Extended Learning Module C
Computer Hardware and
Software
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Management Information Systems
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Main Map






What is computer hardware and software
all about?
I would like to take a quick tour of
technology.
What are the categories of computers by
size?
Software: My Intellectual Interface.
Hardware: My Physical Interface.
I would like to see my computer at work.
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→
Go
→
→
Go →
Go →
Go →
Go
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C-2
Management Information Systems
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Second Canadian Edition
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What is computer hardware
and software all about?
(Introduction)
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Management Information Systems
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Introduction

You need to have a good understanding of
the basics of computer hardware and
software including



Terminology
Characteristics of various devices and
How everything works together to create a complete
and usable computer system
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Management Information Systems
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Introduction



Information technology (IT) – computer-based tool that people use
to work with information and support the information and
information-processing needs of an organization.
Hardware – the physical devices that make up a computer.
Software – the set of instructions that your hardware executes to
carry out a specific task for you.
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I would like to take a quick tour
of technology
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Management Information Systems
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A Quick Tour of Technology

Six categories of hardware
1.
Input device - a tool you use to capture information
and commands.

Mouse, keyboard
Output device - a tool you use to see, hear, or
otherwise accept the results of information-processing
requests.
2.

Monitor, printer
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Management Information Systems
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A Quick Tour of Technology
Storage device - a tool you use to store
information for use at a later time.
3.


Primary storage
•
RAM, or random access memory, - temporary storage.
Secondary storage
•
Floppy disks
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Management Information Systems
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A Quick Tour of Technology
4.
Central processing unit (CPU) – the actual
hardware that interprets and executes software
instructions and coordinates how all the other
hardware devices work together.

Intel Pentium 4 chip
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Management Information Systems
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A Quick Tour of Technology
Telecommunications device – tool you use to send
information to and receive it from another person or
location.
5.

Modem
Connecting device – includes such things as parallel
ports into which you connect a printer and connector
cords to connect your printer to the parallel port.
6.

Video card
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Management Information Systems
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A Quick Tour of Technology
Figure C.1
Six Categories
of Computer
Hardware
page 399
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Management Information Systems
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A Quick Tour of Technology

Software types include:


Application software - solves specific problems or
perform specific tasks.
System software - handles tasks specific to
technology management.
•
•
Operating system software - controls application software
and manages hardware devices.
Utility software - provides additional functionality to the
operating system.
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Management Information Systems
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A Quick Tour of Technology
Figure C.2
Quicken and
Excel Are
Application
Software Tools
page 400
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Management Information Systems
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What are the categories of
computers by size?
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Management Information Systems
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Second Canadian Edition
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Categories of Computers By Size
Personal Digital Assistants, Notebook Computers, and Desktop Computers

Personal digital assistant (PDA) – a small hand-held computer
that helps you surf the Web and perform simple tasks such as note
taking, calendaring, appointment scheduling, and maintaining an
address book.

Notebook computer - a fully functional computer designed to be
carried around and run on battery power.

Desktop computer - the most popular choice for personal
computing needs.
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Management Information Systems
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Categories of Computers By Size
Personal Digital Assistants, Notebook Computers, and Desktop Computers
Figure C.3
PDAs, Notebooks, and Desktops
page 401
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Management Information Systems
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Categories of Computers By Size
Minicomputers, Mainframe Computers, and Supercomputers

Minicomputer - designed to meet the computing needs of several
people simultaneously in a small to medium-size business
environment.

Mainframe computer - designed to meet the computing needs of
hundreds of people in a large business environment.

Supercomputers - the fastest, most powerful, and most expensive
type of computer.
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Management Information Systems
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Categories of Computers By Size
Minicomputers, Mainframe, and Supercomputers
Figure C.4
Minicomputers, Mainframes, and
Supercomputers
page 204
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Management Information Systems
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Software:
My intellectual interface.
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Management Information Systems
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Software: Your Intellectual Interface
Application Software

There are two categories of software


Application software and
System software
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Management Information Systems
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Software: Your Intellectual Interface
Application Software

Application software is used to meet specific
information-processing needs, including such
things as:





Payroll
Customer relationship management
Project management
Training
Word processing and many others.
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Management Information Systems
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Software: Your Intellectual Interface
Application Software

Personal productivity
software - performs personal
tasks, including such things as
creating:



Memos
Graphs
Slide presentations
Team Work
Buying Personal
Productivity
Software Suites
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Management Information Systems
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Software: Your Intellectual Interface
Application Software

Word processing – helps you create papers, letters,
memos, and other basic documents.

