Introduction to Computer Introduction The premier invention of this century is the computer.

Over a past few decades, the computer revolution has grown to change the way people work and to affect many aspects of their everyday lives. The development of new computer hardware and software has contributed to the spread of computer applications. Gaining computer literacy has become top priority to students. People in all walks of life need to know about computers if they are to function effectively in an information-rich society. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce you to todays computer systems and provide a first glimpse at this fascinating device. Computer Definition The word computer comes from the word compute, which means to calculate. Hence, a computer is normally considered to be a calculating device, which can perform arithmetic operations at enormous speed. But to define a computer merely as a calculating device is to ignore over 80% of its functions. More accurately, a computer can be defined as a device, which operates upon data. A computer can store, process, and retrieve data as and when required. Data can be anything like marks obtained by various students in various subjects when computer is used to prepare results or the details of various passengers when computer is used making airline or railway reservations, etc. The fact that computers process data is so fundamental that many people have started calling it as a data processor. Data Processing may be defined as the process of transforming data (raw material of information) into useful information (processed data).Data processing consists of three steps: capturing the input data, processing the data and managing the output results. Basic Organization of a Computer System

Introduction to Computer The Significance of Hardware Most business people rightly suspect that knowing how to use computer technology is more important to their personal productivity & their firms competitive advantage than knowing the technical details of how the technology functions . But some basic understanding of Computer Hardware Design & Function is essential because organizations frequently must assess their competitive advantage in terms of computing capability. Important decisions about computing capability have to be made , & to the large degree these decisions turn on an understanding of hardware design. Computer Based Information Systems (CBISs) are composed of Hardware Software Database Telecommunications Procedures People Hardware refers to the physical equipment used for the Input, processing, Output & Storage activities of a Computer System. It consists of the following Central Processing unit (CPU) Memory ( Primary & Secondary storage) Input Technologies Output Technologies Communication Technologies Basic Computer Organization The basic five Operation of a computer Systems 1. Inputting 2. Storing 3. Processing 4. Outputting 5. Controlling 2

Introduction to Computer Basic logical structure of the program is proposed by Von Neumann. All computer systems perform the following five basic operations, for converting raw input data into information. 1. Inputting: The process of entering data and instructions into the computer systems. 2. Storing: Saving the data and instructions to make them readily available. 3. Processing: Performing arithmetic or logical operations on data to convert them into useful information. 4. Outputting: The process of producing useful information or results for the user, such as printed report or visual display. 5. Controlling: Directing the manner and sequence in which all of the above operations are performed. Now we will see the basic components of the components which perform these functions. These components are the basic building blocks of a computer. They are the input unit, output unit, memory, arithmetic logic unit and control unit. A block diagram of the basic computer organization is shown in Figure 1.1. Figure 1.1. Block diagram of a computer system

Secondary Program and data Input Unit Storage Primary Storage Output Unit Informat ion (Results)

Control Unit

Arithmetic & Logic Unit

Indicates the flow of instructions and data Indicates the control exercised by the control unit

