CSCE 101

Hardware Lecture Notes

Hardware vs. Software

Hardware
consists of all the machinery and equipment in a computer system. The
hardware includes, among other devices, the keyboard, the screen, the printer,
and the computer or processing device itself. Hardware is useless without
software.
All machinery and equipment in a computer system
Runs under the control of software and is useless without it.
Contains circuitry that allows processing
Examples: Hard drive, Cd-Rom
Software
programs, consists of all the electronic instructions that tell the computer how to
perform a task. These instructions come from a software developer in a form
(such as a CD, or compact disk) that will be accepted by the computer.
Also called programs;
step-by-step electronically encoded instructions that tell the computer hardware
how to perform a task
Hardware requires software in order to know what to do or how to run
Examples: Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer

How Computers Work

All computers follow five basic operations. The information below demonstrates the
five primary computer operations and lists some of the associated hardware and
software.
Input - Whatever is put in ("input") to a computer system. Input devices include the
keyboard and the mouse. Producing User information requires input data.
Keyboard - converts letters, numbers, and other characters into electrical signals
readable by the processor.
Mouse - used to manipulate objects viewed on the computer display screen.
Processing - The manipulation the computer does to transform data into information.
The brain of the computer.
Motherboard - The main circuit board in the computer to which everything else,
such as the keyboard, mouse, and printer, attaches through connections (called
ports) in the back of the computer. The processor chip and memory chips are also
installed on the motherboard.

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Hardware Lecture Notes

Processor chip - tiny piece of silicon that contains millions of miniature electronic
circuits.

RAM - Holds data before processing and information after processing, before it is
sent along to an output or storage device.
System unit - the box that houses the processor chip (CPU), the memory chips,
and the motherboard with power supply, as well as some secondary storage
devices.
Storage
Primary Storage - Also called memory; internal computer circuitry that temporarily
holds data waiting to be processed.
Memory chip - Also known as RAM chips, represent primary storage, or
temporary storage; they hold data before processing and information after
processing, before it is sent along to an output or storage device.
Secondary Storage - devices and media that store data and program permanently,
such as disks and disk drives, tape and tape drives, CDs and CD drives. Necessary
for users to save work and holds computer's software.
Floppy disk - Stores data on removable 3.5-inch-diameter diskettes.
Hard disk - Stores billions of characters of data on a non-removable disk
platter.
Zip disk drive - stores data on removable floppy-disk cartridges with 70170
times the capacity of the standard floppy.

Output
Whatever is output from ("put out of")the computer system; The results of
processing
Monitor
Takes the electrical signals from the video card and forms an image using
points of colored light on the screen.
Printer
Produces text and graphics on paper.
Video Card
Converts the processors output information into a video signal that can be
sent through a cable to the monitor.
Sound Card

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Hardware Lecture Notes

enhances the computers sound-generating capabilities by allowing sound to

be output through speakers.
Communications
allows data to be input from afar, processed in a remote area, stored in
several locations, and output in other locations; extends the ability of the
computer from the device, to networked devices.
ex. modem, Ethernet cable
Modem
Sends and receives data over telephone lines to and from computers

System Software vs. Application Software

Software
The programs, routines, and symbolic languages that control the functioning of
the hardware and direct its operation. There are two types of software system
and application.
System software
Helps the computer perform essential operating tasks and
enables the application software to run.
Application software
Enables the user to perform specific tasks solve problems,
perform work, or entertain.

Custom Built vs. Prepackaged

Custom Built
Know what's inside
Can tailor to fit needs
Generally better quality
Tends to be more expensive, but yields better quality
Readily Assembled
Easy to obtain and ready to use
Usually has a system warranty
Depending on the price, can generally get a good deal in terms of cost:benefit
ratio

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Hardware Lecture Notes

Information Technology Trends

Computer Development
Miniaturization
everything is made smaller, and less is more
Speed
faster speeds
Affordability
lower prices
Communications
foundation of information age
Connectivity
the connection of computers to one another by a communications line in order
to provide on line information access and/or the sharing of peripheral devices
Interactivity
two-way communication, allowing the user to respond to information he/she
receives and modify what a computer is doing
Multimedia
technology that presents information in more than one medium, such as text,
pictures, video.
Computers and Communications
Convergence - ex. cell phone w/ digital camera
Portability - ex. laptops, cell phones
Personalization - ex. bank statements online

Microchips, Miniaturization & Mobility

Transistor
a tiny electrically operated switch that can alternate between on and off millions
of times per second.
The first transistors were one-hundredth the size of a vacuum tube, needed no
warm-up time, consumed less energy, and were faster and more reliable.
Transistors marked the beginning of a process of miniaturization that has not
ended yet.
Modern transistors are so small that 3 million of them can fit into half a
centimeter.
Microchip
is a tiny piece of silicon that contains millions of micro-miniature electronic

