COURSE OBJECTIVE

Objective:
The IT Workshop for engineers is a training lab course spread over 60 hours.
The modules include training on PC Hardware, Internet & World Wide Web and
Productivity tools including Word, Excel, Power Point and Publisher.
PC Hardware introduces the students to a personal computer and its basic
peripherals, the process of assembling a personal computer, installation of system
software like MS Windows, Linux and the required device drivers. In addition
hardware and software level troubleshooting process, tips and tricks would be
covered.
Internet & World Wide Web module introduces the different ways of hooking the PC
on to the internet from home and workplace and effectively usage of the internet.
Usage of web browsers, email, newsgroups and discussion forums would be covered.
In addition, awareness of cyber hygiene, i.e., protecting the personal computer from
getting infected with the viruses, worms and other cyber attacks would be introduced.
Productivity tools module would enable the students in crafting professional word
documents, excel spread sheets, power point presentations and personal web sites
using the Microsoft suite of office tools and Latex.

TASK 1:
Identify the peripherals of a computer, components in a CPU and its functions. Draw the
block diagram of the CPU along with the configuration of each peripheral.
AIM: To identify the peripherals of a computer.
Computer:
An electronic device, which takes input from the user in the form of data & instructions and it
process the input as per the users instructions and generates output.
Applications of Computer:

Science
Education
Medical/Health care
Engineering/Architecture
Entertainment
Communication
Business Application
Publishing

Classification of Computer:
Different types of computers are:

Personal Computer
Work Station
Minicomputer
Mainframe computer
Super Computer
Laptop

Personal Computer:
Single user computer.

Workstation:

A powerful single user computer.

It has powerful microprocessor& higher-quality

monitor.

Minicomputer:
Minicomputer is a multi-user computer
capable of supporting from 10 to hundreds
of users simultaneously.

Mainframe Computer:

Mainframe computer is a powerful multi-user

computer.
It supports many hundreds or thousands of users
simultaneously.

Supercomputer:

Fastest computer that can perform hundreds of

millions of instructions per second.

Used for
Weather forecasting
Computational fluid dynamics
Remote sensing
Image processing
Bio-medial applications

A portable computer that can carry in our hand as we move from one place to another
place.
It has in-built rechargeable battery, which provides enough power supply for the
computer.

Laptop:

Block Diagram of Computer:

InputUnit:
Computers need to receive data and instruction in order to solve any problem.
Therefore we need to input the data and instructions into the computers. The input
unit consists of one or more input devices. Keyboard is the one of the most commonly
used input device. Other commonly used input devices are the mouse, floppy disk
drive, magnetic tape, etc. All the input devices perform the following functions.
1. Accept the data and instructions from the outside world.
2. Convert it to a form that the computer can understand.
3. Supply the converted data to the computer system for further processing.

Types of input devices

Audio conversion device

Barcode reader
Biometrics (e.g. fingerprint scanner)
Business Card Reader
Digital camera and Digital Camcorder
Electroencephalography (EEG)
Finger (with touchscreen or Windows Touch)
Gamepad, Joystick, Paddle, Steering wheel, and Microsoft Kinect
Gesture recognition
Graphics tablet
Keyboard
Light gun and light pen scanner
Magnetic ink (like the ink found on checks)
Magnetic-stripe reader
Medical imaging devices (e.g., X-Ray, CAT Scan, and Ultrasound
images)
Microphone (using voice speech recognition or biometric verification)
MIDI keyboard
MICR
Mouse, touchpad, or other pointing device
Optical Mark Reader (OMR)
Paddle
Pen or Stylus
Punch card reader
Remote
Scanner
Sensors (e.g. heat and orientation sensors)
Sonar imaging devices
Touch screen
Video capture device
VR helmet and gloves
Webcam
Yoke

Output Unit:
The output unit of a computer provides the information and results of a computation to
outside world. Printers, Visual Display Unit (VDU) are the commonly used output
devices. Other commonly used output devices are floppy disk drive, hard disk drive,
and magnetic tape drive.

