Lecture 4

The Components of the Computer System

System is a collection of elements that work together to solve a specific problem.

The components of a computer system are hardware, software, peopleware and data.

The Hardware Component

The physical parts of the computer are known as its hardware. These are parts that you could see or touch.

Hardware refers to the computer equipment itself and all other physical devices connected to it. It even includes the cables that connects these parts together.

The physical devices such as the printer or the scanner, which are connected to the computer and are controlled by it are called peripherals or peripheral devices. However, these devices are not required by the system in order to function.

Lecture 5

Operating System

• Is the core software component of your computer
• It performs many functions and is, in very basic terms, an interface between your computer and the outside world
• Provides an interface to these parts using what is referred to as “drivers”.
• Is the most important program that runs on a computer.
• Perform basic tasks, such as recognizing input from the keyboard, sending output to the display screen, keeping track of files and directories on the disk, and controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives and printers.

The System Unit Parts and Functions

Power Supply – Regulates the flow of electric current to the motherboard and drives