Introduction to Computer 1. Input Unit Data are entered into the computer system by means of input unit. The important functions performed by input unit are 1. It accepts (or reads) the instructions and data from outside world. 2. It converts these instructions and data in computer acceptable form (series of zeros and ones). 3. It supplies the converted instructions and data to the computer system for further processing. Example for input devices are keyboard, mouse, MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition), OCR (Optical Character Recognition) .Also input devices are there that responds to voice and to touch. 2. Output unit. Output unit is used to communicate the processed information to the user. The important functions performed by output unit are 1. It accepts the results produced by the computer, which are in coded form (series of zeros and ones). 2. It converts these coded results to human acceptable form. 3. It supplies the converted results to the outside world. 3. Memory The storage area of a computer system is called memory. The specific functions of storage unit are to store 1. The data and instructions received from input devices for processing. 2. Intermediate results of processing. 3. Final results of processing, before these results are released to an output device. The memory unit of all computers is comprised of the following two types of storage: 1. Primary memory: The primary memory is also known as main memory. Main memory holds the instructions, data, intermediate results, and results on which the computer system is currently working on. It is used to store data which is actively used by the CPU. CPU can access this from main memory at very high speed. But primary memory can hold information only while the computer system is on. As soon as the computer system is switched off or reset, the information held in the primary memory disappears. So it is called volatile memory. Also primary memory has got only very limited capacity because it is very expensive. The primary memory is made up of semiconductor devices. 2. Secondary memory: It is also known as auxiliary memory. It takes care of the limitations of primary storage. Storage capacity is very high, is not volatile in nature and is much cheaper than primary memory. It holds information on which system is not currently working on. The most commonly used secondary storage medium is magnetic disk. 4. Arithmetic and Logic unit (ALU) Arithmetic and Logic unit (ALU) of a computer system is the place, where the actual execution of the instructions takes places. All ALUs perform the four basic arithmetic operations (add, subtract, 4

Introduction to Computer multiply and divide) and logical operations or comparisons, such as less than, equal to and greater than. First data and instructions stored in the memory are transferred to ALU, where processing takes place. Intermediate results are temporarily transferred back to the memory until needed later. Data may move from memory to ALU and again back to memory, many times before the processing is over. 5. Control Unit Control unit manages and coordinates the activities of all other units of a computer system. Although it does not perform any actual processing on the data, control unit act as the central nervous system. The control unit and the arithmetic logic unit of a computer system are jointly known as Central Processing Unit (CPU). CPU is called as the brain of the computer system. It manages & coordinates the entire computer system. It obtains instructions from the program stored in main memory, interprets the instructions & issues signals causing other units of the system to execute them. Although it does not perform any actual processing on data, the control unit acts as a nervous system.

Introduction to Computer

Input Device
An input device is an electromechanical device, which accepts data from outside world, and translates them into a form computer can understand. The various types of input devices are described below. The input-output devices provide a means of communication between the computer and the outer world. They are also known as peripheral devices, because they surround CPU and the memory of a computer system. This topic helps you to familiarize with the various types of I/O devices.

Keyboard

Key board is the most commonly used input device today. They allow data entry by pressing a set of keys which are neatly mounted on a keyboard, which are connected to the computer system. Each key has a unique code .When a key is pressed the code associated with that particular key get transmitted through the cable that connects keyboard to computer [ When a key is pressed an electronic signal is produced which is detected by an electronic circuit called as keyboard encoder. The keyboard encoder detects which key has been pressed and send the corresponding binary code to computer]. The most common keyboard used today is 101-keys QWERTY keyboard.

Introduction to Computer

Mouse

Mouse is the most popular pint and draw device. It is a must have input device on system using GUIs. Mouse fit comfortably in a users palm. It rolls on a small bearing, and has one or more buttons on the top. When a user rolls mouse on a flat surface, the cursor on the screen also moves in the same direction. When it reaches the desired location, the user pushes the button on the mouse once or twice to signal a menu selection or a command to the computer. Mouse can also be used like pen or paint brush to create figures and patterns directly on the screen.

Joystick
A joystick is a pointing device. Here a spherical ball is placed in socket. The ball can be moved with a stick mounted on it. The stick can be moved forward or backward, left or right to position the cursor. When it reaches the desired location, the button on the top of the stick can be used to make the selection. Typical uses of joystick include video games, flight simulators, training simulators, and for controlling industrial robots.

Introduction to Computer

Optical Character recognition (OCR) device

Suppose a page contains 2500 characters, in ASCII representation it will take just 2500 bytes. But if we are making the compressed bit map of the same page it will take 70 times more space. So if the data scanned is a drawing or a picture bit map is appropriate. But if it is a printed page it would be preferable to store in ASCII format. So the bit map images of the characters have to be converted to its equivalent ASCII format. For this the scanner will be equipped with software called Optical Character Recognition Software (OCR). From the above diagram, the characters P, I and C are first converted to bitmap and then OCR software converts the bitmap to its equivalent ASCII and that values only will be stored, saving a lot of space. But OCR software is extremely complex because it is difficult to make the computer recognize the unlimited number of fonts and faces. So the software is designed to recognize texts written in standard type fonts called OCR fonts. Two such standard fonts are OCR-A (American standard) and OCR-B (European standard). If the document contains any other font the software will not work properly.

