A COMPUTER SYSTEM

Answer the following questions about the passage:

1. What makes up a computer system ?
∆ It makes up the control, unit the aritmetic and logic unit, and main memory.

2. How does the Arithmetic and Logic Unit work ?
∆ The Arithmetic and Logic Unit, which contains wired operators and registers, deals with calculations.

3. What are the differences between main memory and back-up storage ?
∆ The main memory saves large quantities of data on media and fetches only when required as different from back-up storage.

4. Can you give some examples of back-up storage ?
∆ Yes, I can give magnetic disks and magnetic tapes as examples.

5. What does a front-end processor do ?
∆ It may be required to control the flow of data between the CPU and various peripherals.

6. What are the different elements that surround a CPU ?
∆ CPU is surrounded by input, output, input-output peripherals. So, input peripherals include keyboards, lightpens and even microphones etc.

7. What are I/O devices ? Can you give any examples ?
∆ Input/output peripherals can be used for both of the above-mentioned function and can work either way.
∆ Yes, I can give disk drivers as typical examples.

8. What do the terms ‘on-line’ and ‘off-line’ refer to ?
∆ Any such devices directly connected to the CPU are called on-line peripherals, as opposed to off-line peripherals.

9. What does ‘data acquisition’ mean ?
∆ It consists of editing raw data so that it can be fed into a computer in a form the computer can recognised.

10. How is the data outputted ?
∆ The data are then processed and the results either printed or displayed on a screen in a large computer system or mainframe computer.

11. What is a mainframe system protected against, and why ?
∆ The mainframe system is protected against as uninterrupted power supply which regulates any fluctuation in voltage from the mains supply as well as providing an emergency power supply, should there be a power cut. Because a power cut would result not only in the break down off the computer but also the loss of all the data being processed.

12. What else should an efficient system have ?
∆ The efficient system should have air conditioning and dust must be kept to a minimum.