I/O Components of Computer

To perform various tasks assigned by a user, a computer needs 5 main components,

Input Devices
Output Devices
CPU
Primary Memory
Secondary Memory
This 5 Component model of Computer Architecture is based on the 1945 computer model 1st proposed by John
von Neumann - “Von Neumann architecture”. This architecture is still used in modern day computers.

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Input Devices:

Input devices enable the user to send data, information, or control signals to a computer. The Central Processing
Unit (CPU) of a computer receives the input and processes it to produce the output. Some of the common Input
Devices are mentioned below,

Device

Image

Key Features

Keyboard

These Are The Best Bluetooth Keyboards | Bluetooth keyboard, Keyboards, Bluetooth

A keyboard uses switches & circuits to convert each keystroke into respective Alpha numeric inputs.

It has different sets of keys for letters, numbers, characters, and functions.

Each Key has a Key Code (ie., Binary code) representing the specified function.

Each character entered through the keyboard gets converted to an equivalent ASCII code & stored on RAM in the
binary form.

Mouse

Different buttons on a computer mouse - University of Wollongong – UOW

Scroll Wheel -> Navigate within the Screen

Left Click -> Selects items

Right Click -> Pops up more options

Double Click (left) -> Select & Open

Mouse pointer changes into a hand (on hyperlinks, images), I-beam (on editable text) or Hourglass with Spinning
circle (to denote ‘busy’)

Scanner

Flatbed Scanner

The scanner converts any type of printed or written information into a digital format. It uses optical character
recognition techniques to convert images into digital ones.

Light Pen

Light Pen

The tip of the light pen contains a light-sensitive detector that enables the user to point to or select objects on
the display screen.

Microphone

Microphone

It receives the sound vibrations and converts them into audio signals or sends them to a recording medium. The
audio signals are converted into digital data and stored in the computer.

Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR)

MICR

MICR is a character recognition technology that makes use of special magnetized ink which is sensitive to
magnetic fields.

Touchpad
Touchpad

Just like a mouse, it allows you to move or control the cursor on the screen using your finger.

Webcam

Webcam

It is different from a digital camera, as it is designed to take compact digital photos that can be easily uploaded
to the internet.

Biometric Devices

Face Scanner

Biometrics refers to a process in which a person is identified through his or her biological features such as
fingerprints, eye cornea, face structure, etc.

Other Input devices – Optical Character Reader (OCR), Optical Mark Recognition (OMR), Trackball, Joystick,
Magnetic Tape Drive, MIDI keyboard.

Note - A UPS or Uninterruptible Power Supply/Source, is a device that acts as a backup power source for
computers during emergency power cuts, it also protects the computer from incoming Power Spikes & Surges.

Output Devices:

The output device displays the result of the processing of raw data that is entered in the computer through an
input device. There are a number of output devices that display output in different ways such as text, images,
hard copies, and audio or video. Some popular output devices are mentioned below,

1) Monitor – The monitor is the display unit or screen of the computer.

i. Cathode Ray Tube Monitor – The CRT is a display screen which produces images in the form of the video
signal. It is a type of vacuum tube which displays images when the electron beam through electron guns strikes
on the phosphorescent surface. To display various different colours there are 3 electron beams that strike the
screen: Red, Green, and Blue (RGB).

Note - The smallest unit of a digital image is known as ‘Pixel’. A pixel is a small dot in the screen, and a complete
image is formed by the combination of hundreds of thousands of pixels.

ii. LCD Monitor – Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)’s technologies allow displays to be much thinner when compared
to a cathode ray tube (CRT) technology. Liquid crystal display is composed of several layers which include two
polarized panel filters and electrodes. The LCD works on the principle of blocking light.
Note - LCD’s consume less power compared to CRT and LED.

iii. LED monitor – Light Emitting Diode (LED) display produces more brilliance and greater light intensity but also
consumes less power. The difference between them lies in the source of light to backlight the display. LEDs
monitors use several LED units to backlight the display, whereas the LCD monitors use cold cathode fluorescent
light to backlight the display. Only LED technology can guarantee optimal viewing conditions from different
angles at any time of day. LED is a mercury-free technology.

iv. OLED Monitors - Organic Light Emitting Diodes or OLED, is a solid-state device that consists of a series of
organic thin films sandwiched between two thin-film conductive electrodes, which are triggered using electricity
to display an image.

