Explain the Hardware, Software and Peripheral Components of a Computer System and the Functional Relation Between These Components

Explain the hardware, software and peripheral components of a computer system and the functional relation between these components. Fig: functions of the operating systems (1) 1-Hardware Hardware consists of physical equipment of the computer. We distinguish equipment within the Case such as: Power supply: it is the equipment that receives electricity from a DC current and converts it to a alternative current AC for the needs of the computer. The power supply may depends on the motherboard of the computer because the wattage varies depends on other equipment inside the computer. Fig 3: power supply (4) The motherboard: it is the main equipment of the computer. On it are stored and connected every other equipment. The motherboard is the central piece of the computer. We have many others components installed on the motherboards such as microprocessor, RAM, controller†¦ Fig 4: the motherboard (5) Microprocessor: it is the brain of the computer. it means that all the operation on the computer are made by the microprocessor. It is also known as CPU (central processing Unit). it can be measured in megahertz (MHz) or in Gigahertz depending of computer. he performance of the microprocessor is so important that it is essential to any customer to be aware of the number of calculations it can perform before buying a computer [23]. for example, Dell Optiplex 990 works with Intel Core i3 2100 (3. 1GHz). Fig 5: microprocessor (6) RAM: it is Random access memory. its role is to store instructions or data for a possible processing and its storage is temporally. it hold s a list of instructions of an information that is currently working. it can be accessed randomly, it means that it does not have to look in the storage device (hard disk) from the start to find a piece of interest [23]. When we switch off the computer any storage within the RAM, will be erased that is why we say the storage is temporally. RAM is the main memory because we can quickly access any files in the hard disk. Fig 6: RAM (7) ROM: it stands for read only memory. ROM differs from RAM in two ways: first it is not changed or erased after the computer is assembled, you can read it but cannot write on it, and second it remains unchanged even after the computer is turned off. [23] Fig:19 ROM [22] Hard disk: it is the component where data, files, operating systems are saved. t stored large amount of data depending on its size. the records stored are not volatile as in the RAM, but it remains until it is changed or deleted. it is measured in bytes. today we noticed that computer are almost hard disk capacity of 40 gigabytes. this performance of the disk capacity is one of the main measure when we are buying a computer. [23] Fig 7: the hard disk (8) Drive controllers: its role is to control data trans fer to and from the hard disk. it is a circuits that allows the CPU to communicate with the hard disk and the other kind of disk drive. or example the controller talks to the keyboard and to the mouse to enable the CPU to read information from them(2). we have drive controller such as IDE(integrated drive electronic) and SCSI (small computer systems interface) Fig 8:drive controllers (9) CD-ROM Drive: we use this drive to play and read CD-ROM (DISK COMPACT Read only memory) in the computer. we can also play audio CD. a typical capacity of the CD ROM is about 650 megabytes. they are now being overtaken by DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) because of their large capacity storage up to 3. 9 gigabytes. [23] Fig 9: CD ROM drive(10) Floppy drive: we use this drive to save or read data in a floppy disk. a floppy disk is a small and removable storage devices that record data in square plastic jacket. fig 10: floppy disk drive (11) 2- Software The computer software are programs that controls the computer hardware. They command the hardware and tell them what to do and how to do it. We have many kinds of software: operating systems software, application software, and drivers. Operating systems: it is a program that controls and manages the computer in every task. it controls the input and the output of the computer such as disk drives or scanner. Two of the main features of the operating systems are: -multi user: it means that two or more users can run programs at the same time, it is used particularly with mainframe and minicomputer (3) -multitasking: it means that it is able to execute more than one task at the same-time. For example we can play music in the computer and use the write a document in Microsoft word. We have many type of operating systems: -Windows (XP, VISTA, Windows 7†¦) -Mac OS X -Linux there are additional operating systems