Introduction to Computers

03/17/15

Types of Computers
Personal Computers
Handheld Computers
Laptop Computers
Desktop Computers

(PC)

Mini Computers
Mainframe Computers
Mini Computers and Mainframe Computers are used as Servers

Handheld Computers
Pocket able
Very Light weight
Battery Powered
About Rs. 15,000/

Limited Utility
Used mainly for E-Mail,
Spreadsheets, Address
Book, Notepad etc

Laptop Computers
Portable
Lightweight
Battery Powered
Moderately Powerful
Very Expensive
Costly spares
Not Upgradable
Rs 60K to 1.5 Lakhs

Desktop Computers
Very Powerful
Heavy Duty
Not Expensive
Cheap spares and maintenance
Convenient to use
Upgradable
Not Portable

What does a PC consist of

Monitor
CPU Box
Keyboard
Mouse

What does a CPU-box contain

Motherboard
Processor
Random Access Memory
Level-2 Cache
BIOS Chip
ISA and PCI Slots
Ports

Disk Drives
Hard Disk Drive
CD-ROM Drive
Floppy Disk

Add-on Cards
Display Driver Card
Sound Blaster Card
Network Card

Power Supply Unit

Motherboard and its components

Processors
Manufacturers of
CPU for PCs

INTEL
Advanced Micronic Devices (AMD)
Cyrix

Manufacturers of
CPU for Servers

Silicon Graphics
IBM
Digital

Performance
Indicators

Clock Speed
Dhrystones
Whetstones

Models of Processors
INTEL

AMD

Pentium-4

2.40GHz, 2.20GHz, 2.0GHz, 1.90GHz,

1.80GHz
Intel-845 and Intel-850 chipsets

Pentium-3

1GHz; 933MHz, 866MHz, 850MHz,

800MHz
Intel 815 Chipset

Celeron

1.2GHz, 800MHz

AthlonXP

1.53GHz, 1.4GHz, 1.33GHz,

Athlon

1.4GHz, 1.13GHz

Duron

1.1GHz, 900MHz

Comparative Performance
AthlonXP-1.53G P4-2.0G

P3-800Mhz

Celeron 800MHz

Content Creation
Winstone 2001

81.6

78.6

48.2

42.1

Business Winstone

59.5

57.7

40.5

33.9

Dhrystone MIPS

4337

3909

2159

2188

Whetstone MFLOPS 2137

2452

1083

1088

POV-Ray

7.2 min/sec

8.36

14.36

15.48

Quake III Arena

Frame Rate

276.4

314.1

170.2

136.6

Rating

A+

C+

C-

Cost

13,500

27,500

8,000

4,000

Source : DIGIT Jan 2002

Types of Storage
Temporary Storage Devices
Devices which LOSE their data once the
power has been switched off.
Random Access Memory (RAM)
Cache

Permanent Storage Devices

Devices which RETAIN their data even when
the power has been switched off.
Floppy Disk Drive
Hard Disk Drive
CD ROM Drive
Tape Drive
Magnetic Flash Cards

Random Access Memory

Has storage Locations, or Cells. Each cell represents a single bit of

data 0 or 1. Each cell can hold data

Each Cell can be addressed separately, at random

Dynamic RAM has to be dynamically refreshed all of the time or it

forgets what it is holding. It is made from capacitors which
discharge, and have to be re-charged periodically

The length of time necessary to do all this is so short that it is

expressed in nanoseconds (billionths of a second). A memory chip
rating of 70ns means that it takes 70 nanoseconds to completely read
and recharge each cell.

Random Access Memory

SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access

memory is commonly used in PCs now

SDRAM with ECC (Error checking and Correcting)

capability memory is recommended for Servers
128 MB RAM is good enough for an average user

256 MB or 512 MB RAM can be purchased if one is

working on Video-editing type of applications.
256 MB RAM is good enough for an average Server

SDRAM chips with 70 nano-second access time give

good performance

RDRAM or Rambus Direct RAM is the latest type of

RAM which works with Pentium-4 processors

Types of Random Access Memory

SRAM Static random access memory uses multiple transistors, typically four to six,
for each memory cell but doesn't have a capacitor in each cell. It is used primarily
for cache.
DRAM Dynamic random access memory has memory cells with a paired transistor
and capacitor requiring constant refreshing.
EDO DRAM Extended data-out dynamic random access memory does not wait
for all of the processing of the first bit before continuing to the next one. As soon
as the address of the first bit is located, EDO DRAM begins looking for the next
bit. It is about five percent faster than FPM. Maximum transfer rate to L2 cache is
approximately 264 megabytes per second.
SDRAM Synchronous dynamic random access memory takes advantage of the burst
mode concept to greatly improve performance. It does this by staying on the row
containing the requested bit and moving rapidly through the columns, reading each
bit as it goes. The idea is that most of the time the data needed by the CPU will be
in sequence. SDRAM is about five percent faster than EDO RAM and is the most
common form in desktops today. Maximum transfer rate to L2 cache is
approximately 528 megabytes per second.

