Computer Organisation Question Paper
Computer Organisation
Course:Bachelor Of Science In Information Technology
Institution: Kca University question papers
Exam Year:2010
1
UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2009/2010
FIRST YEAR EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF
SCIENCE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
BIT 1106: COMPUTER ORGANISATION
DATE: APRIL 2010 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer question ONE and any other TWO questions
QUESTION ONE
a) Differentiate between the following:
i) USB port and Serial Port (2 Marks)
ii) Disk formatting and Disk partitioning (2 Marks)
iii) Compact Installation and Portable installation types (2 Marks)
iv) Minimum and Recommended Requirements (2 Marks)
v) SIMM and DIMM Memory Modules (2 Marks)
b) Explain the meaning of the following terms within the context of computer systems
i) Peripherals devices
ii) Virtual storage
iii) ROM BIOS
iv) Co-Processor
v) Motherboard (5 Marks)
c) i) What is a system bus? (3 Marks)
ii) Explain the three major components of a system bus. (3 Marks)
d) Briefly discuss THREE major file organization methods and for each explain the access method
applicable. (9 Marks)
2
QUESTION TWO
(a) Briefly explain the bootstrap process during the loading of an operating system. (4 Marks)
(b) What do the following acronyms stand for?
i. PCI
ii. ISA
iii. IDE
iv. SCSI
v. CMOS (5 Marks)
(c) Name TWO categories of computer viruses and describe their payload. (4 Marks)
(d) What is fragmentation and what does de-fragmenting a drive achieve? (4 Marks)
(e) What is the maximum number of HDDs that you can install on a standard PC? How is this chieved
(3 Marks)
QUESTION THREE
By explaining each of the following terms distinguish between:
a) Smart card and mouse. (3 Marks)
b) Mark sensing and optical character recognition. (3 Marks)
c) Printers and plotters. (3 Marks)
d) What typical features differentiated third generation computers from second generation?(3 Marks)
e) Convert the following: 110010110111.1100111 to:
(i) Octal (2 Marks)
(ii) Decimal (4 Marks)
(iii) Hexadecimal (2 Marks)
QUESTION FOUR
a) Explain the term machine cycle and, state and explain the actions that take place during the
machine cycle. (10 Marks)
b) Distinguish between op-code and operand (4 Marks)
c) Computers or processors are described in terms of word-length, speed and the capacity of their
associated primary storage.
3
Required
i) In each of the above descriptions indicate the units of measure used. (3 Marks)
ii) Explain the term word-length. (3 Marks)
QUESTION FIVE
a) Briefly explain three safety procedures that must be followed while assembling a PC or adding a new
hardware component to a PC. (6 Marks)
b) List FOUR reasons why computer systems need secondary storage. Would a system with magnetic
disk and optical storage system meet all the storage requirements? (10 Marks)
c) Differentiate between a “computer virus” and a “computer worm” giving one example of each.
(4 Marks)
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