1. Section 2 Systems technologies
Module 2.2
Basic concepts of hardware

2. The basic model of a computer
PROCESSING
INPUT
STORAGE
OUTPUT
COMMUNICATION

3. Categories of hardware inside case
Inside the case of the computer
Motherboard
CPU and CPU Fan
RAM
Storage
Hard disk
Solid state disk
Optical storage
U3 drive
View all components you need to build you own PC at e.g.

4. Motherboard What is the motherboard? Purpose the motherboard?
Where do you find the motherboard?
How do you fit the motherboard?
See a video how to install motherboard inside the case e.g.

5. CPU What is the role of the CPU? Where do you fit the CPU?
Who manufactures CPUs for PCs?
Who manufactures CPUs for smartphones and consumer tablets?
What is the unit of measurement for the speed of a processor?
What can be done to prevent damage from overheating?
See a video how to install CPU and fan e.g.

6. RAM: Random Access Memory
What is the role of RAM?
Whys is the data transfer between RAM and CPU is fast?
What is the effect when you increase RAM?
How do you upgrade RAM?
What does RAM is “volatile” mean?
What limits the amount of RAM you can use?
Watch a video how to install memory e.g.

7. Hard disk Physical composition of Hard Disk Drives.
Storage is not electronic on HDD. Name the type of storage
Why is the HDD slower than the RAM?
Capacity and cost of storage on HDD.
What will happen when you drop a hard drive while it is working?
Two sides of the same hard drive.
View video on installing the hard drive e.g.

8. Optical storage: CD / DVD / Blu-ray
How is data stored on optical drives?
Which is slower, hard disk drives or CD drives?
What is the storage capacity of CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs?
How do you distinguish between CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs just by looking at it?
See how to install the CD/DVD drive at e.g.

9. Solid State Drives
How do Solid State Drives (SSDs) differ from HDDs and RAM?
Which devices use SSDs?
Which is faster, SSDs or RAM or HDDs or CDs?
Comment on the cost and capacity of SSDs
Listen to a discussion on solid state hard drives vs mechanical hard drives e.g.

10. Ports and connectors to connect peripherals
USB
Firewire
Thunderbolt
RJ45
VGA connector
Standard mini jacks
Adding extra storage using external drives is simple, fast and easy

11. USB Peripherals that can connect by using the USB ports.
What can you do if you do not have enough USB ports?

12. Firewire Where would you expect to find Firewire ports?
Which is faster – Thunderbolt, USB3, USB2, USB1 or Firewire?

13. Thunderbolt/ Lightpeak
Launched in 2011.
Available on all new Apple computers.
Thunderbolt provides fastest external connection currently available.
The connection supplies peripherals with 10 Watts of power and speeds of up to 10 Gb/s which can transfer a full-length HD movie in less than 30 seconds or backup 1 year of continuous MP3 playback in just over 10 minutes

14. RJ45 to connect to cabled network

15. Mini jacks for headphones and microphones

16. Standard VGA connector

17. Connect to Television

18. Other connections

19. Activity 1
Do question 1 to 10 of activity 1

20. Categories of hardware peripherals for input
Pointing devices
Keyboard
Scanner
game controllers
Joy stick
Microphone
Camera
Touch screen
Tablet
Sensors

21. Keyboard Why do we say “QWERTY” keyboard?
What can you do if you need a keyboard on a touch screen device?
How do you connect a keyboard to the PC?
Input data is text or navigation or instructions e.g. home and arrows and F1 for help

22. Pointing devices Mouse actions How do Touchpads (trackpads) work?
Input: the position and whether you click, right-click, double-click, drag and scroll to interact with the items on the screen, draw, move, copy, etc.

23. Microphone
Discusss different type of microphones that are used by computers, smartphones and media tablets
Input: the sound that can be recorded or the computer can respond if it uses voice recognition.

24. Touch screen Name devices that use touchscreens
Discuss the gestures to control the computer on touch screens
Capacitive touchscreens respond to fingers (or things that conduct electricity)

25. Game controllers
Discuss specialised game controllers for the Xbox or PlayStations.
Discuss the Wii motion sensitive controllers
Discuss Microsoft Kinect for the Xbox users
Buttons on game controller provide options like shooting and motion sensitive controllers or cameras responds to your movement to play games like tennis

26. Camera How do you transfer photos and video to your computer?
Raw image files are sometimes called digital negatives, as they are not directly usable as an image, but has all of the information needed to create an image.

