Input Devices

Devices used to provide data and instructions to the computer are called Input devices.
Some important input devices are
Key board, Mouse, Scanner, MICR, Web camera, Microphone etc.
1. Keyboard: The Key board is used for typing text into the computer. It is also known as standard
Input device. A computer keyboard is similar to that of a type writer with additional keys. The
most commonly available computer keyboard has 104 keys.
There are different types of keys on the keyboard. The keys are categorized as :

Alphanumeric keys , including letters & numbers.

Punctuation keys, such as colon (:), semicolon (;) Question mark (?), Single & double

Special keys such as arrow keys, control keys, function keys (F1 to F12), HOME, END etc.

2.. Mouse: It is a device that controls the movement of the cursor on a monitor. A mouse will have 2
buttons on its top. The left button is the most frequently used button. There will be a wheel between the
left and right buttons. This wheel enables us to smoothly scroll through screens of information. As we
move the mouse, the pointer on the monitor moves in the same direction. Optical mouse is another
advanced pointing device that uses a light emitting component instead of the mouse ball. Mouse cannot
be used for entering the data. It is only useful to select the options on the screen.

3. Scanner: : It is an input device that can read text or illustrations printed on paper and translate into
digital form. The main advantage of these scanners is that the data need not be entered separately
resulting in saving lot of time.

Scanners are of two types: i) optical scanners ii) MICR

i) Optical scanners:
a. Optical character Recognition(OCR): In this, characters are read with the help of a light. This is
used in office atomization, documentation in library etc.
b. Optical mark recognition(OMR): It is a technology where an OMR device senses the presence or
absence of a mark such as a pencil mark. OMR is used in tests such as aptitude tests.
c. Optical barcode recognition(OBCR): Barcode readers are photoelectric scanners that read the bar
codes or vertical zebra striped marks printed on product containers. This is used in super markets, book
shops etc.
ii. MICR: This is widely used in banks to process the cheques. This allows the computer to recognize
characters printed using magnetic ink.
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4. Magnetic Ink Character Recognition(MICR): : It is a character recognition technology used
primarily by the banking industry to facilitate the processing of the cheques. MICR characters ( cheque
No., Acc.No.etc) are printed in special ink usually containing iron oxide. When a document that
contains the ink needs to be read, it passes through a machine which magnetizes the ink and there will
be a reader sorter unit which translates the magnetic information into characters. MICR provides a
secure, high speed of scanning and processing information. It scans about 2600 cheques/min.

Output devices

Any device that is capable of representing information on a computer is called an Output device.
Output devices receive information from the CPU and present it to the user in the desired form.

Some important Output devices are : Monitor, Printer

1 .Terminal/Monitor: It is similar to TV screen- either a monochrome (black & white) or colour and
it displays the output. It is also referred as Visual Display Unit(VDU). Several types of monitors are in
use. Some of them are Colour Graphic Adapter(CGA), Enhanced Graphics Adaptor(EGA) , Video
Graphics Adapter (VGA) and Super Video Graphics Adapter (SVGA).
The screen sizes differ from system to system. The standard size is 24 lines by 80 characters. Most
systems have provision for scrolling which helps in moving the text vertically or horizontally on the
screen.

2 . Printer: A printer is used to transfer data from a computer onto paper. The paper copy obtained
ent printers and their speeds are as follows:
S. No. Type Mode of Printing Speed
1 Dot Matrix Prints the character in dotted pattern 200/300 to 700
printer through printer ribbon using either 24 CPS
pin or 9 pin
2 Ink Jet printer Work by spraying ionized ink Slow, 90 CPS
3 Laser printer Also called page printer. Uses laser 6 to 12 PPM
beam to produce an image.
4 Line printer Prints lines at a time instead of single 300 to 600 LPM
characters.
5 Plotter Produces drawings or graphs through
pens which are filled with different
colours.
( CPS: Characters Per Second; PPM: Pages Per Minutes; LPM : Lines Per Minute)

Laser printer

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 MEMORY OF THE COMPUTER
Memory or storage capacity is one of the important components of a computer. Any storage
unit of a computer system is classified on the basis of the following criteria:

1. Access time: This is the time required to locate and retrieve stored data from the storage unit in
response to program instructions.

