Computer Hardware and Software

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Computer Hardware and Software

• Yong Choi
• School of Business
• CSU, Bakersfield

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Computer Hardware

• Comprehensive term for all the physical parts of
  a computer
• Tangible things that you can actually touch and
  feel
• disks, monitors, keyboards, printers, boards,
  speaker, and chips.
• Falling price of HW
• Technical driving force of the Information Age

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Computing Power

• Faster
• Cheaper (PC less than 500)
• Smaller
• Shorter computer product life cycle

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Storage

• Price of 1 MB hard drive space
• 1983 - 300
• First PC in 1981
• Early IBM PCs have 20 - 30 MB
• 1989 - 2, 1997 - .07, and today minimal
• Megabyte (MB) about 1 million bytes
• Gigabyte (GB) about 1 billion bytes
• Terabyte (TB) about 1 trillion bytes

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Transmission

• I hr satellite teleconferencing
• 1985 - 100
• 1998 - less than 10
• Today - minimal
• Internet dial-up service
• 1997 AVG. 40
• DSL less than 15

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Hardware Trend

• More Multimedia Oriented.
• graphics, picture, sound, voice, video clip
• DMB
• Smaller, Smarter.
• Tablet PC (i.e., ipad), Smart phone
• More powerful
• Massive parallel (process many tasks
  simultaneously)
• many networked CPUs vs. many tasks

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Computer Software

• Intangible untouchable
• Written in various computer program languages
• C, Java, VB.NET....
• Set of instructions that hardware executes to
  carry out a specific task for you
• Changing of SW price
• More important than HW
• Y2K

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Two Major Categories of Software

1. Application software enables you to solve
   specific problems or perform specific tasks

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Two Major Categories of Software

• System software handles tasks specific to
  technology management and coordinates the
  interaction of all technology devices
• Two main types of system software
• Operating system software
• Utility software

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Types of System Software

• Operating system software controls application
  software and manages hardware devices
• Utility software provides additional
  functionality to your operating system
• Anti-virus
• Screen saver
• Etc.

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GUI vs. Command Driven

• DOS vs. Windows (i.e., XP, Vista..)
• User training
• Productivity
• Technical Compatibility

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Demo of Command Driven

• Start ? programs ? accessories ? command prompt
• Try to delete sylacct360.ppt PowerPoint file
  from desktop (download and save the PPT file
  first)
• dir
• cd my documents or desktop (not case sensitive
  but space)
• dir (to see available files)
• del sylacct360.ppt (dont forget the file
  extension)
• dir

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SW Considerations

• Compatibility with current software
• Outsourcing
• Off-the-shelf software

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More about computer

• picotux - the smallest Linux Computer in the
  World

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Six Categories of Hardware
Video card (connecting)
Keyboard (input)
CDs (storage)
CPU
Cable modem (telecommunications)
Monitor (output)
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COMPUTER CATEGORIES (BY SIZE)
PDA
Notebook
Tablet PC
Desktop
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CPU and RAM
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CPU and RAM

• CPU and RAM work together to form the brain of
  your computer
• CPU speed measured in gigahertz (GHz)
• GHz number of billions of CPU cycles per second
• CPU (machine) cycle retrieve, decode, and
  execute instruction, then return result to RAM if
  necessary

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CPU Components

• Control unit directs what happens in the CPU
  and the rest of your computer
• Arithmetic logic unit (ALU) performs
  arithmetic, comparison, and logic operations
• CPU cache CPU memory where instructions wait
  until theyre needed
• CPU clock beats to keep instructions and
  information moving in synchronized fashion

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System Bus

• System bus electrical pathways that move
  information between motherboard components,
  especially between CPU and RAM

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CPU and Ram at Work
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CPU (Machine Cycle)

1. Retrieve The control unit sends to RAM for the
   instructions and information it needs
2. Decode CPU gets the instruction out of cache and
   examines it to see what to do
3. Execute Does what the instruction says to do
4. Store Sends the result of processing to be
   stored in RAM if necessary

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Notebook CPUs and RAM

• Mobile CPU type of CPU that changes speed, and
  therefore power consumption, in response to
  fluctuation in use
• RAM for notebooks comes in smaller modules than
  RAM for desktops

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COMPUTER CATEGORIES (BY SIZE)
Minicomputers
Mainframe
Supercomputer
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Common Types of Flash Memory
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CPU and RAM
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