Date:

Assignment on

Computer Fundamentals

Prepared For:

Prepared By:

Mohammad Abu Huraira

ID- 30018
Question 1. Explain following Terms:

a) PCI; b) AGP; c) BIOS; d) Chipsets; e) Cache Memory; f) USB port; g) Modem; h) Dual Core
Processor; i) Quad Core Processor.

Answer:

a) PCI: The peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) is a high speed bus used to connect devices
such as hard disks and networks cards. These buses connect to the system bus through a bridge,
which is a part of the computer's chipset and acts as a traffic cop, integrating the data from the
other buses to the system bus.

b) AGP: The accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) is a bus that is designed to provide a dedicated
connection between memory and an AGP graphics card. The direct connection provides much
faster video performance without interfering with other peripherals.

c) BIOS: BIOS is an integral part of your computer and comes with it when you bring it home. In
contrast, the operating system can either be preinstalled by the manufacturer or vendor or
installed by a user. BIOS is a program that is made accessible to the CPU on an erasable
programmable read-only memory (EPROM) chip. When you turn on your computer, the CPU
passes control to the BIOS program, which is always located at the same place on EPROM. This
is the POST process or "Power On Self Test."

d) Chipsets: In computing the term chipset is commonly used to refer to a set of specialized chips on
a computer’s motherboard or an expansion card. A chipset is usually designed to work with a
specific family of micro processors. Because it controls communication between the processor
and external devices. The North Bridge and south bridge together form the computer’s chipset.
South bridge is an intel chipset that manages the basic forms of input/output (I/o) in a computer.
The north bridge controls the processor, memory, PCI bus, cache and all AGP activities.

e) Cache Memory: Cache memory, a small buffer storage, smaller and faster than main storage
(often made of Static RAM), that is used to hold a copy of instructions and data in main storage
that are likely to be needed next by the processor and that have been obtained automatically from
main storage such as hard disk. Cache memory is used to increase the speed of processing by
making current programs and data available to the CPU at a rapid rate. A cache is useful when
RAM accesses are slow compared with the microprocessor speed because cache memory is
always faster than main RAM memory.

f) USB port: Universal Serial Bus(USB) is a new external bus developed by Intel, Compaq, DEC,
IBM, Microsoft, NEC and Northern Telcom and released to the public in 1996. There are four
conductors (two for data transfer and two for power supply) in the USB. USB has the capability
of transferring 12 Mbps, supporting up to 127 devices and only utilizing one IRQ.
 g) Modem: Modem is the short form of Modulator/Demodulator. A modem is a device that is used
to send a computer’s digital signal over a telephone line – where the signal must be changed to
analog. Modem can be both internal and external. Different types of modems are Dial-up,
Integrated Services Digital Network (IDSN or DSL) and Cable.

h) Dual Core Processor: A dual core processor is part of a category called multi-core processors.
These computer processors have more than one independent processor on the chip or package. In
the case of dual core processor, the entire chip has two independent computer processors that can
work together to increase total computer performance.

i) Quad Core Processor: The quad core processors contains 731 million transistors. The die area is
263 sq mm, and the size of the physical package is 45x42.5 mm A four independent cores into a
single package composed of a single IC and a quad-core processor contains four cores.

Q. 2) Name the major components of a micro processor and explain how they interact.

Answer:

The three major components of a micro processor are:

a) Control Unit: The control unit manages the computer's various components; it reads and
interprets (decodes) the program instructions, transforming them into a series of control signals
which activate other parts of the computer.

b) Arithmetic/Logic Unit: an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) is a digital circuit that performs
arithmetic and logical operations. The ALU is a fundamental building block of the central
processing unit (CPU) of a computer.

c) Register: a processor register (or general purpose register) is a small amount of storage
available on the CPU whose contents can be accessed more quickly than storage available
elsewhere. Typically, this specialized storage is not considered part of the normal memory range
for the machine

There are four steps that nearly all CPUs use in their operation: fetch, decode, execute, and store the
result.
Step 1: Fetch Instruction -The first step, fetch, involves retrieving an instruction from program memory.
The location in program memory is determined by a program counter (PC), which stores a number that
identifies the current position in the program. After an instruction is fetched, the PC is incremented by the
length of the instruction word in terms of memory units.