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Hardware Lecture Notes

circuits.
Silicon- an element widely found in sand.
abundant and cheap
semiconductor
material whose electrical properties are intermediate between a good
conductor and a nonconductor of electricity.
Miniaturization Miracles
Microchips, Microprocessors, & Micro-machines
portability = trading off computing power and convenience in return for
smaller size and weight.
Experts have predicted that small, powerful, wireless personal electronic
devices will transform our lives far more than the personal computer has done
so far.
Microchips
responsible for the miniaturization that has revolutionized consumer electronics,
computers, and communications.
store and process data in electronic gadgets.
Varieties include microprocessors, memory, logic, communications, graphics
and math co-processor chips
Microprocessor
the miniaturized circuitry of a computer processor or CPU, the part that
processes, or manipulates, data into information
When used in machines other than computers, microprocessors are called
micro-controllers or embedded computers.
Mobility
trading off computing power and convenience in return for smaller size and
weight. Experts have predicted that small, powerful, wireless personal
electronic devices will transform our lives far more than the personal computer
has done so far.

The System Unit

Binary system
Consists of two digits, 0 and 1.
0 represents the electrical current being off
1 means the current is on
all data and programs that are used by a computer are represented in terms of
these binary numbers.

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Hardware Lecture Notes

Capacity is denoted by any of the following Bit

each 0 or 1 is called a bit
short for "binary digit."
Byte
8 bits
Kilobyte
1024 bytes
(1000 in base ten = 1024 in base 2)
Megabyte
about 1 million bytes (1,048,576 bytes)
Gigabyte
about 1 billion bytes (1,073,741,824 bytes)
Terabyte
about 1 trillion bytes (1,009,511,627,776 bytes).
Petabyte
1 quadrillion bytes (1,048,576 gigabytes).
ASCII
stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange
the binary code most widely used with microcomputers
includes such characters as math symbols and Greek letters.
Unicode
Similar to ASCII, but can handle more characters
uses two bytes (16 bits) for each character
The Parity Bit
can detect a data error
also called a check bit
an extra bit attached to the end of a byte for purposes of checking for
accuracy.

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Hardware Lecture Notes

The Computer Case - Bays, Buttons, & Boards

System Unit
houses the motherboard (including the processor chip and memory chips), the
power supply, and storage devices.
Case
the part of the system unit that is the empty box with just the power supply
Bay
is a shelf or opening used for the installation of electronic equipment, generally
storage devices such as a hard drive or DVD drive
Tower
a cabinet that is tall, narrow, and deep
Power Supply
a device that converts AC to DC to run the computer
The three principal types of power protection devices
Surge protector
a device that protects a computer from being damaged by momentary surges
(spikes) of high voltage.
Voltage regulator
a device that protects a computer from being damaged by insufficient power
"brownouts" or "sags" in voltage.
UPS (uninterruptible power supply)
a battery-operated device that acts as a surge protector and provides a
computer with electricity if there is a power failure.

The Motherboard & Microprocessor Chip

Motherboard
the main circuit board in the system unit
consists of a flat board that fills one side of the case
contains both soldered, non-removable components and sockets or slots for
components that can be removeda microprocessor chip, RAM chips, and
various expansion cards.
Expansion

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Hardware Lecture Notes

a way of increasing a computers capabilities by adding hardware to perform

tasks that are beyond the scope of the basic system.
Upgrading
means changing to newer, usually more powerful or sophisticated versions
Every microprocessor contains a system clock
controls how fast all the operations within a computer take place.
Run in gigahertz, MIPS, etc
How the Processor or CPU Works - Control Unit, ALU, & Registers
Word size
number of bits that the processor may process at any one time.
CPU (central processing unit)
The "brain" of the computer
follows the instructions of the software to manipulate data into information.
The CPU consists of two parts Control unit
deciphers each instruction stored in the CPU and then carries out the
instruction.
Arithmetic logic unit (ALU)
performs arithmetic operations and logical operations and controls the
speed of those operations.
Registers
high-speed storage areas that temporarily store data during processing.
All data must be represented in a register before it can be processed.
Buses
electrical data roadways through which bits are transmitted within the
CPU and between the CPU and other components of the motherboard.

