TYPES AND PARTS

OF A COMPUTER
 Definition of computer
■ A computer is a machine that can be programmed to manipulate symbols. Its principal
characteristics are:
– It responds to a specific set of instructions in a well-defined manner.
– It can execute a prerecorded list of instructions (a program).
– It can quickly store and retrieve large amounts of data.
■ A computer is an electronic machine that processes data. Information given to
the computer is called data. Computer works very fast. It saves your time and
energy. It does not make mistakes. It can remember a lot of things.
 History of a computer
■ First mechanical computer or automatic computing engine concept
In 1822, Charles Babbage conceptualized and began developing
the Difference Engine, considered to be the first automatic computing
machine. The Difference Engine was capable of computing several
sets of numbers and making hard copies of the results. In 1837,
Charles Babbage proposed the first general mechanical computer,
the Analytical Engine. The Analytical Engine contained an ALU
(Arithmetic Logic Unit), basic flow control, punch cards (inspired by
the Jacquard Loom), and integrated memory. It is the first general-
purpose computer concept.
 History of a computer
■ First programmable computer
■ The Z1 was created by German Konrad Zuse in his parents' living
room between 1936 and 1938. It is considered to be the first
electromechanical binaryprogrammable computer, and the first really
functional modern computer
 History of a computer
■ The first electric programmable computer
■ The Colossus was the first electric programmable computer,
developed by Tommy Flowers, and was first demonstrated in
December 1943. The Colossus was created to help the British code
breakers read encrypted German messages.
 History of a computer
■ The first digital computer
■ Short for Atanasoff-Berry Computer, the ABC began development
by Professor John Vincent Atanasoff and graduate student Cliff
Berry in 1937. The ABC was an electrical computer that used more
than 300 vacuum tubes for digital computation, including binary math
and Boolean logic and had no CPU (was not programmable)
■ The ENIAC was invented by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly at
the University of Pennsylvania and began construction in 1943 and
was not completed until 1946. It occupied about 1,800 square feet
and used about 18,000 vacuum tubes, weighing almost 50 tons.
Although the Judge ruled that the ABC computer was the first digital
computer, many still consider the ENIAC to be the first digital
computer because it was fully functional.
 History of a computer
■ The first stored program computer
■ The first computer to electronically store and execute a program was
the SSEM(Small-Scale Experimental Machine), also known as the
"Baby" or "Manchester Baby," in 1948.
■ The second stored-program computer was also British: the EDSAC,
built and designed by Maurice Wilkes at the University of Cambridge
Mathematical Laboratory in England. The EDSAC performed its first
calculation on May 6, 1949. It was also the first computer to run a
graphical computer game, "OXO," an implementation of tic-tac-toe
displayed on a 6-inch cathode ray tube.
 History of a computer
■ First computer with program stored in memory
■ First delivered to the United States government in 1950, the UNIVAC
1101 or ERA 1101 is considered to be the first computer capable of
storing and running a program from memory.
■ The first computer with RAM
■ MIT introduces the Whirlwind machine on March 8, 1955, a
revolutionary computer that was the first digital computer
with magnetic core RAM and real-time graphics.
■
 History of a computer
■ The first transistor computer
■ The TX-0 (Transistorized Experimental computer) is the
first transistorizedcomputer to be demonstrated at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in 1956.
 Types of a computer
■ The four basic types of computers are as under:
1. Supercomputer
2. ​Mainframe Computer
3. Minicomputer
4. Microcomputer
Supercomputer
■ The most powerful computers in terms of performance and data processing are
the Supercomputers. These are specialized and task specific computers used
by large organizations.
■ An extremely fast computer that can perform hundreds of millions of instructions per
second.
Uses of supercomputer
■ In Pakistan Supercomputers are used by Educational Institutes like NUST for
research purposes. Pakistan Atomic Energy commission & Heavy Industry
Taxila uses supercomputers for Research purposes.
■ Space Exploration
■ ​Earthquake Studies
■ ​Weather Forecasting
■ ​Nuclear Weapons Testing
Mainframe
■ A powerful multi-user computer capable of supporting many hundreds or thousands of
users simultaneously.
■ The chief difference between a supercomputer and a mainframe is that a supercomputer
channels all its power into executing a few programs as fast as possible, whereas a
mainframe uses its power to execute many programs concurrently. In some ways,
mainframes are more powerful than supercomputers because they support more
simultaneous programs. But supercomputers can execute a single program faster than a
mainframe.
Minicomputer
■ Minicomputers are used by small businesses & firms. Minicomputers are also
called as “Midrange Computers”. These are small machines and can be
accommodated on a disk with not as processing and data storage capabilities
as super-computers & Mainframes. These computers are not designed for a
single user. Individual departments of a large company or organizations use
Mini-computers for specific purposes. For example, a production department
can use Mini-computers for monitoring certain production process.
■ A multi-user computer capable of supporting up to hundreds of users simultaneously.
Microcomputer or Personal computer
■ These computers are the cheapest among the other three types of computers.
The Micro-computers are specially designed for general usage like
entertainment, education and work purposes.
■ Desktop computers, Gaming consoles, Sound & Navigation system of a car,
Netbooks, Notebooks, personal digital assistant (PDA), Tablet PC’s,
Smartphones, Calculators are all type of Microcomputers.
 Basic parts of a computer

