This document provides an overview of computer hardware and software topics, covering: 1. The background and generations of computers from the abacus to modern devices. 2. The types of computers based on size from supercomputers to smartphones. 3. Key components inside a computer like the CPU, memory, ports, and input/output devices. 4. How computers are connected in networks and different network topologies. 5. The different types of software including system software that manages hardware and application software for specific tasks.

1. Module 1
Introduction to computer
hardware and software
Ms. Shridevi K
shridevikembhavi.blogspot.com

2. Topics
• Computer and Its background
• Generation of Computers
• Types of Computers
• Bits, Bytes and Words
• Inside the Computer

3. Computer
• Computer is probably man’s greatest invention.
• Powerful device to compute at lightning speed.
• Applications of Computer:
– Aviation
– Ticket Reservation
– Games
– Network technology(Internet)
– Medical Science
– Robots and Driverless cars
– Online Shopping etc.,

4. • A computer is a device that can automatically
performs set of instructions.
• The computer takes instructions as input,
processes and produces the result as the output.
• The processing is fast and accurate.
• Central Processing Unit(CPU) –brain of Computer
whose task is to process instructions.
• Computer-Binary device understand the
sequence of ‘0’ & ‘1’ called machine language.
• Machine language is difficult so human use
programming language.

5. Background
• Abacus
• Napier
• Pascal
• Leibniz
• Charles Babbage Father of Computers-
Difference Engine
• Analytical Engine

6. Computer Generations
• First Generation:
– Used thousands of Vacuum Tubes
– Memory: Magnetic Drums
– Large in size
– Consumed enormous power and generated lot of
heat
– Programmed using machine language
– Input: Punched Cards ; Output: paper
– ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and
Computer)

7. • Second Generation:
– Transistors replaced vacuum tubes
– Transistors were fast, small and consumed less
power.
– Memory: Magnetic cores were used.
– Generated less heat compared to first generation.
– Input and output remain same.
– Programmed using Assembly level language.
– Languages like COBOL and Fortran

8. • Third Generation:
– Replaced with integrated circuits.
– Small, cheaper and energy efficient.
– Boost up in Speed and efficiency.
– Magnetic disk was used for the storage.
– Input: Keyboard; Output: Monitor
– Operating system to control resources of computer.
– Programming Languages : BASIC, C, C++ and Java

9. • Fourth Generation:
– Microprocessor with VLSI(Very Large Scale Integration).
– Offered gigabytes of memory.
– High Speed, Network, operating systems.
– Graphical User Interface(GUI).
– Desktops, Laptop, Smartphone, Microwave ovens
• Fifth Generation:
– Speed, Size, Energy Consumption.
– Artificial Intelligence(AI)
– Parallel Processing
– Speech Recognition
– Neural Network

10. Computer Types
• Computers are classified by there size:
1.Super Computers:
– Powerful and fastest Processors
– Multiple CPUs .
– Expensive, Fast(Tianhe-2)
– Speed are measured in Flops(Floating point
operations per second)
– Transaction processing, weather forecasting, nuclear
simulation etc.
– Mainly used in government agencies.

11. 2.Mainframe:
– less Powerful and less expensive than super
Computer.
– Concurrently run multiple programs with single CPU.
– Handle over hundreds of users .
– Speed is measured in mips(Million instructions per
second)
– Stock exchange, Banks, airlines, railways.
3.Minicomputers:
– Mini computers are lower to mainframe computers in
terms of speed and storage capacity.
– less expensive than mainframe computers.
– Performance also will be less than that of mainframes.
– Used in smaller organizations.

12. 4.Micro Computers:
– Personal computer introduced by Apple later
endorsed by IBM.
– Single CPU with multi cores with Gigabytes of memory
– Used for business, Word processing, spreadsheets.
– Workstation used for CAD/CAM.
5.Smart phones and Embedded Computers:
– Phones capable to makes calls.
– Multi core(Snapdragon)
– No hard disk with gigabytes of main memory.
– Flash memory, (Android or iOS) Operating system
– Small circuits with CPU, non-volatile memory
– Cars, Washing machines, MP3 players and cameras

13. Bits, Bytes and Words
• Bit is short for 'binary digit.'
• It's a single digit in a binary number, and it can
be either 1 or 0.
• A byte is 8 bits. With 8 bits you can store any
number between 0 and 255.
• A word is number of bits a particular
computer's CPU can deal with in one go.
• 32-bit or 64-bit computer architectures.

14. • Bit = Binary digit = 0 or 1
• Byte = a sequence of 8 bits = 00000000,
00000001, ..., or 11111111
• Word = a sequence of N bits where N = 16, 32, 64
depending on the computer.
• Measuring Amount of Data/Memory Capacity
– 1 kilobyte = 1 KB = 1024 bytes
– 1 Megabyte = 1 MB = 1024 KB
– 1 Gigabyte = 1 GB = 1024 MB
– 1 Terabyte=1TB=1024 GB
– 1 Petabytes=1PB=1024 TB

15. Inside Computer

16. Central Processing Unit(CPU)
Arithmetic Logic Unit(ALU)-SuperCalculator
Control Unit(CU)
Special Registers
A Clock
Memory
Primary Memory
Secondary Memory
Primary Memory
Random Access Memory(SRAM, DRAM)
Read Only Memory(ROM)
PROM-Programmable Read Only memory
EPROM-Erasable Programmable Read Only memory
EEPROM- Electronic Erasable Programmable Read Only
memory)
Cache Memory(L1,L2,L3)
CPU Registers