Spreadsheet – helps you work primarily with numbers,
including performing calculations and creating graphs.

Presentation – helps you create and edit information
that will appear in electronic slides.
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Management Information Systems
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Software: Your Intellectual Interface
Application Software



Desktop publishing – extends word processing software by
including design and formatting techniques to enhance the layout
and appearance of a document.
Personal information management (PIM) – helps you create and
maintain to-do lists, appointments, calendars, and points of contact.
Personal finance – helps you maintain your checkbook, prepare a
budget, track investments, monitor your credit card balances, and
pay bills electronically.
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Management Information Systems
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Software: Your Intellectual Interface
Application Software

Web authoring – helps you design and develop Web sites and
pages that you publish on the Web.

Graphics – helps you create and edit photos and art.

Communications – helps you communicate with other people.

Database management system (DBMS) – helps you specify the
logical organization for a database and access and use the
information within a database.
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Management Information Systems
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Software: Your Intellectual Interface
Application Software

Vertical market software - unique to a particular
industry. Examples include:



Patient-scheduling software
Nursing allocation software
Horizontal market software - general enough to be
suitable for use in a variety of industries. Examples
include:


Inventory management software
Payroll software
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Management Information Systems
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Second Canadian Edition
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Software: Your Intellectual Interface
System Software

Operating system software - controls application software and
manages how hardware devices work together.

Multitasking - allows you to work with more than one piece of software
at a time.

Utility software - adds additional functionality to the operating
system.

Anti-virus software - utility software that scans for and often
eliminates viruses in RAM and storage devices.
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Management Information Systems
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Software: Your Intellectual Interface
System Software

Crash-proof
software – utility
software that saves
information if your
system crashes.
Team Work
Evaluating Utility
Software Suites
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Management Information Systems
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Software: Your Intellectual Interface
System Software

Uninstaller software – utility software that
removes software from your hard disk.

Disk optimization software – utility software
that organizes information on your hard disk.
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Management Information Systems
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Second Canadian Edition
Copyright 2004
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Software: Your Intellectual Interface
Personal Operating Systems

Microsoft Windows 2000 Pro – for personal computers
connected to a network.

Microsoft Windows 2000 Me – for home computer
users.

Microsoft Windows XP Home – upgrade to Windows
2000 Me.
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Management Information Systems
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Software: Your Intellectual Interface
Personal Operating Systems

Microsoft Windows XP Pro – upgrade to
Windows 2000 Pro.

Mac OS – for today’s Apple computers.

Linux – open-source operating system for highend workstations and network servers.
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware:
My physical interface.
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface



From a hardware perspective, computers
work with bits and bytes
Computers use electricity to function
Computers use electrical pulses to have two
states: on and off.
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface

Binary digit (bit) - the smallest unit of information.


Either a 1 or 0.
ASCII (American Standard Code for Information
Interchange) - the coding system that most personal
computers use to represent, process, and store
information.
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface

Byte - a group of eight bits represents one
natural language character.




C – 01100011
O – 01001111
O – 01001111
L – 01001100
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Figure C.7
Representations of Information as it Moves Through Your
Computer
page 408
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Common Input Devices

Input device - a tool you use to capture
information and commands. Examples include:


Keyboard – today’s most popular input technology.
Trackball – an upside-down, stationary mouse in
which you move the ball instead of the device (mainly
for notebooks).
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Common Input Devices


Point-of-sale (POS) - for capturing information at the
point of a transaction, typically in a retail environment.
Pointing stick - small rubber-like pointing device that
causes the pointer to move on the screen as you
apply directional pressure (popular on notebooks).
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Common Input Devices


Microphone - for capturing live sounds such as a dog
barking or your voice (for automatic speech
recognition).
Touchpad - another form of a stationary mouse on
which you move your finger to cause the pointer on
the screen to move (popular also on notebooks).
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Common Input Devices


