CHAPTER 2

INPUT AND OUTPUT

DEVICES
INPUT DEVICES
An input device is used to feed data and instructions into the computer.
In the absence of an input device, a computer would have only been a
display device.
Keyboard Pointing
Devices
Hand Held
Devices
Optical
Devices
Audio/Visual
Devices
Mouse
Track Ball
Track Pad
Pen
Touch Screen
Joystick
Bar code readers
Scanners
OCR
OMR
MICR
INPUT DEVICES
KEYBOARD
With a keyboard , the user can type a document, use keystroke shortcuts, access
menus, play games and perform numerous other tasks. Most keyboards have between
80 and 110 keys which include:
Typing keys includes letters of alphabet. The layout of a keyboard is known as
QWERTY.
alphanumeric keys
Function keys used by applcations and operating system for specific commands .
These can be programmed so that their functionality varies from one program to
another.
control keys-handle control of cursor. Four arrows on it.
Advantages: Easy to use and cheap
Disadvantages:
Keyboard cannot be used to draw figures
The process of moving the cursor to some other position is very slow. Mouse and
other pointing devices are more apt for this purpose


MOUSE
The mouse is the key input device to be used in a graphical user interface (GUI).
The users can use mouse to handle the pointer easily on the screen to perform various
functions like opening a program or file.
With mouse, the users no longer need to memorize commands, which was earlier a
necessity when working with text-based command line environment such as MS-
DOS.
Advantages:
Easy to use; Cheap; Can be used to quickly place the cursor
anywhere on the screen; Helps to quickly and easily draw figures;
Point and click capabilities makes it unnecessary to remember certain commands
Disadvantages:
Needs extra desk space to be placed and moved easily
The ball in the mechanical mouse must be cleaned to remove dust from it



TRACKBALL
A trackball is a pointing device which is used to control the position of the cursor on
the screen. These are usually used in notebook and laptop computers where it is
placed on the keyboard. The trackball is nothing but an upside-down mouse that
rotates in place within a socket. The user rolls the ball to position the cursor at an
appropriate position on the screen and then clicks one of the buttons to select objects
or position the cursor for text entry.
Advantages:
Trackball provides better resolution; Occupies less space
Easier to use as compared to mouse as its use involves
less hands and arms movements
Disadvantage:
The trackball chamber is often covered with dust, so it must be cleaned regularly


TOUCHPAD
A touchpad (or track pad) is a small, flat, rectangular stationary pointing device with
sensitive surface of 1.5 or 2 inches square. The user has to slide his finger tips across
the surface of the pad to point to a specific object on the screen.
The surface translates the motion and position of users fingers to a relative position
on the screen. There are also buttons around the edge of the pad that work like mouse
buttons. Touchpad is widely used in laptops and is built-in on the keyboard.

Advantages:
Occupies less space
Easier to use as compared to mouse as its use involves
less hands and arms movements
It is built-in the keyboard, so no need to carry an extra device separately



Joystick is a cursor control device widely used in computer games and CAD/CAM
applications. It consists of a hand-held lever that pivots on one end and transmits its
coordinates to a computer. It has one or more push-buttons, called
switches, whose position can also be read by the computer.

A stylus is a pen-shaped input device used to enter information or write on the touch
screen of a phone. Stylus is a small stick that can also be used to draw lines on a
surface as input to a computer, choose an option from a menu, move the cursor to
another location on the screen, take notes and create short messages. The stylus
usually slides into a slot built into the smart phone for that purpose.

A touch screen is a display screen which can identify the occurrence
and position of a touch inside the display region. The user can touch
the screen either by his finger or by using a stylus. These displays
can be connected to computers, laptops, PDAs, cell phones etc.



BARCODE READERS
A barcode reader (or price scanner or point-of-sale scanner) is a hand-held input
device which is used to capture and read information stored in a barcode. A barcode
reader consists of a scanner, a decoder, and a cable used to connect the reader with a
computer.
The barcode reader merely captures and translates the barcode into numbers and/or
letters. To make use of the information captured it must be connected to a computer
for further processing. For this purpose, the barcode reader is connected to a computer
through a serial port.
Advantages:
Cheap
Portable
Used to read data stored in bar codes
Handy and easy to use



IMAGE SCANNER

It is a device that captures images, printed text, handwriting from different sources
and converts it into a digital image for computer editing and display.

Scanners come in hand-held, feed-in, and flatbed types.

In the flat bed scanner, the object to be scanned is placed on a glass pane and a
sensor and light moves along the pane, reflecting off the image placed on the glass.