Scanner

Image scanner is an input device, which translates paper documents into an electronic format (series of 0s and 1s), which can be stored in computer. It found to be very useful in preserving paper documents in electronic form. Using image processing software, the stored images can be made interesting also. The input documents may be typed text, pictures, graphics, or even hand written material .Image scanners com in various shapes and sizes. Lets see now the device reads an image and converts that into series of 0s and 1s. 8

Introduction to Computer Assume that the image is drawn on a graph sheet. If the image is drawn over an intersection of horizontal and vertical line of the graph the image is represented by a 0.Otherwise by 1.This representation is called the bitmap of the image. Two commonly used scanners are 1) Flatbed scanner. It is like a Xerox machine. It is a box with glass plate on its top and a lid that covers the glass plate. The document to be copied on the glass plate upside down. The light source situated below move from left to right and scans each line. 2) Hand-held scanner. It has a set of light emitting diodes placed in a small case. To scan a document, hold the scanner in hand and slowly drags from one end of the document to other. They are used in cases where high accuracy is not needed.

Bar-Code Reader

Introduction to Computer Data coded in the form of small lines (known as bars) are known as bar codes. Bar codes represent alphanumeric data by a combination of adjacent vertical lines by varying their width and spacing between them. They are particularly used for unique identification of all types of goods, books, postal packages, badges, tags, etc. A bar-code reader is a device, which is used for reading (decoding) bar-coded data. It may be a hand-held scanner, or may be embedded in a stationary scanner. It scans the bar-code image, and converts it to an alphanumeric value, which is then fed to the computer to which the barcode reader is connected. A bar-code reader uses a laser beam scanning technology. The laser beam is stroked across the pattern of bars of bar-code. Different bar-codes, having different patterns of bars, reflect the beam in different ways, which is sensed by a light sensitive detector. Reflected light patterns are converted into electrical pulses, and then transmitted to the recognition logic circuits, which convert into an alphanumeric value. The most widely known bar-coding system is the Universal Product Code (UPC).The UPC barcode patterns are decoded as 10digits.The First 5 of these digits identify the manufacturer or supplier of the product, and the next 5 digits identify a specific product of the manufacturer.

Digital Camera

10

Introduction to Computer A digital camera (or digicam) is a camera that takes video or still photographs, or both, digitally by recording images via an electronic image sensor. Digital cameras are incorporated into many devices ranging from PDAs and mobile phones (called camera phones) to vehicles. The Hubble Space Telescope and other astronomical devices are essentially specialized digital cameras. Types of digital cameras Compact digital cameras Bridge cameras Mirrorless interchangeable lens camera Digital single lens reflex cameras Digital rangefinders Line-scan camera systems

Web Camera

11

Introduction to Computer A webcam is a video camera which feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet or Wi-Fi. Their most popular use is the establishment of video links, permitting computers to act as videophones or videoconference stations. This common use as a camera for the web gives the webcam its name. Other popular uses include security surveillance and computer vision.

