Hardware Fundamentals

Week 1- Lesson 1

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Introduction
 Andrew David
 Lecturer
 School of Computing, Electrical and Applied Technology
 Email: [email protected]
 Room 183-3001

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Introduction
 Housekeeping
 Respect other people
 Questions are welcome any time
 You are expected to think
 You are expected to work on exercises (this includes in your own time!)

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 Access to hardware components and required textbook “Ron White, How Computers Work, Que 2006, 8th Edition”.

Course Content
 Hardware components and their functions; selection issues and peripherals
 Identifying and configuring information technology (IT) hardware resources
 Covers preventative maintenance of IT hardware
 Trends in IT hardware

Course Requirements
Access to hardware components and required textbook
“How Computers Work: The Evolution of Technology, 10th
Edition (Ron White, Timothy Edward Downs)

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Assessments
 Test 1 – 10%
 Test 2 – 25%
 Assignment – 25%
 Final Exam – 40%
 Overall 50% marks are required to pass
 Learning and teaching approaches:
Lectures, laboratory work, personal
research, discussion

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What is a Computer System?
Basic Terminology
 Computer  Software
 A device that accepts input,  A computer program that
processes data, stores data tells the computer how to
(information, program), and perform particular tasks.
produces output, all
according to a series of 
stored instructions. Network
 Two or more computers and


other devices that are
Hardware connected, for the purpose
 Includes the electronic , of sharing data, resources,
optical, opto-mechanical, and programs etc.
wireless and mechanical
devices that process the 
data; refers to the computer Peripheral devices
 Used to expand the
as well as peripheral
devices. etc. computer’s input, output and
storage capabilities.

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How are computer systems different from
a - HUMAN?

Human Beings: Body (Flesh) Soul (Mind, Emotions etc) Spirit (Spiritual)
Basic Computer Terminology
 Computer system - collection of
components/units that work together so that
users can complete useful tasks.
 Computer systems have five main
components/units.
 Processing
 Storage
 Input
 Output
 Communication

 Interconnection Diag.
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 Components of a Computer
The program currently being executed is stored here.
(it is divided into storage units called BYTES)

For reading data into

Main Memory
MAIN MEMORY For permanent storage
of programs and data

INPUT DEVICES PROCESSOR OUTPUT DEVICES

For processing the data AUXILIARY

STORAGE

For printing, displaying

Fix Or out-put of info
The
Mistakes
 Components of a Computer
The program currently being executed is stored here.
(it is divided into storage units called BYTES)

For processing the data

MAIN MEMORY For printing, displaying

Or out-put of info

INPUT DEVICES PROCESSOR OUTPUT DEVICES

For reading data into AUXILIARY

Main Memory
STORAGE

For permanent storage of programs and data

 Computer Peripherals
 Peripheral devices - keyboard, mouse, monitor,
printer,etc - connect to your computer.
 External peripherals - mouse, keyboard, printer,

monitor, external zip drive or scanner, etc

 Internal peripherals - Hard drive, internal modem ,

CD-ROM drive etc. (Internal peripheral devices are

often referred to as integrated peripherals because
they integrate with the computer itself.)

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System Software
 System Software - the Operating System
 System software, for the purposes of this course,
means the operating system (OS).
 The OS is a collection of programs that controls and
manages the resources of a computer system.
 OS makes it easy for you and your applications to
use hardware on your system. For example, the OS
manages your printer and print jobs.

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Application Software
 Application software is the programs that you use,
such as your word processor or web browser. These
programs are often just called applications.
 Examples are:
 Microsoft Word (Word processor); Google Chrome
(web browser), etc

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Types of Computer

 Microcomputers
 Minicomputers
 Hand held devices (smart devices)
 Mainframe Computers
 Supercomputers
 Handheld Devices
 Originally called a PDA (Personal  Typical features includes: camera,
Digital Assistant). Now we know phone speaker (and mic), bluetooth,
them as smartphones, and tablets, Wifi, 3G and 4G network
or generically MOBILE DEVICES connectivity, etc.
 Essentially a portable computer (but  The two most common OS’s for
not a laptop), runs on batteries, and mobile devices are Android and
is used while holding the unit in your iOS.
hand.
 Can run a wide range of software in
the form of apps (i.e., email,
calendar, social media, photos and
video, banking, phone, messaging,
etc.)
 Data can be synced with a personal
microcomputer or other devices via
cloud storage.
 Microcomputers
 Designed to be used by one person only.
 General purpose computers - designed to be able to run a wide
range of applications - graphics applications, databases, word
processing applications, communications applications, etc.
 Types of Microcomputers
 Currently two types of microcomputers available.
 PC ("Personal Computers"). The PC was originally invented by IBM
but many other manufacturers also make PC's.
 Apple, or iMac, Macbook, etc, are very widely used today.

Much comes down to personal preference.

OS’s and Application Software for PCs:

Typical operating systems for microcomputers are
Microsoft Windows (for PCs), OS X (for Macs) and
Linux (PC and Mac).

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 Minicomputers
 Now typically used as high powered servers.
 Typically run specific applications (databases, e-commerce (web)
servers) when a large amount of processing power is needed.
 Typically the size of a filing cabinet, and kept in a specially built room,
with air-conditioning to provide a constant temperature and dust
filtration systems to keep the air clean.

Operating Systems for Minicomputers

UNIX is a popular operating system for
minicomputers.

Windows Server and Linux?