Types of Random Access Memory -2

RDRAM
Rambus dynamic random access memory is a radical departure from the
previous DRAM architecture. Designed by Rambus, RDRAM uses a Rambus inline memory module (RIMM), which is similar in size and pin configuration to a
standard DIMM. What makes RDRAM so different is its use of a special highspeed data bus called the Rambus channel. RDRAM memory chips work in
parallel to achieve a data rate of 800 MHz.
VRAM
VideoRAM, also known as multiport dynamic random access memory
(MPDRAM), is a type of RAM used specifically for video adapters or 3-D
accelerators. The "multiport" part comes from the fact that VRAM normally has
both random access memory and serial access memory. VRAM is located on the
graphics card and comes in a variety of formats, many of which are proprietary.
The amount of VRAM is a determining factor in the resolution and color depth of
the display. VRAM is also used to hold graphics-specific information such as
3-D geometry data and texture maps.

Cache Memory
Processor
L1

L2-Cache

RAM

The Cache is vital to the performance of the Computer

Cache Memory is used in storing results of intermediate calculations, and for

providing data frequently required by the processor

Cache memory is in-built on the motherboard, and cannot be increased/decreased

once the motherboard has been purchased.

Motherboards for Pentium-3 and 4 chips usually contain 256 KB of Level-2

Cache.

Intel Celeron Processors do not have L1 cache. Pentium Processors do.

Types of Memory

BIOS Chip

The basic Input-Output system, and the PC configuration are stored on a special
BIOS chip.

This chip could be a CMOS chip installed by the manufacturer

The data on the BIOS Chip is hard-coded, i.e. the basic PC settings are not lost
even if there is a loss of power.

BIOS chip is responsible for booting up the Computer, and for providing InputOutput functions while the PC is running.

User-settings stored on the chip get erased if the PCs battery loses power.

Basic Input Output System

When the PC boots up, the microprocessor needs its first instruction

It cannot read the Hard Disk directly. The BIOS provides the
instruction to read the HDD

Bios also performs the Power-On Self Test on the components of the
PC

It activates the BIOS chips on other cards on the PC such as

graphics, SCSI cards

Provides low-level routines that the Operating System uses to access

the keyboard, screen, serial and parallel ports

It loads Interrupt Handlers and Device drivers at startup

ISA and PCI Slots

Slots are used to install add-on cards in the PC.

A PC usually has 5 slots

ISA Slots (Industry Standard Architecture) are the older

type of slots, used for inserting cards of ISA type. They are
slower.

PCI (Peripheral Connect Interface) are the new type. They

are much faster than ISA slots. All cards now available are
of the PCI type

Slots cannot be added or removed from the motherboard.

They have to be specified at the time of purchase.

Ports
Ports are used to connect a PC to other devices, such as Printers,
Modems etc. A PC usually has 3 types of ports.

Port

Speed No

Connects

USB

V High2

Printers, Scanners, Modems

Parallel

High

Printer, Scanner

Serial

V Slow

Mouse and Modems

Control, Address and Data Bus

Control Bus
Data Bus
Address Bus

CPU

RAM

Cache

Disk Drives

Units of Storage
Byte

1 character of the alphabet or a number.

KB

Kilobyte

1024 bytes

MB

Megabyte

1024 Kilobytes

GB

Gigabyte

1024 Megabytes

TB

Terabyte

1024 Gigabytes

PB

Petabyte

1024 Terabytes

EB

Exabyte

1024 Petabytes

Disk Drives
Essential Devices
Hard Disk Drive

(>= 40 GB)

Floppy Disk Drive

(1.44 MB)

CD-ROM drive

(700 MB)

Optional Devices
Tape Drive
(8 GB)
Magnetic Flash Card reader
(64 MB)
Digital Video Disk Drive (DVD-ROM) (4
GB)Zip Drive
(750 MB)

Hard Disk Drive

Sizes

Available in 40,60,75,80 and 100 GB sizes

Types

Ultra-ATA Type is used for PCs (133 MBps)