Microphone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1876, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, tape recorders, karaoke systems, hearing aids, motion picture production, live and recorded audio engineering, FRS radios, megaphones, in radio and television broadcasting and in computers for recording voice, speech recognition, VoIP, and for non-acoustic purposes such as ultrasonic checking or knock sensors. Most microphones today use electromagnetic induction (dynamic microphone), capacitance change (condenser microphone), piezoelectric generation, or light modulation to produce an electrical voltage signal from mechanical vibration

12

Introduction to Computer A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1876, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, tape recorders, karaoke systems, hearing aids, motion picture production, live and recorded audio engineering, FRS radios, megaphones, in radio and television broadcasting and in computers for recording voice, speech recognition, VoIP, and for non-acoustic purposes such as ultrasonic checking or knock sensors. Most microphones today use electromagnetic induction (dynamic microphone), capacitance change (condenser microphone), piezoelectric generation, or light modulation to produce an electrical voltage signal from mechanical vibration

Touchscreen
A touchscreen is an electronic visual display that can detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area. The term generally refers to touching the display of the device with a finger or hand. Touchscreens can also sense other passive objects, such as a stylus. The touchscreen has two main attributes. First, it enables one to interact directly with what is displayed, rather than indirectly with a cursor controlled by a mouse or touchpad. Secondly, it lets one do so without requiring any intermediate device that would need to be held in the hand. Such displays can be attached to computers, or to networks as terminals. They also play a prominent role in the design of digital appliances such as the personal digital assistant (PDA), satellite navigation devices, mobile phones, and video games.

13

Introduction to Computer

Light Pen

A light pen is a computer input device in the form of a light-sensitive wand used in conjunction with a computer's CRT TV set or monitor. It allows the user to point to displayed objects, or draw on the screen, in a similar way to a touch screen but with greater positional accuracy. A light pen can work with any CRT-based display, but not with LCD screens (though Toshiba and Hitachi displayed a similar idea at the "Display 2006" show in Japan), projectors and other display devices.

Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR)

MICR is similar to OCR, and is used by banking industry for faster processing of large volume of cheques. MICR technology uses a special type of cheque. Here a special magnetic ink is used to print characters and magnetic ink character reader can recognize such characters. For example, the cheque number and branch code are already printed at the bottom of the cheque. When a customer presents a filled-in cheque at a bank, the clerk manually enters the amount written on the cheque, in the lower right corner of the cheque using a device called MICR inscriber, which prints the amount in magnetic ink. Now the required data (branch code, cheque number, and amount) is available at the bottom of the cheque in magnetic ink and MICR reader can read the data.This technology enables faster processing of cheques as well as ensures accuracy of data entry.The most commonly used character set by MICR devices is known as E13B font, which consists of numerals 0 to 9 and four special characters. 14

Introduction to Computer

Output Devices
An output device is an electromechanical device, which accepts data from a computer and translates them into a form, which is suitable for use by the outside world. Lets see some important output devices

Monitor

Most popular output device used today for producing soft-copy output. They display the output on screen. The two basic types of monitors used today are cathode-ray-tube (CRT) and flatpanel. The CRT monitors look like a TV, and are used with portable computers. The flat-panel monitors are thinner and lighter, and are commonly used with portable computer systems

Plotters

15

Introduction to Computer Plotters are ideal output device for architects ,engineers, city planners, and others who need to routinely generate high precision, hard-copy, graphic output of widely varying sizes. Two commonly used types of plotters are

1) Drum plotter A drum plotter consists of a drum is there which can rotate in both clockwise and anti-clockwise direction to produce vertical motion and pen(s) clamped in holder(s) move left to right or right to left to produce vertical motion. The paper on which design has to make is placed over a drum and the drum and the pen move simultaneously to draw the design and graphs. The movement of drum and pen are controlled by the graph-plotting program. Pens having different colors can be mounted in different holders to produce multi-colored designs. 2) Flatbed plotter In flatbed plotter the pen move in required manner to draw the design and graph on paper fixed on a flatbed table. Normally paper does not move and pen can have all types of motion required to draw complex designs and graphs. Pens having different colors can be mounted in different holders to produce multi-colored designs .But plot size is restricted to the area of the bed.