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Minicomputers

 Multi-user systems
 Now typically used as high powered servers.
 100’s of workstations or terminals attached to central
minicomputer
 E.g. EPOS (Electronic Point of Sale) Systems
Mainframe computers
 Large Organisations –banks, building
societies, airlines, governments
 May have 1000’s of terminals –
geographically remote locations
 Could occupy a whole site
 100’s of disk drives & hardware units
 Location often kept secret!
(terrorist attacks)
 Mainframes
 The early computers were just called "computers". The name mainframes was
coined later to distinguish them from minicomputers.
 Mainframes were mounted into frames in rooms (until the 1970's, mainframes
were the size of a small buildings) with space for technicians to walk around
inside the computer to fix it.
 Mainframes are most commonly used as large central computers to run
databases. Some popular e-commerce web sites, such as Amazon Books (
www.amazon.com) use mainframes as web servers, because of the large
amount of processing work needed to handle all of their customers' transactions.
 Mainframe Hardware and Operating Systems
 Mainframes typically use proprietary operating systems. Most of the software
used on mainframes is custom written, although there are some commercial
software packages available for them.
 IBM initially released a version of Linux for their S/390 mainframe.

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Supercomputers

 Biggest, fastest and most powerful (and most expensive!)

type of computer available
 Used for special purposes that require a large amount of
processing.
 Examples of Use:
 Used in weather forecasting to analyse complex weather data
and complex weather patterns in order to predict changes to
the weather.
 Used for economic forecasting and scientific research.
 Supercomputers cost more than $1 million,
 Supercomputers use proprietary operating systems. Cray
supercomputers use Cray's UNICOS operating system,
which is based on UNIX.

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Supercomputers
 Largest Category of computer
 Cost Millions
 Mostly used by scientific and industrial
research departments
 NASA –government agencies
 Weather Centres
 Stock Exchanges
 Large Commercial Organisations
What type of computer system?
What type of computer system?
Supercomputer Frontier:
Development: AMD and HPE
Location: Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge Leadership
Computing Facility, Tennessee, USA  Fastest Supercomputer in
the world – (TOP500 lists –
June 2022)
 Linux Operating System
 Used for: Scientific
Research
 Areas: modelling the entire
lifespan of a nuclear reactor,
uncovering disease
genetics, artificial
intelligence with data
analytics and modelling and
simulation
Supercomputer Fugaku:
Development: Fujitsu and RIKEN
Location: RIKEN Centre for Computational Science, Kobe, Japan
 2nd Fastest Supercomputer
in the world – (TOP500 lists
– June 2022)
 Linux Operating System
 Used by: Institute of
Physical and Chemical
Research
 Areas: physics, chemistry,
biology, genomics, medical
science, engineering, high-
performance computing and
computational science, and
ranging from basic research
to practical applications
Supercomputer LUMI:
Development: HPE and AMD
Location: CSC – IT Centre fir Science Ltd, Kajaani, Finland
 3rd Fastest Supercomputer
in the world – (TOP500 lists
– June 2022)
 Linux Operating System
 Used by: Finland, Belgium,
Czech Republic, Denmark,
Estonia, Iceland, Norway,
Poland, Sweden and
Switzerland
 Areas: vaccine
developments, cancer
diagnosis, mitigation of the
effects of climate change
Supercomputer Summit:
Development: IBM and NVIDIA
Location: Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge Leadership
Computing Facility, Tennessee, USA
 4th Fastest Supercomputer
in the world
 Linux Operating System
 Used for: scientific research
 Areas: questions concerning
who we are, our place on
earth and in our universe
Supercomputer Sierra:
Development: IBM and NVIDIA
Location: Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory, California, USA
 5th Fastest Supercomputer
in the world
 Linux Operating System
 Used by: National Nuclear
Security Administration
(NNSA)
 Areas: advanced simulation
and computational
resources that are essential
for nuclear weapon
scientists
Supercomputer Sunway TaihuLight:
Design: National Research Centre of Parallel Computer
Engineering & Technology (NRCPC)
Location: National Supercomputing Centre in Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
 6th Fastest Supercomputer
in the world
 Linux Operating System
 Used for: research &
engineering work
 Areas: climate, weather &
earth systems modelling, life
science research, advance
manufacturing and data
analytics
What type of computer system?
Class Usage Characteristics OS
Handheld (Mobile Organiser, Small, portable device, Android, iOS,
devices) Communication device, LCD and touch screens, Windows Phone
Address book, Mobile Stylus pen, battery
phone, Entertainment, operated, small
Personal / Business use keyboard, usually fits
inside pocket, colour
display,
Microcomputer Games, Browsing, Email, Some are portable and Windows, Linux,
(Desktop, Laptop, Small Business / Home battery operable, Mostly OS X
Notebook, Tablet) use, Microsoft Office LCD screens, Desktop
Suite, Adobe Reader, size, aka PC, designed
for single user but can be
used on network
Mini-Computer 24/7 usage, Multi-user Rack or tower mounted NOS (Network
(Server) systems, Servers for configurations, size of Operating
database, web, files and filing cabinet or desktop, Systems) such as
applications usually located in air- Linux, UNIX and
conditioned room with Windows 2003
dust filtration systems
Mainframe Proprietary applications, Mounted in frames in air- Proprietary OS,
Mainly used for large conditioned rooms with also Linux and
databases dust filtration systems, UNIX
very large in size but has
decreased over time
Supercomputer Complex and fast Stored in specially Proprietary OS,
scientific computations designed large rooms in Also Linux and
and simulations, air-conditioned UNIX
Proprietary application environment with dust
software filtration systems,
 Questions?

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