FYBMS A-48

DATE: 14/12/09
SIGNATURE:

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 Acknowledgement

I Shaikh Riyaz Abdul Salam, the

student of Nirmala Memorial Foundation College
of Commerce and Science, studying in F.Y.B.M.S.
A-48, had a great pleasure in presenting my
efforts of developing my complete project in a
very satisfactory and appreciable manner.
My efforts have been a success
due to the co-operation of the college librarian
and my family members.
I owe to my professor and the
project guide, debt of gratitude, expert guidance
and invaluable co-operation without whose help
this project could not have been possible.

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 INDEX

Sr. no. Topic Page

1 COMPUTER 4
• TYPES OF COMPUTER 5
• PARTS OF COMPUTER 8
2 INPUT DEVICES 15
• KEYBOARD 16
• MOUSE 21
• SCANNER 27
• JOYSTICK 35
• WEBCAM 38
3 OUTPUT DEVICE 40
• SCREEN OR MONITOR 41
• SPEAKERS 43
• PRINTER 45
• PROJECTER 48
• PLOTTER 50

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 4 BIBLOGRAHY 51
COMPUTER
A computer is a device that accepts information (in the form of
digitalized data) and manipulates it for some result based on a
program or sequence of instructions on how the data is to be
processed. Complex computers also include the means for storing
data (including the program, which is also a form of data) for
some necessary duration. A program may be invariable and built
into the computer (and called logic circuitry as it is on
microprocessors) or different programs may be provided to the
computer (loaded into its storage and then started by an
administrator or user). Today's computers have both kinds of
programming.
Most histories of the modern computer begin with the Analytical
Engine envisioned by Charles Babbage following the
mathematical ideas of George Boole, the mathematician who first
stated the principles of logic inherent in today's digital computer.
Babbage's assistant and collaborator, Ada Lovelace, is said to
have introduced the ideas of program loops and subroutines and
is sometimes considered the first programmer. Apart from
mechanical calculators, the first really useable computers began
with the vacuum tube, accelerated with the invention of the
transistor, which then became embedded in large numbers in
integrated circuits, ultimately making possible the relatively low-
cost personal computer.
Modern computers inherently follow the ideas of the stored
program laid out by John von Neumann in 1945. Essentially, the
program is read by the computer one instruction at a time, an
operation is performed, and the computer then reads in the next
instruction, and so on. Recently, computers and programs have
been devised that allow multiple programs (and computers) to
work on the same problem at the same time in parallel. With the
advent of the Internet and higher bandwidth data transmission,
programs and data that are part of the same overall project can
be distributed over a network and embody the Sun Microsystems
slogan: "The network is the computer."

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 Types of computer
Microcomputers (Personal computers)
Microcomputers are the most common type of computers in existence today,
whether at work in school or on the desk at home. The term
"microcomputer" was introduced with the advent of single chip
microprocessors. The term "microcomputer" itself, is now practically an
anachronism.
These computers include:
• Desktop computers
• Laptop and notebook computers
• Tablet PC
• Palmtop computers
• Personal digital assistants (more commonly known as PDA's)
• Programmable calculator
Minicomputers (Midrange computers)
A minicomputer (colloquially, mini) is a class of multi-user computers that
lies in the middle range of the computing spectrum, in between the largest
multi-user systems (mainframe computers) and the smallest single-user
systems (microcomputers or personal computers). The contemporary term
for this class of system is midrange computer, such as the higher-end
SPARC, POWER and Itanium -based systems from Sun Microsystems, IBM and
Hewlett-Packard.
Mainframe Computers
The term mainframe computer was created to distinguish the traditional,
large, institutional computer intended to service multiple users from the
smaller, single user machines. These computers are capable of handling and
processing very large amounts of data quickly. Mainframe computers are
used in large institutions such as government, banks and large corporations.
These institutions were early adopters of computer use, long before personal
computers were available to individuals. "Mainframe" often refers to
computers compatible with the computer architectures established in the
1960s. Thus, the origin of the architecture also affects the classification, not
just processing power.
Mainframes are measured in integer operations per second or MIPS. An
example of integer operation is moving data around in memory or I/O
devices. A more useful industrial benchmark is transaction processing as