Mouse - today’s most popular “pointing” input
device.
Bar code reader - captures information that
exists in the form of vertical bars whose width
and distance apart determine a number.
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Common Input Devices

Touch screen - special screen that lets you
use your finger to point at and touch a
particular function you want to perform.
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Common Input Devices


Optical mark recognition (OMR) - detects
the presence or absence of a mark in a
predetermined place (popular for multiple
choice exams).
Scanner - captures images, photos, and
artwork that already exist on paper.
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Common Output Devices

Output device - a tool you use to see,
hear, or otherwise accept the results of
your information-processing requests.
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Common Output Devices




CRT monitors – look like television sets.
Flat-panel displays – thin, lightweight monitors that take up much
less space than CRTs.
Resolution of a screen – number of pixels it has (given by row and
column.)
Dot pitch – the distance between the centers of a pair of likecolored pixels.
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Common Output Devices

Resolution of a printer - the number of
dots per inch (dpi) it produces, which is the
same principle as the resolution in
monitors.
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Common Output Devices

Inkjet printers – make images by
forcing ink droplets through nozzles.

Laser printers – form images using an
electrostatic process.

Multifunction printers – scan, copy,
and fax, as well as print.
On Your Own
Finding a Printer to
Meet Your Needs
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Characteristics of CPUs and RAM

Central processing unit (CPU) - the actual hardware
that interprets and executes the software instructions
and coordinates how all the other hardware devices work
together.

RAM, or random access memory, - temporary storage
that holds the information, the application software, and
the operating system software.
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Characteristics of CPUs and RAM

CPU speeds

CPU cycles determine how fast a CPU executes software
instructions.

More cycles means faster processing (and more cost.)


Megahertz (MHz) - the number of millions of CPU cycles per second.
Gigahertz (GHz) - the number of billions of CPU cycles per second.
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Characteristics of CPUs and RAM

CPU contains two primary parts including:


Control unit - interprets software instructions and
literally tells the other hardware devices what to do,
based on the software instructions.
Arithmetic/logic unit (A/L unit) - performs all
arithmetic operations (for example, addition and
subtraction) and all logic operations (such as sorting
and comparing numbers).
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Characteristics of CPUs and RAM

RAM capacity is expressed in bytes.
Figure C.7
Your CPU and
RAM at Work
page 412
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Common Storage Devices

Storage device capacities are measured in
terms of bytes.



Megabyte (MB or M or Meg) – is roughly 1 million
bytes.
Gigabyte (GB or Gig) - roughly 1 billion characters.
Terabyte (TB) - roughly 1 trillion bytes.
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Common Storage Devices

Floppy disk – great for portability of information and
ease of updating but holds only 1.44MB of information.

High-capacity floppy disk – great for portability and
ease of updating and holds between 100MB and 250MB
of information.

Hard disk – rests within your system box and offers both
ease of updating and great storage capacity.
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Common Storage Devices
Figure C.12
Common Storage Devices
page 413
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Common Storage Devices

CD-ROM – optical or laser disc that offers no updating
capabilities with about 800MB of storage capacity.

CD-R (compact disc – recordable) – optical or laser
disc that offers one-time writing capability with about
800MB of storage capacity.

CD-RW (compact disc – rewritable) – offers unlimited
writing and updating capabilities on the CD.
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Common Storage Devices

DVD-ROM – optical or laser disc that offers no updating
capabilities with upward of 17GB of storage capacity.

DVD-R – optical or laser disc that offers one-time writing
capability with upward of 17GB of storage capacity.

DVD-RW, or DVD-RAM, or DVD+RW – optical or laser
disc that offers unlimited writing and updating capabilities
on the DVD.
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Telecommunications Devices

Network - two or more computers connected so that
they can communicate with each other and possibly
share information, software, peripheral devices, and/or
processing power.

