By MaiTreya PaTni Scholars 2 D Subodh Public School

Computer Hardware
All the elements that go together to make up a PC fall into

one of two categories, hardware or software. This section is about hardware, the stuff upon which software runs. Everything you can see and touch in your PC is hardware. Motherboard Some Hardware are :Hard Disk Drive (HDD) Floppy Disk Drive (FDD) Compact Disk Drive (CDD) Digital Video Disk drive (DVD) Monitors (CRT and LCD) Keyboard Mouse Audio Cables & Wires

Input Devices
Input Devices: devices

that input information into the computer such as a keyboard, mouse, scanner, and digital camera.

Output Devices
Output: devices that

output information from the computer such as a printer and monitor.

Central Processing Unit

CPU (Central Processing Unit) also called the

Microprocessor or The Brain of the Computer. Processor speed: The speed at which a microprocessor executes instructions. This is usually measured in megahertz (MHz). Brands of Processors include: Pentium Celeron MAC AMD Cyrix

Hard Disk
The hard-drive is a mechanical

storage device typically located internally. Fast recording and recovery of data Large storage capacity Magnetic Primary storage device for data and programs Speed is measured in R.P.M.s

Computer Memory
RAM (random access memory)

stores data that is processing. This type of memory is erased when the computer is turned off. ROM (read only memory) contains special instructions for the computer to operate. Cache memory increases the speed of the processor by recording and anticipating instructions.

Graphic User Interface (GUI)

GUI (Graphic User Interface) is a set of images

and icons seen on the desktop used to operate a program. The GUI makes the programs loaded on the computer easier to access and use. Basic Windows GUI Icons are small pictures that represent files, commands, or windows. Windows is a GUI operating system unlike UNIX, which uses text commands.

Video Cards
Video cards plug into the

motherboard and are used to display video. VRAM is video memory that enhances the refreshment rate of the image. Video cards have chipsets that can increase the speed of video display.

Ports and Peripherals

Ports are an interface between the computer and another
peripheral device such as a disk drive, mouse, printer, modem, monitor, camera, FLASH drive or keyboard. Examples: Serial Parallel hot-wire USB

Ports and Peripherals

Peripherals are devices that
plug into a computer and are not housed internally. Examples: Printers Scanners Cameras

Computer Network
A network consists of two or more computers that are linked in order to:
share resources (such

as printers and CDROMs), exchange files, or allow electronic communications

How are they linked?

Computers on a network may be linked through:
cables, telephone lines, radio waves, satellites

or wireless technologies

The two basic types of networks include:

Local Area Networks (LAN) Wide Area Networks (WAN)

LAN

WAN

Local area networks

LANs are confined to a relatively small area such as a school or a building
LANs usually have one computer designated

as the file server Other computers are connected to the network by cables connecting network interface cards in each computer

Wide Area Networks

WANs connect larger areas, such as whole states, or even the world.
Transoceanic cables and satellites are used to connect WANs

Protocol
A protocol is a set of rules that governs the communications between computers on a network These rules include guidelines that regulate the method of access, types of cabling and speed of data transfer
PROTOCOL = SET OF RULES ABOUT COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN NETWORKS!

The most common protocols are:

Ethernet
Local Talk Token Ring

FDDI
ATM

Protocol = a formal description of a set of rules and conventions that govern how devices on a network exchange information

Did you ever wonder what HTTP in web addresses was about? It stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol

Ethernet
Most widely used
Uses an access method called CSMA/CD

(Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection

Local Talk
Local Talk is a network

protocol that was developed by Apple for Macintosh computers Local Talk uses the CSMA/CA method (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance) which works in a similar way to CSMA/CD It is a lot slower than Ethernet (only 230 Kbps)

Token Ring
Token ring protocol involves token-passing. It is not as popular as Ethernet protocol
A single electronic token moves around the ring from one computer to the next. If a computer wishes to transit and receives an empty token, it attaches data to the token which then proceeds around the ring until it comes to the computer the data is meant for.

FDDI
Stands for Fiber Distributed Data Interface Is used mainly to connect two or more LANs, often over large distances Can operate over fiber optic cable at 100 Mbps

ATM
Stands for Asynchronous

Transfer Mode Transmit data at a speed of 155 Mbps and higher Works by transmitting all data in small packets of fixed size (other protocols transfer variable size packets) Like FDDI , is most often used to connect two or more LANs