Lesson 01

Describes the computer as a system using a block diagram

Introduction to a system
A system is a set of rules, an arrangements of things, or a group of related things that working together
toward a specific goal.
Every system contains a model made by three major parts calls Input, Process and Output (IPO). They
describe the structure of a system.
Introduction to computer
An electronic device which is capable of receiving data in a particular form and of performing a set of
operations in accordance with a predetermined set of instructions to produce a result in the form of
information.

Input Process Output

Computer as a system
Computer is an organization of hardware and software, often together with end-users that perform a
specific task. Computer follows IPO model. Therefore we can classify computer also as a system.
As the computer is a system, each components can’t work on its own. Computer works when its
components are connected properly.
The basic components are: functions

 Keyboard and Mouse - used to input data and instructions

 System unit - processes the data into information
 Monitor - displays the (output) information to the user
Peripheral Devices
A peripheral is a piece of computer hardware. They can be connected internally and externally.
All hardware peripherals can be categorized as follows:

 Input devices
 Output devices
 Input/output devices
 Storage devices

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 Hardware
Input devices
The devices are used to enter data and Instructions to computer
1. Mouse –

A mouse is a pointing device that helps point to different locations on the monitor screen.
Types of Mouses:
 Mechanical Mouse – it has a metal or rubber ball at its bottom and
rotates when the mouse is moved. There are three rollers at the bottom.
As the ball rotates, it moves the rollers.
These movements generate electrical signals.

 Optical Mouse – this mouse uses a light beam instead of a rotating ball to detect movement.
It has wheel with a number of tiny holes in it.
As the wheel turns, the light flashes through the holes and the light sensor
send corresponding information to the computer.

 Wireless Mouse – A cordless mouse, also called a wireless mouse, is a mouse that connects to
a computer without the use of wires. Instead, the mouse uses some
manner of wireless technology, like Bluetooth, RF, or infrared radio
waves.

2. Scanner –
A scanner is used to convert a text or an image to its electronic representation which can be viewed on
the computer screen. These copies can be saved and modified according to the requirements, using an
imaging s/w.

Types of Scanners:
 Hand Held Scanner – this scanner is small in size and is available in
different resolutions while scanning a document, scanner is moved a
number of times over the document.
(Resolution = measures the quality of an image)
Scanning images are low quality.

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  Flat Bed Scanner – this scanner is larger than hand held scanner. It scans the document, image
or texts in one go. While scanning a document is placed on the flat glass surface and the light
sensors move over the document.
This produce higher quality images and more expensive than hand held scanners.

 Sheet Fed Scanner – this scanner similar to a flat bed scanner. While scanning a document,
unlike the flat bed scanner, the document moved across a stationary san head in a sheet fed
scanner.

 Drum Scanner – this one is very expensive and produce high-resolution images while scanning
a document, a drum rolls over the entire document around the tube.

3. Video Camera –
A video Camera is an electronic device which is used for recording videos with sound onto a storage
device like a magnetic tape, CD, DVD and so on. They are used during video conferencing, where live
pictures are captured and sent to other places with the help of computers.
Video camera can be classified according to storage device.

 Some older video tape- based cameras record video in an analog

form.
New video cameras include CD, DVD, hard disk and flash memory and
record video in a digital form

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4. Bar Code Reader / Bar Code Scanner –
Bar Code Reader is an input device which is used to read the Universal Product Code (UPC) (bar code)
of a product.
UPC/bar code
A bar code is a machine readable code in the form of light and dark lines of varying width which
appears on a product.
This code includes,
 Information about an item’s price
 Its manufacture’s details.

Activity of a bar code reader

A bar code reader generates light to reflect the image on the bar code. Then identifies the image from
the thickness spacing of the bars.

5. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) –

Optical Character Reader is a device that is used to scan the text, which is found on a document, and
then the data is converted into electrical signals for the computer. This
device can be used to read a special type of font. However, the more
expensive OCR devices can read a variety of fonts, some even hand
written documents.
On the other hand, if the document is not typed properly or written
clearly, it becomes difficult for the OCR system to recognize the
characters.

The main disadvantage of the OCR is that most of the text formatting is lost during the text scanning.

6. Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) –

Optical Mark Reader is in some of foreign examinations like SAT or TOEFT the candidate application
forms as well as the answer sheets are specially designed (Mark sensor Cards) to record data by using
pencil marks. Open University of Sri Lanka and University of Colombo BIT
program also use a similar method.
The OMR technology enables a high speed reading of large qualities of data
and transferring this data to the computer without using a keyboard.