Step 2: Decode Instruction- The instruction that the fetches from memory is used to determine what the
control unit is to do. In the decode step, the instruction is broken up into parts that have significance to
other portions of the control unit. Often, one group of numbers in the instruction, called the opcode,
indicates which operation to perform. The remaining parts of the number usually provide information
required for that instruction, such as operands for an addition operation. Such operands may be given as a
constant value (called an immediate value), or as a place to locate a value: a register or a memory address,
as determined by some addressing mode.

Step 3: Execute the instruction - After the fetch and decode steps, the execute step is performed. During
this step, various portions of the CPU are connected so they can perform the desired operation. If, for
instance, an addition operation was requested, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) will be connected to a set of
inputs and a set of outputs. The inputs provide the numbers to be added, and the outputs will contain the
final sum. The ALU contains the circuitry to perform simple arithmetic and logical operations on the
inputs (like addition and bitwise operations). If the addition operation produces a result too large for the
CPU to handle, an arithmetic overflow flag in a flags register may also be set.

Step 4: Store the result- The final step, Store the results of the execute step to some form of memory.
Very often the results are written to some internal CPU register for quick access by subsequent
instructions. In other cases results may be written to slower, but cheaper and larger, main memory.

Question 3. Name and explain any three input devices.

Answer:

a) Keyboard: A keyboard is a human interface device which is represented as a layout of buttons.

Each button or keys can be used to either input a linguistic character to a computer, or to call
upon a particular function of the computer. Traditional keyboards use spring based buttons,
through newer variations employ virtual keys or even projected keyboards.

b) Microphone: A microphone is an audio input device. A microphone (colloquially called a mic or

mike) is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal.

c) Webcam: a webcam is a video capture device connected to a computer or computer network,

often using a USB port or, if connected to a network, Ethernet or Wi-Fi. The most popular use is
for video telephony permitting a computer to act as a videophone or video conferencing station.

Question 4. Name and explain any three output devices.

Answer:

a) Monitor: A monitor or display (sometimes called a visual display unit) is an electronic visual
display for computers. The monitor comprises the display device, circuitry, and an enclosure.
Computer monitors come in many varieties, but the most common kind is the cathode ray tube
(CRT). In modern monitor is typically a thin film transistor liquid crystal display(TFT LCD)

b) Printer: In computing, a printer is a peripheral which produces a hard copy of documents stored in
electronic form usually on physical print media such as paper of transparencies. Printers are
usually three types these are, Dot-matrix printer, Inkjet printer and Laser printer.

c) Speaker: computer speaker or multimedia speakers are speakers external to a computer that
disable the lower fidelity built-in-speaker. The standard audio connection is a 3.5mm stereo jack
plug often coded lime green for computer sound cards.

Question 5. Explain the types of printers and compare them in terms of resulation, speed and technology.
Also explain the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Answer: There are mainly three types of printer. These are-

a. Dot-matrix printer

b. Inkjet printer

c. Laser printer

a. Dot-matrix printer: This has a print head that travels across the paper. The head has a set of pins
which are pushed out to form the shape of each character. The pins hit an ink ribbon against the paper as
the print head moves along. Limited to situations where carbon copies are needed and the quality is not
too important. Typical uses might be in warehouses where duplicate copies of orders need to be produced
quickly and cheaply.

Disadvantage: Image quality(draft quality) is quite poor compared to other printers.

Advantage: It can use multipart form, and it is cheap.

b. Inkjet printer: This printer uses one or two ink cartridge, first one contains black ink
and another contains three colours (Red, Green, and Blue). Combination of these
colours produces millions of colours. This is a Non-Impact printer, which generally
prints one line at a time. The print head contains tiny nozzles through which different coloured inks
can be sprayed onto the paper to form the characters or the graphic images. The ink is forced out by heat
or by tiny piezoelectric crystals which change shape when an electric current is applied across them.

Disadvantage: Maintenance is costly and need high quality paper.

Advantage: Initial costing is very low and print quality is better than Dot-matrix printer.
c. Laser printer: These print in the same way as photocopiers It uses Laser light to print. The
powdered ink (toner), is transferred to the paper and then fixed by heat and pressure. A school or business
printer would have a typical speed of 10 to 20 pages per minute (ppm).

Disadvantage: Initial cost is very high and need high quality paper.

Advantage: The printing is very fast, high quality.

Question 6. Compare personal computer, mini computer, mainframe computer and super computer.

