LECTURE NOTES 3-COMPUTER HARDWARE

COMPUTER ORGANIZATION
1. INPUT HARDWARE
This unit contains devices with the help of which we enter data into computer. This unit makes
link between user and computer. The input devices translate the human being information into the
form understandable by computer. An input unit of a computer System performs the following
functions:
i. It accepts (or reads) instruction and data from outside world
ii. It converts thee instruction and data in computer acceptable form
iii. It supplies the converted instruction and data to the computer system for further processing
Following are few of the important input devices, which are used in Computer Systems:
a) Keyboard
b) Mouse
c) Joystick
d) Light pen
e) Track Ball
f) Scanner
g) Graphic Tablet
h) Microphone
i) Magnetic Ink Card Reader (MICR)
j) Optical Character Reader (OCR)
k) Bar Code Reader
l) Optical Mark Reader

Keyboard
Most common and very popular input device is keyboard. The keyboard helps in inputting the
data to the computer. The layout of the keyboard is like that of traditional typewriter, although
there are some additional keys provided for performing some additional functions. Keyboards
are of two sizes 84 keys or 101/102 keys, but now 104 keys or 108 keys keyboard is also
available for Windows and Internet.
The keys are following
No. Keys Description
1 Numeric Keypad It is used to enter numeric data or cursor movement.
Generally, it consists of a set of 17 keys that are laid out in
the same configuration used by most adding machine and
calculators.
2 Function Keys The twelve functions keys are present on the keyboard.
These are arranged in a row along the top of the keyboard.
Each function key has unique meaning and is used for some
specific purpose.
3 Control keys These keys provide cursor and screen control. It includes
four directional arrow key. Control keys also include Home,
End,Insert, Delete, Page Up, Page Down, Control(Ctrl),
 Alternate(Alt),Escape(Esc).
4 Typing Keys These keys include the letter keys (A-Z) and digits keys (0-
9) which generally give same layout as that of typewriters.
5 Special Purpose Keys Keyboard also contains some special purpose keys such as
Enter, Shift, Caps Lock, Num Lock, Space bar, Tab, and
Print Screen.
Table 2.2: Description of keys on a keyboard

Figure 2.3: Computer Keyboard

Mouse
Mouse is most popular Pointing device. It is a very famous cursor-control device. It is a small
palm size box with a round ball at its base which senses the movement of mouse and sends
corresponding signals to CPU on pressing the buttons.
Generally, it has two buttons called left and right button and scroll bar is present at the mid.
Mouse can be used to control the position of cursor on screen, but it cannot be used to enter text
into the computer.
Advantages
 Easy to use
 Not very expensive
 Moves the cursor faster than the arrow keys of keyboard.

Table 2.4: Mouse

Joystick
Joystick is also a pointing device, which is used to move cursor position on a monitor screen. It
is a stick having a spherical ball at its both lower and upper ends. The lower spherical ball moves
in a socket. The joystick can be moved in all four directions. The function of joystick is similar
to that of a mouse. It is mainly used in Computer Aided Designing (CAD) and playing computer
games. Commonly used for video games, flight simulators, training simulators, and for
controlling industrial robots
Figure 2.5: Joystick

Light Pen
Light pen is a pointing device, which is similar to a pen. It is used to select a displayed menu
item or draw pictures on the monitor screen. It consists of a photocell and an optical system
placed in a small tube.
When light pen's tip is moved over the monitor screen and pen button is pressed, its photocell
sensing element, detects the screen location and sends the corresponding signal to the CPU.

Figure 2.6: Light Pen

Track Ball
Track ball is an input device that is mostly used in notebook or laptop computer, instead of a
mouse. This is a ball, which is half inserted and by moving fingers on ball, pointer can be moved.
Since the whole device is not moved, a track ball requires less space than a mouse. A track ball
comes in various shapes like a ball, a button and a square.

Figure 2.7: Track ball

Scanner
Scanner is an input device, which works more like a photocopy machine. It is used when some
information is available on a paper and it is to be transferred to the hard disc of the computer for
further manipulation.
Scanner captures images from the source which are then converted into the digital form that can
be stored on the disc. These images can be edited before they are printed.
Figure 2.8: Scanner
Digitizer
Digitizer is an input device, which converts analog information into a digital form. Digitizer can
convert a signal from the television camera into a series of numbers that could be stored in a
computer. They can be used by the computer to create a picture of whatever the camera had been
pointed at.
Digitizer is also known as Tablet or Graphics Tablet because it converts graphics and pictorial
data into binary inputs. A graphic tablet as digitizer is used for doing fine works of drawing and
images manipulation applications.

