Basic Computers Unit What is a computer Computer

Basic Computers Unit

What is a computer? • Computer is electronic device operating under the control of instruction stored in its own memory that can accept data, process the data, produce results and store the results for future use.

Types of Computers • Personal computers -Desktop computer - one usually ▫ Based on PC compatible design from IBM - 1981 1 st year • Game Consoles - one to 4 users at one time mobile hand held Nintendo DS or Sony Play station Portable (PSP) Television screen base Xbox 360 – Wii and Playstation 3 • Servers 2 to thousand users at one time provides storage area for programs, data, and information. Controls access to hardware, software, and various devices on the network. People use personal computers to access a server

Computers continued • Mainframe partial to full room - 100 to 1, 000’s users at one time –huge expensive computer stores huge amount data instructions and information. 83% of all transactions around the world are processes • Super-computers – full room – 100 to 1, 000’s users at one time – fastest most powerful most expensive – processes one quadrillion instruction in a single second

pp. Network Hardware and Software ¢ In a client/server network, the server responds to the requests of client computers. 43 -46

Mobile Computers and Devices • • • Notebooks Tablets PC Smart. Phone PDAs – Personal digital assistant Handled Computers – UMPC Portable Media Players

Power Supply Diagram Storage Devices D: drive A: drive Hard Drive C: drive USB Port CPU RAM Motherboard

System Unit-case that holds the hardware components • • CPU central processing unit heart of computer Motherboard Power supply Storage devices Memory RAM Video card Sound card Computer Fan

History of Computers • ENIAC was call the 1 st computer -1946 (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) "Who invented the computer first and electronically? “ then it is John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly. • It was a digital computer that could be reprogrammed to find a solution to a full range of computing problems. This was not the first computer that could do all this since there were earlier computers that were built with some of the above-mentioned properties. • The primary reason to design ENIAC was to facilitate the calculation of artillery firing tables for the Ballistic Research Laboratory of U. S.

Computer Specifications • ENIAC was massive in its physical size if you compare it to modern PCs that are available now. Specs: 17, 468 vacuum tubes 7, 200 crystal diodes 1, 500 relays 70, 000 resistors 10, 000 capacitors around 5 million hand-soldered joints weighed OVER 30 short tons (27 t). It consumed somewhere around 150 k. W of power. • ENIAC is reliable, programmable, though not as easy and user friendly as the modern day computers.

Storage Devices A storage device records (reads and/or retrieves (writes) items to and from storage media • USB Flash drive • External Hard drive • Memory Cards • Hard drive • CD and DVD’s • Tape Back-ups

Memory -Bit or a Byte • How Big is a Gigabyte? • Bit: A Bit is the smallest unit of data that a computer uses such as Yes - No or 0 - 1. . • Byte: A Byte is equal to 8 Bits. 1 Bytes would equal an average sentence. . • Kilobyte (KB) = approximately 1, 000 bytes A kilobyte (KB) is normally defined as 1, 000 bytes. Technically, a kilobyte is actually 1, 024 bytes which is 2 to the 10 th power (1, 024) bytes. . • Megabyte (MB) = approximately 1, 000 KB or 1, 000 bytes Technically a Megabyte is 2 to the 20 th power (1, 048, 576) bytes. . • Gigabyte = approximately 1000 Megabytes = 1, 000 Kilobytes = Billion bytes (1, 000, 000 bytes) Technically a Gigabyte is 2 to the 30 th power (1, 073, 741, 824) bytes. . • Terabyte (TB) = approximately 1, 000 Gigabytes = 1, 000 Megabytes = Trillion bytes (1, 000, 000 bytes) Technically a Terabyte is 2 to the 40 th power (1, 099, 511, 627, 776) bytes. • Petabyte (PB) = approximately 1, 000 Terabytes = 1, 000, 000 bytes Technically a Petabyte is 2 to the 50 th power (1, 125, 899, 906, 842, 624) bytes. • Exabyte (EB) = approximately 1, 000 Petabytes = 1, 000, 000 bytes • Zettabyte = 1000 Exabytes. • Yottabyte = 1000 Zettabytes. • Brontobyte = 1000 Yottabytes = 1, 000, 000, 000 bytes = 1 followed by 27 zeros… How big is 1 followed by 27 zeros? That would be the rough equivalent of the total number of atoms contained in all of the bodies of every person living in Indiana

Input and Output Devices • input device Tool used to enter data into a computer, such as the keyboard, web cam, scanner and mouse ¢ output device Tool that lets users examine the results of processed data, such as a monitor, printer, or speakers.

System Software • Software is called a program • System software- set of programs that communicates with the hardware devices • Utility software- program performs maintenance relating to the management of the computer, it devices, and programs ▫ Example: file manager, search utility, system restore, disk cleaner …….

Operating Software • OS – operating system – is a set of instructions that work together make all the programs and hardware coordinate. • DOS disk operating system command line • GUI- graphic user interface – visual

Who uses Computer Applications? • • • Education Finance Government Healthcare Science • • Publishing Travel Manufacturing Transportation

Application Software • application software Computer programs that allow users to perform a specific task on the computer; also referred to as applications. • Types of application: ¢ ¢ ¢ Web browsers E-mail Word processing Presentation Multimedia Personal information Educational Photo-editing

Networks and the Internet ¢ A network collection of computers and devices connected together, often wireless, with communication devices and transmission media. When computers connect to a network it is called online and be to able to share resources. ¢ Networks can be divided into two basic categories: local area network (LAN) Type of network that connects computers in a single location, such as a single department within a company. wide area network (WAN) Network that connects computers across a wide geographical area, such as a region of the United States.