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Def: Is an Electronic Machine which takes the raw data, process the raw data & gives the meaning full output.
1) Hardware
2) Software
3) Firmware
1) Hardware : All the electronic, Mechanical , Physically parts of the computer combinedly called as Hardware.
2) Software : Is a set of instructions upon which the computer acts is called Software.
A) System Software: The software that instructs the computer to control & manage its internal functions called as system software.
Eg: DOS , WINDOWS LINUX, Etc.
B) Application Software : The Software which performs a particular data processing job on system is called as Application
software. Eg : MS-Office , Tally, Game s/w Etc.
Generations Of Computers
The first generation machine named as ENIAC ( Electronic numerical integrated and calculator)
The first generation machine consumes Electricity of 100 kwatts.
2nd Generation : Starts at 1958 upto 64 , these were made of Semi-conductors (Transistors, Diode, insulators )
• Technology used is LSI (Large Scale Integration) & VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration)
LSI equivalent to 1000 Transistors.
VLSI more than 1000 Transistors.
5th Generation : This Generation computer is using Artificial Intelligence ,& still under research.
Types of Motherboards
There are two common types: The AT and ATX
AT motherboard use of a DIN-5 keyboard connector, two power connector ports (for P8 and P9 connectors), and support for ±12
and ±5vDC only.
ATX
The ATX motherboard was released by Intel in 1996 and is the most commonly used form in new PCs.
The ATX is the same size as a Baby AT motherboard but has a different orientation and layout the processor is located further
from the expansion slots, and the hard drive and floppy drive connectors are located closer to the bays on the chassis.
The ATX motherboard also includes integrated parallel and serial ports (I/O ports) and a mini-DIN-6,
rather than a DIN-5, keyboard connector. The ATX motherboard’s power supply uses a single
motherboard connector and supplies voltages of ±12, ±5, and +3.3vDC.
HARD DISK
* Chasis : It is a Air-tight packed unit. in older HD Iron metal used for chasis.
* Platter : Is nothing but the circular plates inside the chasy , fixed to a Spindle MOtor & the
pltters are coated with the Magnetic Material like Ferric oxide, cobalt oxide, glass and cyramic.
Data is stored onto the platter in the form of magnetic field, with the help of head.
At the MFG time Tracks & sectors will be created on to the platter.
Each side of the platter is called as side 0 & side 1 attached with its corresponding heads.
* Head : IS winded with a copper coil , the head is connected with the Actautor or Arm which guide the head movement step by step
onto the Tracks.
It supports 2 HD one as Master and the other as slave, it cannot supports cd-rom Drive
2) IDE/ATA :
3) IDE/ATA 3 :
4) Ultra DMA/ 33 :
DMA is introduced in HD, with the help of DMA HD is able to communicate directly with the RAM
NOTE :At the time of MFG of Hard disk Tracks and sectors are created.
* Each Track consist of 63 Sectors / Track.
8 Sectors = 1 Cluster
Standard SCSI : SCSI Hard disk uses a separate SCSI interface card to connect the Hard Disk onto the Mother Board.
FRC CABLE : 40 PINS / 40 WIRES, 20 Odd-NO of wires acts GND, 20 Even no of wires acts as Signals.
5 1/4 DD 40 9 360 KB
HD 80 15 1.22 MB
3 1/2 DD 80 9 720 KB
HD 80 18 1.44 MB
Extra HD 80 36 2.8 MB
Material :
5 1/4 Floppy Disk made up of miler plastic coated with magnetic material like Iron-Oxide, Cobalt-oxide , Ferric Oxide .
Cover used is thick paper.
a) R/W Protect Notch : IF hole is closed is not a write protector (Read / write permission)
b) Media type : is used to identify the difference between High Density & Double density.
1) HEAD : It is a coil winded by a very thin copper wires, used for the R/W Operation.
Data will be stored as Magnetic ENERGY from electrical Energy.
