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Jasper Roberts - Blog

Monday, September 22, 2014

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

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