Figure 2.9: Digitizer

 Microphone
 Microphone is an input device to input sound that is then stored in digital form. The
microphone is used for various applications like adding sound to a multimedia
presentation or for mixing music.

Figure 2.10: Microphone

Magnetic Ink Card Reader (MICR)
MICR input device is generally used in banks because of the large number of cheques to be
processed daily. The bank's code number and cheque number are printed on the cheques with a
special type of ink that contains particles of magnetic material that are machine readable.
This reading process is called Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR). The main advantage
of MICR is that it is fast and less error prone.

Figure 2.11: Magnetic Ink Card Reader (MICR)

Figure 2.12: MICR Character Set

Optical Character Reader (OCR)
OCR is an input device used to read a printed text. OCR scans text optically character by
character, converts them into a machine readable code and stores the text on the system memory.

Figure 2.13: Optical Character Reader (OCR)

Bar Code Readers

Bar Code Reader is a device used for reading bar coded data (data in form of light and darklines).
Bar coded data is generally used in labeling goods, numbering the books, etc. It may be a hand-
held scanner or may be embedded in a stationary scanner.
Bar Code Reader scans a bar code image, converts it into an alphanumeric value, which is then
fed to the computer to which bar code reader is connected.

Figure 2.14: Bar Code Reader

Optical Mark Reader (OMR)

OMR is a special type of optical scanner used to recognize the type of mark made by pen or
pencil. It is used where one out of a few alternatives is to be selected and marked. It is specially
used for checking the answer sheets of examinations having multiple choice questions.

Figure 2.15: Optical Mark Reader (OMR)

In summary: the various input devices can be classified as: keying devices, pointing devices,
stylus, voice-recognition devices, and scanning devices
2.2.3.1 Processing Hardware
This unit controls the operations of all parts of computer. It does not carry out any actual data
processing operations.
Functions of this unit are:
 It is responsible for controlling the transfer of data and instructions among other units of
a computer.
 It manages and coordinates all the units of the computer.
 It obtains the instructions from the memory, interprets them and directs the operation of
the computer.
 It communicates with input/output devices for transfer of data or results from storage.
 It does not process or store data.
CPU is considered as the brain of the computer. CPU performs all types of data processing
operations. It stores data, intermediate results and instructions (program). It controls the
operations of all parts of computer
CPU itself has the following three components
 ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit)
 Memory Unit
 Control Unit

CPU is considered as the brain of the computer.

CPU performs all types of data processing operations. It stores data, intermediate result and
instructions (program). It controls the operations of all parts of computer.
2.2.3.2 Interconnecting the Units of a Computer
CPU sends data, instructions and information to the components inside the computer as well as
to the peripherals and devices attached to it. Bus is a set of electronic signal pathways that allows
information and signals to travel between components inside or outside of a computer. The
different components of computer, i.e., CPU, I/O unit, and memory unit are connected with each
other by a bus. The data, instructions and the signals are carried between the different
components via a bus. The features and functionality of a bus are as follows—
 A bus is a set of wires used for interconnection, where each wire can carry one bit of
data.
 A bus width is defined by the number of wires in the bus.
 A computer bus can be divided into two types—Internal Bus and External Bus.
 The Internal Bus connects components inside the motherboard like, CPU and system
memory. It is also called the System Bus. Figure 2.10 shows interaction between
processor and memory.

Figure 2.16: Interaction between processor and memory.

The External Bus connects the different external devices, peripherals, expansion slots, I/O ports and drive
connections to the rest of computer. The external bus allows various devices to be attached to the
computer. It allows for the expansion of computer’s capabilities. It is generally slower than the system
bus. It is also referred to as the Expansion Bus.
A system bus or expansion bus comprise of three kinds of buses - data bus, address bus and control bus.
 The interaction of CPU with memory and I/O devices involves all the three buses.
  The command to access the memory or the I/O device is carried by the control bus.
 The address of I/O device or memory is carried by the address bus.
 The data to be transferred is carried by the data bus.