Printer

16

Introduction to Computer In computing, a printer is a peripheral which produces a text and/or graphics) of documents stored in electronic form, usually on physical print media such as paper or transparencies. Many printers are primarily used as local peripherals, and are attached by a printer cable or, in most newer printers, a USB cable to a computer which serves as a document source. Some printers, commonly known as network printers,

Spearker

Computer speakers, or multimedia speakers, are speakers external to a computer, that disable the lower fidelity built-in speaker. They often have a low-power internal amplifier. The standard audio connection is a 3.175mm (1/8 inch) stereo jack plug often colour-coded lime green (following the PC 99 standard) for computer sound cards. A plug and socket for a two-wire (signal and ground) coaxial cable that is widely used to connect analog audio and video components. Also called a "phono connector," rows of RCA sockets are found on the backs of stereo amplifier and numerous A/V products. The prong is 1/8" thick by 5/16" long. A few use an RCA connector for input. There are also USB speakers which are powered from the 5 volts at 500 milliamps provided by the USB port, allowing about 2.5 watts of output power.

17

Introduction to Computer

Storage Device
Primary Storage Device Secondary Storage Device

Primary Storage Device

1. RAM (random-access memory): This is the same as main memory. When used by itself, the term RAM refers to read and write memory; that is, you can both write data into RAM and read data from RAM. This is in contrast to ROM, which permits you only to read data. Most RAM is volatile, which means that it requires a steady flow of electricity to maintain its contents. As soon as the power is turned off, whatever data was in RAM is lost. It is used to store data which is frequently changed because it is easy to read and write data from RAM. Two main types are there. SRAM (Static random access memory) is a type of semiconductor memory. The word "static" indicates that the memory retains its contents as long as power remains applied, unlike dynamic RAM (DRAM) that needs to be periodically refreshed. DRAM (Dynamic random access memory): It stores each bit of data in a separate capacitor within an integrated circuit. Since real capacitors leak charge, the information eventually fades unless the capacitor charge is refreshed periodically. Because of this refresh requirement, it is a dynamic memory. Its advantage over SRAM is its structural simplicity. SRAM devices offer extremely fast access times (approximately four times faster than DRAM) but are much more expensive to produce. Generally, SRAM is used only where access speed is extremely important. So it is used as cache memory. DRAM is less expensive and so is used when large amounts of RAM are required. It is used as main memory.

2. ROM (read-only memory): ROM is used to store program which do not change and frequently used. Here data is stored permanently and cannot be altered by the user. Storing data permanently to this kind of memory is called burning in the data. Here data is stored by using fuse links. Once a fuse-link is burnt it is permanent. Computers almost always contain a small amount of read-only memory that holds instructions for starting up the computer, to load Operating System to memory , to control the peripherals etc. it is non-volatile also. 3. PROM (programmable read-only memory): A PROM is a memory chip on which you can store a program. But once the PROM has been used, you cannot wipe it clean and use it to store something else. Like ROMs, PROMs are non-volatile. It is of two types

18

Introduction to Computer 1. Manufacturer-programmed: Here data is burned by the manufacturer of the electronic equipment in which it is used. For example a PC manufacturer may store the program to start up the computer in the ROM chip on the motherboard of all PCs manufactured by it. 2. User-programmed: It is one in which user can load and store read-only programs and data 4. EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory): Once information is stored in a ROM chip or PROM chip, it cannot be altered. So another type of chip called EPROM is used., EPROMs can be erased and reprogrammed repeatedly. Two types are there 1. UVEPROM (Ultra Violet Erasable PROM): A special type of PROM that can be erased by exposing it to ultraviolet light. 2. EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory): An EEPROM is a special type of PROM that can be erased by exposing it to high voltage electric pulses. It is also called flash memory because of the ease with which programs can be altered. It is used in many new I/O and storage devices. Cache Memory Processor is very fast compared to Memory. So the performance of the processor gets reduced due to the slow speed of main memory. Cache memory is normally used for minimizing the memory-processor speed mismatch. It is an extremely fast, small memory, whose access time is closer to the processing speed of the CPU. It acts as a high speed buffer between CPU and main memory and is used to temporarily store very active data and instructions during processing. By keeping as much of this information as possible in cache (SRAM) the computer avoids accessing the slower main memory (DRAM). The program and data is loaded from the hard drive into RAM. From RAM it is loaded into cache RAM, and from there it is executed by the CPU. Cache RAM and normal RAM are very similar in the way they work. Cache is just extremely fast, and expensive.