■ Monitor
■ Keyboard
■ Mouse
■ System unit

These parts of the Computer and some other devices are connected together with
the help of wires and cables.
Monitor
■ A monitor looks like a TV screen. It shows whatever you type on the keyboard
or draw with the mouse.
Keyboard
■ The keyboard is used for entering data into the computer system. It can type
words, numbers and symbols.
Mouse
■ The mouse is a pointing device. You can give input to the computer with the help
of the mouse.
System unit
■ The system unit is the box-like case that contains the electronic components of
a computer. Many people erroneously refer to this as the CPU. Here you will find
devices like the power supply, different drives, the fan, the connectors, and the
motherboard.
■ Components of a System unit:
– Disk Drivers
– Cables
– Power supply & fan
– Motherboard
Computer Disk Drivers
■ Hard disk drive
– A hard disk drive is a high capacity, non-volatile, magnetic data storage device
with a volume (disk) that is usually non-removable. Hard disk stores a large
amount of information.
■ Optical disk drive/ CD/DVD- ROM drive
– This is a high capacity optical data storage device with a removable disk. It
writes data onto or reads data from a storage medium. A Compact disc stores
many times more information than a floppy disk.
■ Floppy disk drive
– This is a disk drive that can read and write floppy disks, although they are
obsolete nowadays.These drives have been replaced by the USB flash disk
drives in modern machines. A floppy disk stores small amount of information.
Computer Disk Drivers

Optical Drive

HDD
Cables
■ IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) cable
– It is used to hook up disk drives, floppy disks, and HDDs. This is a 40-pin male
connector that connects the HDD. As technology advanced, IDE connectors became
obsolete.
■ SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) cable
– Despite having 33 fewer pins, this is faster than the IDE connectors.
■ 24-pin ATX power cable
– This is the largest connector on the motherboard, as this draws out the needed power
directly from the power supply.
■ Front panel cable
– This is use to connect the Power LED,HDD LED, Power Switch, and Reset switch
of the computer system unit(CPU) into the motherboard.
Cables

IDE Cable
ATX Power cable

SATA
Power supply
■ The power supply unit (PSU) is used to convert AC currents from the main
supply to the different DC voltages required by various computer components.
■ Power supplies are quoted as having a certain power output specified in watts, A
standard power supply would typically be able to deliver around 350 watts.
■ You will need more power from the power supply if your PC has more operating
components.