Answer:

Computer can be classified into four part :-

1. MicroComputer/Personal Computer -: Personal computers are normally standalone small and

expensive designed for individual use. Personal computer use a separate VDU for output, Floppy or Hard
disk for backing storage. Types of Micro Computer :- PC, PC – AT, PC – XT, PC - AT 286, PC - AT
386, PC - AT 486, Pentium I/II/III/IV

2. Mini Computer -: Multi User, Multi Tasking, Faster than Micro Computer, Larger memory
capacity, Larger C.P.U./A.L.U. Need site preparation and air conditioned environment. Need UPS
(Uninterrupted Power Supply).

3. Main Frame -: Main frame computers are very large and expensive computer system faster than
Mini computer, used by big companies, banks and government.

4. Super Computer -: Have greater processing power, Used as whether forecasting. Used in
Oil exploration, Energy conservation, Nuclear Reactor, Safety Analysis etc.

Question 7. What are virtual reality and artificial intelligence?

Answer:

Virtual Reality-: Virtual reality (VR) is an environment that is simulated b a computer,. This simulated
environment can be similar to the real world.

Artificial Intelligence-: Artificial Intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer
science that aims to create it. An intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes
actions that maximize its chances of success.

Question 8. Explain what operation system is and the difference between GUI and CLI.

Answer:

Operating System: A operating system is the software on a computer tat manage the way different of
programs use its hardware, and regulates the way that a user controls the computer.
Difference between GUI and CML:

GUI: A graphical user interface (GUI) is a type of user interface item that allows people to interact with
programs in more ways than typing. A GUI offers graphical icons and visual indicators as opposed to text
based interface.

CML: A command line interface (CLI) is a mechanism of for interacting with a computer operating
system or software by typing commands to perform specific task.

Question 9. Comment on the following GUIs

a. Windows 9 series; b. Windows NT series; c. Mac os x; d. Unix/Linux

Answer:

a. Windows 9x series: Windows 9x is a generic term referring to Microsoft Windows

computer operating systems based on an extended and modified Windows 95
kernel. This includes all versions of Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows
Me. Internal release versions for versions of Windows 9x are "4.x", where
previous MS-DOS based versions of Windows used version numbers of 3.9 or
less.

b. Windows NT series: Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by

Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. It was originally
designed to be a powerful high-level-language-based, processor-independent,
multiprocessing, multiuser operating system with features comparable to
Unix. Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista,
Windows Home Server, Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7 are based on
Windows NT, although they are not branded as Windows NT.

c. Mac Os x: Mac OS X is a series of operating systems and graphical user

interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, Mac OS X
has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems. Mac OS X is
based upon the Mach kernel.

d. Unix/Linux: Linux is a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating

systems based on the Linux kernel. Their development is one of the most
prominent examples of free and open source software collaboration; typically
all the underlying source code can be used, freely modified, and
redistributed, both commercially and non-commercially, by anyone under
licenses such as the GNU General Public License.

Question: 10. Explain the following terms:

a. Defragmentation; b. Disk Cleanup

Answer:

a. Defragmentation: Defragmentation is a process that reduces the amount of

fragmentation in file systems. It does this by physically organizing the
contents of the disk to store the pieces of each file close together and
contiguously. It also attempts to create larger regions of free space using
compaction to impede the return of fragmentation. Some defragmenters also
try to keep smaller files within a single directory together, as they are often
accessed in sequence. The movement of the hard drive's read/write heads
over different areas of the disk when accessing fragmented files is slower,
compared to accessing a non fragmented file in sequence, without moving
the read/write heads.

b. Disk Cleanup: Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) is a computer maintenance utility

included in Microsoft Windows designed to free up disk space on a
computer's hard drive. The utility first searches and analyzes the hard drive
for files that are no longer of any use, and then removes the unnecessary
files.

Question 11. Explain what third party utilities are and explain its functions.

Answer: Almost every operating system contains some utilities software inside it. But they are
not specialized. The third party utilities are highly specialized and designed to perform only a
single task or a small range of tasks those are developed by other organization. The utilities are a
kind of system software designed to help analyze, configure, optimize and maintain the
computer. Utility software usually focuses on how the computer infrastructure (including the
computer hardware, operating system, application software and data storage) operates. Due to
this focus, utilities are often rather technical and targeted at people with an advanced level of
computer knowledge.

Question 12. Explain the four stages in risk management for information system security.

Answer: The four stages in risk management for information system are:

a. Identifying the Risk: Initially the risk to which organization is potentially exposed has to
be identified.
b. Analyzing the Risk: In this stage organization must find the probability and expected
frequency of occurrences of each identified risk and also access the likely severity of the
consequences.
c. Risk Handling: Having identified and analysis the risk, organization can than select the
control and counter measures to reach the security needed.
 d. Disaster Recovery: Since no security management process can be complete contingency
planning for recovery from disasters should run in parallel to the other three stages. So
that a recovery plan exists and it continually monitored, reviewed and tested.