Secondary Storage Device Hard Disk

19

Introduction to Computer

Hard disks save files by altering the magnetic charges of the disks surface. o Thick, rigid metallic platters (see Figure 10) that are stacked one on top of another. o Hard disks store and organize files using tracks, sectors, and cylinders. o There are two main types of hard disks: Internal hard disk (fixed disk): Located inside the system unit. External hard disk: Removable. Useful for backup and transferring files.

Magnetic Disk.
20

Introduction to Computer It is the most popular on-line secondary storage device. It is a thin circular aluminum plate (platter) coated on both sides with a magnetic material. It is direct access storage device in which any record can be accessed directly by specifying the location (address) of the record. A magnetic disk is single-sided if this stores information on only one of its surfaces and double-sided if on both sides. The surface of a disk is divided into a number of invisible tracks and each track is divided into number of sectors. Tracks are numbered from outermost to innermost starting from 0. A set of corresponding tracks in all surfaces of a disk is called a cylinder. For example if we are connecting the 5th track of all disks we will get the 5th cylinder of the disk pack. The concept of cylinder is logical. If there are 10 tracks on a surface then there will be 10 cylinders in the disk pack. Magnetic Disk. To increase the storage capacity disks are assembled into a disk pack. The disk pack contains three or more disks mounted on a central shaft .The disk pack is sealed and mounted on a disk drive which contains a motor to rotate the disk pack. The disk drive also has an access arm assembly, which has separate read/write heads for each surface of the disk The access arms assembly is designed in a manner that all access arms (on which read/write heads are fixed) for all disk surfaces move together. For example if one read/write head get positioned over the 5th track of any surface all the other read/write heads also get positioned over the 5th track ). So to access the data fastly the concept of cylinder is used by avoiding the movement of access arms when large number of related records is processed in sequence. Storage capacity of the disk = no of recording surfaces * no of tracks per surface * no of sectors per track * no of bytes per sector. The disk controller is the circuit which allows the CPU to communicate with a hard disk, floppy disk or other kind of disk drive. In order to read from or write to a disk pack the computer must specify the drive number, cylinder number, surface number and sector number. Drive number should be specified because the controller normally controls more than one drive. When a read/write head is received by the disk controller the controller first positions the arm assembly so that the read/write head reaches the specified cylinder.( The time taken to place the read /write head on the specified cylinder or track is called seek time. ) Then the head corresponding to the specified surface is selected. After the head is selected the specified disk has to rotate so that the specified sector has to come under the read/write head. The time taken for this is called rotational latency. Once the sector is under the read/write head data is read at a speed determined by the rotation of the disk. Transfer rate is the rate at which data are read from or written to the disk.So the average access time of the disk depends on three factorsseeks time, rotational latency and transfer time. Transfer time is negligible as compared to seek time and rotational latency. So average access time is the average of seek time and rotational latency. 21

