COMPUTER

CONCEPTS

- By Jaysing
2 Hardware vs. Software

 Hardware
 The computer equipment
 Includes printers, monitors, disk drives, etc.
 Software
 Programs which tell the computer what to
do
 Examples - word processing, gradebook,
tutorials, games, etc.
3
4 History of Computers

 Charles Babbage - father of computer

 1800’s planned analytical engine
 ENIAC - developed at end of WW II
 1951 - 1963 1st and 2nd generation
 very large, used unreliable vacuum tubes
 1963 - present - 3rd and 4th generation
 smaller, faster - use transistors and integrated
circuits
5 History - Microcomputers

 Apple
 First sold in late 1970’s
 Developed by Jobs and Wozniak
 IBM Personal Computers
 First sold in 1981
 Was quickly accepted by businesses
 IBM compatibles soon developed
6 Computer - Social Impact

 Threat to privacy
 Reduce personal interactions
 Displace workers and change workplace
 Create two tiered society
 Computer failures cause great damage
 Artificial Intelligence
 Create a “new life form”
 Machines smarter than their creators
Types of Computers – Personal
Computers
7
(PC)

 Also called
Microcomputers
 Available in desktop
size, notebook size
and handheld
 Can be IBM, IBM
Compatible or Apple
8 Types of Computers -
Minicomputers
 Size of filing cabinet

 Used by small and medium size companies and

institutions

 Operated by computer specialist

 Terminals allow many people to use

9 Types of Computers -
Mainframes
 Very powerful

 Very fast

 Used by large corporations and governmental

agencies

 Operated by computer specialist

10 Types of Computers-
Supercomputers
 Most powerful
 Fastest
 Most expensive
 Several million dollars each
 Used only by
 Governmental agencies
 Large international corporations
 11 Computer Operations

Input Processing Output

External Storage
12 Input Devices - Keyboard

 Most commonly used input device

 Ergonomic - fit natural hand placement

 Special keys
 Enter, Function, Ctrl, Alt, Num Lock, Esc
Input Devices - Mouse
13

 Controls cursor on
screen
 May be
mechanical or
optical
 Most models have
a “wheel” for
scrolling
14 Input Devices - Other

 Pointers (replaces mouse on notepads)

 Track point, track ball, touch pad

 Scanner

 Digital camera

 Touch screen

 Voice
15 Output Devices

 Monitor

 Printer

 Disk Drive
 Can also be input device

 Modem
 Can also be input device
Monitors

 Made up of tiny
elements called
pixels
 Each row of pixels is
called a scan line
 Picture is displayed
by an electronic
beam lighting up
certain pixels
17 Monitors - Resolution

 Resolution is how sharp and clear the picture is

 How many scan lines on the screen

 640 x 480 is low resolution
 1600 x 1200 is high resolution
18 Monitors - Dot Pitch

 Measures the distance between pixels

 Commonly seen on monitors advertised

 .49 (not very good)
 .28 (much better)
 .26 or lower (excellent)
19 Monitors - Sizes

 Screen measured diagonally

 May also measure actual viewing area
 14” or 15” on bargain systems

 17” has become the standard

 19 and 21” available but are more expensive.
20 Monitors - LCD

 Liquid Crystal Display

 Similar to digital watch
 Used for notebook computers
 Should be an Active Matrix Screen
 Also used in flat screen monitors
 Much thinner than regular CRT monitor
 More expensive than regular CRT monitor
21 Monitors - Video Card

 Processes info to send to monitor

 Amount of video memory may speed up graphic
intensive programs
 32 megs –general purpose
 128 or more megs – graphic intensive use

 AGP port can speed up graphics

 3D accelerator card improves graphics
22 Monitor - Buying Hints

 17” or larger
 .28 dot pitch or better
 32 or more megs of
memory on video card
Printers
23

 Laser

 Ink Jet

 Dot Matrix
24 Printers - Laser

 Works similar to a copy machine

 Color printers available but more expensive

 Fast, quite, with excellent quality

 More expensive to buy and operate

 Some units scan, photocopy, and print

25 Printers - Ink Jet

 Squirts small jet of ink onto paper to form

characters
 Replaced dot matrix
 Quiet
 Does good job on color
 Good quality and reliability
26 Printers - Dot Matrix

 Strikes pins against ribbon to print

 Comes in 9 and 24 pin

 Once very popular

 Now replaced by ink jet and laser

27 Printers - Speed

 Measured in pages per minute (PPM)

 Laser printers range from 20-45 ppm

 Color printing is slower

28 Printers - Quality of Print

 One measure is dots per inch (DPI)

 300 dpi for general purpose uses
 600 dpi for higher quality
 1200 dpi for photo quality
 May have different vertical and horizontal resolution
 600 x 300
 Other factors can affect quality
 29 Basic Processing Cycle

Central Internal
Data
Processing Memory
Bus
Unit
30 How Information Is Stored

 Memory consist of switches which can be either on

or off - Off=0 On=1
 Each on/off switch is called a bit
 Eight bits make up a byte
 It takes one byte to store a character
 Character can be letter, space, punctuation, etc.
 ASCII code used
31 Other Memory Terms

 Byte is eight bits

 Kilobyte (KB) is approx. 1,000 bytes

 Megabyte (MB) is approx. 1million bytes

 Gigabyte (GB) is approx. 1 billion bytes

32 Central Processing Unit

 Also called CPU, processor or microprocessor

 Is the “brains” of the computer

 Performs all computer operations

33 CPU - IBM COMPATIBLES

 Many made by company called Intel

 Also made by AMD

34 Pentium class processors

 Needed to run most current software

 Intel – Celeron or Pentium IV

 AMD
35 CPU - Clock Speed

 Number of “cycles” per second computer can

operate
 Measured in megahertz (MHz)
 One MHz = 1 million cycles per second
 One gigahertz(GHz)=1 billion cycles
 Current speeds 2-4 GHz
36 CPU - Misc.