OUTPUT HARDWARE

Output unit consists of devices with the help of which we get the information from computer.
This unit is a link between computer and users. Output devices translate the computer's output
into the form understandable by users. An output unit of a computer System performs the
following functions:
• It accepts the results produced by the computer, which are in coded form and hence, cannot be
easily understood by human beings
• It converts theses coded results to human acceptable (readable) form
• It supplies the converted results to outside world
There are two forms of output:
a) Hardcopy – tangible or touchable output usually in printed form
b) Softcopy output- intangible usually presented as visual or audio form
Following are few of the important output devices, which are used in Computer Systems:
 Monitors
 Graphic Plotter
 Printer

Monitors
Monitor commonly called as Visual Display Unit (VDU) is the main output device of a
computer. It forms images from tiny dots, called pixels that are arranged in a rectangular form.
The sharpness of the image depends upon the number of the pixels.
There are two kinds of viewing screen used for monitors:
 Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT)
 Flat-Panel Display
a) Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) Monitor
In the CRT, display is made up of small picture elements called pixels for short. The smaller the
pixels, the better the image clarity or resolution. It takes more than one illuminated pixel to form
whole character, such as the letter 'e' in the word help.
A finite number of characters can be displayed on a screen at once. The screen can be divided
into a seriesof character boxes - fixed location on the screen where a standard character can be
placed. Most screens are capable of displaying 80 characters of data horizontally and 25 lines
vertically. There are some disadvantages of CRT:
 Large in Size
 High power consumption
Figure 2.17: Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) Monitor

Flat-Panel Display Monitor

The flat-panel display refers to a class of video devices that have reduced volume, weight and
power requirement compared to the CRT. You can hang them on walls or wear them on your
wrists. Current uses for flat-panel displays include calculators, video games, monitors, laptop
computer, graphics display.
The flat-panel display is divided into two categories:
Emissive Displays - The emissive displays are devices that convert electrical energy into
light. Examples are plasma panel and LED (Light-Emitting Diodes).
Non-Emissive Displays - The Non-emissive displays use optical effects to convert sunlight
or light from some other source into graphics patterns. Example is LCD (Liquid-Crystal
Device)

Figure 2.18: Flat-Panel Display Monitor

Printer
Printer is the most important output device, which is used to print information on paper.
There are two types of printers:
Impact Printers
Non-Impact Printers
a) Impact Printers
The printers that print the characters by striking against the ribbon and onto the paper, are called
impact printers.
Characteristics of Impact Printers are the following:
Very low consumable costs
Impact printers are very noisy
Useful for bulk printing due to low cost
There is physical contact with the paper to produce an image

These printers are of two types:

Character printers
Line printers

i. Character Printers
Character Printers are printers, which print one character at a time.
These are of further two types:
Dot Matrix Printer (DMP)
Daisy Wheel
Dot Matrix Printer

In the market, one of the most popular printers is Dot Matrix Printer because of their ease of
printing features and economical price. Each character printed is in form of pattern of Dot's and
head consists of a Matrix of Pins of size (5*7, 7*9, 9*7 or 9*9) which comes out to form a
character that is why it is called Dot Matrix Printer.
Advantages
Inexpensive
Widely Used
Other language characters can be printed

Disadvantages
Slow Speed
Poor Quality

Figure 2.19: Dot-Matrix Pri

Daisy Wheel
Head is lying on a wheel and Pins corresponding to characters are like petals of Daisy (flower
name) that is why it is called Daisy Wheel Printer. These printers are generally used for word-
processing in offices which require a few letters to be sent here and there with very nice quality
representation.

Advantages
More reliable than DMP's
 Better quality
The fonts of character can be easily changed.

Disadvantages
Slower than DMP's
Noisy
More expensive than DMP's

Figure 2.20: Daisy Wheel

ii. Line Printers

Line printers are printers, which print one line at a time.

Figure 2.21: Line Printer

These are of further two types:

Drum Printer
Chain Printer
Drum Printer
This printer is like a drum in shape so it called drum printer. The surface of drum is divided into
number of tracks. Total tracks are equal to size of paper, i.e., for a paper width of 132 characters,
Drum will have 132 tracks. A character set is embossed on track. The different character sets
available in market are 48 character set, 64 and 96 characters set. One rotation of drum prints one
line. Drum Printers are fast in speed and prints between 300 to 2000 lines per minute.

Advantages
Very high speed

Disadvantages
Very expensive
Characters fonts cannot be changed
 Chain Printer
In this printer, chains of character sets are used so it called Chain Printers. A standard character
set may have 48, 64, 96 characters.