SCSI type is for Mini and Mainframes (320 MBps)

Rotational
speed

IDE - 5400, 7200

SCSI- 5400, 7200,
10000 and 15000
RPM

Manufact
urers

Seagate,
Maxtor,
Quantum

Inside View of a Hard Disk Drive

Inside a Hard Disk Drive

Inside the Hard Disk

95mm dia 1mm thick

0.25-0.65
Micron AirCushion

Cut-Away View of a Hard Disk Drive

95mm dia 1mm thick

0.25-0.65
Micron AirCushion

Read-Write Head of a Hard Disc

0.25-0.65
Micron AirCushion

Copper wire used is just 0.014 mm dia

Effect of a Dust Particle

0.25-0.65
Micron AirCushion

Compact Disc

A Compact Disc is an Injection-Moulded piece of clear Polycarbonate plastic 1.2

mm thick. A CD can be written to only once. It can be read many times.

During manufacturing, this plastic is impressed with microscopic bumps arranged

as a single, continuous, extremely long spiral track of data.
Once the clear piece of polycarbonate is formed, a thin, reflective aluminum layer
is sputtered onto the disc, covering the bumps.

Then a thin acrylic layer is sprayed over the aluminum to protect it. The label is
then printed onto the acrylic.

Compact Disc Tracks

A CD has a single spiral track of data, circling from the inside of the
disc to the outside

A Track is approximately 0.5 microns wide, with 1.6 microns

separating one track from the next.

The elongated bumps that make up the track are each 0.5 microns
wide, a minimum of 0.83 microns long and 125 nanometers high.

Compact Disc Types

CD-R

Write once, Read many times

CD-RW

Write once, Read many times, Erase, then write again

Capacity of both types is 700 MB

CD-ROM Drive
speed 52X currently
internal / external
Manufacturers

Creative
Samsung
LG

CD drive is an exceptionally precise piece of equipment.

A drive motor spins the disc. This drive motor is precisely controlled to rotate
between 200 and 500 rpm depending on which track is being read. It ensures that
the linear velocity of the disc remains constant.

A Laser and a lens system focus in on and read the bumps. A tracking
mechanism moves the laser assembly so that the laser's beam can follow the spiral
track.

The laser beam passes through the polycarbonate layer, reflects off the aluminum
layer and hits an opto-electronic device that detects changes in light. The bumps
reflect light differently than the "lands" (the rest of the aluminum layer),

Floppy Disk

It was invented by IBM in 1967. The size of floppies was 8 inch dia.
Holding 360KB of data

The floppy disk of today is 3.5 inch in dia and stores 1.44 MB.

It is made up of thin plastic material. The surface of the Floppy Disk

is coated with a Magnetic Material on both sides. It is divided
logically into circular concentric tracks and radial Sectors.

In the corner of every 3.5-inch diskette, there is a small slider. If you

uncover the hole by moving the slider, you have protected the data
on the diskette from being written over or erased.

Though Manufacturers claim that floppies can take 10 Million readwrite operations, experience is that even new floppies fail quickly.

Floppy Disk Drive

Floppy Disk Drives (FDD) are used to read and write Floppy Disks in a PC

It has read-write heads mounted on a carriage to read both sides of the floppy.

A stepper motor moves the head assembly to the precise location

The Drive Motor engages the metal disc on the floppy and spins it at 360 rpm.

The drive contains a circuit board which contains electronics necessary for
controlling the drive.

When the driver performs read-write operations, a small green lamp lights up.

The newer Zip drives are slowly replacing FDDs

Magnetic Flash Cards

Flash Cards act as Hard Discs for storing data in Handheld

Computers & Cameras

It is a Solid State Device which has an EEPROM Chip. No external

Power reqd.

No moving parts

Very Compact Storage.

Capacity 2MB to 128 MB

Expensive

The BIOS Chip is another example of this

Types : Smartmedia, Compact Flash,
Memory Stick

Add-on Cards

Display Driver Card

Accelerator Graphics Card (AGP Card)
AGP Cards are used to connect a monitor to the PC.
Video RAM
Make / Model

8 / 16 / 32 / 64 MB
nVIDIA
GeForce4
GeForce3
GeForce2
Riva
TNT2
Sis
use)

(High-end)