How Memory Works: RAM, ROM, CMOS, & Flash

RAM (random access memory) chips
for primary storage
temporarily hold software instructions and data before and after it is

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Hardware Lecture Notes

processed by the CPU

volatile
the contents are lost when the power goes off or is turned off.
ROM chips
to store fixed start-up instructions
cannot be written on or erased by the computer user without special equipment.
ROM chips contain fixed start-up instructors necessary for basic computer
operations.
CMOS chips
to store flexible start-up instructions
complementary metal-oxide semiconductor
are powered by a battery and thus do not lose their contents when the power is
turned off.
Flash memory chips
used to store flexible programs
a nonvolatile form of memory
can be erased and reprogrammed more than once
do not require a battery
Flash memory is also used in newer PCs for BIOS instructions

How Cache Works - Level 1 (Internal) & Level 2 (External)

Cache
temporarily stores instructions and data that the processor is likely to use
frequently
speeds up processing
One of the few differences between different versions of the same chip
Example
Intel Pentium 4 Processor with HT Technology Extreme Edition
L2 Cache - 512KB 512KB
L3 Cache - 2MB
Intel Pentium 4 Processor
L2 Cache choice of 256KB, 512KB, 1MB

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Hardware Lecture Notes

L3 Cache - none 2MB

There are two kinds of cacheLevel 1 and Level 2 Level 1 (L1) cachepart of the microprocessor chip
Faster than L2
Smaller Capacity
Built into processor chip
Level 2 (L2) cachenot part of the microprocessor chip
External cache
Resides outside the processor
Ports & Cables
Port
a connecting socket or jack on the outside of the system unit into which are
plugged different kinds of cables
facilitates communication between computer and device
types
Serial ports
for transmitting slow data over long distances
a line connected to a serial port will send bits one after another.
Think older Mouse connections
Parallel ports
for transmitting fast data over short distances
a line connected to a parallel port allows 8 bits (1 byte) to be transmitted
simultaneously.
Think
SCSI ports
for transmitting fast data to up to seven devices in a daisy chain
think hard drives, cd-roms
USB ports
for transmitting data to up to 127 devices in a daisy chain
think newer mouses
FireWire ports

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Hardware Lecture Notes

for camcorders, DVD players, and TVs
developed to improve PC/peripheral connections and to compete with
USB.
DVD players, digital audio equipment, TVs, and gaming consoles.

Dedicated ports
the back of a computer also has other, dedicated portsports for special
purposes
connect keyboard and mouse, et al
Infrared ports
for cable-less connections over a few feet
allows a computer to make a cable-less connection with infrared-capable
devices.

Expandability - Buses & Cards

Expansion slots
are sockets on the motherboard into which you can plug expansion cards.
Expansion cards
also known as expansion boards, adapter cards, interface cards, plug-in boards,
controller cards, etc
are circuit boards that provide more memory or that control peripheral devices.
The following are the common types of expansion cards Graphics cards - for monitors
Sound cards - for speakers and audio output
Modem cards - for remote communication via phone lines
Network interface cards - for remote communication via cable
PC Cards - for laptop computers
Expansion cards are made to connect with different types of buses on the
motherboard.

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Hardware Lecture Notes

Secondary Storage
Floppy Disks
often called a diskette or simply a disk
a removable flat piece of mylar plastic packaged in a 3.5-inch plastic case.
write-protect notch
prevents a diskette from being written to.
tracks
On the diskette, data is recorded in concentric recording bands
Various types of disks available are 3.5-inch floppy disks
1.44 megabytes
Zip disks100 megabytes
Hard Disks
Hard disks
thin but rigid metal, glass, or ceramic platters covered with a substance that
allows data to be held in the form of magnetized spots
head crash - occurs when the surface of the read/write head or particles
on its surface come into contact with the surface of the hard-disk platter,
causing the loss of some or all of the data on the disk.
There are two types of hard disks Non-removable
housed in the microcomputer system unit
used to store nearly all programs and most data files.
Removable
Also known as hard-disk cartridges
consist of one or two platters enclosed along with read/write heads in a
hard plastic case, which is inserted into a microcomputers cartridge drive.
Optical Disks: CDs & DVDs
optical disk
a removable disk
usually 4.75 inches in diameter and less than 1/20 of an inch thick,

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Hardware Lecture Notes

data is written and read through the use of laser beams

Following are the types of optical disks CD-ROM - for reading only - CD-ROM (compact disk read-only memory)
CD-R - for recording on once - CD-R (compact diskrecordable) disks
CD-RW - for rewriting many times - A CD-RW (compact disk rewritable) disk
DVD-ROM - the versatile video disk - A DVD-ROM (digital versatile disk or
digital video disk, with read-only memory)
Magnetic Tape
a thin plastic tape coated with a substance that can be magnetized
Data is represented by magnetized spots (representing 1s) or nonmagnetized spots (representing 0s).
Old and archaic, but a good way to back-up data
Smart Cards
look like a credit card but contains a microprocessor embedded in it
hold more information than standard credit cardsabout 840 megabytes of
data. Some can be reloaded for reuse.
Optical cards
are plastic, laser recordable, wallet-type cards used with an optical-card
reader.
Flash Memory Cards
consist of circuitry on credit-card-size cards that can be inserted into slots
connecting to the motherboard
flash memory is nonvolatile.