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What is hardware and software?

1.INTRODUCTION

Since the first electronic computers had been developed in the mid-century (1940-1945) they have became the most useful and joyful machine in human beings life. Early origins of the computer were not so operatively fast comparing to computers of today and they were size of a huge room. All you could do with those machines is doing mathematical operations such as multiplication, division, subtraction and addition just like a calculator however scientists had kept trying to make a computer which could do more operations at the same time, faster and make it smaller than previous models over the years. The computers are everywhere nowadays from on company workers' table to at primary schools.There are lots of types and models of the computer at the present days and they are made by different companies with different brand-names such as Apple Macintosh, Sony, Dell, Acer, Toshiba etc.By comparison, their differences between each other are not only their brand, also components that inside of a computer and operation systems they use.

2.WHAT IS HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE?

A computer is made up by combination of two systems which are called hardware and software. Computer can not operate without any of those parts. Hardware - is the physical components or parts of a computer,the stuff you can actually see and touch, and would likely break. It could be anything like monitor, hard disc drive (HDD), random access memory (RAM) or CR-ROM and so on.

Software - is a random virtual computer program. They help you to turn the computer on and control it. There are too many types of softwares. All of them have got different functions. The main software of a computer is

BIOS

(Basic Input/Output System)and then secondary one is operating system software, which can be Microsoft Windows or Linux etc. The other programs are optional. For example, if youwant to watch a movie through DVD and once you insert the DVD-disc your media program plays the movie automatically, so as it can be seen computer needs few types of software to do different kinds of work. To play music it needs particular type of program, another program for playing games or for documentation works otherwise computer cannotunderstand the type of a file you try to work with.

3.MAIN COMPONENTS OF (P.C.) PERSONAL COMPUTER

By saying main components of PC we mean the base parts which are important to get the PC to turn on and operate. There is no way to work with PC without those components shown below:

Motherboard
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
Memory
Hard drive

3.1. Motherboard.

A motherboard is the central “socket-board”which all the internal hardware systems areplugged and installed in it. In other words complex of electronic systems. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the main-board, or on Apple computers - the logic board. It is also sometimes casually shortened to mobo.

3.2. Central Processing Unit (CPU)

CPU is an acronym that stands for -Central Processing Unit. The central processing unit is responsible for performing all of the mathematical calculations that are required for a computer to function properly. It's not really unusual that people call the CPU “brain” of a computer.

There are two best known makers of CPU, which are AMD and Intel. AMD's current products includes Athlon, Phenom, Sempron and Turion processors, Intel's current line of products includes the Celeron, Pentium, Core 2, Centrino and Centrino 2 processors. The Central Processing Unit (CPU) has 2 parts, the Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) and the Control Unit(CU). The Arithmetic Logic Unit is digital circuit of a computer which does arithmetic and logical operationssuch as addition and multiplication, and all comparison operations.The Control Unit is the electronic line that controls the flow of information through the processor, and coordinates the activities of the other units within it. In other words, it is the "brain inside the brain", as it controls what happens inside the processor.There are two levels of memory in the CPU which are L1 and L2. L1 - stands for level 1 cache memory. L1 cache is physically next to the processing core and is implemented in SRAM or Static RAM which is fast and constant when powered on. It is not necessary to refresh cycles. It is generally split with half used for instruction code and the other used for data.L2 cache is physically close to the core, but is implemented in DRAM or Dynamic RAM and goes through refresh cycles many times a second to retain its memory. It is not as fast as L1 and cannot be accessed during refresh.

3.3 Memory

Wordmemoryillustrates data storage that comes in the shape of chips and the word storage is used for memory that exists on tapes or disks. Therefore, the word memory is usually used as shortfor physicalmemory, which refers to the actual chips capable of holding data. Some computers also use virtual memory, which expands physical memory onto a hard disk. Each computer comes with a particular quantity of physical memory, usually referred to as main memory or RAM (Random Access Memory). You can think about memory as an array of boxes, each of them can hold a single byte of information. A computer which has 1 Mb of memory, therefore, can hold about 1 million bytes of information. Here are few types of computer memory examples below:

RAM (RandomAccess Memory):

This is the same as main memory. When used by itself, the word RAMillustrates to readand write memory; that is, you can both write data into RAM and read data from RAM. This is in contrast to ROM, which permits you only to read data. Most RAM is volatile, which means that it needs a stablerunning electricity to support its contents. As soon as the power is turned off, whatever data was in RAM is lost.

ROM (Read Only Memory):

Computers almost always contain a small amount of read-only memory that holds guideline for starting up the computer. Unlike RAM, ROM cannot bewritten

3.3Hard drive

HDD (Hard Disk Drive) is the component that controls the positioning, reading, and writing of the hard disk, which owes the largest amount of data storage for the PC. However the Hard Disk Drive and the Hard Diskis not the same thing, they are built in as a unit and so either part is sometimes used to mean to the whole unit.Hard disks hold more data and are faster than floppy disks. HDD is a non-volatile storage which means it keeps data without being connected to the electricity line for a long period of time. Non - volatile devices also can be flash drives, floppy disks, hard drive etc.