Introduction to Computer CDROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory) CDROM is also called laser disk.It is also a direct access storage device. The disk is made up of polycarbonate and coated with a highly reflective material , aluminium. Data recording id done by focussing the stronger laser beam on the surface of the spinning disk.The laser beam is turned on and off at a varying rate and tiny pits are burnt into the metal coating. The unal;tered area between the pits is called land.To read the data less powerful laser beam is focused on the disk surface. This beam is strongly reflected by the land and weakly by the pit , producing patterns of on and off reflections, which are converted into electronic signals of binary 1s and 0s by a sensor. Mechanical read/write access arm is not needed here because a light beam can be easily deflected place on the optical disk. But even then magnetic disk is faster than optical disk. Magnetic Tape. Magnetic tape is the most popular storage medium for large data, which are sequentially accessed and processed. It is a plastic ribbon which is usually inch or inch wide, and 50 to 2400 feet long. It is coated with a magnetizable recording material, such as iron oxide or chromium oxide. Data are recorded in the form of tiny invisible magnetized and non-magnetized spots (representing 1s and 0s) on the coated surface. The tape ribbon itself is stored in reels on a small cartridge or cassette. It can be eased and reused indefinitely. Old data are automatically erased when new data are recorded on the same area. Tape is divided into horizontal rows called tracks and vertical columns called frames. One frame holds one character. Older tapes had 7 tracks and they used 6 bit BCD code for data recording. Modern magnetic tapes have 9 tracks and they used 8 bit EGCDIC code format. A magnetic tape is a continuous medium in which data are stored serially. There is no addressing. Starting portion and ending portion of the tape is kept blank for spooling known as header and trailer respectively. Tape is divided into blocks and each block stores 250 bytes of data. Records are grouped together and stored in blocks. The process of storing two or more blocks together to form a block of data is called blocking and the number of records put together in each block is called blocking factor. Two blocks are separated by Inter Block Gap. Virtual Memory Virtual memory provides applications with more memory space than allocated in the computer. It is a technique which operating systems use to load more data into memory than it can hold. Part of the data is kept on disk and is constantly swapped back and forth into system memory. Whenever the operating system wants to load a page and if enough memory is not available to hold that page, then VIRTUAL MEMORYORY MANAGER picks a part of physical memory that hasn't been used recently and writes it to a SWAP FILE on the hard disk. Now space is available in memory and there OS loads the new page. If OS wants to load a page from swap file it reads the part of memory that is needed from the swap file and stores it into real memory in place of the swapped page .This is called SWAPPING. Virtual memory allows for the multitasking (opening more than one program) that we do. When the amount of virtual memory. in use greatly exceeds the amount of real memory., the operating system spends a lot of time swapping pages of memory around, which greatly hampers 22

Introduction to Computer performance. This called THRASHING and you can see it in your LED hard disk drive light. The hard disk is thousands of times slower than the system memory, if not more. A system that is thrashing become very very slow or come to a halt. USB Pen Drive USB Pen Drive is a small keyring-sized device that can be used to easily transfer files between USBcompatible systems .It can be easily plugged into the USB port of our PC and OS automatically detects the new device and creates new drive. This is file transfer/storage in its safest and most convenient form. he USB Pen Drive is shock-proof, dust-proof and weighing a mere 21 grams, it needs no batteries, has no moving parts and is available in range of capacities from 32MB to a massive 8GB! USB USB - Universal Serial Bus, is a 'standard' developed by the computer industry to allow a vast number of different devices to be easily attached to one machine with the minimum requirement for extra drivers and software and still operate at an efficient speed. It is an external bus that connects computer to peripheral devices. It allows a high speed easy connection of peripherals- just plug in , every thing configures automatically. We can plug a USB device in without switching the PC off, it will be automatically detected by the Operating System and will be ready for use in a few seconds.It's supported by Windows ME/2000/XP, Mac OS (ver. 8.6 or above) and Linux kernel (version 2.4.0 or above) without drivers, Windows 98/Windows 95 OSR2 (with supplied USB Driver).

23

Introduction to Computer

Types of Computer
A computer is an electronic device that can perform calculations and analysis at very high speeds.

Supercomputer

Most power type of computer. o High-capacity computers. o Fastest processing. o Used by large organizations, usually research facilities.

24

Introduction to Computer

Mainframe

Do not have as high of capacity or a fast processing as supercomputers. Capable of storing large amounts of data. Large corporations use them.

25

Introduction to Computer

Minicomputer

Slower processing speed and less storage capacity than a mainframe. Used by medium-sized companies or departments of large corporations. Used for specialized purposes.