Advantages
Character fonts can easily be changed.
Different languages can be used with the same printer.

Disadvantages
Noisy
Do not have the ability to print any shape of characters.

b) Non-impact Printers
The printers that print the characters without striking against the ribbon and onto the paper are
called Non-impact Printers. These printers print a complete page at a time, also called as Page
Printers.

These printers are of two types:

Laser Printers
Inkjet Printers

Characteristics of Non-impact Printers:

Faster than impact printers.
They are not noisy.
High quality.
Support many fonts and different character size.

i. Laser Printers
These are non-impact page printers. They use laser lights to produce the dots needed to form the
characters to be printed on a page.

Advantages
Very high speed.
Very high quality output.
Gives good graphics quality.
Supports many fonts and different character sizes.

Disadvantage
Expensive.
Cannot be used to produce multiple copies of a document in a single printing.
Figure 2.22: Laser Jet Printer

ii. Inkjet Printers

Inkjet printers are non-impact character printers based on a relatively new technology. They print
characters by spraying small drops of ink onto paper. Inkjet printers produce high quality output
with presentable features.
They make less noise because no hammering is done and these have many styles of printing
modes available. Color printing is also possible. Some models of Inkjet printers can produce
multiple copies of printing also.

Advantages
High quality printing
More reliable

Disadvantages
Expensive as cost per page is high
Slow as compared to laser printer

Figure 2.23: Ink Jet Printer

STORAGE HARDWARE
Computer memory is used to store data and instructions. Computer memory is the storage space
in computer where data is to be processed and instructions required for processing are stored.
The memory is divided into large number of small parts. Each part is called cell. Each location or
cell has a unique address, which varies from zero to memory size minus one. For example, if
computer has 64k words, and then this memory unit has 64 * 1024=65536 memory location. The
address of these locations varies from 0 to 65535.
The storage Unit of a computer system holds (or stores) the following:
i. Data and instruction required for processing (received from input devices)
ii. Intermediate result of processing
iii. Final result of processing, before they are released to an output device

Types of Memory
Cache Memory
Primary Memory/Main Memory
Secondary Memory

a) Cache Memory
Cache memory is a very high speed semiconductor memory, which can speed up CPU. It acts as
a buffer between the CPU and main memory. It is used to hold those parts of data and program
which are most frequently used by CPU. The parts of data and programs are transferred from
disk to cache memory by operating system, from where CPU can access them.

Advantage
Cache memory is faster than main memory.
It consumes less access time as compared to main memory.
It stores the program that can be executed within a short period of time.
It stores data for temporary use.

Disadvantage
Cache memory has limited capacity.
It is very expensive.

b) Primary Memory (Main Memory)

Primary memory holds only those data and instructions on which computer is currently working.
It has limited capacity and data gets lost when power is switched off. It is generally made up of
semiconductor device. These memories are not as fast as registers. The data and instructions
required to be processed earlier reside in main memory. It is divided into two subcategories
RAM and ROM.

Characteristic of Main Memory

These are semiconductor memories.
It is known as main memory.
Usually volatile memory.
Data is lost in case power is switched off.
It is working memory of the computer.
Faster than secondary memories.
Relatively expensive
A computer cannot run without primary memory (Used to hold running program instructions,
used to hold data, intermediate results, and results of ongoing processing
Job)
Computer RAM
A RAM constitutes the internal memory of the CPU for storing data, program and program
result. It is read/write memory. It is called random access memory (RAM).
Since access time in RAM is independent of the address to the word that is, each storage location
inside the memory is as easy to reach as other location & takes the same amount of time. We can
reach into the memory at random & extremely fast but can also be quite expensive. RAM is
volatile, i.e., data stored in it is lost when we switch off the computer or if there is a power
failure. Hence, a backup uninterruptible power system (UPS) is often used with computers. RAM
is small, both in terms of its physical size and in the amount of data it can hold.

