Chapter

3
Computer Hardware

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2008

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 Pre-Computer Calculations

• Counting on fingers and toes

• Stone or bead abacus
• Calculate comes from calculus, the Latin word
for stone
• 1642: first mechanical adding machine
• Invented by Blaise Pascal
• Wheels moved counters
• Modified in 1674 by Von Leibnitz
• Age of industrialization
• Mechanical loomed used punch cards

3-2
 Early Computing

• 19th Century
• Charles Babbage proposed the Analytical Engine,
which could calculate, store values in memory,
perform logical comparisons
• Never built because of lack of electronics
• 1880s
• Hollerith’s punched cards used to record census
data using On/Off patterns
• The holes turned sensors On or Off when run
through tabulating machine
• This company became the foundation for IBM

3-3
 Electronic Computers

• 1946 - First Generation Computer

• ENIAC
• Programmable
• 5000 calculations per second
• Used vacuum tubes
• Drawbacks were size and processing ability
• 1950s
• ENIAC replaced by UNIVAC 1, then the
IBM 704
• Calculations jumped to 100,000 per second

3-4
 Waves of Computing

• Late 1950s - Second Generation

• Transistors replaced vacuum tubes
• 200,000 to 250,000 calculations per second
• Mid-1960s - Third Generation
• Integrated circuitry and miniaturization
• 1971 - Fourth Generation
• Further miniaturization
• Multiprogramming and virtual storage
• 1980s - Fifth Generation
• Millions of calculations per second

3-5
 Microcomputers

• 1975
• ALTAIR flicking switches
• 1977
• Commodore and Radio Shack produce personal
computers
• 1979
• Apple computer, the fastest selling PC thus far
• 1982
• IBM introduced the PC, which changed the
market

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Categories of Computer Systems

3-7
 Microcomputer Systems

• Usually called a personal computer or PC

• Computing power now exceeds that of the
mainframes of previous generations
• Relatively inexpensive
• Are the networked professional workstations
used by business processions
• Versions include hand-held, notebook, laptop,
tablet, portable, desktop, and floor-standing

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 Microcomputer Uses

• Workstations
• Supports have mathematical computer and
graphics display demands
• CAD, investment and portfolio analysis
• Network Servers
• More powerful than workstations
• Coordinates telecommunications and resource
sharing
• Supports small networks and Internet or intranet
websites

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 Corporate PC Criteria

• Solid performance at a reasonable price

• Operating system ready
• Connectivity
• Network interface cards
or wireless capabilities

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 Information Appliances

• Hand-held microcomputer devices

• Known as personal digital assistants (PDAs)
• Web-enabled PDAs use touch screens,
handwriting recognition, or keypads
• Mobile workers use to access email or the Web,
exchange data with desktop PCs or servers
• Latest entrant is the BlackBerry
• PDAs include
• Video-game consoles
• Cellular and PCS phones
• Telephone-based home email appliances
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 Midrange Systems

• High-end network servers that handle large-scale

processing of business applications
• Not as powerful as mainframes
• Less expensive to buy, operate, and maintain
• Often used to manage
• Large Internet websites
• Corporate intranets and extranets
• Integrated, enterprise-wide applications
• Used as front-end servers to assist mainframes
with telecommunications and networks
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 Mainframe Computer Systems

• Large, fast, powerful computer systems

• Large primary storage capacity
• High transaction processing
• Handles complex computations
• Widely used as superservers for…
• Large client/server networks
• High-volume Internet websites
• Becoming a popular computing platform for…
• Data mining and warehousing
• Electronic commerce applications

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 Supercomputer Systems

• Extremely powerful systems designed for…

• Scientific, engineering, and business applications
• Massive numeric computations
• Markets include…
• Government research agencies
• Large universities
• Major corporations
• Uses parallel processing
• Billions to trillions of operations per second
(gigaflops and teraflops)
• Costs $5 to $50 million
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 Computer System Concept

• A system of hardware devices organized by

function
• Input
• Keyboards, touch screens, pens, electronic mice,
optical scanners
• Converts data into electronic form for entry into
computer system
• Processing
• Central Processing Unit (CPU)
• CPU subunits: arithmetic-logic and control unit

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 Computer System Concept

• Output
• Video display units, printers, audio response units,
and so on
• Converts electronic information into human-
intelligible form
• Storage
• Primary storage (memory)
• Secondary storage (disk drives)
• Control
• CPU controls other components of the system