Approximately, an OLED consumes just 40% of the power used by a LED monitor.

2) Printers – A printer produces hard copies of the processed data. It enables the user to print images, text or
any other information onto the paper. Based on the printing mechanism, the printers are of two types: Impact &
Non-Impact Printers

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Impact Printer – Works by direct contact of an ink ribbon with paper. A metal or plastic head strikes the ink
ribbon, whereby the ribbon is pressed against the paper and the desired character (letter, digit, dot, line)
impression is printed on the sheet.

Non-Impact Printer – They used laser, xerographic, electrostatic, chemical and inkjet technologies. Non-impact
printers perform no physical impression (strike) hence quieter. They are less likely to need maintenance or
repairs than earlier impact printers.

Printer Highlights
Impact

Dot Matrix
Print head that moves back and forth or in an up-and-down motion on the page and prints by impact, striking an
ink-soaked cloth ribbon against the paper, similar to a typewriter or line printer.
● In short, the printer uses pins that create impacts on an ink ribbon for print.
● Here the closely spaced dots form the intended number or character.

Daisy Wheel
It can print only characters and symbols and cannot print graphics.
A circular printing element (daisy wheel) is the heart of these printers that contains all text, numeric characters
and symbols mold on each petal on the circumference of the circle.
The printing element rotates rapidly with the help of a servo motor and pauses to allow the printing hammer to
strike the character against the paper.

Drum
Paper is taped onto a drum for precise alignment to the nozzles.
When the desired character for the selected position rotated around to the hammer line, the hammer hit the
paper from behind and pushed it into the ribbon and onto the character.

Chain
The chain spins horizontally around a set of hammers. When the desired character is in front of the selected
print column, the corresponding hammer hits the paper into the ribbon and onto the character in the chain.

Non-Impact

Thermal
They use tiny heating elements to activate or transfer pigments.
Thermal printers are used most commonly to create labels, safety signs, wayfinding markers, barcodes, shipping
labels, and other heavily-used items.

Inkjet
A print head containing thousands of tiny holes, that sprays microscopic droplets of ink onto the paper at high
speed to achieve the desired result.

Laser
A laser printer is a printer that uses a focused beam or light to transfer text and images onto paper. They do not
burn the images onto the paper.
They produce High-quality printouts, whose resolutions are measured in ‘dpi’ (Dots per Inch).

3) Plotter – Plotter is an output device that is used to produce graphical output on papers. It uses single color or
multi-color pens to draw pictures.

Drum plotter - Drum plotter also known as Roller Plotter, is used for plotting continuous output like plotting
earthquake activities. It uses a pen plotter wrapped with paper wrapped around a drum, to draw the images.
Flatbed plotter - Also known as Table Plotter, uses a plotter that plots images on the paper spread over a fixed
rectangular flat table.
4) Speakers – Speakers produce voice output (audio). Using speakers along with speech synthesis software, the
computer can provide voice output.

5) Multimedia Projectors – They are used to produce computer output on a big screen. These are used to
display presentations in meeting halls or in classrooms.

Note - All the hardware components of the computer - Monitor, Motherboard, Mouse, Keyboard, RAM, CPU,
Power Supply, etc, are commonly called as ‘Peripherals’

User Interface:
An User Interface (UI) is a mode through which, user can interact with a machine. Typically, an UI gets input from
the user (like keyboard depression or mouse selection) to command the machine in performing a task. There are
5 common types of UI:

Command Line Interface - A Computer performs the tasks based on command based inputs given by the user.
Eg; MS-DOS
Menu-driven Interface - Receives input from the User, through a list of predefined functions that can be selected
from a drop down menu. Eg; Automated Teller Machine (ATM)
Graphical User Interface (GUI) - Currently, this is the most familiar method of interfacing with a computer, where
a user gives input through keyboard, mouse or light pen.
Touch GUI - User can directly enter the input by interfacing with a touch screen
Voice-base User Interface - Most of the modern virtual assistant devices receive voice based input from the user
to perform tasks