Question | Answer |
How many Registers are there in a CPU | Six |
Which register contains the most recent item obtained from memory? | Memory Data Register |
Which register contains the address of the next item to be processed | Memory Address Register |
Which register contains the instructions for the current operation | Instruction Register |
Which register contains the intermediate results of an operation/calculation | The Accumulator |
Which register controls CPU behaviour | Sequence Control Register |
Which Register indicates where a program is in its sequence | Program Counter |
How Many Buses are there in the CPU | Three busses |
Which Bus carries data to and from the CPU | The Data Bus |
Which bus Contains information on where the data is going and where it has been, (works with the bus that carries data) | The Address bus |
Which bus sends and receives signals from all the external computer components that contains information that controls the order that processes are carried out in | The Control Bus |
Which Component in the CPU performs Calculations | The Arithmetic Logic Unit - ALU |
What kind of calculations does the alu perform | - Multiplication
- Division
- Subtraction
- Addition
- Logic Tests |
Which component in the CPU, issues signals to other parts of the CPU | The Control Unit |
How many states can Binary Data exist in | Two, a binary "bit" can only be a 1 or a 0
(sometimes referred to as a light switch being on or off) |
How many bits in the binary digit 01011010 | Eight, there are eight states in that digit, this is called a "byte" |
How many bytes in a kilobyte (Kb) | 1024 |
How many kilobytes in a megabyte (Mb) | 1024 |
How many megabytes in a gigabyte (Gb) | 1024 |
How many gigabytes in a terabyte (Tb) | 1024 |
What are the two types of storage | - Primary
- Secondary |
What are the three types of memory | - Ram
- Rom
- Cache |
Why is RAM Considered Volatile | Unlike a flash drive or a hard drive, when the power is switched off, all the data stored in the ram is lost. |
R.A.M. stands for what and why | - Random Access Memory
- Because any free location on the ram can be accessed |
R.O.M. stands for what and why | - Read Only Memory
- The data on a ROM chip is only readable and executable not editable. |
ROM is not considered Volatile because | the data is stored permanently on the chip, and isn't lost on system restart |
ROM is often found where? | - Oven timers
- Alarms
- Cameras
- Cars
Basically anywhere that a basic operating system is used to run an appliance |
ROM is also located on the mother board and is used when | During start up to locate all the hardware and run basic tests on boot, or when accessing the bios (Basic Input Output System) |
Is cache memory faster then Ram | Yes, its is built closer to the CPU or inside it and acts as an intermediate store of data during processing |
Difference between RAM Cache and Disk Cache | - Ram cache is used to store repeated data when processing data
- Disk Cache is used to store data to speed up access speed if its needed again |
One Difference between Primary and Secondary Storage | - Primary is much faster then secondary
- Secondary is much larger in capacity
- Secondary is not directly accessible by the CPU |
Common forms of Secondary Storage/Backing storage | - Magnetic Tape
- Hard Disk Drives
- SSD's
- Optical Disks (CD, DVD, Blu-Ray)
- Flash Drives (memory sticks) |
Advantages and Disadvantages - Magnetic Tape | - Cheap
- Large Capacities
- Slow read/write/access speeds |
Advantages and Disadvantages - HDD | - Relatively Cheap
- Large Capacities
- Relatively fast read/write/access speeds
- Durable casing
- Physical components can deteriorate |
Advantages and Disadvantages - SSD | - Very Fast
- Very Durable
- Expensive |
Advantages and Disadvantages - Optical Disks | - Cheap
- Portable
- Can be fragile
- Require a secondary component to read (reader)
- Range in capacity |
Advantages and Disadvantages - Flash Storage | - Cheap
- Portable
- Some can have very large capacities (expensive though)
- Generally durable |
*Recap* Order these components by speed:
- CPU Register
- Magnetic tape
- Cache
- Hard Disk Drive
- Ram
- SSD
- Optical Disk
- Time taken to spend your last paycheck | - Paycheck
- CPU Registers
- Cache
- RAM
- SSD
- Hard Disk Drive
- Optical Disk
- Magnetic Tape |
Digital data is similar to binary because | it can only have distinct values, 1 or 0
- Light is on or off
- Day or night
- Red or Blue |
Analogue data is dissimilar to binary because | It can have a range of values
- Temperature
- Age
- Height |
Digital Signals are much smaller because | The data is either a 1 or a 0, this means the data is much more efficient, but not as rich as analogue data |
Analouge Signals are much richer because | The data has more scope and can take a range of values not just 2, this means it is much larger however and can take up more bandwidth |
What does an input device do | Introduce data to a computer |
What does an output device do | Allows data to be expressed by a computer, normally in a Human intelligible form (understandable by humans) |
Name Some peripherals that act as input devices | - Mouse
- Keyboard
- Touch screen
- Controller
- Barcode reader
- Microphone |
Name Some peripherals that act as Output devices | - Monitor
- Speakers
- Printer |
Some Devices act as both I/O devices, name one | - iPhone, has input touch screen capabilities whilst outputting visual and auditory information.
