1. Introduction to Computers

2. What is a computer?
An electronic device, operating under the control of instructions stored in its own memory unit, that can accept data, manipulate the data according to specified rules, produce information from the processing, and store the results for future use.

3. Devices that comprise a personal computer.

4. Inside a computer

5. Information Processing Cycle—four general operations
Input
Processing
Output
Storage

6. What are the components of the computer?
Input devices
Central processing unit (CPU)
Output devices
Memory
Storage devices

7. Input Devices
Keyboard
Mouse
Digital camera
Scanner
Microphone

8. Keyboards

9. Mouse Devices

10. Digital Cameras

11. Scanners

12. Microphones

13. Central Processing Unit
Made up of the control unit and arithmetic/logic unit
The brains of the CPU is the processor. There are different brands and speeds
Pentium made by Intel
Celeron made by Intel
Athlon made by AMD
Memory
RAM—also called Random Access Memory

14. Processors & Memory

15. Data Representation Byte—one character of data
Kilobyte—one thousand bytes of data
Megabyte—one million bytes
Gigabyte—one billion bytes
Terabyte—one trillion bytes
Petabyte—one quadrillion bytes
Exabyte—one quintillion bytes
Zettabyte—one sextillion bytes
Yottabyte—one septillion bytes

16. Output Devices Printers Monitors Impact printers Nonimpact printers
Dot matrix printers
Nonimpact printers
Ink jet
Laser
Color
B & W
Monitors
CRT’S
LCD’S

17. STORAGE DEVICES Floppy Disks Hard Disks CD’s—Compact Discs DVD’s
3.5-inch disks store 1.44M of data
Must be formatted
Tracks
sectors
Hard Disks
Spins at 5,400 – 7,200 rpm (revolutions per minute)
Can store anywhere between 10G – 250G+ of data
CD’s—Compact Discs
Available in a variety of formats—CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW
A typical CD holds about 650 MB of data
DVD’s
Available as DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW
Can hold 4.7 GB of data
Zip Drives—high capacity floppy disk drive; has lost popularity
Zip disks can hold from 100 MB – 250 MB of data
USB Flash Drive
Storage capacity between 32 MB – 4 GB

18. STORAGE DEVICES

19. Software—Can be categorized into four types
System software
Application software
Educational software
Entertainment software

20. System Software Controls the operations of computer equipment
Operating System software tells the computer how to:
Load
Store
Execute
OS is loaded into memory when the computer is turned on
This process is called booting
Most OS’s use a Graphical User Interface (GUI)
Provides visual cues such as icons
Each icon represents an application

21. Application Software
Programs that tell a computer how to produce information
Commonly used applications
Word processing
Spreadsheet
Database
Presentation
Financial
Taxing

22. Educational Software Software that can be used for learning purposes
Examples include:
Jump Start Series
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing
Reader Rabbit
Encarta or World Book
Math Blaster
Rosetta Stone Spanish

23. Entertainment Software
Sports games
Madden NFL
MLB
The Sims
World of Warcraft
Rollercoaster Tycoon
Final Fantasy
Halo
Myst
Half Life
Barbie Fashion Show