A hand image scanner has to be manually moved across an object or image to be
scanned. The scanner produces light from green LEDs which highlight and scan the
image onto a computer for further processing.

Film scanners are usually used in photography and slides. The slide or negative
film is first inserted in strips of six or less frames into the film scanner, and then
moved across a lens and censor to capture the image.



OPTICAL MARK RECOGNITION
OMR is the process of electronically extracting data from marked fields, such as
checkboxes and fill-infields, on printed forms. The optical mark reader is fed with an
OMR sheet to detect the presence of a mark by measuring reflected light levels. The
OM reader interprets this pattern marks and spaces and stores the interpreted data in
computer for storage, analysis and reporting.
The error rate for OMR technology is less than 1%.
It is used for applications in which large numbers of hand-filled forms have to be
quickly processed with great accuracy, such as surveys, reply cards, questionnaires,
ballots or sheets for multiple choice questions.
Advantages:
Optical mark readers works with a very fast speed. They can read
up to 9,000 forms per hour
They are accurate machines with error rates of just 1%

Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
OCR is the process of converting printed materials into text or word processing files
that can be easily edited and stored. The steps involved in OCR include:
Scanning of the text character-by-character
Analyzing the scanned-in image to translate the character image into character codes
(ex ASCII)
Advantages:
Printed documents can be converted into text files
Advanced OCR can recognize handwritten text and convert them into computer
readable text files
Disadvantages:
OCR cannot recognize all types of fonts
Documents that are poorly types or have strikeover cannot be recognized
Very old documents when passed through OCR may not have an exact copy of the
text file.


Printed
Documents
OCR
Technolog
y
Computer
readable
Text files of
size 2-3KB
per page
Scans the documents and
makes a bitmap of size 50-
150KB per page
MAGNETIC INK CHARACTER READER (MICR)

MICR is used to verify the legitimacy or originality of paper documents,
especially checks.

MICR consists of magnetic ink printed characters which can be recognized by
high speed magnetic recognition devices .

The printed characters provides important information (like check number,
bank routing number, checking account number and in some cases the amount
of the check) for processing to the receiving party.

MICR is widely used to enhance security, speed up the sorting of documents
and minimize the exposure to check fraud.

Audio Devices
Audio devices are used to either capture or create sound. They enable computers to
accept music, speech or sound affects for recording and/or editing. Microphone and
CD player are examples of two widely used audio input devices. Microphone feeds
audio input to the computer. The computer must have a sound card to convert analog
signals generated through microphone into digital data so that it can be stored in the
computer. When the user wants to hear the pre-recorded audio input, the sound card
converts the digital data into analog signals and sends it to the speakers.
Advantages:
Audio devices can be used by people who have visual problems; It is best used in
situations where users want to avoid i/p through keyboard or mouse
Disadvantages:
Audio input devices are not suitable in noisy places; With audio input devices it is
difficult to clearly distinguish between two similar sounding words like sea and
see
Video Input Devices
Video input devices are used to capture video from the outside world into the
computer.
Digital camera is used to capture images or videos. It digitizes the image or video and
stores them on a memory card. The data can then be transferred to the computer using
a cable which connects computer to the digital camera.
Web cameras also capture videos which can be transferred via internet in real time.
Advantages:
Video input devices are very useful for applications like video conferencing
Video input devices can be used to record memorable moments in ones life
Video input devices can be used to check security
Disadvantages:
Videos and images captured using video input devices have a very big file size and
there must be compressed before being stored on the computer.

OUTPUT DEVICES
Any device that outputs/gives information from a computer is called an output
device.
Output devices are electromechanical devices which accept digital data from the
computer and converts them into human understandable language.
SOFT COPY DEVICES
Soft copy output devices are those output devices which produce an electronic
version of an output. For example, a file which is stored on hard disk, CD, pen
drive, etc and is displayed on the computer screen (monitor).
Features of a soft copy output include:
The output can be viewed only when the computer is on.
The user can easily edit the soft copy output
Soft copy cannot be used by people who do not have a computer
Searching data in a soft copy is easy and fast.
Electronic distribution of a soft copy is cheaper. It can be done easily and quickly

Produced on a paper or some material that can be touched.
Permanent in nature can be kept in paper files and used later without
using computer.

Examples are output produced by printers and plotters.
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CATHODE RAY TUBE MONITORS

CRT monitors work by firing charged electrons at a phosphorus film. When
electron hit the phosphor coated screen, it glows thereby enabling the user to see
the output.
In a cathode ray tube, the "cathode" is a heated filament which is placed in a
vacuum created inside a glass "tube." The "ray" is a stream of electrons which comes
out from a heated cathode into the vacuum.
The focusing anode focuses the stream of electrons to form a tight beam which is
then accelerated by an accelerating anode.
This tight, high-speed beam of electrons flies through the vacuum in the tube and
hits the flat screen at the other end of the tube.
This screen is coated with phosphor, which glows when struck by the beam,
thereby displaying the picture which the user sees on the monitor.