2) Head Mechanism : Is is responsible for the To & Fro movement of the Head.it has 2 types
Spindle motors: Is responsible for rotating the disk at a speed of 300 rpm.
Stepper Motor : IS responsible to guide the movement of the head using screw drive or Belt Drive.
4) Sensors :
: SLOTS :
1) ISA SLOT : This is the first type of slot, this is an 8-bit slot, i,e 8 bits of data transmitted by this device, data processing
speed of 8 MHZ
usually used in the Old M/B to connect Sound cards & modem cards etc.
Black in color.
2) PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) : PCI slots contains the 122 pins arranged in 2 rows.
PCI slots are smaller than ISA Slot, generally White in Color.
PCI slots are used to connect the SCSI Interface Card, NIC Cards, MODEMS ETC.
3) AGP(Accelarated Graphic Port) : AGP SLOT Contains 124 pins arranged in 2 rows.
it is particularly designed for video only, it is generally considered as port which establish
3) AGP(Accelarated Graphic Port) : AGP SLOT Contains 124 pins arranged in 2 rows.
it is particularly designed for video only, it is generally considered as port which establish a direct link between the
Processor & the Video Card.
AGP is of 32-bit, AGP looks as similar as PCI Slots but AGP card is not compatible with PCI.
0 -> Timer
2 - > Free
5 - > LPT 1
7 - > LPT 2
8 - > RTC
9 - > Free
10 - > free.
11 - > Free.
12 - > Mouse.
13 - > co-processor.
: PRINTERS :
PRINTERS : IS used to transform the text and Graphics from pc into Hard-copy i,e on paper.
Printers are classified into a) Impact Printers b) Non-Impact Printers.
a) Impact printers (Daisy wheel) (Dot-Matrix) : This kind of printer moves a print-head across the ribbon & print head
strikes the ribbon to form an images on paper.
a) Daisy-wheel Printer : This kind of printer contains a wheel, raised with letters & symbols on each petals. when the printer
needs to print a character, it sends a signal to the print-head, the print-head rotates the wheel until the required character is in
place, The Electro-mechanical hammer called as Solenoid, strikes the back of the petal containing the
character. Then the character pushes up against the ribbon to make impression on the paper.
b) Dot-Matrix printer : This kind of printer works in the same manner as Daisy-wheel printer, except that of a wheel, the
print-head contains a rows of pins. These pins a fired onto the paper to form a image. The pins in the print-head are wrapped
in coils of wire to create Solenoid.
The printer controller sends a signal to the print-head, which forms a electromagnet, which repels the pin against the ribbon
making a dot on a paper.
1) Power supply :
2) Logic Board : controls the function of the printer. it contains the following components ;
a. CPU : It controls the data flow between the PC & the Printer.
b. Master ROM : THis IC contains the instruction for the self-test & general information.
c. RAM : It is used as temporary buffer for receiving data from the PC.
d. pin firing circuit : This controls the firing of the pins present in the print-head.
a. Home position sensor : This sensor is responsible to pull the print-head from its resting position, when the printer is
switched on.
b. Paper sensor : This sensor is used to find whether paper fed or not, when the printer runs out of paper, this sensor stops
further print jobs.
c. paper feed sensor : This sensor is used to detect whether paper is fed through the tractor or not.
Impact printer : In this type of printer, there is no physical contact with the paper.
Inkjet Printer : In this Printer cartridges is responsible to print the image on to the paper,
It ejects the ink through the small micro-scopic nozzle.
The clarity of the image is measured in terms of DPI.More the dots per inch sharper the image.
This printer contains a moving print head on which an ink cartridge is attached.
Inside the Ink-cartridge small chambers are present, which contains the ink-tube to supply the ink.
At the front-side metal plate is attached to spray the ink on the paper.
An electrical signal sent to the metal plate, the plate gets heated and cause the ink to vaporize, as this turns the ink to
bulges and forms the bubble, & the bubble breakoff into droplet.
