Computer

Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)

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Mainframe Computer
A mainframe computer is a large computer, often used by large businesses, in government offices, or by universities.

Mainframe computers are typically:

Powerful - they can process vast amounts of data, very quickly Large - they are often kept in special, air-conditioned rooms Multi-user - they allow several users (sometimes hundreds) to use the computer at the same time, connected via remote terminals (screens and keyboards)
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Some of the most powerful mainframe computers can process so much data in such a sort time, that they are referred to as 'supercomputers'

From their invention back in the 1940s until the late 1960s, computers were large, very expensive machines that took up the whole of a room (sometimes several!) These were the only computers available. The circuit-boards of these computers were attached to large, metal racks or frames. This gave them the nickname 'mainframe' computers.

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Advantages of Mainframe Computers :

Due to the features listed above, they can be used to do very large jobs which require memories and very fast processor time. They are used in time-sharing systems to allow users to be given a time slice of the very powerful facilities afforded by a mainframe system. They are capable of very large number crunching, and so ca deal with very complex mathematical functions which would be very time consuming using, for example, a PC.

Disadvantages of Mainframe Computers :

Mainframe computers need to be permanently housed in a large room, so cannot be moved around. They are very expensive to operate and maintain.

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Personal Computer (PC)

The early 1980s saw a revolution in computing: The creation of computers that were small enough to fit on a desk, and cheap enough that everyone could have their own, personal computer, instead of having to share access to a mainframe. These computers came to be known as desktop computers, or personal computers (PCs).

A typical PC contained the same basic components as a mainframe computer (CPU, RAM, storage, etc.) but at a fraction of the size and cost.

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Early PCs were quite unlike the PCs that we all use today:

1) Displays were black and white, and only displayed text (no graphics) 2) No hard-drives (way too expensive) 3)Just a few 100 kB of RAM (not MB or GB!) 4) Slow - a typical speed would be 5MHz (not GHz!) 5) No mouse (no pointer to move!) 6) Light brown case (for some reason every early PC was brown!) Because PCs were so much smaller than mainframe computers, they were called 'microcomputers' for a while
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Laptop Computer
A 'laptop' computer is a light, compact and portable PC. Laptops contain a rechargeable battery so that they can be used even when not plugged in to a mains power supply. They also have a built-in LCD monitor. To make them as portable as possible, most laptops try to avoid any sort of cable or wire. Instead of a mouse, a trackpad is used. Instead of a wired connection to a network or printer, 'wireless' radio connections are used.

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Advantages of Laptop Computers :

They are very portable, since the monitor, pointing device, keyboard, processor and backing store units are all together in one single box. There are no trailing wires, etc. because everything is in one single unit. They can take full advantage of WiFi. Since they are portable, they can link into any multimedia system.

Disadvantages of Laptop Computers :

Since they are portable, they are easy to steal! They have limited battery life so the user may need to carry a heavy adaptor. They keyboards and pointing devices can sometimes be awkward to use. Heat dissipation is more difficult due to the structure of the laptop computers.
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Palmtop Computer (Netbooks)

A palmtop computer is similar to a laptop computer, but smaller. It's small enough to fit in the palm of your hand (hence the name!) Palmtops are usually not very powerful since fast CPUs require a large battery and get hot - both problems in a small device. A typical palmtop have a very small keyboard - too small to type on normally. Instead the user types using both thumbs. Also there is no room for a trackpad, so a touchscreen or tiny joystick is used instead. Palmtops are extremely portable, but the small keyboard and screen make the devices tiring to use for long periods.
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Early palmtop computers were pretty basic by today's standards

Palmtops are often called ultramobile PCs (UMPC)

Advantages of Netbooks :
Netbooks computers have many of the features of laptops and therfore have similar advantages and disadvantages.

Disadvantages of Netbooks :
In addition to the disadvantages listed above for laptops : Netbooks dont have optical drives. The keyboards are only 80 percent of the size of the laptop keyboards. They lack some of the features found in larger machines, principally due to the size constraints and to the fact that they are cheaper to purchase.
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Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)

A PDA is similar to a palmtop computer, except it is even more compact, and typically has no keyboard, using a touchscreen for all data input. Since the screen is so small, many PDAs have a small stylus (plastic stick) that is used to press things on the screen. Most PDAs use some sort of handwriting-recognition system to allow the user to write on the screen, and have their writing converted into text. PDAs tend to be used a 'digital diaries' allowing users to take their e-mail, documents, appointments, etc. with them wherever they go. Note: You never see PDAs any more since modern 'smart' phones can do all of this, and work as a phone too!

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Early PDAs, like early palmtops, were pretty basic. But they were a revolutionary way to take digital data with you on the move.

In the 1990s every business person either had, or wanted one of these!
PDAs are often called Pocket-PCs

Advantages of PDAs :
They can be used anywhere because of their size. They are very lightweight and are more portable than laptop computers.

Disadvantages of PDAs :
It is difficult to enter text quickly. They have very limited capabilities due to the software and the operating system used.
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Revision

define hardware, giving examples; define software, giving examples; describe the difference between hardware and software; identify the main components of a general-purpose computer:
central processing unit (CPU), main/internal memory (including ROM and RAM), input devices, output devices, secondary/backing storage.

identify operating systems, including:

graphic user interface (GUI), command-line interface

identify different types of computer including:

personal computer (PC) or desktop mainframe laptop palmtop personal digital assistant (PDA).
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Thank You

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