Fan
Motherboard
■ The main printed circuit board in a computer is known as the motherboard. Other names for this
central computer unit are system board, mainboard, or printed wired board (PWB). The motherboard
is sometimes shortened to Mobo.
■ The numerous major components, crucial for the functioning of the computer, that attached to the
motherboard are:
– PCI Express slot
– PCI slot
– IDE connector
– Sata Connector
– Southbridge
– Northbridge
– BIOS
– CMOS
– 24 pin ATX power connector
– RAM/Memory slot
– Cpu socket
– I/O connector
PCI Express slot
■ A part of the computer that hold the computer video card (VGA), the PCI’e card. The
latest and the fastest card being installed and most compatible with 3d and 4g
gaming of the computer.
PCI Slot
■ A part of the computer motherboard use to connect the I/O cards of the computer. Such as
LAN card, WIFI card, USB expansion card, and sound card.
IDE connector
■ This connector is use to connect the IDE cable of the HDD(Hard Disk Drive) or
CD/DVD ROM to the Mother Board IDE.
SATA connector
■ The new standard of the IDE connection array of the computer HDD (SATA HDD) to
the motherboard system.
Southbridge
■ The true name of the south bridge is I/O Controller HUB (ICH). It is a type of microchip task
to control all the Input and output devices of the computer. Such as the keyboard and mouse.
And the monitor screen of the computer that commonly found at the rear back of the CPU or
system unit.
Northbridge
■ The true name of the north bridge is MCI or Memory Controller Hub. Assigned to manage
and control the computer memory before the processing of the CPU chip.
BIOS
■ Basic Input/output system. Is a set of a program stored in CMOS IC, use to preserve
the BIOS configuration of the computer
CMOS
■ Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor. To preserve the BIOS settings of the
computer. Such as the time module, hardware information and settings/parameter,
etc
■ In this part, the CMOS/BIOS battery is hold, so that it can provide 3 volts direct
current/voltage to the CMOS IC.
24 pin ATX power connector
■ It is through ATX power connector that the Motherboard gets power from Power
Supply. Thus, distributing current and voltage to all Motherboard components.
RAM/ memory slot
■ This is the slot of computer memory or what we called RAM. The memory slot
depends of the type of the memory.
■ Random Access Memory, or RAM, usually refers to computer chips that
temporarily store dynamic data to enhance computer performance while you are
working
CPU socket
■ The CPU socket is where your CPU (processor) is installed. This is where the
processing and transfer of data happens.
Input/output connector
■ This is located in the rear panel of the CPU, this use to connect the outside hardware or peripherals of the computer.
– PS/2 ports- These are used to connect the mouse (green color) and the keyboard (purple color)
– Printer port-This is use to connect the impact printer, one of that the DOT MATRIX printer, ex. the Epson LX 300 +
– DB 9 male connector (Serial or com1 port)-This use to connect a serial device of the computer, such as the serial
mouse and external modem.
– VGA port (built-in)- This is use to interface the DB cord of the monitor screen or to connect the monitor screen of
the computer. The fastest video card versions are based on the standard of the VGA slots, ex: the AGP and PCI’e
card.
– USB 2.0 × 2 ports- These are the ports of the USB devices of the computer. Attached externally of the system unit,
one of that are the USB flash drives. As of now the versions or speed of the USB are the 1.0 and 2.0 compatible.
– LAN port- This called as Local Area Network of the computer. This is use to connect the numbers of node or
workstations (PC) to form a local area network of the computer with in their area. Using type of communication
media such as the network switch and router.
– Audio Port- This is use to connect the speaker, mike, and MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) device of the
computer.
– Digital Visual Interface, DVI is a video display interface. It was developed to
be an industry standard for transmitting digital video content to display devices at
resolutions as high as 2560 x 1600.
Other parts of a computer
Speakers
■ The speakers are the output devices that produce different types of sounds
processed by the computer. You can listen to songs or speeches stored in the
computer with the help of speakers.
Printer
■ A printer prints the results of your work from the computer screen on a sheet of
paper. This is called a printout.
Joystick
■ A joystick makes computer games a lot more fun. When it is moved, it passes
information to the computer.
Microphone
■ A microphone is the mike that can be attached to a computer. It allows you to
input sounds like speech and songs into the computer. You can record your
voice with the help of a microphone.
Web Camera
■ A web camera is used to take live photos videos. You can save them in the
computer
Scanner
■ A Scanner Copies pictures and pages, and turns them into images that can be
saved on a computer.
Headphone
■ You can listen to music or any sound from a computer with the help of
headphones without disturbing others.
Computer cables

1. Alternatively referred to as a cord, connector or plug, a cable is

one or more wirescovered in plastic that
transmit power or data between devices or locations. The picture is
an example of what the power cord may look like for your computer
or monitor. The power cord is one example of thousands of other
cables found in and around computers.
Computer cables

■ Short for High Definition Multimedia Interface, HDMI is a

connector and cable capable of transmitting high-quality and high-
bandwidth streams of audio and video between devices. The HDMI
technology is used with devices such as
an HDTV, Projector, DVDplayer, or Blu-ray player.
Computer cables

■ Short for Video Graphics Adapter or Video Graphics

Array, VGA is a popular display standard developed by IBM and
introduced in 1987. VGA provides 640 x 480 resolution color display
screens with a refresh rate of 60 Hz and 16 colors displayed at a time.
If the resolution is lowered to 320 x 200, 256 colors are shown.
■ VGA utilizes analog signals, which means it is only capable of lower
resolutions and lower quality display on screens.