LASER PRINTER : USES a technology called electrophotography (EP). Here no concept of moving of print-heads.
Types of RAM
SRAM
Static RAM (SRAM) was the first type of RAM available. SRAM can be accessed at approximately 10
nanoseconds (ns), meaning that it takes about 10ns for the processor to receive requested information
from SRAM. The structure of SRAM chips limits them to a maximum data capacity of 256KB. Although
SRAM is very fast compared with DRAM, it is also very expensive. For this reason, SRAM is typically
used only for system cache.
DRAM
Dynamic RAM (DRAM) . DRAM chips provide much slower access than SRAM chips but can store several
megabytes of data on a single chip (or hundreds of megabytes if they are packaged together on a
module). Every “cell” in a DRAM chip contains one transistor and one capacitor to store a single bit of
information. This design makes it necessary for the DRAM chip to receive a constant power refresh from
the computer to prevent the capacitors from losing their charge. This constant refresh can make access
even slower and causes the DRAM chip to draw more power from the computer than an SRAM
chip. Because of its low cost and high capacity, DRAM is used as “main” memory in the computer.
VRAM
Video RAM (VRAM) is a specialized type of memory that is used only with video adapters. The video
adapter is one of the computer’s busiest components, so to keep up with video requirements, many
adapters have an on-board micro-processor and special video RAM. The adapter can process requests
independently of the CPU, then store its results in the VRAM until the CPU retrieves it. VRAM is much
faster than EDO RAM and is capable of being read from and written to at the same time. The result is
better and faster video performance. Because VRAM includes more circuitry than regular DRAM, VRAM
modules are slightly larger. Faster versions of video memory have been introduced, i,e WRAM.
WRAM
Window RAM (WRAM) is another type of video RAM but it provides faster access than VRAM. It uses the
same dual-ported technology that allows devices to read and write data to the video memory at the
same time. The term “window” refers to its
ability to retrieve large blocks (windows) of data at one time.
: MEMORY BANK :
: CPU Chips :
The Intel 8086 (released in 1978) to the currently popular Intel Pentium III, Pentium 4, Pentium D.
Pentium (586)
The Intel Pentium processor was first released in March 1993. It was the first
Pentium (586)
The Intel Pentium processor was first released in March 1993. It was the first superscalar processor,
meaning that it was capable of parallel processing and that two sets of instructions could be processed
at the same time. Pentium processors support
speeds of 60, 66, 75, 90, 100, 120, 133, 150, 166, and 200MHz. Pentiums 60 and 66 have a 273-pin
PGA design and fit into socket 4 on the motherboard. These earlier processors contained about 3.1
million transistors and used 5vDC. Pentiums 75–200
are 296-pin staggered PGAs that use Socket 7. The Pentium 75–133MHz processors have 3.2 million
transistors, and Pentium 150–200MHz processors have 3.3 million transistors. All Pentiums over 66MHz
use 3.3vDC and can use either a passive heat
sink or a fan (an active heat sink).
Pentium Pro
The Pentium Pro processor was released in November 1995 and was designed for use on servers rather
than regular desktops. The Pentium Pro supports speeds of 150, 166, 180, and 200MHz. Its form is a
387-pin PGA, and it uses Socket 8 on the motherboard.
The Pentium Pro contains approximately 5.5 million transistors and uses 3.3vDC (3.1 for the 150MHz).
Due to the increased number of transistors, Pentium Pro chips require an on-board fan—they generate
too much heat to use a passive heat sink.
Pentium II
The Pentium II processor, released in May 1997. The Pentium II includes 512KB of on-board L2 cache, so
the
form was changed from the PGA to the much larger single-edge contact (SEC). SEC processors (242
pins) are attached to the motherboard via a Slot 1 connector. The Pentium II introduced a number of
new characteristics, such as its support for speeds of 233, 266, 300, and 333MHz. It contains
approximately 7.5 million transistors, so it must use a special cooling fan. It uses 3.3vDC and includes
32KB of L1 cache.