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defined by the Transaction Processing Performance Council. Mainframes are
built to be reliable for transaction processing as it is commonly understood in
the business world: a commercial exchange of goods, services, or money. A
typical transaction, as defined by the Transaction Processing Performance
Council, would include the updating to a database system for such things as
inventory control (goods), airline reservations (services), or banking (money).
A transaction could refer to a set of operations including disk read/writes,
operating system calls, or some form of data transfer from one subsystem to
another.
Classes by function
Servers
Server usually refer to a computer that is dedicated to providing a
service. For example, a computer dedicated to a database may be
called a "database server". "File servers" manage a large
collection of computer files. "Web servers" process web pages
and web applications. Many smaller servers are actually personal
computers that have been dedicated to providing services for
other computers.
Workstation
Workstations are computers that are intended to serve one user
and may contain special hardware enhancements not found on a
personal computer.
Embedded computers
Embedded computers are computers that are a part of a machine
or device. Embedded computers generally execute a program
that is stored in non-volatile memory and is only intended to
operate a specific machine or device. Embedded computers are
very common. Embedded computers are typically required to
operate continuously without being reset or rebooted, and once
employed in their task the software usually cannot be modified.
An automobile may contain a number of embedded computers;
however, a washing machine and a DVD player would contain
only one. The central processing units (CPUs) used in embedded
computers are often sufficient only for the computational
requirements of the specific application and may be slower and
less expensive than CPUs found in a personal computer.
Supercomputer
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A supercomputer is focused on performing tasks involving intense
numerical calculations such as weather forecasting, fluid
dynamics, nuclear simulations, theoretical astrophysics, and
complex scientific computations. A supercomputer is a computer
that is at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly
speed of calculation. The term supercomputer itself is rather fluid,
and today's supercomputer tends to become tomorrow's ordinary
computer. Supercomputer processing speeds are measured in
floating point operations per second or FLOPS. Example of floating
point operation is the calculation of mathematical equations in
real numbers. In terms of computational capability, memory size
and speed, I/O technology, and topological issues such as
bandwidth and latency, Supercomputers are the most powerful.
Supercomputers are very expensive and not cost-effective just to
perform batch or transaction processing. Transaction processing
is handled by less powerful computer such as server computer or
mainframe.

Parts of the computer

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Everything inside the computer is connected to a
circuit board called the 'motherboard'. The
motherboard has sockets for low-level programming
(BIOS), the computer's brain, called a CPU; the
computer's memory (RAM, ROM and CMOS); and for
add-on cards to control the video (picture), audio
(sound), printer and anything else that might be
connected to the computer. You may also find a
modem inside on an add-on card.

CPU: stands for 'Central

Processing Unit' and is the
'brain' of the computer. Most
CPU's today are made by Intel
and bear such names as
'Pentium', 'Pentium Pro' and
'Pentium II'. Older Intel CPU's
include the 80486 and 80386
families. Other manufacturers

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also make CPU's: Motorola for the Macintosh, AMD
and Cirrus for PC's and others. The 'speed' of a
CPU's processing is measured in megahertz. The
CPU is the place that holds info about the operating
system (DOS or Windows, for example).

RAM: RAM is what

you know as
“Memory”, as in how
much memory does
your computer
have? It is not
permanent memory
- the RAM is erased
when the computer
turns off. Permanent
memory is stored on
the hard drive.
Memory is measured in increments of bits and
bytes. Generally the least memory you should ever
have with a Pentium computer is 64 MB (megabytes:
look up kilo-, mega-, and giga- for more info), and
more is much better. There are places on the
motherboard (called “slots”) for memory modules.
The memory modules are small printed circuit
boards with memory chips on them and are usually
either SIMM’s (Single Inline Memory Modules) or
DIMM’s (Dual Inline Memory Module).
Don't confuse this with ROM.