Types of output devices

3D Printer
Braille embosser
Braille reader
Flat panel
GPS
Headphones
Computer Output Microfilm (COM)
Monitor
Plotter
Printer (Dot matrix printer, Inkjet printer, and Laser printer)
Projector
Sound card
Speakers
Speech-generating device (SGD)
TV
Video card

.
Central Processing Unit:
The control unit and ALU of the computer are together known as the Central
Processing Unit (CPU). The CPU is like brain performs the following functions:
It performs all calculations.
It takes all decisions.
It controls all units of the computer.
A PC may have CPU-IC such as Intel 8088, 80286, 80386, 80486, Celeron, Pentium,
Pentium Pro, Pentium II, Pentium III, Pentium IV, Dual Core, and AMD etc.

Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU):

Performs the arithmetical and logical operations on the stored numbers.

Data is transferred from the memory unit to arithmetic logic section, processed, and
returned to internal storage.
Then the results are transferred from storage to an output device.

Control Unit:
Checks the correctness of sequence of operations.
It fetches the program instructions from memory, interprets them, and ensures correct
execution of the program.
Also controls the input/output devices.
Memory Unit:

Takes data from input device & stores it until the computer is ready to process it.
It also stores processed data and results.
When the processing is finished, it transfers the results to an output device.

Memory Size:
All digital computers use the binary system, i.e. 0s and 1s. Each character or a number is
represented by an 8 bit code.
The set of 8 bits is called a byte. A character occupies 1 byte space.
A numeric occupies 2 byte space.
Byte is the space occupied in the memory.

Peripherals of PC & components in CPU:

Monitor
Keyboard
Mouse
Floppy Disk
CD-ROM
CD-Writer
Motherboard
CPU
RAM
ROM
CMOS
Bus
Hard Disk
SMPS
PCI
AGP
I/O UNIT
SOUTH BRIDGE
NORTH BRIDGE

Monitor:
Alternatively referred to as a video display terminal (VDT) and video display unit (VDU), a
monitor encompasses a display screen for video images and casing that holds it. In its
most common usage, monitor refers only to devices that contain no electronic equipment
other than what is essentially needed to display and adjust the characteristics of an
image.
Like most early TVs, the early computer monitor's were comprised of a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) and a
fluorescent screen. Today, all monitors are created using flat panel display technology; like that
shown in the image.

Keyboard:
The keys on a
keyboard let you
enter information
and instructions into
a computer.

Function keys let

you quickly perform
specific tasks. For
example, in many
programs you can
press the F1 to
display help
information. The
functions they
perform depend on
the software that we
use.

Numeric keys
located just below
the function keys,
along some characters printed on the top side. Also, right hand side of keyboard
contains the numeric keys. Some of these keys have double functions. These keys let
you move the cursor around the screen.

Shift & caps lock keys let you enter text in uppercase (ABC) and Lowercase (abc)
letters. Press Caps Lock to change the case of all letters you type. Press the key
again to return to the original case. Press Shift in combination with another key to
type an uppercase letter.

You can use the Ctrl or Alt key in combination with another key to perform a
specific task. For example, in some programs you can press Ctrl and s to save a
document.

You can press Enter to tell the computer to carry out a task. In a word processing
program, press this key to start a new paragraph.

You can press the Spacebar to insert a blank space.

You can press Tab to move the cursor along a line to preset point. In some software,
Tab key helps us to move from one option to another in a menu.

You can press Esc to quit a task you are performing.

You can press Delete to remove the character to the right of the cursor.
You can press Backspace to remove the character to the left of the cursor.
You can press Page UP & Page Down to move the preceding and next pages of
the Document respectively.
You can press Home to move the cursor to starting of the line or top of the document
and End to move the cursor to the end of the line or document

Mouse:

Used to control computer without typing instructions from the keyboard.

Every mouse has one left & one right button.

Working on a computer through mouse is easy & faster as compared to the keyboard.

