Hardware Lecture Notes PDF
Hardware Lecture Notes PDF
Hardware Lecture Notes PDF
CSCE 101
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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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.
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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.
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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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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.