17. Secondary Memory
Hard Disk(500 GB to 4TB)
Magnetic Tape(20TB)
CD-ROM(700MB less than 1GB)
DVD-ROM(4.7GB-8.5GB)
Blu-ray Disk(27GB-50GB)
Flash Memory(1GB-128GB)
Obsolete Floppy Disk(1.2-1.44MB)

18. Ports and Connectors
• A port is generally a specific place for being
physically connected to some other device,
usually with a socket or plug which we call
connectors. Types of ports:
– Universal Serial Bus
– Serial Port
– Parallel Port
– Video Graphic Array(VGA) Port
– RJ45 port(Registered Jack)
– PS/2 port(Personal System)
– High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)

20. Connectors
• A connector is any connector used within computers
or to connect computers to networks, printers or
other devices.
Many types of computer connectors

21. • PS/2 Connector:Used
for connecting
keyboard and mouse
on the modern PCs.
The PS/2 mouse
connector and port is
usually green in colour
to distinguish it from
the PS2 keyboard,
which is purple.

22. • Universal Serial Bus:
a protocol for
transferring data to
and from digital
devices.
• Four lines-data(2)
and power(2).
• Many digital cameras
and memory card
readers co

23. • The RJ45 Ethernet
Port: LAN or (Local
Area Network) uses a
CAT5 cable and a RJ45
connection. The CAT 5
cable is also called the
Ethernet Cable.
• Network connection
generally uses a
10/100 Mbps speed.

24. • Parallel Port :The
printer connects to
your computer with
a Parallel connector.
This connector has
25 pins.
• Parallel means the
device is capable of
receiving more than
one bit at a time.

25. • Serial Port: once used
by keyboard , terminals,
modems.
• Have 9-25 pin
configuration
• Data pass through
serial port one bit at a
time

26. • Video Graphics
Array Port: 15-pin
port allows to
transfer of analog
video data to
monitor .
• Replaced by Digital
Video Interface

27. • High Definition
Multimedia Interface:
Transferring audio and
video data between
computers, projectors
and home theaters

28. Input Devices
• The devices that provide the input to the computer
with the help 0f various devices to perform the
operation
– Keyboard:
• Physical or touch screen
• QWERTY layout
• Represented as character.
• Unique values ASCII( American Standard Code for
Information Interchange)
– Pointing Devices:
• Optical(infrared or LED) and Wireless(radio
frequency)
– Scanner:
• Optical Character Recognition(ORC) & Magnetic Ink
Character Recognition( MICR)

29. Output Devices
• An output device is any piece of computer hardware
equipment used to communicate the results of data
processing carried out by an information processing
system (such as a computer) to the outside world.
– Monitor:
• CRT, LCD, LED
– Printers:
• Impact Printer: Dot-Matrix, Obsolete Daisy wheel, Line
• Non-impact Printer: Laser and Inkjet printers
– Plotters

30. Computers in Network
• A collection of computing devices that are
connected in various ways in order to
communicate and share resources.
• Usually, the connections between computers in
a network are made using physical wires or
cables.
• However, some connections are wireless, using
radio waves or infrared signals

31. Network Topology
• Different ways of connecting computers.
Mesh:
Advantages
fault tolerance
If one device/node in the
network fails, the rest of the
devices can work normally
without interruption.
Adding more devices in the
network does not affect the
rest of the devices.
Disadvantages
Time consuming and
difficult.
Cabling cost is high.

32. Bus:
Advantages
• single communication line,
simplicity.
• Easy to setup and extend.
• Less costly. Less cabling
needs.
Disadvantages
• single communication line for
data transmission makes it
easier for collision to occur
• If the single network cable
has a problem or
disconnection, the whole
network breaks.
• Difficult to identify a problem.
• Not efficient.

33. Star:
Advantages
• Easy to install.
• Easy to troubleshoot and detect problems
in the network.
• If one device fails, it does not affect the
other devices in the network.
• Easily add or remove devices.
• Centralized management and monitoring
through the central switch/hub.
Disadvantages
• It has a single point of failure(hub).
• Performance of the whole network
depends on the performance of the central
node.

34. Ring:
Advantages
• Ability to have fast
network throughput.
• Less packet collisions.
• High speed transfers.
• Token is used between
nodes thus making this
performing better than
bus topology
Disadvantage is the point of
failure, as a single node
can break the transmission
of data on the network.

35. Types of network
• LAN(Local area Network)
• WAN(Wide Area Network)
• MAN(Metropolitan area Network)
• CAN(Campus Area Network)
• PAN(Personal Area Network)

36. Network Hardware
• Network Interface Card
• Hub and Switch
• Bridge and Router

38. Software
• It is collection of instructions that drives the
computer or device to perform related group
of tasks.
• It consists of code, library and configuration
files.
• Two types:
– System Software
– Application Software

39. System Software
• It Helps to manage the hardware connected to
it.
• Types:
– Basic Input Output System(BIOS)
– Operating System
– Device Driver
– Compilers and associated programs

40. Application Software
• It can perform he specific task for the user.
This is also called “apps”.
• Types of software:
– Office Software
– Database Software
– Communication Software
– Entertainment Software
– Anti-virus software
– Special purpose software like CAD/CAM