Question 13. Explain following terms:

a. Nodes ; b. Server ; c. NIC ; d. Bridge ; e. Gateway ; f. Router ; g. Switch; h. HUB; i. WPP

answer:

a. Node: A network processing location. A node can be a computer or some

other device, such as a printer that is connected to a network.

b. Server: A server is a very fast computer with a large amount of RAM and storage space along
with a fast network interface card. The network operating system software resides on this
computer.

c. NIC: In a modern network a NIC is a Network Interface Card that is hardware which connects a
computer to a network. When it is built into a main system board it is sometimes referred to as an
adaptor rather than a card.

d. Bridge: A bridge connects two segments of a network, and passes data that is addressed to a node
on the other segment to that segment, it is basically filtering device.

e. Gateway: A computer system for exchanging information across incompatible networks that use
different protocols. A gateway, on the other hand is similar to a router, but without the
intelligence, it just relays data between two different services, for example an e-mail gateway.

f. Router: A router is a piece of hardware or software that makes a decision

about where to send each incoming packet, in order to deliver it to its
destination. The decisions made by the routers on which route to send
packets are based on distance, speed and cost. The router keeps
information about its current connections, and the status of those
connections.
g. Switch: A switch can be regarded as an intelligent ‘hub’, which forwards incoming data only
to the computer (or node) to which the data is addressed. A vital difference between a hub and a
switch is that all the nodes connected to a hub share the bandwidth among themselves, while a
device connected to a switch port has the full bandwidth all to itself.
h. HUB: Hubs are multi-slot concentrators. A hub is a device that takes any incoming signal and
rebroadcasts it down all the outgoing wires connected to it. Hubs can have from 5 ports to 128
ports and can transmit & receive at up to 100Mbps.
i. WPP:
Question 14. Explain different types of cable used in networks.

Answer: There are three types of cable use in networks. These are

1. Twisted Pair Cable: Twisted pair cables come in two varieties: shielded and unshielded.
Unshielded (UTP) is the most popular. Shielded twisted pair is used only in environments where
there may be electrical interference. UTP has four pairs of wires inside the jacket. Each pair is
twisted with a different number of twists per inch to help eliminate interference from adjacent
pairs. The standard connector for UTP cabling is an RJ-45. It looks like a telephone style
connection.
2. Coaxial Cable: Coaxial cable has a single copper conductor at its centre with a plastic layer
between the centre conductor and the braided metal shield. Although coaxial cabling is difficult
to install, it is highly resistant to signal interference. Coaxial cable can carry data at 10Mbps over
185metres. Carries signal both directions, usually used when no hubs or switches. The most
common type of connector used with coaxial cables is the BNC connector.
3. Fiber Optic Cable: Fiber optic cabling consists of a center glass core surrounded by several layers
of protective materials. It transmits light rather than electronic signals. It is the standard for
connecting networks between buildings, due to its immunity to the effects of moisture and light.
It can also carry information at vastly greater speeds (Transmits light pulses up to 2km & over
1000 frequencies can be transmitted along a strand at one time). Fiber optic cable is more difficult
to install than other cabling & is expensive.

Question 15. Explain the major LAN topologies.

Answer: Topology is the way networks are physically connected together. Topology determines the
complexity and therefore the cost of network cables installation. Topology also determines the strategy
for physically expanding the network. There is several type of topology but mainly three type are :-

1. STAR TOPOLOGY - Each node is connected to a single, centrally located file server, using its
own dedicated segment of cable. This topology has the advantage of minimum data traffic along
the cables (node to server only), thus providing optimum performance. But because a single
machine must co-ordinate all the data communications, this requires an extremely powerful and
expensive file server.

2. RING OR CIRCULAR TOPOLOGY - In this layout, each node is physically connected to

only two others. Each node passes information along to the next, until it arrives at its intended
destination. Performance is faster on this system because each portion of the cabling system is
handling only the data flow between two machines.
3. LINEAR BUS TOPOLOGY - In this layout, a single main cable connects each node, in what
amounts to a single line of computers accessing it from end to end. Each node is connected to two
others except the machines at either end of the cable, which are connected only to one other node.
The network operating system keeps track of a unique electronic address for each node and
manages the flow of data based on this addressing scheme.