CATHODE RAY TUBE MONITORS
Schematic diagram of a Cathode Ray Tube
LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY MONITORS

LCD monitor is a thin, flat electronic visual display that uses the light modulating
properties of liquid crystals which do not emit light directly.
LCD screens are used in a wide range of applications ranging from computer
monitors, television, instrument panels, aircraft cockpit displays, signage, to
consumer devices like such as video players, gaming devices, clocks, watches,
calculators, and telephones.
Liquid crystal display technology is based on blocking light. The LCD consists of
two pieces of polarizing filters (or substrates) that contain a liquid crystal material
between them. A backlight creates light which is made to pass through the first
substrate. Simultaneously, the electrical currents cause the liquid crystal molecules to
align to allow varying levels of light to pass through to the second substrate and
create the colors and images are seen on the screen.



LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY MONITORS
Schematic diagram of a Liquid Crystal Display Monitor
LED (Light Emitting Diode) TVs are simply LCD TVs with a different
kind of backlighting. The screen remains the same but LEDs are used in
place of Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps (CCFL) that are found in most
LCD TVs.
The use of LED lighting allows the TV to be thinner than standard LCD
TVs.
LED TVs can consume up to 40% less power than a LCD TV of similar
size.
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PROJECTOR

A projector is a device which takes an image from a video source and projects it onto
a screen or other surface. These days, projectors are used for a wide range of
applications varying from home theater e systems to organizations for projecting
information and presentations onto screens large enough for rooms filled with people
to see.

SPEAKERS

Today all business and home users demand sound capabilities and thus
different types of speakers to enable users to enjoy music, movie, or a game and
the voice will be spread through the entire room. With good quality speakers,
the voice will also be audible even to people sitting in another or room or even
to neighbors.
However, in case the user wants to enjoy loud music without disturbing the
people around him, he can use a headphone.
Another device called headset was developed to allow the users to talk and
listen at the same time, using the same device.
HARD COPY OUTPUT DEVICES
Hard copy output devices produces a physical form of output. For example, the
content of a file printed on a paper is a form of hard copy output.

PRINTERS
Printer is a device that outputs text and graphics information obtained from the
computer and prints it on to a paper. Printers are available in the market in a variety
of size, speed, sophistication, and cost. The qualities of printer which are of interest
to users include:

Color: Colored printouts are needed for presentations or maps and other pages where
color is part of the information. They are more expensive,

Memory: Most printers have a small amount of memory that can be
expanded by the user. Having more memory makes enhances the speed of
printing

Resolution: The resolution of a printer means the sharpness of text and
images on paper. It is usually expressed in dots per inch (dpi). Even the least
inexpensive printer provides sufficient resolution for most purposes at 600
dpi.

Speed: Speed means number of pages that are printed in one minute. While
high speed printers are a little expensive, the inexpensive printers on the
other hand can print only about 3 to 6 sheets per minute. Color printing is
even slower.
PRINTERS contd.
PRINTERS contd.


Impact Printer. They create characters by striking an inked ribbon against the paper.
Ex., dot-matrix printers, daisywheel printers, and most types of line printer.

Non Impact Printer: Non-impact printers are much quieter than impact printers as
their printing heads do not strike the paper. They offer better print quality, faster
printing and the ability to create prints that contain sophisticated graphics.

Non-impact printers use either solid or liquid cartridge-based ink which is either
sprayed, dripped or electro statically drawn onto the page. The main types of non-
impact printer are: inkjet, printer, laser printer and thermal printer.
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PRINTER
IMPACT
CHARACTER
PRINTER
LINE
PRINTER
NON-
IMPACT
INKJET LASER
28
IMPACT
CHARACTER
PRINTER
DAISY WHEEL
LINE PRINTER
DOT MATRIX
DRUM
PRINTER
CHAIN/BAN
D PRINTER
DOT MATRIX PRINTER

A dot matrix printer prints characters and images of all types as a pattern of dots. It
has a print head (or hammer) that consists of pins representing the character or image.
The print head runs back and forth, or in an up and down motion, on the page and
prints by striking an ink-soaked cloth ribbon against the paper, much like the print
mechanism on a typewriter.