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7. Magnetic- Ink Character Recognition (MICR) –
This is specially designed for the input of high volume cheques in the
banking industry.
The advantages of the MICR system are that:
 Human involvement in minimum, thus the potential for
errors is small,
 The codes can be read by both people and machines,
 It is fast, automatic, and reliable (2400 cheques/min)

8. Magnetic Strip –
We use magnetic strips to store data in magnetically. We can store upto 60 characters on a magnetic
strip. The data once stored cannot be changed. Generally we use magnetic strip with a plastic card. The
plastic card needs to be swiped through a machine to read the data on the strip.
Magnetic strip is commonly used in credit cards, debit
cards, etc….

Smart Card –
Smart card is a pocket sized card. It contains a microchip. We can write
information on the chip and also data can be read by putting the smart card
into a machine. We use smart cards as credit cards, ATM cards, high
security cards, public transport payment cards, etc…

9. Touch Screen –
In touch screen we can use icon or a menu item which display on a screen by
simply touching it with your finger or an object. However it is not suitable for input
large amount of data.
Uses: hospitals, airlines, etc….

10. Radio-frequency identification –

Radio-frequency identification uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags
attached to objects. RFID is a technology
that uses radio waves for communication
between a tag and a reading device. . The
tags contain electronically stored
information.

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11. Touch Pad –
A touchpad or track pad is a pointing device featuring a tactile sensor, a specialized surface that can
translate the motion and position of a user's fingers

12. Trackball –
With a trackball, the user simply rolls the ball itself using her fingers or thumb.

13. Biometrics – When referring to computers and security, biometrics is the

identification of a person by the measurement of their biological features. For
example, a user identifying themselves to a computer or building by their
fingerprint or voice is considered a biometrics identification. When compared to
a password, this type of system is much more difficult to fake since it is unique
to the person. Other common methods of a biometrics scan are a person's face,
hand, iris, and retina.

14. Graphics tablets -

Alternatively referred to as a drawing tablet and pen tablet, a graphics tablet is a hardware input
device that enables an artist to draw or sketch digitally using a pen or stylus.

 Architects and Engineers

 Artists
 Cartoonist
 Fashion designers
 Graphic designers
 Illustrators
 Photographers
 Teachers
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15. MIDI Keyboard -

Short for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, MIDI is a standard for digitally representing and
transmitting sounds that was first developed in the 1980s

Types of input devices

 Audio conversion device
 Business card reader
 Digital camera and digital camcorder.
 EEG (electroencephalography)
 Finger (with touch screen or Windows Touch).
 Gamepad, joystick, paddle, steering wheel, and Microsoft Kinect.
 Gesture recognition
 Graphics tablet
 Light gun
 Medical imaging devices (e.g., X-ray, CAT scan, and ultrasound images).
 Paddle
 Punch card reader
 Remote
 Sensors (e.g., heat and orientation sensors).
 Sonar imaging devices
 Voice (using voice speech recognition or biometric verification).
 Video capture device
 VR helmet and gloves
 Yoke

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 Output Devices

We use output devices to get the output from the computer. Already learnt about the commonly used output
devices such as printer, monitor, speaker, etc. and also there are more advanced output devices such as plotters
and LCD projectors.

Monitor –
Monitor is also called “Visual Display Unit”. It shows the output by displaying the text and graphics on its screen.

Types of Monitors:
 Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)
 Liquid Cristal Display (LCD)
 Light Emitted Diode (LED)

Differences between CRT and LCD

Criteria LCD CRT
Weight Lighter and compact bulky
Power consumption Requires less power Requires more power
Cost Expensive Cheaper
Portability portable Non-portable

Printers –
Printers are used to produce paper prints or hard copies of the output. They are broadly classified as impact
printers and non-impact printers.
 Impact Printers
These printers transfer the image onto the paper by physically striking a head or a needle against an ink ribbon
to make on the paper.
Impact printers are classified into line printers and character printers.

Line printers print a single line at a time and the printing speed varies from 300-3000 lines per minute
approximately.

Character printers print a single character at a time and their printing speed varies from 30-600 characters per
second approximately.

Dot matrix Printer

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  These printers can print any shape and size of the character or graphics.
 These printers print one character at a time and their speed is measured in characters per second (cps).
 They are inexpensive and have low operating costs.
 They are very noisy, print only in black and produce low quality printouts.

In dot matrix printers, the print head contains a matrix of dots. While printing, the head moves across the paper
to the printing position and the selected dots are activated to strike against the inked ribbon between the paper
and the print head.

