INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

OBJECTIVE #2.
Different Computer Systems
Computer System is a general purpose device which can be programmed to carry out a finite set of
arithmetic or logical operations. Since a sequence of operation can be readily changed, the computer can
solve more than one kind of problems.

Super Computer Systems

These are the speediest computers compared with all other computers, which have fast, amazing
capacity or storage limit, expensive and require gigantic amount of physical space. They are
accommodated in large Air Conditioned room, some of them can take an entire building for its
installation.

While a Desktop Microcomputer process information and guideline in a millionth of second and
at times in microseconds, the speed of the super computer is millions of times quicker and faster
than desktop PC.

They are generally used as a part of complex Scientific application, climate determining,
Monitoring tremor or earthquakes, they are expertized in particular undertaking, for example,
space investigation, space examine, atomic weapons, and genetic engineering .

Seymour Cray planned and designed the first Supercomputer "CDC 6600" in 1964.

(According to site
[Link]
aku/. The world’s fastest and most powerful supercomputer is Japan’s Fugaku.
● Advantages -
o Fastest calculation and processing speed
● Disadvantages -
o More expensive than most computers (including mainframes)
o Not as reliable or fault-tolerant as mainframes
o Smaller life-span (<5 years)
o Large energy consumption (Tianhe-1A consumes 4.04MW; 4MW at $0.10/kWh
is $400/hour)
o Requires intensive cooling
● Uses -
o Engineering and scientific calculations
o Scientific modeling and simulations
o Government and Military uses
o Quantum mechanics
o Weather forecasting and climate research

Mainframe Computer

They are gigantic in size, quick, extremely costly and expensive they are not as quick as the
supercomputer but still, they are exceptionally costly. They are planned and created to process
incredible amount of information and data they can execute million of guidelines or instruction
per second and can store billions of information or data.

They can store and process tremendous amount of information accordingly it is generally utilized
and used as a part of educational organizations, railway reservations, in a portion of the
administration segment where bulk information has to be saved.

They support more than 1000 remote computers and can work as a “HOST” for different and
multiple operating systems.
Examples::

● IBM Z890
● Hitachi’s Z800

● Advantages -
o Fast I/O operations
o Highly reliable and stable
o High integrity and fault tolerance
o Long uptime (some up to a decade)
o Less error-prone than other computers
o Best computer for transaction processing
o Can store and manage large volumes of data
o Supports files in the terabyte range
● Disadvantages -
o More expensive than other computers
o Require a cool environment
o Consumes large amounts of energy, but less than supercomputers
o Less processing speed than a supercomputer
● Uses -
o Processing large quantities of data
o Transaction processing
o Bulk data processing
o Applications that must not experience down-time
o Database storage and processing

Features of mainframe computer systems

• Very powerful processors

• lots of backing storage
• large internal memory.

Mainframes are designed to process large volumes of data at high speed.

They are used by large businesses such as

● banks and mail-order

● companies as well as by large
● Organizations such as universities.
Mainframe computers can also multi-task by running more than one program at apparently the
same time. This is known as multi-programming.

Micro Computers

Micro computers are the most common kind of computer systems. A micro
computer system is a collection of a number of different hardware devices.
The common components of a micro computer system are:

● the system unit containing the processor and main memory

● monitor
● keyboard
● mouse
● hard disk drive
● floppy disk drive
● CD/DVD drive
● Speakers.

● Advantages -
o Publicly accessible to individuals/citizens
o Relatively inexpensive
o Small and typically easily portable
● Disadvantages -
o Less powerful than other computer types
o Less reliable than other computers
o More error-prone than other computers
● Uses -
o Education
o Gaming
o General networking
o General residential and commercial computing

Types of micro computer systems.

A desktop computer

A desktop computer is the most common kind of PC. It is a collection of a number of standalone
hardware devices. This type of computer is sited permanently on a desk because its design means
it cannot be easily moved.

Laptop or Notebook Computer

A laptop computer is a small, light computer that you
can easily carry about with you. It can be powered by
battery or mains power. A laptop computer has a
keyboard, and comes with specialised input devices, for
example trackballs, touch pads or track points. They are
needed because laptop computers are often operated in
places where it is impracticable to use a mouse.

For output the laptop has an LCD or TFT screen and a

set of small speakers.

‘Laptops’ are often as powerful as desktop computers

and run the same range and type of software.

People use laptops for working when they are on the move, going to meetings or attending
courses.

Many businesses are replacing desktop PCs with special plug-in workstations designed round
laptop computers because of the flexibility they offer.

Mobile Computers

Mobile computers are smaller versions of microcomputers. They may have the same processing
power but are more compact, which make them easy to carry around. They include (laptops,
Notebooks, net-books, smart-phones, tablets and game consoles)

Palmtop Computer or Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)

This is a type of mobile micro computers that are increasing in popularity, and are
often called a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).

A palmtop computer is small enough to fit in your pocket.

It combines a lot of capabilities, including organizer features (such as storing contact

numbers, names and addresses, etc.), e-mail and wireless internet access.

Palmtop's have small keyboards and most let you open menus and select icons by
using a special pen or stylus. Most let you enter data by writing with the stylus. They
are powered by batteries and store their data on removable memory units called flash
cards.

You can run a wide range of software on palmtop's, for example simple word processing,
database and spreadsheet software as well as useful applications such as electronic diaries. Many
modern palmtop's:
● are converging with mobile phones to let you access the internet
● Have wireless communications to let you access your local area network.

Embedded devices

These are micro chips that are embedded in a particular device (for example,
Special-purpose systems such as controllers in microwaves, car ignition systems, answering machines,
etc.