- Game Pad, can input controls to a game whilst getting vibration feedback |
Name some physical interfaces, an example being a 3.5mm in (headphone jack) | - USB 2/3 input
- Sata port
- VGA/DVI/HDMI I/O
- LAN
- Optical I/O
- SD I/O |
The process where two devices check if they are ready to communicate with each other, is called | Handshaking, this process ensures both devices interface software and hardware is compatible. Like the name suggests, this is an initial check. |
What is a network? | A number of computers or peripherals connected together. |
LAN stands for what and why | Local Area Network - Connected via cables usually on the same site or building |
WAN stands for what and why | Wide Area Network - Connected via telephone wires, satellite links spanning over towns or cities. |
Why are network standards important | Without them computer networks may not work properly as computers may not communicate properly |
Advantages of Computer networks | - Printers can be shared
- Software can be shared
- Data can be shared
- Emailing and messaging can be internal to the network |
Disadvantages of Computer networks | - Viruses can spread throughout these networks
- hackers can access different computers on the network from a single terminal
- A fault in the network and everyone cannot access the internet
- Networks may be slow
- Complex installation |
What are three types of network configuations | - Bus network
- Star network
- Ring network |
Describe a Bus Network | A single network cable or "Backbone", links all the computers together. Data is sent out and each computer will check if the data is for itself if not it ignores it. |
Describe a Star Network | A file server will link to each computer individually and will send the data to appropriate computers, if data is send between computers it passes through the central node. |
Describe a Ring Network | The backbone loops round all the computers in the network and back to the central node. The data is sent round in one direction and uses a token system so identify which node the data is for. |
Advantages & Disadvantages - Bus Network | - Cheap
- Minimal Cabling
- Easy to add or remove cables
- Failure impacts the entire network
- Slow
- poor security |
Advantages & Disadvantages - Star Network | - Failure is isolated to a single node
- Easy to troubleshoot
- Fast transfer speed
- Easy to add/remove nodes
- Best Security
- Expensive and complex to install |
Advantages & Disadvantages - Ring Network | - Faster transfer speed to bus
- No message collisions due to token system
- Fault will effect the whole system
- poor security as data passes through each node |
A Company with a high budget want a fast and secure network, which do you recommend and why | Star, its expensive but fast and very secure |
What is a protocol | A set of rules for transmitting data across a network |
What is data encapsulation | If a piece of data has many protocols attached to it, they are seated within themselves:
[http[payload]CHKSUM] >
[TCP[http[payload]CHKSUM]CHKSUM] |
Name Five Protocols | - IP - Internet Protocol
- HTTP - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
- FTP - File Transfer Protocol
- SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
- VOIP - Voice Over Internet Protocol (skype uses this) |
Advantages & Disadvantages - Wireless network | - No cabling
- Computers can be placed anywhere within the range of the router
- Data can be slower
- Limited Range
- Security may be a concern as the data can be picked up by anyone within range |