Telephone modem - a device that connects your
computer to your phone line so that you can access
another computer or network
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Telecommunications Devices
Figure C.13
The Role of a Telephone Modem
page 414
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Telecommunications Devices

Types of modems include:





Telephone modem
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) modem
Cable modem
Satellite modem
Module D covers these in more detail.
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Telecommunications Devices

Communication software includes:
 Connectivity software – enables you to use your
computer to “dial up” or connect to another computer.
 Web browser software – enables you to surf the
Web.
 E-mail software – enables you to electronically
communicate with other people by sending and
receiving e-mail.
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Connecting Devices
Connecting devices enable your hardware to
communicate with each other. Types include:






Buses
Expansion Slots
Expansion Cards
Ports and Connectors
System bus - consists of the electronic pathways
which move information between basic components on
the motherboard, including between your CPU and
RAM.
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Connecting Devices
Figure C.14
Connecting with Connectivity
Software
page 415
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Management Information Systems
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Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Connecting Devices

Expansion bus - moves information from your CPU and
RAM to all of your other hardware devices such as your
microphone and printer.

Expansion slot - a long skinny socket on the
motherboard into which you insert an expansion card.

Expansion card - a circuit board that you insert into an
expansion slot.
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Management Information Systems
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Second Canadian Edition
Copyright 2004
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All rights reserved
Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Connecting Devices
Figure C.16
Buses, Expansion
Slots, and Expansion
Cards
page 417
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C-63
Management Information Systems
for the Information Age
Second Canadian Edition
Copyright 2004
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All rights reserved
Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Connecting Devices

Different hardware devices require
different kinds of ports and connectors.

Ports - the plug-ins found on the outside
of your system box (usually in the back)
into which you plug a connector.
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C-64
Management Information Systems
for the Information Age
Second Canadian Edition
Copyright 2004
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All rights reserved
Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Ports
Figure C.17
Ports and
Connectors
page 418
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C-65
Management Information Systems
for the Information Age
Second Canadian Edition
Copyright 2004
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All rights reserved
Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Connecting Devices

Popular connectors include:



USB (universal serial bus) – becoming the most
popular means of connecting devices to a computer.
Serial connector – usually has 9 holes but may have
25, which fit into the corresponding number of pins in
the port.
Parallel connector – has 25 pins, which fit into the
corresponding holes in the port.
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C-66
Management Information Systems
for the Information Age
Second Canadian Edition
Copyright 2004
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All rights reserved
Hardware: Your Physical Interface
Connecting Devices

IrDA (infrared data association) ports –are for
wireless devices that work in essentially the
same way as the remote control on your TV
does.

Insert only the three connector photos in Figure
A.18
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C-67
Management Information Systems
for the Information Age
Second Canadian Edition
Copyright 2004
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All rights reserved
I would like to see my
computer at work.
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C-68
Management Information Systems
for the Information Age
Second Canadian Edition
Copyright 2004
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All rights reserved
The Complete Computer at Work

Assume the following simple case of you
using a program that adds two numbers.
This is what happens when you use the
program – DOUBLE CLICK ON ICON
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C-69
Management Information Systems
for the Information Age
Second Canadian Edition
Copyright 2004
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All rights reserved
The Complete Computer at Work



Mouse sends command to CPU
OS instructs control unit (CU) in CPU that you want to
launch and use a program
The CU sends a message to hard drive



Where the program is located
Please send a copy to RAM
CU instructs RAM to hold it until further instructions
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C-70
Management Information Systems
for the Information Age
Second Canadian Edition
Copyright 2004
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All rights reserved
The Complete Computer at Work
Figure C.18
Software Program for
Adding Two Numbers
page 419
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C-71
Management Information Systems
for the Information Age
Second Canadian Edition
Copyright 2004
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All rights reserved
The Complete Computer at Work
Figure C.19
What Appears on Your Screen
page 419
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C-72
Management Information Systems
for the Information Age
Second Canadian Edition
Copyright 2004
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All rights reserved
Summary
Student Learning Outcomes
1.
2.
3.
Define information technology (IT) and its two
basic categories: hardware and software.
Describe categories of computers by size.
Compare the roles of personal productivity,
vertical market, and horizontal market
software.
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C-73
Management Information Systems
for the Information Age
Second Canadian Edition
Copyright 2004
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All rights reserved
Summary
Assignments and Exercises
1.
2.
3.
4.
Customizing a computer purchase
Web-enabled cell phones and web
computers
Operating system software for PDAs
Types of monitors and their quality
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C-74
Management Information Systems
for the Information Age
Second Canadian Edition
Copyright 2004
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All rights reserved