HARDWARE:
Hardware is equipment involved in the function
of a computer. The function of these components is divided into main
categories( CPU, storage, input and output ).
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Motherboard is a printed electronics board into which
other boards can be plugged. The motherboard carries all the major
functional components.
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CPU stands for Central Processing Unit. It
is the main part of a computer because it carries out the instructions.
It collects the input, then send it to the right location for processing,
calculates the result and stores it in the memory and finally sends the
result to be an output.
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All computers use electricity and power supply created
for this job. Without power supply the computer cannot work or generate
the electronic pulses.
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Port is a socket in the back of the processing unit
that allows the user to connect input and output devices to it. There
are two kinds of ports, Parallel ports and Serial ports. Some ports
are specific uses such as the mouse port and the keyboard port.
Storage Hardware:
The two main types of storage devices are
disk drives and memory. Disk drives have many types like hard drive,
floppy disk and compact disks.
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Hard Disk drives store information in a disk.
Hard disk drives can store large amounts of information.
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Floppy Disk drives also store information in removable
disks. Floppy disk stores less information than a hard disk.
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Compact Disk drives store more information than a
floppy disk. The information stored on the CD-ROM cannot be erased
or overwritten with new information. They can store about as much
information as a hard drive, but have a slower rate of information recovery.
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Memory that stores data and instructions. The
physical memories are RAM and ROM. RAM stands for random access memory
that can be read or changed by the user or the computer itself. ROM
stands for read-only memory that can be read but not modified.
Input Hardware:
Input Devices permits the user to deal with
the computer such as keyboard, mouse, joystick, microphone, modem and scanner.
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Keyboard is an input device that allows the
user to write the texts and commands to the computer. It is usually
has numbers, letter and some functions.
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Mouse is an input device that allows the user to
enter the data by clicking the buttons in the mouse. It has a ball
on the bottom that enables the user to control the motion of cursor.
As the device moves across the surface, the cursor moves across the screen.
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Modem is an input device which connects a computer
to a telephone line and allows information to be received from another
computer. Each computer that can send or receive information must
be connected to a modem.
Output Hardware:
The output device enables the computer to
present the information to the user such printer, monitor, speakers and
overhead projector.
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The Monitor is an output device that displays the
entered data. It shows the information and displays different options.
The printer is an output device that takes texts
and images from a computer and prints them on papers. It can print
letters, figures and even graphics.
