Sections from Chapter2

Included:
Overview of  2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.5, 2.6
Graphics Systems
Not included:
 2.4, 2.7
13th April 2006

Output devices
http://www.howstuffworks.com

Display devices (CRT/DVST/LCD).

Printers.
 Dot Matrix.
 Inkjet/Laser.

Plotters.

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Direct-View storage tube
Flat Panel displays

2 electron guns are used.
 Primary gun stores the picture definition.
Class of video devices that have reduced
 Flood gun maintains the picture display. volume, weight and power requirement as

Advantages. compared to CRT’s.
 No refreshing needed, so complex pictures
Thinner than CRT’s so we can hang them
can be drawn without flicker. on walls and wear on our wrists.

Disadvantages.
Used in:
 Selected parts of a picture cannot be erased  TV monitors, laptop computers, calculators,
and redrawn. pocket video games etc.

Used in: Analog Oscilloscopes.

Plasma Panels
Categories of Flat panel displays
Consists of:
 Two glass plates.

Emissive displays.  Electrodes sandwiched
 Convert electrical energy into light. between these plates.

Plasma panels.  Noble gases e.g. neon or

Thin-film electroluminescent displays. xenon is contained within

Light-emitting diodes. these plates

Non-Emissive displays.  Area between the glass
 Use optical effects to convert sunlight or light plates is divided into tiny
into graphics patterns. cells, each of which can

Liquid Crystal Displays. be considered as a pixel.

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Pros & Cons of Plasma Panels Light emitting diodes

Pros
Simply said, LED’s are just tiny light bulbs that fit
 Produce a very wide screen using extremely thin easily into an electrical circuit.
materials.
 Image produced is very bright and looks good from

Unlike ordinary bulbs, they don’t have a filament
almost every angle. that will burn out, and they don’t get very hot.

Cons
Applications:
 Expensive.  they form the numbers on digital clocks,
 transmit information from remote controls

Thin-film electroluminescent displays are similar  light up watches.
to plasma panels in construction except for the  tell you when your appliances are turned on.
fact that the inner gas is replaced by phosphor.
 Illuminate traffic lights.

Requires more power to light up

Liquid crystal display Dot-Matrix printer

Used in calculators, portable laptops etc.
A dot matrix printer refers to a type of

They produce a picture by passing computer printer with a print head that
polarized light from the surrounding or runs back and forth on the page and prints
from an internal light source through a by impact, striking an ink-soaked cloth
liquid-crystal material that can be aligned ribbon against the paper, much like a
to either block of transmit the light. typewriter.

3
 Laser printer
Inkjet printer

A laser printer is a common type of

Produces output by squirting ink in computer printer that produces high quality
horizontal rows across a roll of paper printing, and is able to produce both text
wrapped on a drum. and graphics.

Principle is based on that
of a photocopy machine.

RASTER-SCAN SYETEM
Plotter

A plotter is a vector graphics printing
Interactive raster graphics systems
device that connects to a computer. typically employ several processing

Plotters print their output by moving a pen units apart from the CPU, which are:
across the surface of a piece of paper.  Video Controller
 Restricted to line art, rather than raster  Display processor
graphics as with other printers. They can draw
complex line art, including text, but do so very
slowly because of the mechanical movement
of the pens.
 Plotters are incapable of creating a solid
region of colour.

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Video Controller

video controller controls:
 Display device.

How pixels coordinates are determined?
 Refresh operations.

Double buffering.
 Areas of screen enlarged, reduced and moved to
different locations.
 Look-up table.
 Mix of frame-buffer image and another image

Back

Display processor

display processor performs:
 raster graphics operations (instead of CPU).

Scan conversion.

Character Definition.

Line styles.
 Dashed, dotted, solid.

Interface with input device (e.g.mouse).

Memory requirements for the frame buffer?

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Raster-Scan Characters

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