 Performance also affected by speed of data bus

 400-800 MHz on most current systems
 Cache can increase speed
 Stores data you will likely need next in an area that has
faster access
 Both memory cache and disk cache used
 Should be 512 K or better
37 CPU - Buying Hints

 Minimum of Pentium IV or AMD Athlon

 Minimum of 2 GHz clock speed

 Minimum of 512K of cache

38 Internal Memory - RAM

 RAM - Random Access Memory

 CPU can access any location as quickly
as any other
 Can not only read current info but
also write new info
 Very important in determining
capabilities of the computer system
 Computer should have at least 256
megs - 512 preferred (can add to
later)
39 Internal Memory - ROM

 ROM - Read Only Memory

 Can read info Stored in ROM
 Can not write new info into ROM

 Used for “internal workings” of computer

 Buyer is not very concerned with ROM

40 External Memory
41 Floppy Drives

 Comes in 5 1/4” and 3 1/2”

 All systems now only have 3 1/2”

 HD - High density - comes on all current systems

 3 1/2” - 1.44 megs

42 Hard Drives

 Built into machine

 Made up of stack of platters
 Can store much more than
floppy drives
 40 gigabytes should be
minimum
 Can access info much faster
than floppy drive
43 CD ROM

 Same as music CDs

 Are read only
 Can store over 650 megs
 All programs now only sold on CD
 Make multimedia possible
 Come in different speeds - 20x, - 50x
44 DVD-ROM

 Digital Video Disk

 Can store up to 17 GB

 Can store full-length movies

 Can also read CD-ROM disk

45 CD-RW & DVD-RW DRIVES

 Allows you to write to disk

 Useful for
 Data backup
 Storage of large files
 Recording music and other multimedia files
 DVD-RW
 Allows you to write to both CD and DVD disk
 Still somewhat expensive
46 Storage Devices - Other

 USB drive
 Very popular – 64-512 MB
 Tape drive
 Similar to cassette tape
 Used for backup
 Zip drive
 100 MB to 2 GB capacity
 Everyday use and backup
47 Drives - Buying Advice

 40 gigabyte hard drive

 One 3 1/2” high density floppy drive

 CD-RW drive

 DVD not yet essential but useful

48 Expansion Slots

 Allows you to add capabilities

 Example of cards you can add

 Network card
 Modem
Ports
49

 Connects computer to another

device

 Parallel port
 Used primarily by printers

 Serial ports
 Modem, mouse, etc.

 SCSI - chain devices

 USB –may be needed for
 Digital Cameras
 Mp3 players
 Other devices
Networks
50

 Connects
computers
 LAN - Local Area
 WAN - Wide Area
 Wireless
 Allows sharing of
programs, files,
printers, etc.
 Server is “main”
computer
Modems - General
51

 Allows 2 computers to
communicate over phone
lines
 Can be internal or external
 Can also have fax
capabilities
52 Modems

 Bits per second(bps) indicates speed

 Old modems - 9,600, 14,400, 28,800,
33,600
 56,000 (56K) has becoming standard

 Ways of connecting to the Internet

 Dial-up modem – used in most homes
 Cable modem – uses TV cable lines
 DSL – modified phone line
 T1 line – used by schools, businesses,
etc.
53 Buying Hints Summary -
Min Hardware
Requirements
 2 GHz Pentium IV Class Processor
 256 megabytes of RAM
 17”, .28 dot pitch monitor with 32
meg card
 40 gigabyte hard drive
 CD-RW
 56k modem
 Ink jet or laser printer
54 Buying Hints - Software
Bundles
 Many systems come with software
included
 Productivity
 Microsoft Works
 Microsoft Office, Lotus SmartSuite, etc
 Quicken, Money, or other financial
software
 Reference
 Microsoft Encarta or Compton’s
encyclopedia
 Games
55
56 Programs

 Set of instructions to the computer

 Programming languages
 Machine language
 Assembly language
 Procedural languages
 Basic, Fortran, Cobol

 Object oriented languages

 Visual Basic, C++, C#, Java
57 Systems Software

 Run fundamental operations

 Loading and running programs
 Saving and retrieving data
 Communicating with printers, modems,
etc.
 Examples of systems software
 DOS
 Windows 3.1, 95, 98, Me, 2000, and XP
 Unix
 Linux
58 Applications Software

 Helps you to accomplish a certain task

 Examples
 Word processing - memos, reports, etc.
 Spreadsheets - budgets, etc.
 Database - search, sort, select data
 Educational - simulations, practice
 Graphics - charts, diagrams
 Desktop publishing - pamphlets, etc.
59 Software - Legal Issues

 Commercial software
 Can only make backup copies for yourself
 Can only use on one machine at a time
 Site license - use on more that one machine

 Shareware
 Can use - make copies and give to anyone
 Should pay if you continue to use
 Freeware – can copy and use
indefinitely
60 Software Viruses

 Illegal code added to a program

 May spread to many computers
 Copy files from one computer to another
 Download files by modem
 E-mail attachments
 Virus may be relatively harmless
 Writes “You’ve been stoned” on screen
 Virus may also be very damaging
 Erases everything on hard drive
 Virus may activate on a certain date
61 Virus Protection

 Be careful where you copy files from

 Do not open e-mail attachments unless you are sure
that it is safe
 Use virus protection program
 Detects and removes illegal code
 Should be updated often
Thank you