System Unit:
Front part components of system unit are:

Power switch
Reset button
Floppy disk drive
CD-ROM

CD-Writer

Floppy Disk Drive

A Floppy Disk Drive, also called FDD or FD for short, is a computer disk drive that enables a
user to save data to removable diskettes. Although 8" disk drives were first made available
in 1971, the first real disk drives used were the 5 1/4" floppy disk drives, which were later
replaced with the 3 1/2" floppy disk drives.
A 5 1/4"floppy disk was capable of storing between 360KB and 1.2MB of data, and the 3 1/2"
floppy disk was capable of storing between 360KB and 1.44MB of data. For both sizes of
floppy disk, the amount of data that could be stored was dependent on whether the disk was
single or double sided and whether the disk was regular or high density.

CD-ROM

Short for Compact Disc-Read Only Memory, a CD-ROM (shown right) is an optical
disc which contains audio or software data whose memory is read only. A CD-ROM
Driver optical drive is the device used to read them. CD-ROM drives have speeds ranging
from 1x all the way up to 72x, meaning it reads the CD roughly 72 times faster than the 1x
version. As you would imagine, these drives are capable playing audio CDs and reading data
CDs. Below is a picture of the front and back of a standard CD-ROM drive.

DVD
Short for Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc, a DVD or DVD-ROM, is
a disc capable of storing large amounts of data on one disc the size of a standard Compact
Disc.CD/DVD drives were first sold in 1997, today they are widely used for storing and
viewing movies and other data. To play DVDs on a computer, you must have a DVD drive and
software DVD player. The picture is an example of what a DVD movie may look like, in this
example it is a picture of the Matrix movie.

Inside the System Unit:

Components inside the system unit are:
Motherboard

CPU
RAM
ROM
CMOS
Bus
Hard Disk
SMPS

Motherboard
Alternatively referred to as
the mb, mainboard, mobo, mobd, backplane
board, base board, main circuit board, planar
board, system board, or a logic board on Apple
computers. The motherboard is a printed circuit
board that is the foundation of a computer, located at the bottom of the computer case. It
allocates power to the CPU, RAM, and all other computer hardware components. Most
importantly, the motherboard allows hardware components to communicate with one another.

RAM
Alternatively referred to as main
memory, primary memory,
or system memory, Random
Access Memory (RAM) is a
hardware device that allows
information to be stored and
retrieved on a computer. RAM is
usually associated with DRAM,
which is a type of memory module.
Because information is accessed
randomly instead of sequentially
like it is on a CD or hard drive, the computer can access the data much faster. However,
unlike ROM or a the hard drive, RAM is a volatile memory and requires power to keep the
data accessible; if power is lost all data contained in memory lost.
Additional information
As the computer boots, parts of the operating system and drivers are loaded into memory,
which allows the CPU to process the instructions faster and speeds up the boot process. After
the operating system has loaded, each program you open, such as the browser you're using to
view this page, is loaded into memory while it is running. If too many programs are open the
computer will swap the data in the memory between the RAM and the hard disk drive.
Over the evolution of the computer there have been different variations of RAM. Some of the
more common examples are DIMM, RIMM, SIMM, SO-DIMM, and SOO-RIMM. Below is
an example image of a 512MB DIMM computer memory module, a typical piece of RAM
found in desktop computers. This memory module would be installed into one of the memory
slots on a motherboard.

Read Only Memory (ROM):

Stores the initial start-up instructions and routines in BIOS (Basic Input/output
System), which can only be read by the CPU, each time it is switched on.
ROM is non-volatile.
The instructions in ROM are built into the electronic circuits of the chip, called
firmware.
Types of ROM are:
Masked ROM
Programmable ROM (PROM)
Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM)
Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM)

Masked ROM:

Contains pre-programmed set of data or instructions.

The contents of Masked ROMs are specified before chip production.

Programmable ROM (PROM):

Programmed after chip production.

Once PROM has been programmed its contents can never be changed.
PROM is also known as one-time programmable device.

Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM):

Programmed same as PROM.
But unlike PROM, an EPROM can be erased and reprogrammed repeatedly.
It can be erased by exposing the device to a strong source of ultraviolet light for a
certain amount of time.
An EPROM eraser is not selective; it will erase the entire EPROM.
EEPROM:

Can be erased by an electrical charge and then written to by using slightly higherthan-normal-voltage.

