Generation of Computers
Generation of Computers
Generation of Computers
First generation:
First computers were manufactured around 1946. Vacuum tubes were used to
build the various circuits required. Those computers were slow, generated lot of
heat & required large space.
Second generation:
Second generation computers used transistor as the basic switching element in
early 1950s. It improved speed, reduced power dissipation & required less space.
Third generation
Third generation computers used Integrated circuits(ICs). Each IC had hundreds of
transistors. It was in early 1960s & up to mid 1970s.
Fourth generation
IC technology further improved & LSI(Large scale Integrated circuit) was
introduced during 1970s. LSIs had thousands of transistors in it. This technology
introduced Microprocessors & Microcontrollers.
Fifth generation
These computers use VLSIs(Very Large Scale Integrated circuits) which contain
lakhs of transistors in a single chip.
Classification of Computers
The digital computers are classified based on speed, storage capacity & word length
Microcomputer: These computers have a word length of 8 to 16 bits. They are slow
& have less data storage capacity. These are used for dedicated applications.
Minicomputer: These computers have a word length of 32 bits. The speed & data
storage capacity is moderate. These are used general purpose systems in the field
of data processing, process control & industrial applications.
Mainframe Compute: These computers have a word length of 64 bits. The speed is
very high & data storage capacity is very large. These are used for scientific
applications, business data processing & military applications.
Super computer: These computers have a word length of 64 bits. The speed is
higher than main frame computers. They use artificial intelligence. Objects are used
as input/output.
Computer
The computer basically consists of three functional units namely CPU-Central
Processing Unit(uP), memory unit & input/output units.
“The Microprocessor is defined as the central processing unit of the
Microcomputer”
Memory
Unit
Input Output
Unit CPU Unit
Each of the units performs special functions. The heart of the computer is CPU. It
executes instructions & processes the data. The input & output units are the
means by which CPU communicates with the external world. The examples are
Keyboard, Mouse, Video display terminal & Printers.
The memory unit is used to store the information. It usually consists of RAM
(Random Access Memory) & ROM (Read Only Memory). These are called
primary memories. It may also have floppy disks, magnetic hard disks &
optical disks. These are secondary memories & used for long term storage.
Memory Memory
Unit Unit
1. The 8086 is a 16-bit processor. It means ALU, its internal registers & most of
its instructions are designed to work with 16-bit data.
2. The 8086 has a 16-bit data bus.
3. The 8086 has a 20-bit address bus so it can have a maximum of 1MB of
memory. It has 16-bit I/O address so it can access up to 64K I/O ports.
4. The data bus and 16-bit lower order address bus is multiplexed.
5. The 8086 has Fourteen 16-bit registers.
6. The 8086 requires a clock with 33% duty cycle for its internal timing. Its clock
speed is 5MHz, 8MHz or 10MHz.
7. The 8086 has a powerful instruction set with a range of addressing modes. It
can perform bit , byte , word & block operations.
8. The 8086 has two mode of operations Minimum & Maximum. In minimum
mode it works as a single microprocessor. Where as in maximum mode it
work in Multiprocessor configuration.
8086 ARCHITECTURE
The block diagram consists of two internally divided separate functional
units. These are BUS INTERFACE UNIT (BIU) & EXECUTION UNIT (EU). They work
simultaneously. The division of work between these units speeds up the
processing.
BUS INTERFACE UNIT (BIU) :
The BIU provides the interface to external world. It generates the 20-bit
physical address & handles all the data transfers.
1. It fetches instruction from memory.
2. It reads / writes data from memory / ports.
3. It sends the addresses to memory / ports.
4. It supports an Instruction QUEUE.
QUEUE: The BIU fetches up to six instructions bytes belonging to next instructions.
These bytes are stored in FIFO - First In First Out register set called as QUEUE.
Fetching of the next instructions & execution of the current instruction is done
simultaneously .And this QUEUE makes use of pipelining & speeds up processing.
EXECUTION UNIT:
The EU is responsible for the instruction execution & has a control circuit to direct
its internal operations.
1. It picks up the instructions from the Queue of BIU.
2. It decodes the instructions & decides upon the various operations it has to
carry out. It then executes these operations.
3. It uses ALU to perform 16-bit Arithmetic & logical operations like ADD,
SUBTRACT, AND, OR, XOR, INCREMENT, DECREMENT, COMPLEMENT & SHIFT.
4. It updates the status of FLAG register (PSW Register).
5. It performs BIU from where the next instruction or data has to be read.
Register Organization of 8086
The 8086 contains Fourteen 16-bit registers. They are of different types.
1. General purpose registers: AX , BX , CX , DX.
2. Segment registers: CS , DS , SS , ES .
3. Index registers: SI , DI.
4. Pointer registers: SP , BP , IP.
5. Flag or Program status register.
FFFFF
00000
FFFFF = 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111
00000 = 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
Index registers: (SI , DI)
There are two index registers Source Index (SI) & Destination Index (DI). They acts
as general purpose registers also during string instructions.
1. It allows the memory capacity to be 1MB even though the actual addresses to
be handled by instructions are 16-bits
2. It allows use of separate memory areas for program, data & stack, thus the
protection of these is possible.
3. For large programs , it can use multiple segments for program code, Data &
Stack.
4. Program relocation can be very easily done.
Physical Memory organization
FFFFFH FFFFEH
FFFFDH FFFFCH
512KB 512KB
00003H 00002H
[
00001H 00000H
0 0 0 Interrupt acknowledge
0 0 1 I/O Read
0 1 0 I/O Write
0 1 1 Halt
1 0 0 Instruction (Op-Code) Fetch
1 0 1 Memory read
1 1 0 Memory write
1 1 1 Passive (Inactive)