HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF COMPUTING DEVICES

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF COMPUTING DEVICES( 20^th Century)

These generations of computers witnessed the first set of computers that used vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic drum for memory and were very big taking up the whole room. They were very expensive to use and in addition made use of lot of heat. The heat generated often damage the computer.

ENIAC

ENIAC (Electronic Numeric Integrator and Computer) was the world’s first general purpose, electronic, digital computer. ENIAC is called general purpose because it can be reconfigured to solve many problems and electronic because it used electronic devices that is the Vacuum tubes. It was invented by John Mauchly and J.Presper Eckert

FEATURES OF ENIAC

1. The most important of ENIAC features is that its light speed. It can perform 5000 addition cycles each second

2. It as ability to perform digit discrimination and branch loop

3. ENIAC cannot store programs electronically. Programs must hard wire before machine starts.

COMPONENTS OF ENIAC

ENIAC contained vacuum tubes, crystal diodes, relays, resistors, capacitors and hand soldered joints. Inputs was possible from an 1Bm, card punch was used for output.

USES

ENIAC could perform 5,000 simple addition and subtraction.

EDVAC: EDVAC (Electronic Discreet Variable Automatic Computer). EDVAC was one of the earliest electronic computers. It was invented by John Mauchly and J.Presper Eckert.

FEATURES OF EDVAC

1. It as magnetic tape reader recorder

2. A control unit with oscilloscope

3. A dispatcher unit to receive instructions from the control and memory and directs them to other units

4. A computational unit to perform arithmetic operations on a pair of numbers

5. A timer

6. Three temporary tanks each holding a single word.

COMPONENTS OF EDVAC: The computer had vacuum tubes, diodes and consumed 56kw of power.

USES OF EDVAC: The EDVAC were used for addition, subtraction, multiplication, programmed division and automatic checking with an ultrasonic serial memory.

UNIVAC

UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) was the first commercial computer produced in the United States. It was invented by John Mauchly and J.Presper Eckert. It separated the complex problems of input and output from the actual computation facility.

FEATURES OF UNIVAC

1. It was the first computer equipped with magnetic tape unit and buffer memory

2. The machine was 25 feet by 50 feet in length

COMPONENTS: UNIVAC contained tubes, crystal diodes and relays

USES OF UNIVAC

1. It was used for arithmetic functions, multiplication and division

2. It was used to calculate company payrolls, sales records, analysis of sales performance and other company business.

DESKTOP AND PERSONAL COMPUTERS

A desktop computer is called a PC; it is used in a particular position unlike a mobile laptop or portable computer.

FEATURES OF A PERSONAL COMPUTER

They include a Motherboard, CPU, and RAM, power pack, Monitor, System software, application software, keyboard, Carcass, screen and mouse.

COMPONENTS:

1. DIODE

2. Chips

3. Capacitor

4. Resistor

5. Coil

6. Integrated circuit

USES: Word processing, spreadsheet application, browsing, internet, digital messaging, multimedia playback, computer game, etc.

LAPTOP & NOTEBOOK COMPUTERS

A laptop is called a notebook is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop is powered by electricity via an AC adaptor and can be used away from an outlet using a rechargeable battery.

FEATURES OF LAPTOP & NOTEBOOK COMPUTERS

Features include Webcam, Wireless connection, Finger print, Bluetooth, audio jack, card reader, etc.

COMPONENTS and USES: Same as desktop components

PALMTOP

This is another class of portable computer that is handheld. Palmtop have an operating system that is compatible with that of our desktop computer. Palmtop do not have disk drives rather their programs are stored in ROM and are loaded in RAM when they are turned on. A major difference between palmtop and laptop computer is that palmtop are usually powered by off sheet batteries such as a cells.

FEATURES: Color screen, expansion slot, wireless capability, voice recorder.

COMPONENTS AND USES: Is the same as that of a laptop

ASSESSMENT

The teacher summarizes the lesson and allows student to ask questions to clear doubts.

Assessment

1. List the 20^th century computers and their features

Assignment

Make a research online about Input Device devices and uses

Computer Hardware and Software

Constituents Parts of a Computer System

Logic Gate

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF COMPUTING DEVICES