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. Input Devices
Keyboard
Mouse
Digital camera
Scanner
Microphone

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

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

14. Memory RAM—also called Random Access Memory
ROM- also called Read Only Memory

15. Processors & Memory

16. Role of the CPU
Role: The CPU also called microprocessor, or brain of the computer, contains millions of switches and pathways to help the computer make decisions. The switches control the flow of electricity as it travels across the pathways. Computer programs are special instructions written to tell the computer which switches to turn on or off.
Speed: deciding factor on which computer to purchase. The system clock is an electronic pulse used to synchronize the processing and determines the speed of the processor, measured in megahertz. The higher MHz the faster the computer.

17. 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

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

19. 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

20. STORAGE DEVICES

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

22. 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

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

24. 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

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

26. Types of Computers Type Size Power Purpose Supercomputers Largest
Fastest processing speeds compared to other computers
Cost can be several million dollars
For corporations with lots of data to be processed
Mainframe computers
Large
Less powerful than supercomputers but large compared to personal computers
Can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars
Performs centralized processing tasks for many users
Minicomputers
Larger than microcomputers but smaller than mainframe computers
Same as microcomputers
Used for companies with many users and large amounts of data and can run on any computer hardware
Microcomputers and notebook computers
Fits on a desktop
Not meant for large amount of data
Writing papers, tracking finances, playing games, connecting to the Internet.
PDA’s, Cell phones, calculators, interactive books, digital cameras, game systems are accepted as they make everyday tasks easier to accomplish.

28. Binary number system
Computers only understand machine language, or binary, which is ones and zeros.
Through the pathways and by turning switches on and off the CPU processes ones and zeros
When electricity is present it represents a one. The absence of electricity represents a zero.
Coding Systems such as American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) determines which combination of zeros and ones represents the letter A or the number 1.
Each one or zero is a bit, and eight bits or combinations of ones and zeros represents a byte.

29. Networking
A network connects one computer to other computers and peripheral devices
Allows computers to share:
Data – special group projects, databases, etc.
Hardware – printers or scanners
Software – instead of purchasing programs for each individual computer, a site license can be purchased for the number of users and it is less expensive
Files – collaborative, allows users to work together