Deira International School

Year 8 Key Stage 3 Unit 3 Hardware (to be used in conjunction with Key Bytes + Interactive Course.)

What is a Computer?
A computer is a machine which processes INFORMATION.

A computer can: store lots of information in a small space do calculations very quickly sort things into order work 24 hours a day repeat jobs over and over again
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What are computers used for?

A large computer used for weather forecasting is able to perform over one million calculations per second. Computerised systems are used in factories to control robots. They can do all the boring or dangerous work. This allows humans to carry out more specialised jobs. Computer systems used by gas and electricity companies have to produce bills to be sent out every three months. Without fast, powerful computers this would be impossible.
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Without the use of computers, many jobs carried out today would be almost impossible.

Job: Description:

Weather Forecasting A computer is used to carry out millions of calculations each second. It can predict weather patterns and predict the route of high and low pressures. Accurate predictions can save lives e.g. hurricanes.

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Types of Computer
There are different types of computers depending on what you want to do. Microcomputers or Desktops are the computers that you are most likely to use at home or in school. The two most popular types are PCs and Apple.

Mainframes are large powerful computers which are used to control lots of smaller computers linked into them. They are made up of a lot of storage units, and dont really look much like a computer. Banks and insurance companies make use of powerful mainframes.
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Laptop Computers can do the same sort of things that a desktop can do. They normally come with a battery which needs to be charged up before use. It is easy for staff to take laptops home to work on, and then carry them back to the office the next day.

Palmtop Computers are small computers that are usually limited in what they can do. You can use a special pen to write on screen. They are very small and easy to carry around. They can be used by sales reps or maybe journalists who travel around a lot. When in the office you can download the data from the palmtop to a desktop computer.
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Hardware and Software

There are two important parts to all Computer Systems: Hardware Software Hardware is the term given to the bits of a Computer System you can actually touch.

Software is the instructions we give to the computer so that the hardware can do a useful job.
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Hardware

Monitor

3.5 inch Floppy Disc Drive Hard Disc Unit Keyboard CD Drive

Mouse

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Computer hardware can be split into different categories.

Input Devices: We can use many different computer devices to get the data into the computer so that you can change it in some way. e.g. mouse

Backing Storage:

This is used to store data when the computer power is switched off

Output Devices:

These pieces of hardware display the data when the computer has finished processing it. e.g. monitor
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Input Devices

Processing Unit of the Computer

Output Devices

If you want to join an input device e.g. a scanner or an output device e.g. printer to your computer, then you will need to make sure that you plug in an INTERFACE.

An interface is a special piece of hardware to allow your input/output devices to communicate with the processor of the computer system.
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Backing Storage
We said earlier that computers can store lots of information. This can save a lot of space in an office or classroom. There should be less paper lying around, and less chance of losing important information. Computers can either save this information inside their own memory, or on other STORAGE MEDIA called Backing Store. Backing storage is needed because the contents of the main memory of the computer is lost when the power is switched off.

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Storage Media
Floppy Disc
A floppy disc is very common, cheap to buy and programs can be found immediately. It can not store a lot of data (only 1.44Megabytes) and you must be careful not to damage it.

Tape

A magnetic tape is slow to load because you have to fast forward to get to a program that you want to use. It is fairly cheap and can store a lot of information in a small space. Tapes are usually used to backup important data incase it is lost or damaged.
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Storage Media
Hard Discs
Hard Disc Units can store a large amount of information. A typical size is around 20 Gigabytes (20 000 Megabytes). The unit is normally built into the computer system, so it cannot be moved around. The main advantage is that it is fast to load programs, and can save you scuttering about with a lot of floppy discs.

Compact Disc

A CD works in the same way as a music CD. You can skip to any program that you want, and the program will load very quickly. A laser beam is used to read the data . A CD can store about 600 Megabytes of information. The main disadvantage is that once the data has been saved, you cannot change it. It is READ ONLY. You can buy special CDs that are re-writeable. This will allow you to write information to the disk.
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Storage Media
DVDs
Digital Versatile Disks are similar to CDs. They look exactly the same and can store a lot of information. They can be used to store whole sets of encyclopaedias and also full length movies. A DVD can store up to 4.7 Gigabytes (4700 Megabytes) of information. The latest versions allow you to write to the disk in the same way as you would to a normal hard drive on your computer.

Zip Drive

Zip drives are useful for backing up hard disks in case they crash. They use high capacity floppy disks which are slightly larger and twice as thick as normal floppies. They can store about 100 Megabytes of information.

Zip drives can also be used to transfer large files from one machine to another.
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Task 1
Answer these questions.
1. Why do you need to use backing storage? 2. What is the advantage of using a floppy disc to store information rather than a magnetic tape? 3.What stores more information, a hard disk or a CD? 4. What is the problem with information stored on an ordinary CD? 5. Give 2 advantages of DVDs over normal CDs. 6. Give 2 reasons why you might want to buy a zip drive?
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Inside the Computer

The part of the computer system that carries out all the processing is known as the central processing unit (CPU). The CPU is like the brain of the computer. The computer that you are working on has a CELERON processor. INTEL is another common make. The CPU is stored on a silicon chip called the microprocessor. Computers can carry out instructions very quickly because the CPU can process millions of instructions per second.

The CPU has 3 main parts as shown in the diagram below. The Central Processing Unit

Input Devices

Control Unit Arithmetic Unit Main Memory

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Output Devices

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The Control Unit The control unit makes the computer carry out each instruction of a program in the right order. It controls all the other parts of the CPU.

The Arithmetic Unit This part of the CPU is responsible for carrying out all the calculation and making decisions.

Main Memory

can be split into two parts.

RAM

Random Access Memory is where all your work is stored when you are working at the computer. When the computer is switched off the contents of RAM are lost. That is why you must save your work on backing storage.

ROM

Read Only Memory is where the computer stores all its own programs that it needs to work. The operating system is stored in ROM. The operating system you are using is Windows98. You can not save anything to ROM in case you scrub some of the computer programs by mistake.
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Task 2
Answer the following questions.
1. What is the name of the processor that your computer is using?

2. Name the three main parts of the CPU. 3. Which part of the CPU carries out all the calculations? 4. What do RAM and ROM stand for? 5. Which part of main memory stores your programs while you are working? 6. What operating system does your computer use? Do you know the name given to the latest version just released?
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Computer Networks
So far we have just been looking at stand alone computers. That means computers that are not linked in to any other computers. However, nowadays most computers should be networked so that they can pass information between each other and also share devices such as printers and backing storage.

A local area network (LAN) is when the computers in the same office or building are linked together to a main computer called a file server. This file server stores all the programs and user data on a large central hard disk. Computer users need a user name and a password to access the network. Wide Area Networks (WAN) are when computers are linked together across the country or world even. Main computers in one place are linked to other main computers somewhere else. These main computers can be linked together using satellites, microwaves or telecommunication links. The internet is an example of a WAN. The main problem of any network is security. They are always at risk of hackers and computer viruses. That is why all data must be continually backed up.
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Task 3
Answer the following questions.
1. What is meant by a stand alone computer system?

2. What do the abbreviations LAN and WAN stand for? 3. Give 2 advantages of a network over stand alone computers? 4. How can information be passed between computers in a WAN? 5. What is a file server? 6. Give 2 problems that you have to be careful of if using a network?
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CONGRATULATIONS You have completed the Key Stage 3 Hardware Unit.

Click on the FINISH button.

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