EEPROM can erase one byte at time rather than erasing the entire chip with
ultraviolet light.

Motherboard includes a separate block of memory made up of very low power

consumption called Complementary Metal Oxide Silicon chip.
Function of CMOS chip is to store basic information about configuration number, type
of hard & floppy drives, memory capacity and so on.
Other important data kept in CMOS memory is system time and date.

CMOS:

IDE
Short for Integrated Drive Electronics or IBM Disc
Electronics, IDE is more commonly known
as ATA or Parallel ATA (PATA). It is a standard interface for
IBM compatible hard drives and CD or DVD drives. IDE is different than SCSI and
Enhanced Small Device Interface (ESDI) because its controllers are on each drive,
meaning the drive can connect directly to the motherboard or controller. IDE and its
updated successor, Enhanced IDE (EIDE), are common drive interfaces found in IBM
compatible computers. Below is a picture of the IDE connector on the back of a hard
drive, a picture of what an IDE cable looks like, and the IDE channels it connects to on
the motherboard.

SATA

Short for SerialATA, SATA 1.0 was first released in August2001 and is
a replacement for the Parallel ATA interface used in IBM compatible
computers. SerialATA is capable of delivering 1.5 GBps (1500 MBps) of
performance to each drive within a disk array. It has the benefit of being
backwards-compatible with ATA and ATAPI devices, and offers a thin,
small cable solution, as seen in the photo on the right. This cable helps
make a much easier cable routing and offers better airflow in the
computer when compared to the earlier ribbon cables used with ATA
drives.
SATA also supports external drives through External SATA more commonly known
as eSATA. eSATA offers many more advantages when compared to other solutions. For
example, it is hot-swappable, supports faster transfer speeds with no bottleneck issues
like USB and FireWire, and supports disk drive technologies such as S.M.A.R.T..
However, eSATA does have some disadvantages such as not distributing power through the
cable like USB, which means drives require an external power source. The eSATA cable also
supports a maximum length of up to 2m. Because of these disadvantages don't plan on eSATA
becoming the only external solution for computers.

BIOS
Short for Basic Input/output System, the BIOS (pronounced bye-oss) is a ROM chip located
on all motherboards that allows you to access and set up your computer system at the
most basic level. In the picture below, is an example of what a BIOS chip may look like
on your computer motherboard. In this example, this is a picture of an early AMIBIOS,
a type of BIOS manufactured by the AMI. Another good example of a BIOS
manufacturer is Phoenix.

The BIOS includes instructions on how to load basic computer hardware and includes a test
referred to as a POST (Power On Self Test) that helps verify the computer meets requirements
to boot up properly. If the computer does not pass the POST, you will receive a combination of
beeps indicating what is malfunctioning within the computer.
The four main functions of a PC BIOS

PCI

POST - Test the computer hardware and make sure no errors exist before loading the
operating system. Additional information on the POST can be found on our POST and
Beep Codes page.
Bootstrap Loader - Locate the operating system. If a capable operating system is
located, the BIOS will pass control to it.
BIOS drivers - Low level drivers that give the computer basic operational control over
your computer's hardware.
BIOS or CMOS Setup - Configuration program that allows you to configure hardware
settings including system settings such as computer passwords, time, and date.

Short for Peripheral Component Interconnect, PCI was introduced by Intel in1992. The
PCI bus came in both 32-bit (133MBps) and 64-bit versions and was used to attach hardware
to a computer. Although commonly used in computers from the late 1990s to the early 2000s,
PCI has since been replaced with PCI Express.
Revisions came in 1993 to version 2.0 and in 1995 to PCI 2.1; as an expansion to the ISA bus.
Unlike ISA and other earlier expansion cards, PCI follows the PnP specification and therefore
did not require any jumpers or dip switches. The picture below shows an example of what PCI
slots look like on a motherboard. As you can see, there are three PCI slots: PCI4, PCI5, and
PCI6.