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Computer System Concept

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 Computer Processing Speeds

• Early computers
• Milliseconds (thousandths of a second)
• Microseconds (millionths of a second)
• Current computers
• Nanoseconds (billionth of a second)
• Picoseconds (trillionth of a second)
• Program instruction processing speeds
• Megahertz (millions of cycles per second)
• Gigahertz (billions of cycles per second)
• Commonly called the “clock speed”

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 Computer Processing Speeds

• Throughput
• The ability to perform useful computation or data
processing assignments during a given period
• Speed is dependant on…
• Size of circuitry paths (buses) that interconnect
microprocessor components
• Capacity of instruction processing registers
• Use of high-speed cache memory
• Use of specialized microprocessor, such as math
coprocessor

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 Moore’s Law

• A doubling in the number of transistors per

integrated circuit every 18 to 24 months
• Originally observed in 1965, it holds true today
• Common corollary of Moore’s Law…
• Computing prices will be cut in half every 18 to
24 months
• This has been consistently accurate
• Applies to cost of storage as well

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Moore’s Law

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 Peripherals

• Peripheral is a generic name for all input,

output, and secondary storage devices
• Parts of the computer system, but not the CPU
• Are all online devices
• Online devices
• Separate from the CPU, but electronically
connected to and controlled by it
• Offline devices
• Separate from and not under the control of the
CPU

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Peripherals Advice

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 Input Technologies

• Keyboard
• Still most widely used input device
• Graphical User Interface (GUI)
• Icons, menus, windows, buttons, bars
• Selected with pointing devices
• Electronic Mouse
• Most popular pointing device
• Pressing mouse buttons initiates
activity represented by the icon
selected

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 Input Technologies

• Trackball
• Stationary device, similar to mouse
• Roller ball moves cursor on screen

• Pointing Stick
• Small eraser-head device
embedded in keyboard
• Cursor moves in the
direction of the pressure
placed on the stick

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 Input Technologies

• Touchpad
• Small, rectangular, touch-sensitive surface
• Usually on keyboard
• Cursor moves in direction your finger moves
• Touch Screen
• Use computer by touching
screen
• Screen emits a grid of
infrared beams, sound waves,
or electric current
• Grid is broken when screen is touched

3-26
 Other Input Technologies

• Magnetic Stripe
• Reads the magnetic stripe on credit cards
• Smart Cards
• Microprocessor chip and memory on credit card
• Use more in Europe than in the U.S.
• Digital Cameras
• Allows you to shoot, store, and download photos
or full-motion video with audio into the PC
• Images and audio can then be edited or enhanced

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 Output Technologies

• Video Displays
• Cathode-ray tube (CRT)
• Liquid crystal displays (LCDs)
• Active matrix and dual scan
• Plasma displays
• Used in large TVs and flat-panel monitors
• Printed Output
• Inkjet printers spray ink on a page
• Laser printers use an electrostatic process similar
to a photocopying machine

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 Computer Storage Fundamentals

• Uses a two-state or binary representation of data

• On or Off
• On represents the number 1
• Off represents the number 0
• Data are processed and stored in computer
systems through the presence or absence of
On/Off signals

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 Bit and Byte

• Bit
• Short for binary digit
• Smallest element of data
• Either zero or one
• Byte
• Group of eight bits, which operate as a single unit
• Represents one character or number

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Representing Characters in Bytes

3-31
Using Binary Code to Calculate

3-32
 Storage Capacity Measurement

• Kilobyte (KB): one thousand bytes

• Megabyte (MB): one million bytes
• Gigabyte (GB): one billions bytes
• Terabyte (TB): one trillion bytes
• Petabyte (PB): one quadrillion bytes

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 Types of Semiconductor Memory

• Random Access Memory (RAM)

• Most widely used primary storage medium
• Volatile memory
• Read/write memory
• Read-Only Memory (ROM)
• Permanent storage
• Can be read, but not overwritten
• Frequently used programs burnt into chips during
manufacturing process
• Called firmware

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 Flash Drives

• Sometimes referred to as a jump drive

• Uses a small chips containing
thousands of transistors
• Can store data for virtually
unlimited periods without power
• Easily transported and highly
durable
• Storage capacity of up to 1 GB
• Plugs into any USB port

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 Magnetic Disks

• Used for secondary storage

• Fast access and high capacity
• Reasonable cost

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 Types of Magnetic Disks

• Floppy Disks (diskettes)

• Magnetic disk inside a plastic jacket
• Hard Disk Drives (hard drives)
• Magnetic disk, access arms, and read/write heads
in sealed module for stable environment
• Fixed or removable
• Capacity from several hundred MBs to
hundreds of GBs

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Optical Disks

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