(Business

AGP Card

RADEON 64-MB AGP Graphics Card

Sound Card
What it does
Converts analog sound input into digital data for
recording.
It also converts digital sound data into analog sound output
for playback
What it has
Digital Signal Processor which does all the calculations
Digital to Analog convertor (DAC) for outgoing audio
Analog to Digital convertor ADC for incoming audio
Jacks for incoming and outgoing audio
Good Sound
Creative SB-Extigy
Cards
Creative SB-Audigy
Creative SB-Live! Platinum

Network Cards
Network Cards are used to connect a PC with other PCs to form a network

On the network, the cards must be of compatible types

Ethernet Cards
Cards with speed of 10 MBPS
Cards with speed of 100 MBPS
Cards with speed of 10/100 MBPS
Manufacturers
3Com
D-Link
Intel

Network Card

Ethernet Port

RJ-45 Jack

A Personal Computer from inside

Power
Supply Unit

Floppy Drive

Memory Slot

PCI Slots

ISA Slots
MotherBoard

Cache

CPU

Sound Card

Display Card
Network Cable

Ethernet Card
Parallel Port
Mouse Port

Power Socket
Cooling Fan
Monitor Socket

External Items

Monitors
Used to display output to the user

Most desktop monitors have a Cathode Ray Tube, while Laptops

have Liquid Crystal Display. They have an aspect ratio of 4:3.

The quality of the monitor is measured by its resolution which is the

number of dots on the monitor. More the better.

SuperVGA monitors are the only ones available today. They can
display 16.7 Million colours

In a home computer, the monitor accounts for 80% of the energy

consumption !!!

Because of their slim size and low power consumption, LCD

displays will replace the CRT monitors

Specifying Monitors
Size

Resolution

Refresh rate

Manufacturers

Viewing Size is Measured in diagonal inches

Popular sizes are 15/17/21 inch, 15 inch is
common. 17/21 inch is used by CAD users
1280 x 960, 1024 X 768, 640 X 480 available
Higher the resolution supported, better the
monitor
Measures the number of times the monitor
redraws the screen in a second. Usually 75 Hz
Ranges from 67 Hz to 90 Hz
Samsung, LG, Viewsonic, Philips, Sony

Electronic Ink
Used to create displays of the future

Electronic ink is a new material that will have far-reaching impact on how
society receives its information.

The ink contains millions of tiny microscopic capsules, about the diameter
of the human hair

Each capsule contains positively charged white and negatively charged

black particles suspended in a clear fluid

When a negative charge is applied, the white particles move to the top of
the capsule where they become visible to the user.

At the same time a opposite field pulls the black particles to the bottom of
the capsule where they are hidden

E-Ink can be used to make paper-thin display panels which can be rolled
up and carried

Electronic Ink

Mouse
Used to point to and select items
Types

Regular
Wireless mouse
Force-Feedback Mouse

No./Type of Buttons
2-button mouse
3-button mouse
Scroll mouse
Manufacturers
Microsoft
Logitech

Keyboard

Classification by Type
Wireless
Regular
Classification by Number of Keys
101 Key , 104 Key
Multimedia Keyboard
Classification by Language
BiLingual Keyboard

Video Camera
Used to capture movies and pictures

Video Camera is connected to the Serial or the USB port of the computer.
It has a low resolution, about 320 X 240 pixels
It takes a picture after every 0.5 seconds, and converts it to a file.
A stream of such pictures can be used to make a low-resolution movie
Useful for video-conferencing.

Printers
Laser Printers (B/W, High Quality)
Inkjet Printers (Color)
Speed in Pages per minute

6 ppm black, 3 ppm color

Resolution in Dots per Sq. Inch

600/1200/2200 dpi

Duty Cycle

1000/2000 pages per month

Ports

USB, Parallel

Manufacturers

Hewlett Packard (HP)

Canon
Epson

Models
Inkjet Printers
HP DJ 630 C - 600 dpi, 5 ppm black, 2 ppm color, 1000 pages per month, USB (3250/-)
HP DJ 640 C - 600 dpi, 6 ppm black, 3 ppm color, 1000 pages per month, USB (4750/-)
HP DJ 840 C - 600 dpi, 8 ppm black, 5 ppm color, 1000 pages per month, USB (6600/-)
HP DJ 930 C - 600 dpi, 9 ppm black, 7.5 ppm color, 2000 pages per month, USB (8800/-)

Laser Printers (B/W)

HP LJ 1000 - 600 dpi, 10 ppm, 7000 pages per month, USB (17000/-)
HP LJ 1200 - 1200 dpi, 14 ppm, 10000 pages per month, USB (21000/-)
HP LJ 1220 - 1200 dpi, 14 ppm, 10000 pages per month, USB, Scanner (31000/-)
HP LJ 2200 - 1200 dpi, 18 ppm, 40000 pages per month, USB, IR Port (46700/-)