AGP
Short for Accelerated Graphics Port, AGP is an advanced port designed for Video cards and
3D accelerators. Designed by Intel and introduced in August of 1997, AGP introduces a
dedicated point-to-point channel that allows the graphics controller direct access to the
system memory. Below is an illustration of what the AGP slot may look like on
your motherboard.

The AGP channel is 32-bits wide and runs at 66 MHz, which is a total bandwidth of 266 MBps
and much greater than the PCI bandwidth of up to 133 MBps. AGP also supports two optional
faster modes, with a throughput of 533 MBps and 1.07 GBps. It also allows 3-D textures to be
stored in main memory rather than video memory.
AGP is available in three different versions, the original AGP version mentioned above, AGP
2.0 that was introduced in May of 1998, and AGP 3.0 (AGP 8x) that was introduced in
November of 2000. AGP 2.0 added 4x signaling and was capable of operating at 1.5V and
AGP 3.0 was capable of double the transfer speeds.

Hard Disk:

Stores all programs & data in the computer.

Its memory is permanent.
Capacity of Hard Disk is measured in Gigabytes(GB).
Hard Disk Assembly components are:
The Platters
The Spindle & Spindle Motor
The Read/Write Heads
The Head Actuator

The Platters:

Actual disks inside the drive that store the data.

Each platter can store data both sides, so a drive with 2 platters has 4 sides to store.

The Spindle and Spindle Motor:

The platters in a drive are separated by disk spacers and are clamped to rotating
spindle the turns all the platters in the same direction.
The spindle motor is built right into the spindle or placed directly below it and spins the
platters at a constant set rate ranging from 3,600 to 7,200RPM (Rotation per minute).

The Read/Write Heads:

Used to read and write data to the platters.

There is one header per platter side, and each head is attached to a single actuator
shaft so that all the heads move in the same direction.
When one head is over a track, all the other heads are at the same location over their
respective surfaces, but only one of the heads is active at a time i.e. reading or writing
data.

The Head Actuator:

All the heads are attached to a single head actuator that moves the heads around the
platters.

Switch Mode Power Supply (SMPS):

Contains the power-cord receptacle and a cooling fan.

It converts the AC current to low voltage DC current.
Once the current converted to DC, the power supply unit sends the required wattage
to different components of the computer.

Southbridge
The Southbridge is an IC on the motherboard responsible for the hard drive controller, I/O
controller and integrated hardware. Integrated hardware can include the sound card and video
card if on the motherboard, USB, PCI, ISA, IDE, BIOS, and Ethernet.
The Southbridge gets its name for commonly being south of the PCI bus. Below is a graphic
illustration of the ASUS P5AD2-E motherboard and some basic explanations of each of the
major portions of the motherboard including the Southbridge. As shown in the picture below, it
is common for the Southbridge and Southbridge to have a heat sink; in addition, the
Northbridge is usually slightly larger than the Southbridge.

Northbridge
Alternatively referred to as the PAC (PCI/AGP Controller) and Northbridge, the Northbridge
is an integrated circuit responsible for communications between the CPU interface, AGP, and
the memory. Unlike the Southbridge the Northbridge is directly connected to these components

and acts like a "bridge" for the Southbridge chip to communicate with the CPU, RAM, and
graphics controller. Today, the Northbridge is a single-chip that is north of the PCI bus,
however, early computers may have had up to three separate chips that made up the
Northbridge.
Below is a graphic illustration of the ASUS P5AD2-E motherboard and some basic
explanations of each of the major portions of the motherboard, including the Northbridge. As
shown in the picture below, it's common for the Northbridge and Southbridge to have a heat
sink; in addition, the Northbridge is usually slightly larger than the Southbridge and is the
closest to the CPU and memory.

Types of Ports:

PS2 Port: Standard serial ports used to plug mouse & keyboard.

Serial Port: Transfers information in or out one bit at a time.

Parallel Port: Used for connecting printers.

USB (Universal Serial Bus) Port: Used to connect to Universal Serial Bus (USB)
peripherals