2. Storage capacity: It is the amount of data that can be stored in the storage unit.

3. Cost per bit of storage.

Units of memory: The computer stores a character in the storage cells with binary (0,1) mechanism.
Thus the basic unit of memory is a bit (binary digit 0,1). To store a character, a computer requires 8

computer is measured in the number of words it can store and is expressed in terms of bytes. The
different units of measurement are

8 Bits = 1 Byte

210 (or) 1024 Bytes = 1 Kilo Byte (KB)

210 (or)1024 KB = 1 Mega Byte (MB)

210 (or)1024 MB = 1 Gega Byte (GB)

Conversion :

ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange.

This code has given alphabets like some numbers which can be converted to Binary form.
A- 90 and a 121
By using these codes the alphabets can be converted to digital & hence to Binary form.
Types of Memory : A computer memory is of two types
1. Primary Memory ( Internal storage) 2. Secondary Memory ( External storage)

Primary Memory : Primary memory is also called internal memory and is an important part of a
computer. It is the main area in a computer where the data is stored. The stored data can be recalled
instantly and correctly whenever desired. This memory can be quickly accessed by the CPU for reading
or storing information. Primary memory is further classified into two types:

Random Access Memory (RAM) and Read- Only Memory (ROM )

RAM:
RAM is also known as read/write memory as information can be read from and written onto it. RAM is
a place in a computer that holds instructions for the computer, its programs and the data. The CPU can
directly access the data from RAM almost immediately. However, the storage of data and instructions in
RAM is temporary, till the time the computer is running. It disappears from RAM as soon as the power
to the computer is switched off. i.e it is volatile memory.

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ROM:
It is called Read-only memory as information can only be read from and not written or changed onto
- output instructions put
by the manufacturer to operate the computer. The storage of data and instructions in ROM is permanent.
It does not depend on the power supply. i.e it is non-volatile memory.

Secondary memory: The primary memory which is faster (and hence expensive) is generally not
ry
memory
permanent basis which can be transferred to the primary memory whenever required for processing.
Data are stored in secondary storage in the same binary codes as in the main (primary memory) storage.
Some of the devices of secondary storages are Floppy Disk, Hard Disk, CD-ROM, DVD and Flash
drive.

1. Floppy Disk flexible Vinyl material. It has a small

hole on one si Which protects accidental writing/deleting the
information from the disk. There is a hole in the centre through which the spindle of drive unit rotates
the disk. The disks are available in two sizes of 5.25 and 3.5 inches and these could be either low-
density or high-density floppies. Storage capacity of floppies are measured in kilobytes (KB) and
megabytes (MB). The details about the storage capacities of the floppies are presented below:
Floppy Disk Storage Capacity Size (Diameter)
Low Density 360 KB 5.25 inches
High Density 1.2 MB 5.25 inches
High Density 1.44 MB 3.5 inches
Extended 2.8 MB 3.5 inches

2. Hard Disk: The hard disk can hold more information than the floppy disk and the retrieval of
information from hard disk is faster when compared to floppies or tapes. A hard disk is fixed inside the
CPU and its capacity ranges from 20 MB onwards. The hard disk is made up of a collection of discs
(one below the other) known as platters on which the data is recorded. These platters are coated with
magnetic material. It is less sensitive to external environmental disorders and hence the storage in hard
disk is safe. A small hard disk might be as much as 25 times larger than a floppy disk. Storage Capacity
of hard disks varies from 20 MB to several Gega bytes like 80GB, 160GB.

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3. CD-ROM: CD-ROM stands for Compact Disk Read Only Memory. It is used to store a wide variety
of information. Its main advantage is that it is portable and can hold a large amount of data.. The storage
capacity of most CD-ROMs is approximately 650 MB or 700 MB.
CD-ROMs have the following variations:
(i) CD-R(Compact disc Recordable): Data can be written onto it just once. The stored data can be read.
Data once written onto it cannot be erased.
(ii) CD-RW(Compact disc Rewritable): It is also called erasable CD. Data once written onto it can be
erased to write or record new information many times.
To use a CD-ROM, a device called CD drive is needed.

4. DVD: DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disc. It is similar to a CD-ROM, except that it can store
larger amounts of data. The storage capacity of a DVD is at least 4.7MB. DVDs that can store up to
17GBs are also available. Because of their capacity, DVDs are generally used to store a very large
multimedia presentations and movies that combine high quality sound and graphics.

5. Flash Drive: It is a small, portable device that can be used to store, access and transfer data. Due to
its small size, it is commonly called Pen drive. It is also called USB drive. We can read, write, copy,
delete, and move data from computer to pen drive or pen drive to computer. It comes in various storage
capacities of 2GB, 4GB, 8GB etc. It is popular because it is easy to use and small enough to be carried
in a pocket. This device is plugged into the USB port of the computer and the computer automatically
detects this device.

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