Knowledge about Computer Hardware


Dear Viewers as you know that All the parts of computer which you can see and perceive are included in hardware. It includes mainly Hard Disk drive, Main Board, Floppy Disk Drive, Keyboard, Mouse, Printer, Power supply.Now you will study about them in detail.
Main Board: It is also called Mother Board,System Board, Planer Board, and Logic Board.


 The most important components of any personal computer system are the main board. Main board contains the CPU or the brain of the computer, power supply memory (ROM, RAM) and many other supporting logic circuits to make it complete system.


Main Board components:
1.         Expansion Slots
            Commonly the number of slots in a PC is eight.
2.         Processor (CPU) Chip:
            Processor chip controls all the inner functions of the system.
3.         Math Co- Processor Chip
This chip helps in processor chip. Processor Chip in performing mathematical calculations.
4.         Memory:
            i           RAM: This is volatile memory and is ended when computer is off.
            ii          ROM: This is in the form of chips built on the main board.
5.         Power Supply
It is very important component of the computer. it supplies current to the different parts of the computer in different voltage.
6.         Hard Disk Drive
Hard Disk can store unlimited data. The drive that drives hard disk is called hard disk drive.
7.         Floppy Disk Drive:
            The floppy disks were originally designed in 1971 as a replacement for cards and they have been highly and extremely portable for storage of data.  There are two types of IBM floppy disks; the larger is in 5.25 diameters.  The smaller is 3.5 wide in diameters.  A disk drive is used to read/write heads.  The disk controller looks for the index hole that marks the location of the first track.  When the index hole is detected the controller begins reading data from the specified track in smaller disks.  The area is protected by a sprung metal cover.  The floppy disk of 5.25 has storage capacity of 360KB and with high density it has 1.2MB.  Similarly 3.5 diskette has storage of 720KB or 1.44MB.  By contrast, nowadays 3.5 diskettes are more durable and have very less accessing time of data.
i. Mouse:
            It is an input device that is used to select programs and to run programs .
ii. Light Pen:
            A light pen is a pointing device of pen shaped.  The pen consists of a photocell, placed in a small tube of its front end.  Its other end is connected to a computer terminal with a cable.
Use:
            Light pen is used in picture drawing as well as engineering design.  It is also used in cricket matches by the commentators to mention different positions.
iii. Joystick:
            This is another input device.  It is a single vertical stick.  With the help of it, a user can control the movements of objects on the screen in various directions.  It has buttons which can be used for different actions.  The function of joystick and mouse is similar.
Use:
            Joystick is very popular device for controlling objects in computer games.  The joystick allows faster interaction which is needed in the games.
iv. Keyboard:
            In these notes already is written about keyboard.
v. Modem:
            Modems are used for communication between computers.  When we receive any data, information, instruction from another computer through modem then we call it input device.
vi. Scanners:
            In this chapter already is written about scanners.
vii. Trackball:
            The trackball is a ball inset in a small external box or adjacent to and in the same unit as the keyboard.  The ball is "rolled" with fingers to move the graphic cursor.  Trackballs are sometimes configured with portable computers and workstations.  Some people find it helpful to think of a trackball as an upside down mouse with a bigger ball on the bottom.
viii. Microphone:
            A microphone is used to input voice and sound on computer.  Suitable software along with microphone is required to talk to the computer and record and voice and sound.
ix. Digital Cameras:

            Most of us take photograph in the traditional manner with a camera and film.  Some people use image scanners to digitize photos for use in newspapers, magazines and so on.  This process may change forever as the price of digital cameras continues to plummet.  When you take a picture with a digital camera, a digitized image goes straight to 3½ inch, diskette, CD-R, or onboard RAM.  Once on disk or in RAM, it can be loaded to a computer and manipulated as you would other graphic images.  There are many applications for digital cameras, not the least of which is expanding the family photo album.  Each time a patient comes in for an appointment, the doctor takes a file photo so that progress can be compared from visit to visit.