Hello all, this is a more detailed layout of different types of storage to have a clearer idea.

Here is a slide from the 1st lesson (by Cg Izzati)

Definition, History and Types of Computer

Please download and read for your upcoming test end of October.

Hi Everyone, Please view this video if you need more info about motherboards.

It is a good and helpful educational video, by showing different components of a motherboard and their functions.

Here are the slides for our lesson on Storage Devices: 304-7-1 Storage Devices

Also this is the video of the Hard disk operation shown in class. (for those cannot see clearly on the whiteboard)

And the exercise for this week, submit next monday morning (paper hardcopy):

EXERCISE: STORAGE DEVICES:

1. Give 2 reasons how a Flash drive is different to the conventional type of magnetic Hard Disk?

2.  I want to partition my hard disk into C: drive and D: drive. What should I do first?

3. I have 2 new hard disks, I want to keep data safe without any chance of failure or data loss. What RAID system should I use? And Why?

Attached is the slide for System Software – 304-2-1 System Software

Please read through as I will question each one of you about it in the next lesson. Unsure about System Software?  Feel free to ask in comment box.

As for the exercise, please complete and hand in to me by next Monday (on paper)

EXERCISE 2 – System and Application Software

1. What is System Software? Give two examples of System Software.

(this is an additional question not from slide)

2. What is a BIOS and its function?

3. From the list below, identify which software is Application software and which is System Software? And Why?

MS Access, NVidia graphic driver, Norton Antivirus, Acer System Management Utility, Internet Explorer, CounterStrike game, Email Servers, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, Linux Ubuntu, RealMedia Player.

Hello Everyone, after reviewing all your computers I finally decided who gets my vote. It was a tough choice between group B, C and E.

Things I look for is the best value of the PC compared with the specifications. Higher capacity hard disk and RAM might not necessarily win over other computers, depending on the price. Also cheaper computers may not have the latest components and may already be old technology.

I also take your score and deduct 1 point off whoever did not post their computer spec into the blog last week. And how well you present your computer to me and how much you know about your computer.

Review from your list:

1. Group A:  Very attractive price, however the i5 processor is a bit slower due to a limited 3MB processor cache memory compared with i7 6mb cache. Also on-board VGA will slow down the laptop. Because the processor and memory RAM is shared with the on-board VGA, which means it needs to work more to process graphics. – $778

2. Group B: Good price, but again due to the i5 processor and low specs. However it has an independent VGA card with its own processor (Radeon) and 1GB dedicated video RAM,  so it won’t strain the i5 processor and RAM speed. -$999

3. Group C: Good value, i7 processor. 8GB DDR3 RAM, 750GB hard disk, Blu-Ray Drive. But costs more than Group E – $1300

4. Group D: High spec fast i7 processor, Eco-friendly power saving features, but price is too expensive, has on-board VGA and other computers cost less but with better spec. – $2400

5. Group E: Good value, i7 processor. but 4GB DDR3 RAM, 640GB hard disk. But compare with Group C, $200 more and you can get extra 4GB RAM, extra 110GB hard disk and Blu-Ray Drive – $1100.

Again, good job to everyone for their investigation and keep up the good work.

Which group will win? Post a comment below, maybe I’ll think twice.. 🙂

Results will be announced next Monday lesson!

Hello everyone,

Well Done to all groups (except group A who will present next monday)

I’m glad you have researched the specifications of some computers on sale in the market today. From the group research and also Hardware Lab activities, I hope you get familiar with the latest technologies, peripherals and components of computers.

From these group presentations, i will evaluate your common skills, how much knowledge you have on your ‘computer product’ and communication skills; how you communicate with people because I notice some of you did not respond well, keep asking your friends for info, take a long time to respond or need to look back at the product spec sheet. So i suspect there’s little or no teamwork in your group. I hope you can further improve on this.

For future group activities, i encourage you to do your tasks with a group discussion and form your ideas. Group leaders, take note of this. Not only 1 person working in your group. Another common skills evaluation is ‘Teamwork’. How you work together in a team.

So far your ‘computers’ are very attractive and the specs are quite high-tech. Prices are different: Some budget, some high-end range. (from $999 – $2400)

Excellent job everyone! I’m very impressed. 🙂

In the next post, i will announce the Group Winner of the Computer Wars!

Hi Everyone,

This is an early (very messy) early 80’s design, before the Northbridge and Southbridge was introduced.The CPU has to work harder and slows down because it handles too many instructions, directly from every component at the same time.

Here is a more detail diagram of the Northbridge and Southbridge design layout for better understanding.

**Just imagine the NB and SB are middle men. They are controlled by their own chipset (like a boss), which manages and compiles all instructions, and later sent through the bridge link and into the CPU.

Any further question, feel free to ask here.

Exercise Unit 304-4 :  Identify main components of a personal computer

Here are the answers to last week’s exercise. I will be checking out your answers soon.

1. What are the functions of the following computer components:

•  CPU:

Primary component of a computer, composed of a control unit, an instruction-decoding unit, and an arithmetic-logic unit. It selects instructions from the main memory in proper sequence and sends them to the instruction-decoding unit, which interprets them to activate functions of the system.

• Hard Disk:

A rigid magnetic disk, which is a non-volatile storage device, used for storing large amount of computer data.

• Memory RAM:

Main memory of a computer which can be accessed (read or written) directly by the CPU in a very short time regardless of the sequence. Two types of memory are possible with random-access circuits, static RAM (SRAM) and dynamic RAM (DRAM)

• Motherboard:

Also called the “system board,” “main board” “base board” or “logic board,” it is the primary printed circuit board in a computer or other electronic device. In a modern desktop computer, the motherboard contains the CPU and memory sockets as well as the chipset, which houses the control circuits for all the peripheral devices. It also has a PCI-Express slot for a high-end display adapter and PCI slots for additional peripherals. Laptop motherboards have no expansion slots for more peripherals

• Video Graphic Card:

VGA Card is an expansion card which generates output images to a display. Most video cards offer added functions, such as accelerated rendering of 3D scenes and 2D graphics, video capture, TV-tuner adapter, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, FireWire, TV output, or the ability to connect multiple monitors. Video hardware is often integrated into the motherboard, however all modern motherboards provide expansion ports to which a video card can be attached.

2. Name a few components present in an integrated motherboard.
   

• CPU Socket (for CPU to be inserted)
• Chipsets
• Integrated peripherals such as ethernet (NIC), soundcard
• Peripherals card slots (AGP, PCI, PCI-e)
• Memory Ram DIMM slots
• IDE/SATA Hard disk interface slots
• USB slots
• PS/2 ports for keyboard, mouse.
• Various electronic resistors, capacitors.
• EEPROM chip that holds the BIOS Setup*
• CMOS Battery
• ATX Power Connectors

3. If a computer is powered off, what happens to data in a:
   

• Memory RAM – Data is lost because RAM is volatile.
• Hard disk – Data remains in storage because hard disk is non-volatile.
• ROM – Data remains because ROM is permanent and can only be read.

Functions of Components of a Personal Computer

More detailed explanations of component functions and roles.

If you are still unclear about anything from the lesson, feel free to comment here, and please leave your name and email. We can share what we learn here.

Attached slides – 304-1-5 Functions of Components of a computer

I hope you can tune yourself and think like an IT person now. 🙂

Next class, we will go into System Software.