Pentium III
The Pentium III (PIII) processor was released in March 1999. It includes advanced multimedia
instructions, called single-instruction multiple data (SIMD) technology. Its first variant, referred to as
simply Pentium III, has 512KB in on-board L2 cache and uses a 100MHz system bus. The PIII processor
uses 256KB of on-board advanced transfer cache (ATC). ATC is a new technology that can increase
performance by about 25 percent by including L2 cache in the processor. ATC runs at the processor
speed and improves overall cache performance. Pentium III processors range in speeds from 450MHz to
1.13GHz and can include. 370-pin PGA ZIF (zero insertion force). Pentium III processors contain 9.3
million transistors and have integrated fans.
Pentium 4
The Pentium 4 (P4) processor was released in 2000. It includes all of the features of the Pentium III plus
a few more. The chip went through a redesign that includes a new architecture called the NetBurst
microarchitecture. Where older Pentiums pretty
much topped out at 1GHz, the P4 is designed to work at much faster speeds that allow it to exceed speeds of 2GHz on the desktop.
The Pentium 4 uses the Socket 478.
AMD K5
Also released in 1995 was the K5 processor, designed by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). This
processor supports speeds of 75, 90, 100, and 116MHz, contains 4.3 million transistors, and uses
3.52vDC. The K5 processor has a 296-pin PGA design
and uses Socket 7. It also requires an active heat sink (fan). Like the Pentium, the K5 has a 64-bit data
bus, a 32-bit register, and a 32-bit address bus. The main difference between the Pentium and K5,
other than the supported speeds, is the use of L1 cache. The Pentium supports up to 512KB the K5
supports only 8KB.
AMD K6
Around the time of the Pentium II processor’s release, AMD released its own sixth-generation processor,
the K6. This processor supports speeds from 166–266MHz.It has around 8.8 million transistors and uses
3.3vDC. Like previous AMD processors,
the K6 is a 296-pin PGA and uses Socket 7 to attach to the motherboard. As with most processors, the
K6 has a 64-bit data bus, a 32-bit register, and a 32-bit address bus. It also includes between 256KB
and 1MB of L1 cache, but it does not include an
on-board L2 cache.
Cyrix MII
Also released in 1997 was the Cyrix MII processor, which supports speeds of 150, 166, or 187MHz. It
contains 6 million transistors, uses 3.3vDC, and has a 296-pin PGA form. Although its data bus, register,
and address bus match that of the K6, the MIIcontains only 64KB of L1 cache.
: IMP-Points :
BIOS Basic Input Output System. A standard set of instructions or programs that handle boot
operations. When an application needs to perform an I/O operation on a computer, the operating
system makes the request to the system BIOS, which in turn
translates the request into the appropriate instruction set used by the hardware device.
BOOT.INI The startup file that allows for selection of the operating system to be booted in Windows NT
4 through Windows XP.
Bus The pathway that transmits electronic signals from one computer device to another.
DB-9 A type of connector that uses nine wires for connections. Most commonly
used for serial port connections.
DB-25 A type of connector that uses 25 wires for connection. Most commonly
used for parallel communications or older serial communications.
DDR Double Data Rate. A type of memory technology used to effectively double
the data rate of SDRAM memory.
Device Driver Programs that translate necessary information between the operating system and the
specific peripheral device for which they are configured,such as a printer.
FDISK.EXE A DOS-based utility program that partitions a hard disk in preparation for installing an
operating system.
File System The process or method that an operating system uses to manage files and data on the
storage devices.
IRQ Interrupt Request. The physical lines over which system components such as modems or printers
communicate directly with the CPU when the device is ready to send or receive data.
OS Operating system. A set of computer instruction codes, compiled into executable files, whose
purpose is to define input and output devices and connections and provide instructions for the
computer's central processor unit (CPU) to operate on to retrieve and display data.