27. Scanners Types of scanners:
Flat bed scanners
3D scanners
Bar-code scanners
Magnetic strip scanners
Biometric scanners
How do you edit text after scanning a document?
What is a QR code?
A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) that has become popular due to its fast readability and comparatively large storage capacity.

28. Pen Tablet
Discuss scenarios where the pen tablet (or the Tablet PC) will be most suitable and motivate your answers
Discuss the unique characteristics of a pen tablet

29. Other input devices Other input devices and where they are used, like
buttons,
scroll-wheels,
toggle switches,
rocker switches etc.

30. Types of data input
Text
Images
Sound
Sensors

31. Text input Other ways to input text except for typing on the keyboard
Batch scanning
Barcodes
Speech recognition

32. Image input Devices you can use to input video/photos
How do you connect these devices to the computer?
They really have made a car that can drive itself in city traffic without causing accidents

33. Sound input Sound is most often simply recorded
Discuss other ways in which sound input can be used, e.g. MIDI instruments, software to record and recognise sound patterns

34. Sensor input
There are also light sensors, gyroscopes, temperature sensors, etc. that allow devices to react to their environment in ways that were not possible before.
Using the Scratch programming language you can easily create simple interactive programs based on the input from a light sensor, sound sensor, a button and a slider on a PicoBoard

35. Answer question 1- 18 of Activity 2
Activity 2: Input
Answer question of Activity 2

36. Categories of hardware peripherals for output
Monitor
Data projectors
Printers
Speakers and headphones

37. Monitor or VDU Explain the meaning of VDU, LCD, LED, CRT.
Monitors are typically classified according to:
Size
Resolution
Response time
Connectors
Contrast ratio

38. Data projector How does a data projector work?
Scenarios where a data projector will be suitable
Compare with Smartboard

39. Printers Explain hard copy and soft copy output.
Why would a small business choose a multi-function device in stead of a simple printer?
How do printers connect to computers?

40. Main types of printers
Laser printers work by melting toner onto the paper.
Great for general purpose printing.
Faster than inkjets.
Relatively cheap to run.
Inkjet printers spray dots of ink onto paper. Slower than laser printers and more expensive to run.
Can print photo quality images.
Dot-matrix printers use old technology that works by striking pins onto paper through inked ribbons. Still used for printing invoices, bills, etc. and where carbon copies are needed.

41. Speakers and headphones
Two factors that determine the quality of the sound output.
How to connect to electronic instruments and professional mixing boards, speakers , headphones.
Sound output can
tell you when a task starts / completes
make sounds when you click on an object
to provide text-to-speech synthesizer.

42. Activity 3
Answer question activity 3

43. Storage Disadvantages of optical disc drives (CD / DVD / Blu-ray)
Flash drives
Portable hard drives
Memory cards
Disadvantages of optical disc drives (CD / DVD / Blu-ray)
comparatively slow
limited capacity
expensive per GB compared to magnetic storage or even Solid State Disks (SSDs).
easily damaged by being scratched or exposed to heat.
comparatively large

44. Flash drives Electronic storage. Faster than optical/magnetic storage.
More expensive per GB than magnetic storage.
Less likely to be damaged.
High capacity: range in size from 1 GB upwards.
Small physical size.
Power from the computer, through the USB port.

45. Memory cards Digital cameras store their pictures on memory cards.
Different types.
Connect the camera to the computer with a cable (usually USB), or use a card reader.

46. Portable hard drives Same magnetic media as internal hard drives.
Connect via a USB, Firewire or Thunderbolt connection.
Large capacity – suited for backup.
Two types
2.5ʺ drives: lower capacity and can run on the power that is supplied via the cable.
3.5ʺ drives: larger capacity but needs an extra power supply.

47. Communication
Modem (MOdulator – DEModulator) was used to convert a computer’s digital data into analogue audio signals, and vice versa.
Today data is transmitted digitally – no conversion to analogue
3G modems
ADSL modems
Routers

48. Activity 4
Answer Question 1 to 9

49. Smartphones versus computers

50. Synchronising your phone and your computer
Same data on more than one device - e.g. contacts in your address book and on your phone.
If you edit the data on one device, the data on the other devices is out of date unless you synchronise the data between devices (i.e. make sure that each device has the latest copy of the data). Software needed
DropBox - ‘Cloud Syncing’.

51. Activity 5 Phone and computer
Answer question 1 to 7 of Activity 5