Simputer
Simple Computer for the Villages of India

Developed by Indian Institute of Science and M/s Encore Software Ltd

For the illiterate farmers of India

Can work as a Community Digital Assistant

Operates thru touch, Sound and simple Visual Icons

Supports Indian Languages and can read content out

32-bit INTEL strong-arm SA-100 processor @ 200 MHz , 32 MB RAM

16 or 32 MB Flash ROM for external storage

320 x 240 Colour (or Black & White) Touch Panel display

56K Modem integrated

Speaker , Mike, Telephone, Wireless jacks

Smart Card reader

GNU/LINUX Operating system (and Perl)

Web browser, E-Mail Client and other apps built in

Simputer
Simple Computer for the Villages of India

E-Governance

Voter Registration thru Smart Cards

Mobile Kiosks for teaching languages, reading and

writing

E-Mail

Internet Access

Farmers can find out the latest prices of goods

Mobile Entertainment Device

Sample PC Specifications
CPU

Pentium-IV processor
2.4GHz

Intel

Cache

256 KB L2 Cache

Motherboard

With Intel 845 chipset

Intel, Asus

RAM

128 MB SDRAM 133 MHz

Siemens / Hyundai

Hard Disk

40 GB Ultra DMA/ATA 100

HDD 5400 rpm

Seagate

HDD Controller

PCI Dual Channel Bus

Master Enhanced IDE
Controller with support for
Ultra DMA/ATA

Floppy Disk Drive

1.44 MB internal floppy disk

drive

Monitor

15 in SVGA Color Digital

Monitor non-interlaced,
1024 x 768 resolution

Samtron, Viewsonic,
LG

Sample PC Specifications
Keyboard

104 key soft touch

AGP Card

AGP Card with 16 MB

VRAM

Trident, Sis

Mouse

Microsoft Intellipoint Mouse

Microsoft

Ports

2 x USB, 2 X Serial,
1 X Parallel ports

CD-ROM

52X speed internal CDROM Drive

Creative

Printer

Inkjet Printer HP DJ-845 C

HP

PCs and Servers

Pentium-4 Processor 1200 MHz

2 X Pentium-3 Xeon 1800 MHz

128 MB DDR-RAM

1 GB DDR-RAM with ECC

256 KB L2-Cache

512 KB or 1 MB L2-Cache

40 GB Hard Disk ATA

throughput 10 MBps

4 X 100 GB Hard Disk SCSI-3

throughput 40 MBps

One ATA controller card

Two Nos SCSI-3 controller cards

One Ethernet card 100 MBps

Two Ethernet cards 100 MBps

Layers of Software
Documents
Programs
Application Package
Operating System
Hardware

How is the PC tested on Boot up

POST
BIOS

A Power-on-self-test procedure is run by the system. CPU gets power,

internal CPU memory registers are cleared, program counter is set to
F000 (address of boot program)
Boot program is invoked from the BIOS, which in turn starts system
checking. CPU first checks itself.
CPU checks the system bus to check if all components are functioning

System Bus
Display
CPU checks the memory on the display adapter, and video signals
Memory
CPU checks the memory on the RAM chips by writing and reading
data on all the chips. Now you see the memory counter working.

Drives
Keyboard

CPU checks the Hard Disk and Floppy Disk to see which drives are
available.
CPU checks to see if the Keyboard is attached, and whether any keys
are pressed.

How does the PC Boot up

POST

A Power-on-self-test procedure is run by the system. After it is

successful the BIOS on the ROM chip searches for bootup files on the
Floppy drive. If they are not found, then the Hard Disk drive is
searched. As a last resort the CD-ROM is searched.

BIOS
Action

The boot program reads the data loaded in the disks first sector (boot
record of 512 bytes) and copies it to specific locations in the RAM.
Then the BIOS passes control to the loaded boot program.

SYSINIT

Boot program takes control of the PC and loads IO.SYS into RAM.
This file contains extensions to the ROM BIOS and includes a routine
called SYSINIT, that manages the rest of the boot up. After IO.SYS is
loaded the boot record is replaced by other code in RAM. SYSINIT
loads MSDOS.SYS into RAM. Then it tells it to execute the
commands in the CONFIG.SYS file (or the system registry). Then
MSDOS.SYS is told to load COMMAND.COM. This file now
becomes part of the operating system now.. Then AUTOEXEC.BAT
is loaded, and the PC starts working.