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1 A company has a LAN (local area network).
(a) Give two benefits of connecting computers to a LAN.
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(b) Give two characteristics of a LAN.
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(c) One of the company’s offices has one server and four computers connected in a star topology.
Draw a diagram to show the layout of the office’s star topology.
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(d) Computers can be connected using Ethernet.
Describe what is meant by Ethernet.
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(e) The network runs as a thick‑client model.
Describe what is meant by a thick‑client model.
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2 A program is written in assembly language.
(a) The program is converted into machine code by a two pass assembler.
Draw one or more lines to identify the pass or passes in which each action takes place.
Action Pass
generates object code
first
reads the source code one line at a time
removes white space
second
adds labels to the symbol table
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(b) Assembly language statements can use different modes of addressing.
Complete the following description of addressing modes.
............................................ addressing is when the operand holds the memory address of
the data.
............................................ addressing is when the operand holds a memory address that
stores the memory address of the data.
............................................ addressing is when the operand is the data.
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3 Data in a computer is stored in binary form.
(a) State the number of unique binary values that can be represented in 16 bits.
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(b) Give the 8 bit one’s complement representation of the denary number −120.
Show your working.
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(c) Convert the hexadecimal number A04 into denary.
Show your working.
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(d) Show the result of a 2 place left logical shift on the binary number:
01001111
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4 A student has purchased a new laptop.
(a) The laptop is designed using the Von Neumann model for a computer system.
Identify two types of signal that a control bus can transfer.
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(b) Describe two ways the hardware of a laptop can be upgraded to improve the performance
and explain how each upgrade improves the performance.
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(c) Peripherals are connected to the laptop using ports.
(i) A printer is connected to a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port.
Describe how data is transmitted through a USB port.
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(ii) A monitor is connected to the laptop using a different type of port.
Identify one other type of port that can be used to connect the monitor.
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5 (a) Draw the logic circuit for this logic expression:
Z = (R XOR S) AND (NOT T NOR P)
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(b) Complete the truth table for this logic expression:
Z = (NOT P OR Q) XOR (R NOR Q)
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Working space
P Q R Z
0 0 0
0 0 1
0 1 0
0 1 1
1 0 0
1 0 1
1 1 0
1 1 1
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