26

Introduction to Computer

Microcomputer

Least powerful Most widely used Four types Desktop Notebook Tablet PC Handheld 27

Introduction to Computer Computer Communications and Networks Introduction Communication is the process of sharing data, programs, and information between two or more computers. A network is a group of connected computers. The communications system (shown in figure 13) is an electronic system that transmit data from one location to another and it consists of: Sending and receiving devices: send as well as receive messages (e.g. computer). Communication channel: the medium that carries the message (e.g. cable). Connection devices: convert messages into packets that can travel across the communication channel (e.g. modem). Protocols: rules that coordinate the sending and receiving devices (e.g. TCP/IP).

Communications Channels They are either physical such as Twisted pair, Coaxial cable, and Fiber-optic cable, or wireless such as Infrared, Microwave (e.g. Bluetooth), and Satellite

28

Introduction to Computer

Modem

Connection Devices Modems: They connect computers over analog phone lines. They convert the computers 29

Introduction to Computer digital signals to analog signals to send over the phone line (modulation) and then re-convert them to digital when receiving information from the phone lines (demodulation). The transfer rate is measured in bits-per-second. There are four types: Internal, external, PC card, and Wireless Network Types Local Area Networks - Networks with nodes that are in close physical proximity Home Networks networks being used by individuals in their homes and apartments. Metropolitan Area Networks - span distances up to 100 miles. links between office buildings that are located throughout a city. Wide Area Networks - countrywide and worldwide networks. CSCI200 Introduction to Computers (Lecture Notes) Editors: Rayan Yahfoufi and Adnan Takash 12 Firewall It is a security system designed to protect an organizations network against external threats. It consists of hardware and software that control access to a companys intranet or other internal networks. The Internet and the Web Introduction The Internet (Launched in 1969) is often referred to as the Information Superhighway because it connects millions of people across the globe. Unlike a typical highway, the Internet moves idea and information. The Web (Introduced in 1992) provides an easy-to-use multimedia interface to connect to the Internet and is used by millions of people every day. Uses of the Internet and the Web: Communicating, Shopping, Searching, Entertainment, and Education (e-Learning). The most common way is through ISP Internet Service Providers. HTML HyperText Markup Language: A language to create a document that is found online (on the internet). Such documents are called are called html documents and have the extension .htm and .html. Websites and webpages 30

Introduction to Computer A webpage is an html page and a collection of webpage form a website. For example: http://www.yahoo.com is a website and http://sports.yahoo.com is a webpage from that website. The homepage is the first page displayed when you visit a website. Browsers Browsers provide a user interface to the web and allow you to visit websites. The most well known browsers: Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Netscape Communications. Allow connections to remote computers. To access a website we need its location/address (URL - Uniform Resource Locator). URLs have two parts domain name and a domain code. For example: in http://www.yahoo.com the domain name is yahoo and the domain type. Examples of domain types are: .com (commercial), .edu (education), .gov (government), .tv, .net, .org(organization), .com.lb (commercial in Lebanon) where lb is a country code. Electronic Mail E-mail is the most common form of Internet communications. The e-mail message can contain text, graphics, photos, and file attachments. To send an e-mail you need an e-mail account, CSCI200 Introduction to Computers (Lecture Notes) Editors: Rayan Yahfoufi and Adnan Takash 13 access to the Internet, and an e-mail software. Common e-mail software packages are Microsofts Outlook Express. Some e-mail softwares are web based such as homtail and gmail. Three basic elements: 1. Header (includes the addresses, the subject, and the attachments which files that can be sent along with the e-mail but are separate from the message), 2. Message body, and 3. Signature line Provides additional information about the sender. Spam: Unsolicited and unwanted e-mails. Search Engines There billions of webpages online and around two billion pages are added daily to the Internet. A number of search engines help users locate the needed information. These engines maintain huge databases of the pages on the Internet. There are two ways to search for data: 1. Keyword search engines uses words and phrases to find information. 2. Directory search engines Also known as an index search organizes information by topic. Examples: Google and Yahoo. Metasearch engines automatically send requests to several search engines simultaneously. Metacrawler is an example.

31