RAM is of two types:

Static RAM (SRAM)
Dynamic RAM (DRAM)

i. Static RAM (SRAM)

The word static indicates that the memory retains its contents as long as power remains applied.
However, data is lost when the power gets down due to volatile nature. SRAM chips use a matrix
of 6-transistors and no capacitors. Transistors do not require power to prevent leakage, so SRAM
need not have to be refreshed on a regular basis.
Because of the extra space in the matrix, SRAM uses more chips than DRAM for the same
amount of storage space, thus making the manufacturing costs higher.
Static RAM is used as cache memory needs to be very fast and small.
Characteristics of the Static RAM:
It has long data lifetime
There is no need to refresh
 Faster
Used as cache memory
Large size
Expensive
High power consumption

ii. Dynamic RAM (DRAM)

DRAM, unlike SRAM, must be continually refreshed in order for it to maintain the data. This is
done by placing the memory on a refresh circuit that rewrites the data several hundred times per
second. DRAM is used for most system memory because it is cheap and small. All DRAMs are
made up of memory cells. These cells are composed of one capacitor and one transistor.

Characteristics of the Dynamic RAM:

It has short data lifetime
Need to refresh continuously
Slower as compared to SRAM
Used as RAM
Lesser in size
Less expensive
Less power consumption
Computer - ROM
ROM stands for Read Only Memory. The memory from which we can only read but cannot write
on it. This type of memory is non-volatile. The information is stored permanently in such
memories during manufacture. A ROM stores such instructions as are required to start computer
when electricity is first turned on, this operation is referred to as bootstrap. ROM chip are not
only used in the computer but also in other electronic items like washing machine and

microwave oven.
Types of ROM
i. MROM (Masked ROM)
The very first ROMs were hard-wired devices that contained a pre-programmed set of data or
instructions. These kinds of ROMs are known as masked ROMs. It is inexpensive ROM.
ii. PROM (Programmable Read only Memory)
PROM is read-only memory that can be modified only once by a user. The user buys a blank
PROM and enters the desired contents using a PROM programmer. Inside the PROM chip, there
are small fuses, which are burnt open during programming. It can be programmed only once and
is not erasable.
iii. EPROM (Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory)
The EPROM can be erased by exposing it to ultra-violet light for a duration of up to 40 minutes.
Usually, an EPROM eraser achieves this function. During programming, an electrical charge is
trapped in an insulated gate region. The charge is retained for more than ten years because the
charge has no leakage path. For erasing this charge, ultra-violet light is passed through a quartz
crystal window (lid). This exposure to ultra-violet light dissipates the charge. During normal use
the quartz lid is sealed with a sticker.
iv. EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory)
The EEPROM is programmed and erased electrically. It can be erased and reprogrammed about
ten thousand times. Both erasing and programming take about 4 to 10 ms (millisecond). In
EEPROM, any location can be selectively erased and programmed. EEPROMs can be erased one
byte at a time, rather than erasing the entire chip. Hence, the process of re-programming is
flexible but slow.

Advantages of ROM
Non-volatile in nature
These cannot be accidentally changed
Cheaper than RAMs
Easy to test
More Reliable than RAMs
These are static and do not require refreshing

c) Secondary Memory
This type of memory is also known as external memory or non-volatile. It is slower than main
memory. These are used for storing Data/Information permanently. There are several limitations
with primary storage:
- Limited capacity because the cost per bit of storage is high
- Volatile- data stored is lost is lost when electric power is turned off or interrupted

CPU directly does not access these memories; instead they are accessed via input-output
routines. Contents of secondary memories are first transferred to main memory and then CPU
can access it. For example, disk, CD-ROM, DVD, etc.

Characteristics of Secondary Memory

These are magnetic and optical memories.
It is known as backup memory.
It is non-volatile memory.
Data is permanently stored even if power is switched off.
It is used for storage of the data in the computer.
Cheaper than primary storage
Computer may run without secondary memory.
Slower than primary memories..
2.3 Summary
I/O Unit, CPU and Memory Unit are the main components of the computer. Cache memory,
primary memory and secondary memory constitute the memory unit.
Primary memory consists of RAM and ROM. The different components of computer are
connected with each other by a bus. A computer bus is of two types—system bus and expansion
bus. A system bus or expansion bus comprise of three kinds of buses—data bus, address bus and
control bus. Inside a computer cabinet, there is a motherboard, ports and interfaces, expansion
slots, ribbon cables, RAM memory chips, high storage disk drives, and, processor
Further reading
Parsons, June Jamrich and Dan Oja. Computer Concepts. Cambridge, MA: Course
Technology, 1999.
Omieno, K. & Matoke, N. 2014. Fundamentals of Computing: A Simplified Approach.
Scholar’s Press, UK.