Can You Explain The Function Of The System Unit Components And How They Communicate?

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1) Central processing unit: The Central Processing Unit (CPU) performs the actual processing of data. The data it processes is obtained via the system bus, from the main memory. The results from the CPU are then sent back to main memory via the system bus. The CPU also controls and co-ordinates the operation of the other major components. CPU’s use in their operation: Fetch, decode, execute, and writeback.

Motherboard: The motherboard is a printed circuit board (PCB) that contains and controls the components that are responsible for processing data. A motherboard provides the electrical connections by which the other components of the system communicate it also contains the central processing unit and other subsystems such as real time clock, and some peripheral interfaces.

BIOS: The BIOS is a built-in software that determines what a computer can do without accessing any programs from a disk. On PCs, the BIOS contains all the code required to control the keyboard, display screen, disk drives, serial communications, and a number of other miscellaneous functions.

Power Supply: A power supply unit (PSU) is the component that supplies power to a computer. The power supply is vital as without it the computer will not be able to start. In a PC the power supply is the metal box usually found in a corner of the case. The power supply is visible from the back of many systems because it contains the power-cord holder and the cooling fan.
Heat Sink & Fan: A heat sink is designed to lower the temperature of an electronic device by releasing the heat into the surrounding air. All modern CPUs require a heat sink. Some also require a fan. A heat sink without a fan is called a passive heat sink; a heat sink with a fan is called an active heat sink. Heat sinks are generally made of an aluminium alloy and often have fins.

Hard Disk Drive, Master & Slave: The hard disk drive uses a mechanism that reads and writes data on a hard disk. Nearly every computer contains one or more hard disks. The purpose of the hard disk drives is that they give computers the ability to remember things when the power goes out. A typical desktop machine will have a hard disk with a capacity of between 10 and 40 gigabytes. Data is stored onto the disk in the form of files. A file is simply a named collection of bytes. The master (usually C:) is the primary drive, which the computer boots up using, the slave (D:) is the secondary drive which can be used for storing data or back ups.

Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE): The following devices Floppy drive, hard drive and the CD-ROM drive all connect to the computer through an Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) interface. An IDE interface is a standard way for a storage device to connect to a computer.
Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics

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(EIDE): EIDE is a newer version of the IDE mass storage device interface standard developed by Western Digital Corporation. It supports data rates of between 4 and 16.6 MBps, about three to four times faster than the old IDE standard. In addition, it can support mass storage devices of up to 8.4 gigabytes, whereas the old standard was limited to 528 MB.

USB port - USB is short for Universal Serial Bus which is an external bus standard that supports data transfer rates of 12 Mbps. A single USB port can be used to connect up to 127 peripheral devices, such as mice, modems, and keyboards. USB also supports Plug-and-Play installation and hot plugging.

Serial Port - Serial Port is a port that can be used for serial communication, in which only 1 bit is transmitted at a time. Most serial ports on personal computers conform to the RS-232C or RS-422 standards. A serial port is a general-purpose interface that can be used for almost any type of device, including modems, mice, and printers although in some cases most printers are connected to a parallel port.

Parallel Port - Is used to connect an external device such as a printer. Most personal computers have both a parallel port and at least one serial port. On PCs, the parallel port uses a 25-pin connector and is used to connect printers, computers and other devices that need relatively high bandwidth. It is often called a Centronics interface after the company that designed the original standard for parallel communication between a computer and a printer.

Peripheral Device - I a computer device, such as a CD-ROM drive or printer that is not part of the essential computer for example the memory and microprocessor. Peripheral devices can be external such as a mouse, keyboard, printer, monitor or scanner or it can be internal, such as a CD-ROM drive, CD-R drive or an internal modem. Internal peripheral devices are often referred to as integrated peripherals.

Internal Memory - Internal memory is storage areas in a computer. Every computer comes with a certain amount of physical memory, usually referred to as main memory or RAM. A computer that has 1 megabyte of memory can hold about 1 million bites of information. RAM (random-access memory) is the same as main memory. When used by itself, the term RAM refers to read and write memory which is that you can both write data into RAM and read data from RAM. Most RAM is volatile, which means that it requires a steady flow of electricity to maintain 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 instructions for starting up the computer. Unlike RAM, ROM cannot be written to.

2) There are many different types of operating systems around in this day and age. Most people will be familiar with Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac’s (Macintosh).

The most common editions of the operating system are Windows XP Home Edition, which is targeted at home users, and Windows XP Professional, which offers additional features such as support for Windows Server domains and two physical processors, and is targeted at power users, business and enterprise clients. Windows XP is most known for its improved stability and efficiency over the 9x versions of Microsoft Windows. It has been redesigned from previous Windows additions and is user-friendlier than previous versions of Windows.
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ruby commented
Really great Thank You!!!!
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Nice try. I guess you spent a whole day typing this cuz it's too much.
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Function of the system unit
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Function of the system unit

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