Daisy Wheel Printer

 These printers print the letter quality documents.
 These printers are slow and more expensive than dot matrix printers.

In daisy wheel printers, the print head is like a daisy flower and is made up of metallic or plastic wheels. For
printing any character, the print wheel is rotated until the desired character is under the print hammer.

Drum Printer
 These printers are much faster than the dot matrix and daisy wheel printers as they print a line in a
single operation.
 These printers are quite loud, produce low quality print ad are very expensive.
In drum printers, a complete character set is embossed around the circumference of a drum at every print
position. Thus, for a 132-column printer, there are 132 character sets wrapped around the circumference of the
drum.

 Non-Impact Printer
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These printers do not involve any contact between the print head and the surface on which it prints.
They provide a higher speed in terms of characters per second.

Ink-jet printer
 These printers are the most common printers found in homes today even though they are costlier than
dot matrix printers.
 Due to high resolution, they produce high quality graphics and text printouts.

An inkjet printer produces a character by shooting small droplets of ink onto the paper.
Various techniques are used to spray the droplets of ink onto the paper.

Laser Printer
 These printers provide good quality prints and are very fast.
 They are expensive and have a high maintenance cost as compared to other printers.

A laser printer uses a laser source to write information on to a drum coated with a photosensitive material. It
comes in contact with the laser beam. It is charged with electricity.

Types of output devices

The following list contains many different output devices.

 3D Printer

 Braille embosser
 Braille reader
 COM (Computer Output Microfilm)
 Flat panel
 GPS
 Headphones
 Monitor
 Plotter
 Printer (dot matrix printer, inkjet printer, and laser printer).
 Projector
 Sound card
 Speakers

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  SGD (Speech-generating device)
 TV
 Video card

Both Input–Output Devices

1. Touch Screen
A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input and
output device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an
electronic visual display of an information processing system. The
display is often an LCD AMOLED or OLED display while the system
is usually a laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

2. Modems
A modulator-demodulator, or simply modem, is a computer hardware device
that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an
analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio.

3.Headsets

(Headset consists of Headphones and Microphone)

4. Electronic Whiteboard

An electronic whiteboard is a hardware device found in

schools and businesses that is similar to a whiteboard. It
transmits any information written it to a computer or multiple
computers.

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 Storage Devices

1. Magnetic (Hard Disk, Tape etc.)

A magnetic disk is a storage device that uses a magnetization process to write, rewrite
and access data. It is covered with a magnetic coating and stores data in the form of tracks,
spots and sectors. Hard disks, zip disks and floppy disks are common examples of magnetic
disks.

2. Optical (CD/DVD/Blu-Ray Disc etc.)

3. Solid State (Flash drives, Memory cards etc.)

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 Software
Software is a general term for the various kinds of programs used to operate computers and
related devices.
Software is often divided into two categories

Application Software:
These are software that accomplishes user tasks. They act between the System Software and the
User. A user interacts with the Application Software to get his tasks done. Application Software
takes input from the user and processes it according to the users’ request.

Examples:
Word Processor
Spreadsheet
Presentation Graphics
Database Managers
Internet Browser
Media Player

System Software:

This is a type of software which controls, co-ordinates computer operations and manages the
hardware of a computer. System Software forms the base on which the Application Software
work. They act as an interface between the hardware and the Application Software concealing the
technical complexity of the hardware.

Examples of System Software:

Basic Input/output System(BIOS)

Operating System
Device Drivers
Software utilities (Disk clean-up, Disk optimizer, Antivirus, back up etc.)

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 Hardware specifications of personal computers
Processor (Central Processing Unit)

CPU is the brain of a computer system. The cpu basically executes instructions and co-ordinates
operations of the computer. The CPU or Processor is contained on a single chip called
microprocessor.

The speed of a processor is referred as it’s clock speed and usually this is measured in
megahertz(MHz). Nowadays processors have speeds in Gigahertz(GHz) range.

1000Hz =1KHz
1000KHz=1MHz
1000MHz=1GHz

Examples for CPU:

Intel 8088 - (1979)

MOS Tec 6502 – (1975)
ZIlog Z80 – (1976)
AMD(Advance Micro Devices) 240 – (2003)
Motorola 68000 – (1980)

The basic elements of a processor:

Control Unit:
Control unit is responsible for all operations. It steps through instructions (Programs) and
coordinates actions of other components.

Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU):

ALU operates as directed by CU. It provides arithmetic (add, subtract, multiply, divided) and Logical (NOT,
AND, OR) operations
Registers
Provide local storage which holds instructions and data for operations. Registers supply operands
to the ALU for operations and store the results of operations.
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Bus
It is an electronic communication mechanism. It allows two or more functional units of the
computer to transfer data, addresses and control signals

Von Neumann architecture

Main Memory
The main storage of the computer is main memory and it is a holding area for data, instructions and
information.

Memory is contained on chips which are plugged into special sockets in motherboard.

RAM - Random Access Memory

Most computers use Random Access Memory (RAM) as the main memory.

 RAM holds programs and data that the CPU is presently processing. Therefore it is considered as a
temporary storage.
 As soon as the computer is turned off or power is disrupted, everything in RAM gets lost.
 At present RAM is usually measured in Gigabytes.

There are two main ways in the RAM:

1. SRAM – Static Random Access Memory

2. DRAM – Dynamic Random Access Memory

ROM – Read Only Memory

 The data which are in Read Only Memory cannot be easily changed or deleted. This memory is
permanent.
 Non-Volatile Memory – the computer is turned off , contains are not lost.
 This memory which can only be read.

A Few ways of ROM can be noticed.

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 1. PROM – Programmable Read Only Memory
2. EPROM – Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory
3. EEPROM – Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory.

Hard Disk

In Hard disks, data are stored in platters and there can be several platters in a hard disk. All these platters are
fixed on one spindle. All these are rotated together in the same speed while a read/write head is fixed in each
platter separately to read and write.

 The speed of the hard disks is measured using its access time. (millisecond)
 Hard disk brands – Maxtor, Seagate, IBM, Samsung , Western Digital , Toshiba, Hitachi
 Hard disk Types – SCSI, IDE, SATA

Motherboard

A motherboard (also called mainboard, main circuit board, or mobo) is the main printed circuit board (PCB)
in general-purpose computers and other expandable systems. It holds and allows communication between
many of the crucial electronic components of a system, such as the central processing unit (CPU)
and memory, and provides connectors for other peripherals.

Motherboard Bands – Intel , Asus, MSI , Transcend , Gigabyte , Mercury, Aopen

Motherboard Chipsets – Intel , VIA, SIS

Motherboard Integrated Cards (Onboard) – Sound, VGA, Network , Fax/Modem , USB

Motherboard Slots –
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 1. ISA (Industry Standard Architecture)
Color – Black
Cards – Sound/VGA/Network

2. PCI
Color – White
Card – VGA/Sound/Fax…….

3. AGP / PCI express(now)

Color – Brown
Card – VGA

4. AMR (Audio Modem Riser)

Color – Brown
Card – AMR card

5. CNR (Communication & Network Riser)

Color – Brown
Card – CNR modem

Motherboard Ports (External)

1. Serial Port(9pins/25 pins) – Modems

2. Parallel Port(25 pins) – Printer/ Scanner
3. PS/2 Ports – Keyboard/Mouse
4. Video Card Port - Monitor
5. USB Port (Universal Serial Bus)
6. Network Port
7. Sound Ports
8. Modem Port

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Motherboard Ports (Internal)
1. FDD port – Floppy drive
2. IDE ports – Hard disk/CD,DVD Rom drivers /Zip drive
3. Serial ATA port – Hard disk (SATA)
4. Power Supply ports – ATX/AT

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 Data and Information
What is data?

Data can be defined as a representation of raw facts, such as quantities, characters, or symbols on
which operations are performed by human or a computer, which may be stored and transmitted in
the form of electrical signals and recorded on magnetic, optical, or mechanical recording media.

Data is represented with the help of alphabetical letters (A-Z, a-z), Numbers (0-9), and or other
symbols (+,-,/,*,<,>,= etc.).

What is Information?

Information is organized or classified data which has some meaningful values for the user.
Information is the processed data on which decisions and actions are based. To be meaningful,

Information should contain the following characteristics:

1. Relevance: Information should be communicated to the right person.

2. Accuracy: Information should be fair and free from bias. It should not have any
arithmetical and grammatical errors.

3. Completeness: Accuracy of information is not just enough. It should also be complete

which means facts and figures should not be missing or concealed.

4. Timeliness: Information should be communicated in time so that receiver of the

information has enough time to decide appropriate actions based on the information
received.

5. Reliability: Reliable information if information that you can rely on as being correct. It will
be from a valid and trusted source.

6. Accessible: Accessible information is information that is stored in a way that it can be

easily accessed at any time .

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