Advantages
It can produce carbon copies; offers lowest printing cost per page;
widely used for bulk printing where quality of the print is not of
much importance; is cheap; When the ink is about to finish, the
printout gradually fades rather than suddenly stopping partway through a job
It can use continuous paper rather than individual sheets, making them useful for
data logging.

Disadvantages
It creates a lot of noise when the pins strike the ribbon to the paper.
It can only print lower-resolution graphics, with limited quality
It is very slow
Poor print quality

DAISY WHEEL PRINTER

Daisy wheel printers use an impact printing technology to generate high-quality
output comparable to typewriters but three times faster.

The print head of a daisy wheel printer is a circular wheel, about 3 inches in
diameter with arms or spokes. The characters are embossed at the outer end of the
arms.

To print a character, the wheel is rotated in such a way that the character to be
printed is positioned just in front of the printer ribbon.

The spoke containing the required character is then hit by a hammer thereby
striking the ribbon to leave an impression on the paper placed behind the
ribbon. Movement of all these parts is controlled by microprocessor in the
printer.

The key benefit of using a daisy wheel printer is that the print quality is high
as the exact shape of the character hits the ribbon to leave and impression on
paper.
LINE PRINTER

Line printer is a high speed impact printer in which one typed line is printed at a
time. The speed of a line printer usually varies from 600 to 1200 lines-per-minute or
approximately 10 to 20 pages per minute. They are widely used in datacenters and in
industrial environments. Band printer is a commonly used variant of line printers.

Band Printer: A band printer (loop printer) is an impact printer . The set of characters
are permanently embossed on the band and this set cannot be changed unless the
band is replaced. The band itself revolves around hammers that push the paper
against the ribbon, allowing the desired character to be produced on the paper.
However, band printers cannot be used for any graphics printing as the characters are
predetermined and cannot be changed unless the band is changed.


Band Printer
Schematic diagram of a band printer
Line printers that print one line at a time.
Have a solid cylindrical drum with characters embossed on its surface in
the form of circular bands.
Set of hammers mounted in front of the drum in such a manner that an
inked ribbon and paper can be placed between hammers and the drum.
Can print a pre-defined set of characters in a pre-defined style as that is
embossed on the drum.
Cannot print any shape of characters, different sizes of print, and graphics
such as charts and graphs.
Impact printers and usually monochrome.
Drum of these printers is expensive and cannot be changed often.
Typical speeds are 300 to 2000 line per minute.

34

INKJET PRINTERS

In inkjet printers , the print head has several tiny nozzles, also called jets.

As the paper moves past the print head, the nozzles spray ink onto it, forming the
characters and images.

The dots are extremely small (usually between 50 and 60 microns in diameter) and
are positioned very precisely, with resolutions of up to 1440x720 dots per inch (dpi).

There is usually one black ink cartridge and one so-called color cartridge containing
ink in primary pigments (cyan, magenta, and yellow).

While inkjet printers are cheaper than laser printers, they are more expensive to
maintain. The cartridges of inkjet printers have to be changed more frequently
and the special coated paper required to produce high-quality output is very
expensive. So the cost per page of inkjet printers becomes ten times more
expensive than laser printers. Therefore, inkjet printers are not well-suited for
high-volume print jobs.
INKJET PRINTERS Contd.
LASER PRINTER

It is a non-impact printer that works at a very high speed and produces high quality
text and graphics.

It uses the photocopier technology. When a document is sent to the printer, a laser
beam "draws" the document on a drum (which is coated with a photo-conductive
material) using electrical charges.

After the drum is charged, it is rolled in toner (a dry powder type of ink).

The toner sticks to the charged image on the drum.

The toner is transferred onto a piece of paper and fused to the paper with heat and
pressure.

After the document is printed, the electrical charge is removed from the drum
and the excess toner is collected.
While color laser printers are also available in the market but users prefer
only monochrome printers because a color laser printer is up to 10 times more
expensive than a monochrome laser printer.
LASER PRINTER Contd.
PLOTTERS
A plotter is used to print vector graphics with a high print quality. They are widely
used to draw maps, in scientific applications and in applications like CAD, CAM and
CAE
A drum plotter is used to draw graphics on a paper that is wrapped around a drum. It
works by rotating the drum back and forth to produce vertical motion. The pen which
is mounted on a carriage is moved across the width of the paper. Hence, the vertical
movement of the paper and the horizontal movement of the pen create the required
design under the control of the computer.

In a flatbed plotter, the paper is spread on the flat rectangular surface of the plotter
and the pen is moved over it. Flatbed plotters are less expensive and used in many
smaller computing systems. In this type of plotter, the paper is not moved rather
plotting is done by moving an arm that moves a pen over paper.