Computer Hardware and Software

Yong Choi

School of Business

CSU, Bakersfield

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

Computing Power

• Faster

• Cheaper (PC: less than $500)

• Smaller

• Shorter computer product life cycle

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

Transmission

• I hr satellite teleconferencing– 1985 - $100

– 1998 - less than $10

– Today - minimal

• Internet dial-up service– 1997: AVG. $40

– DSL: less than $15

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

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

Two Major Categories of Software

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

APPA-8

Two Major Categories of Software

2. 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

APPA-9

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.

APPA-10

GUI vs. Command Driven

• DOS vs. Windows (i.e., XP, Vista..)

• User training

• Productivity

• Technical Compatibility

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 (don’t forget the file extension)– dir

SW Considerations

• Compatibility with current software

• Outsourcing– Off-the-shelf software

More about computer

• picotux - the smallest Linux Computer in the World

Six Categories of Hardware

Keyboard (input)

CDs (storage)Video card (connecting)

CPUCable modem (telecommunications)

Monitor (output)

APPA-15

COMPUTER CATEGORIES (BY SIZE)

PDA Notebook

DesktopTablet PC

APPA-16

CPU and RAM

APPA-17

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

APPA-18

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 they’re needed

• CPU clock – beats to keep instructions and information moving in synchronized fashion

APPA-19

System Bus

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

APPA-20

CPU and Ram at Work

APPA-21

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

APPA-22

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

APPA-23

COMPUTER CATEGORIES (BY SIZE)

Minicomputers

MainframeSupercomputer

APPA-24

Common Types of Flash Memory

APPA-25

CPU and RAM

APPA-26