that we find on the computer. We called them systems tools of the computer. e use them for the routine maintenance. routine maintenance is different method we take to keep our computer safe and without problems. we have tools such as Disk defragmenter: it is a tool that we use to keep our computer running quickly and efficiently. it organizes and consolidates data on the hard disk, allowing the systems to run faster. we have to use it at least every week. [17] Disk cleanup: it is a tool that enables us to free space in the hard disk and improve the performance of the computer. we use it to remove and delete programs such as temporally internet files, or programs that we on’t use. [17] Backup, [17] Application software: they are programs designed to handle specific types of information and achieve useful results. We distinguish many kinds of application software: -word processing: in those applications we can create text documents. E. g. Microsoft word -database: in those applications we can create and edit data records. E. g. Filemarker pro -presentation graphics: we have the possibility to draw, create 2D and 3D graphics. E. g Corel Draw -media player: with those applications we can play Video, MP3, and other audio formats. E. g. QuickTime player It facts application software depends on platforms and operating systems. for example there are some applications that cannot work in Drivers: there is a program that controls a particular hardware device. Devices such as keyboard, monitor and printer are controls by a driver. Without those drivers the devices cannot function properly. 3-Peripheral components of the computer the peripheral components of the computer can be input or output devices such as: Monitor: it is a device made as a screen where information is represented. it is one of the most important peripheral components of the computer. Fig 11: monitor (12) Keyboard: it is a device that we use to write or enter data text into the computer. Fig 12: keyboard (13) Mouse: it can be defined as a device composed of one or many button that we used to select or to choose specific things through a pointer in a screen. fig 13: mouse(14) Printer: it is a device that we use to represent physically text or graphic data or information stored in the computer. We represent it through a paper. we have many kinds of printer: Dot matrix printer: it can print up to 200 characters per seconds; the print head is hammered very rapidly over the paper. Laser jet printer and ink jet printer. fig14: ink jet printer (15) Scanner: it is a input device used to scan or copy pictures, text to the computer. fig 15: scanner [16] Digital camera: it is a device that we use to record video. We can transfer our recorded video to our computer, and edit them, or email them to friends. fig 16: digital camera[19] Loudspeakers: we use these devices to play music or to use some application that involves sound hearing. fig 17: computer loudspeakers [20] Microphone: we use microphone to create or record a voice or a sound . ometimes we use it for communicating with friends via internet. [18] fig 18: computer microphone [21] References: 1-www. cisco. co. uk 2-http://encyclopedia2. thefreedictionary. com/Hard+drive+controller 3-http://www. webopedia. com/TERM/M/multi_user. html 4-http://trustcomputers. co. uk/index. php? main_page=index&cPath=2 5-http://www. teach-ict. com/gcse/hardware/parts/miniweb/motherboard. htm 6-http://www. cpu-world. com/CPUs/K10 /TYPE-Sempron. html 7-http://www. pcextreme. net/news/your-ram-check-it/ 8-http://www. novell. com/coolsolutions/appnote/16837. html 9-http://www. techarp. om/showarticle. aspx? artno=388&pgno=2 10- http://www. powersourceonline. com/buy-equipment/ibm-Parts/10K3782/31776879-10K3782-cy-en. jsa 11_http://www. darlingtoncomputerrepairs. co. uk/index. php? main_page=product_info&cPath=58_100&products_id=87 12- http://www. lcd-monitor-reviews. com/lcd-monitor-reviews/iiyama-AS4611UT-lcd-monitor-review. html 13- http://voices. canonical. com/joey. stanford/2007/11/ 14- http://www. tomshardware. com/reviews/microsoft-breeds-unique-mice,1554-2. html 15-http://www. inkandmedialtd. co. uk/blog/epson-r300-inkjet-printer-review/ 16-http://www. letsgodigital. rg/html/events/PHOTOKINA-2004/news/epson/PERFECTION-4180_en. html 17-http://www. microsoft. com/atwork/maintenance/speed. aspx 18-www. camcorderinfo. com/content/Glossary. htm 19-http://digital-cameras-planet. com/ 20-http://www. comparesto reprices. co. uk/Trust-computer-speakers-reviews. asp 21-http://www. custom-product. com/wholesale-items/662/714-1/computer-microphone-cm-9002-129285. html 22-http://www. novopc. com/2008/09/rom-read-only-memory/ 23- Brendan Munnelly, Paul Holden, 2000, ECDL3 the complete coursebook, Prentice Hall, Redacteurs Software Documentation Limited 2000