4.OUTPUT DEVICES

Output device can be any part of a computer which puts any information out of the computer system in other words systems sends signals or data outside the world. Computer presents an information to the human beings through the output devices such as monitor, speaker, printer etc

4.1 Monitor

In computers, a monitor is a computer display and related parts built in a physical unit that is separate from other parts of the computer. Laptops do not have monitors because all the display and related parts are integrated into the same physical unit with the rest of the computer. The monitor displays the video and graphics information generated by the computer through the video card. Monitors are very similar to televisions but display information at a much higher quality

4.2 Speakers

Speakers are electro-acoustic device that converts electrical signals into sounds loud enough to be heard at a distance. All sounds coming from a computer can be heard through the speakers, for example, music, system sounds, game or movie sounds etc.

4.3 Printer

Printer is device that prints text or illustrations on paper. There are many different types of printers.

Dot-matrix: Creates details by striking pins against an ink ribbon. Each pin makes a dot and combinations of dots form characters and illustrations.
Ink-jet: Sprays ink on a sheet of paper. Ink-jet printers able to make high-quality text and graphics.
Laser: works just like copy machines. Laser printers produce very high quality text and graphics.
;Thermal printer: quite cheap printer that works by pushing heated pins against heat-sensitive paper. Thermal printers are commonly used in fax machines.

5.INPUT DEVICES

Input devices are exactly the other way around of the output devices. Output brings any data or information out of the system however input devices brings orders into the computer system, such as a keyboard, scanner, mouse, or touch-pad etc

5.1 Optical disc drives

Optical disc drives - which uses laser light or electromagnetic waves as a part of reading and writing data has became most commonly used rather then floppy disk drives and magnetic tape drives for this point because of the low cost of optical media and much larger capacity. There are three particular types of optical disks: 1. DVD/CD-ROM: Like audio DVD/CDs, DVD/CD-ROMs come with data already encoded onto them. The data is permanent and can be read any number of times, but DVD/CD-ROMs cannot be modified. 3. DVD/CD-RW: Optical disks that can be erased and loaded with new data just like magnetic disks. These are often referred to as EO (erasable optical) disks.

5.2 USB ports

USB (Universal Serial Bus) an external bus that supports data transfer at speed of 12 Mbps. A single USB port can be used to connect up to 127 peripheral devices, such as mice, modems, and keyboards. USB 2.0 also means Hi-Speed USB, USB 2.0 is an external device that able to transfer data at speed of up to 480Mbps. USB 2.0 is an extension of USB 1.1. USB 2.0 is fully compatible with USB 1.1 and uses the same cables and plugs

5.3 Scanner

Scanner is another input device that makes copy of a physical data such as documents, images, finger-prints and brings it straight into a computer

6. OPERATING SYSTEMS (OS, O/S)

Operating system is the most important program that runs on a PC. Operating system makes communication between software and hardware, in other words its like soul of a computer. OS manages all other programs. The other programs are called applications.Operation system does few basic services such as in a multitasking, while more than two applications are running it determines which program should perform in what order and how long time should be allowed for each application, manages sharing internal memory between multiple programs, finds and takes control on plugged input and output devices, it lets system operator (or another system) know about status, errors of a operation that running.

6.1 MICROSOFT WINDOWS

Windows is software operating system and graphical user interface produced by Microsoft and one of the operating systems that widely used around the world in these days.Windows comes in various versions beginning with version 3.x then 95, 98, XP and Vista. Vista's successor, Windows 7 (currently at release to manufacturing), is scheduled to be released on October 22, 2009.

6.2 MAC OS, UNIX, LINUX

Mac OS- isgraphical user interface program based on operating system made and sold by Apple Inc. since 2002 it has been included with all new Macintosh computers operating systems. It is the successor to Mac OS 9, the final release of the "classic" Mac OS, which had been Apple's primary operating system since 1984.UNIX - is a computer operating system originally made in 1969 by a company of AT&T at Bell Labs. In 1974, UNIX became the first operating system written in the C language. It was designed to be a small, flexible system used exclusively by programmers.Linux - is the name usually given to any Unix-like operating system that works by using the Linux kernel and it's the operation system which is similar to Microsoft windows however it is entirely free. Such as less limits on control panel (more opportunities to make your own system).Linux has a reputation as a very efficient and fast-performing system.

7. CONNECTIONS: INTERNET AND NETWORK

The Internet is a global system of linked computer networks that serves billions of internet users worldwide. It is a network of networks that contains millions of private and public, business, academic and government networks. All internet connections are linked by copper wires, optic cables, wireless connections, and many different technologies. The Internet holdstoo many types of informationsources and services, therefore it holds popular services such as online chatting, data sharing or transferring, gaming, social networking, publishing, online audio and video, and telecommunications.

Network is link of two or more computers in order to share information, data, to make a communication. Computers can be connected to each other through telephone lines, wire, satellites and radio waves. There are three commonly used ways of making computer networks:

1.Bus

2.Star

3.Token Ring

A star network has a central computer (hub) that is responsible for managing the network.A tokenring network links all nodes together in a circular chain. Data messages travel in only one direction around the ring.A bus network topology which all devices are attached to a line and all signals pass through each of the devices. Each device has a unique identity and can recognize those signals intended for it.

8. Conclusion

As it can be seen that the computers are became quite important machines in humans' life to work with. These days, it's almost impossible to do something without computer help. The high technology is getting better and better, day by day, every Hi-tech maker companies are coming up with newer design, with latest technologies in order to attract people. However not all the hi-techs are good enough to satisfy us. So people firstly should check inside of any high technology they are going to buy rather than its external design.