Computer Fundamental

note!Answer: B) 11
2048 = 2^11, so 11 address lines are needed to select each of the 2048 locations.

note!Answer: C) IBM
IBM is nicknamed "Big Blue" because of its corporate colour and logo.

note!Answer: B) 1984
IBM introduced the PC/AT, based on the Intel 80286 processor, in 1984.

note!Answer: B) 20
ENIAC could store 20 numbers, each of 10 decimal digits, in its accumulators. The question's names (Motley and Accrete) are misprinted; the computer was built by Eckert and Mauchly.

note!Answer: C) USA
The digital computer was developed primarily in the USA in the 1940s, with ENIAC as an early example.

note!Answer: B) Control and communications
Cybernetics, defined by Norbert Wiener, is the science of control and communication in machines and living beings.

note!Answer: D) Jacquard
Joseph Marie Jacquard used punched cards in 1804 to control patterns on looms. Hollerith later used punch cards for data processing.

note!Answer: B) Diskless computers
A diskless computer has no disk or diskette drive and typically loads its software from a network or ROM.

note!Answer: C) An address
An address identifies a specific storage location in memory. A byte and a record are units of data, not identifiers.

note!Answer: B) Disk
A disk is secondary storage that keeps data permanently. A keyboard is an input device and the ALU is a processor component.

note!Answer: A) Temporary, permanent
Primary memory (RAM) is temporary and loses data when power is off, while storage such as disks keeps data permanently.

note!Answer: C) Both circular tracks and sectors
A floppy disk is divided into circular tracks, and each track is divided into sectors. 'Only' makes options a and b incomplete.

note!Answer: B) 72
Group the binary digits in threes from the right: 111 010 gives 7 and 2, so the octal value is 72.

note!Answer: A) Analytical engine
Charles Babbage conceived the Analytical Engine, a design for a general-purpose mechanical computer. Donald Knuth was a computer scientist, not a machine.

note!Answer: A) A device which is not connected to CPU
An offline device operates without direct control of the CPU. Being connected to the CPU defines an online device.

note!Answer: D) Program counter
The program counter holds the address of the next instruction to be fetched. The memory address register holds the address of the current memory access.

note!Answer: D) All of the above
Microprocessors are the core of computers, digital systems and calculators, so all three are valid.

note!Answer: D) All of the above
Floppy and hard disks, CD-ROMs and tape devices are all storage devices.

note!Answer: B) ROM
ROM (Read Only Memory) keeps its contents permanently and cannot be easily changed. RAM and its variants are volatile and rewritable.

note!Answer: B) Expanded
Expanded memory is accessed through bank-switching with EMS software because the CPU cannot address it directly.