COMPUTER HARDWARE & PERIPHERAL UNITS

JOAN BARR7/12/10

LESSON SUMMARY:

• DEFINITION OF COMPUTERS, TYPES OF COMPUTERS

• HARDWARE & SOFTWARE• INPUT/OUTPUT DEVICES &

PERIPHERALS• HOW IT ALL WORKS

TOGETHER

WHAT IS A COMPUTER?

A COMPUTER IS A DEVICE THAT:

ACCEPTS INPUT, PROCESSES DATA, STORES DATA AND PRODUCES OUTPUT ALL ACCORDING TO A SERIES OF INSTRUCTIONS

TYPES OF COMPUTERS

MICROCOMPUTERSMINICOMPUTERSMAINFRAME

COMPUTERSSUPERCOMPUTERSERVERSWORKSTATIONS

MICROCOMPUTER

• More commonly called Personal Computers (PC’s)• Designed to meet the needs of an individual user whether at

work, school or on the desk at home• Provides access to wide range of applications as needed by

the user e.g. word processing, internet & email, photo-editing etc.

• The following are all microcomputers:– Desktop computers– Laptops– Notebooks– Handhelds & palmtops– Handheld game consoles– Programmable Calculators– Tablet PC (e.g. I-pad)

MINICOMPUTERS• MIDRANGE COMPUTERS• A CLASS OF MULTI-USER COMPUTER THAT LIES IN BETWEEM

THE SMALLEST MAINFRAME (MULTI-USER) SYSTEMS AND THE LARGEST MICROCOMPUTER (SINGLE-USER SYSTEMS)

• INDUSTRY EXAMPLES ARE HEWLETT PACKARD, SUN MICROSYSTEMS & IBM SERVERS

A SUN SPARC ENTERPRISE

M4000 SERVER

MAINFRAME COMPUTERS• Large, expensive computers

capable of simultaneously processing for hundreds or thousands of users (e.g. large banks, stock exchange)

• Used to store, manage and process large amounts of data that need to be reliable, secure and centralized.

• Usually housed in separate rooms with controlled access

SUPERCOMPUTERS• The largest category of

computer• Costs millions• Can tackle tasks not

practical for other computers

• Examples of use: weather forecasting, code breakers, astrophysics, nuclear simulations, very complex scientific calculations

• Dynamic – today’s supercomputer can very quickly become tomorrow’s ordinary computer.

SUPERCOMPUTERS AT WORK,

NASA, COLUMBIA

• HARDWARE

• SOFTWARE

• PERIPHERALS

WHAT THEY ARE AND HOW THEY WORK TOGETHER

HARDWARE QUITE SIMPLY THE PHYSICAL COMPONENTS

THAT MAKE UP THE COMPUTER(IT REFERS TO THE

PERIPHERALS ALSO)SOFTWARE

A COMPUTER PROGRAMMETHAT TELLS THE

COMPUTER WHAT TO DO AND HOW

PERIPHERAL DEVICES ARE SEPARTE BUT CONNECTED

TO THE COMPUTERTO EXPAND ITS INPUT,OUTPUT & STORAGE

CAPABILITIES

YOU CAN’T HAVE ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER!

Hardware/software relationship between well known Apple technologies

COMPONENTS THAT MAKE UP THE COMPUTER HARDWARE

• SYSTEM UNIT • CPU• RAM • STORAGE & DISK DRIVES

• PERIPHERALS:

– STORAGE DEVICES – DISK DRIVES– INPUT DEVICES– OUTPUT DEVICES

STORAGE DEVICESA DEVICE CAPABLE OF STORING INFORMATION

• PRIMARY STORAGE– COMPUTER RAM

• SECONDARY STORAGE– ALSO KNOWN AS EXTERNAL OR AUXILIARY STORAGE– HOLDS INFORMATION UNTIL IT IS DELETED OR OVERWRITTEN REGARDLESS

OF WHETHER OR NOT THE COMPUTER HAS POWER– Examples@:

• CD’S & DVD’S• FLASH PENS• FLOPPY DISKS• EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES• ZIP DRIVES

INPUT & OUT PUT DEVICES

INPUT DEVICES bring information INTO the

computer

OUTPUT DEVICES bring information OUT of the

computer

TYPES OF INPUT DEVICES• Text:

– keyboard• Pointing:

– Mouse– Touchscreens– Touch pads– Trackerballs– Wii remote

• Gaming:– Joystick– Game controller– Game pad

• Image, Video input devices– Scanner– Webcam– Digital cameras– Barcode readers– Medical image sensors

• Audio:– Microphone– soundcard

TYPES OF OUTPUT DEVICES• MONITOR

– an electronic visual display screen– Monitors have improved greatly in quality since the first

Cathode Ray Tube display screen– The LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) is now the most common

form of monitor used.

• PRINTER– an output device that produces text of graphical images

from the computer onto paper– Various types and styles of printers from basic home

printers to large laser printers capable of printing up to 12,000 copies per hour

• SPEAKERS– Output devices that receive commands from the

computer’s sound card to produce music, narration or sound effects

OTHER OUTPUT DEVICES

• HEADPHONES• PROJECTION

SYSTEMS• INTERACTIVE

WHITEBOARDS• TV’S• PLOTTERS