Hardware & Software

What is Computer?

A Computer is Electronic device that can

·         accept data,
· store data,
·   Process data as desired,
·     retrieve the stored data as and when required
·     print the result in desired format.

-Computer consists of mostly two types of components.

-These components (1) hardware and (2) software.

 

Computer System

(1) Hardware:

-The stuff you can actually see and touch are Hardware.

Examples:

1. Monitor

2. Motherboard 

3. CPU 

4. RAM 

5. Expansion cards

6. Power supply 

7. Optical disc drive

8. Hard disk drive

9. Keyboard 

10. Mouse

1. Monitor:

A computer monitor is an electronic device that shows pictures. Monitors often look similar to televisions.

There are three types of computer displays:

1. CRT monitor
2. LCD monitor
3. Video Projectors

1. CRT Monitor

2.LCD monitor

          

2. Mother Board

• —  The motherboard or main board is the main circuit board in a  complex electronic system, like a computer.
• —  It is the most 'central' part of a computer.
• —  All of the different parts of the computer are connected to the motherboard.
• —  In most computers, the motherboard is a big green board, but many come in different colors like black, red and yellow.

 

Mother Board

3. A Central Processing Unit (CPU)

• —            A Central Processing Unit (CPU) is a set of components in digital Computer that interprets computer program instructions and process data and provides the formatted output.
• —             2 Major Manufactures are there:

¡  Intel

¡  AMD

CPU

4. Random access memory (RAM)

RAM is the memory or information storage in a computer.

• RAM is used to store running programs and data for the programs.
• —  Data or information in the RAM can be read and written quickly in any order.
• —  Normally, the random access memory is in the form of computer chips.
• —  Usually, the contents of RAM are accessible faster than other types of information storage but are lost every time the computer is turned off.

RAM

5. The expansion card

• —            The expansion card in computing is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an electrical connector, or expansion slot on a computer motherboard, backplane or riser card to add functionality to a computer system via the expansion bus.
•    An expansion bus is a computer bus which moves information between the internal hardware of a computer system (including the CPU and RAM) and peripheral devices. It is a collection of wires and protocols that allows for the expansion of a computer.

Expansion Card

 6. A power supply unit (PSU)

•       PSU converts mains AC to low-voltage regulated DC power for the internal components of a computer.
• —         Modern personal computers universally use a switched-mode power supply.
• —         Some power supplies have a manual selector for input voltage, while others automatically adapt to the supply voltage

7. An optical drive 

•        It is usually a CD drive or DVD drive.
• —            Optical means it uses lenses.
• —           The drive uses a light called a laser. A laser is the most exact and powerful sort of light but the laser in the drive is very, very small.
•  —  Types of Optical Drive

¡  CD Drive

¡  DVD Drive

¡  Blue-ray Drive

¡  HD-DVD Drive

  

8. A hard disk drive (HDD)

• HDD is something used by computers to store information.
• —  Hard disks use magnetic recording (similar to the way recording is done on magnetic tapes) to store information on rotating circular platters.
• —  The capacity of a hard drive is usually measured in gigabytes (GB). 

HDD

          

  9. A computer keyboard 

•       A computer keyboard is an important device that allows a person to enter symbols like letters and numbers into a computer.
• —           It is the main input device for most computers.
• —          The most popular type is the QWERTY design, which is based on typewriter keyboards.

Computer keyboard

10. A computer mouse 

•      It is an input device that is most often used with a personal computer.
• —         Moving a mouse along a flat surface can move the on-screen cursor to different items on the screen.
• —         Items can be moved or selected by pressing the mouse buttons (called clicking).

 

Computer Mouse

(2) Software:

Software is a set of instructions which makes a computer to perform a particular task.

There are three types of software:

    (a). System Software

    (b). Application Software

1.      (a) System Software

System software is a collection of one or more programs used to control and coordinate the hardware and other application software.

Generally the system software may perform the following functions:

·         Communicates with hardware devices.

·         Controls and monitors the proper use of various hardware resources like CPU, memory, peripheral devices like monitor, printer etc.

·         Supports the execution and development of other application software.

Examples of system software are:

1.    Operating system

2.    Programming language translator

3.    Communication software

4.    Compiler and Interpreter

2.      (b) Application Software

Application software is a collection of one or more programs used to solve a specific task.

Generally software used in banking industry, airline/railway reservation, generation of telephone or electricity bills etc. all fall under application software.

Examples of application software are:

1.       Word processing software

2.       Database Software

3.       Education Software

4.       Audio-Video Software