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 This
is an

add-in or expansion board such as a video card,

sound card or modem. On every motherboard there
are places to add circuit boards to extend the
capabilities of the computer. The most common
circuit boards used are the internal modem, sound
card, and the video display adapter. There are
various types of expansion slots that may be on the
motherboard. The ISA (Industry Standards
Association) expansion slot is the older type and
most of the older circuit boards used this type of
slot. A more sophisticated type of slot is the PCI and
the newer modems, and more sophisticated sound
cards require this type of slot. The newest type slot
in a PC is the AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) slot,
which is specifically designed for a video display
adapter. The AGP port enables high performance
graphics capabilities, especially for 3D graphics.
The video card controls what you see on the
monitor. It determines how many dots across the
screen and down the screen the computer can look
after. The more dots, the more information or the
more detail you can see. The video card also
controls how many colors you can see. Most
computers today can show anywhere from 256
colors to many millions of colors. The sound card
controls the sound. Most computers come with

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pretty cheap speakers, and the sound card can
probably produce much better sound than the
speakers can. With good speakers, today's sound
cards can make your computer sound as good as a
stereo!

The hard drive uses disks that are made of

aluminum or glass (and therefore 'hard'). Each disk
can store much more information than either a
floppy or CD-ROM. Sometimes, there may be several
disks in a hard drive. However, the disks in a normal
hard drive can not be removed or replaced. Today,
hard drives are measured in gigabytes. That's one
thousand million bytes. 1 gigabyte is about 11/3 CD-
ROM disks. Sometimes a special cache is used for
quick retrieval of often-used information (such as
web pages). This is just a separate directory on the
hard drive.

Generally when we talk about a floppy

disk drive we are talking about the drive
that uses the 3.5 inch 1.44Mb floppy disk
in it. There have been other types that have come

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and gone.

CD-ROM stands for Compact

Disk – Read Only Memory. The
original name was WORM
drive, which meant Write Once
Read Many. So the term CD-
ROM is not really very
accurate, but it is the name
that has stuck.

At one time there was the PC keyboard, the AT

keyboard, and the 101 key enhanced keyboard,
which had F9 through F12 keys and a separate
numeric keypad. Now the 101 key enhanced
keyboard is the standard type and keyboards are
named according to the type of connection it makes
to the computer. The two common types of
connectors that go from the keyboard to the
computer motherboard are the AT and the PS/2.
The AT is the larger older type, and the PS/2 is a
newer type and communicates better with he
computer.

There are a lot of varieties of mice in use today.

Some have two buttons, some have 3 buttons, and

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some have a roller ball on top and don't require you
to actually move the mouse on the desktop. There
are also programmable mice, touch pads that
substitute for a mouse, etc.. The standard types are
the Serial, and the PS/2. The Serial mouse plugs into
one of the 9 pin serial port of your computer
(COM1), and the PS/2 mouse plugs into a special
PS/2 port on your computer.

A modem allows your

computer to connect to another computer using the
normal telephone line. It converts data from a
computer format, which requires many wires, into a
format that can be sent using only the two wires of a
telephone line. At the other end of the telephone
wires the process is reversed. Data transfer rates
from the modem vary from 14.4Kbs to 56Kbs.
(14.4Kbs, 28.8Kbs, 33.6Kbs, 56Kbs) There are
special types of modems such as cable modems that
can communicate at much higher data rates.

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 The USB (Universal Serial Bus) connector is the
newest type port (connector) on the PC. It is
extremely easy to use. You just plug in a USB
compatible device and the computer automatically
configures itself to use the device. The computer
does not have to be turned off or rebooted. As many
as 127 USB peripherals can be plugged into a
computer at one time. At 12Mbits per second it is
more than 100 times as fast as a serial port. The
next generation USB motherboards will
communicate at 480Mbits per second.

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Input Devices
There are several ways to get new information or input into a
computer. The two most common ways are the keyboard and the
mouse. The keyboard has keys for characters (letters, numbers
and punctuation marks) and special commands. Pressing the keys
tells the computer what to do or what to write. The mouse has a
special ball that allows you to roll it around on a pad or desk and
move the cursor around on screen. By clicking on the buttons on
the mouse, you give the computer directions on what to do. There
are other devices similar to a mouse that can be used in its place.
A trackball has the ball on top and you move it with your finger. A
touchpad allows you to move your finger across a pressure
sensitive pad and press to click.

Other types of input devices allow you to

put images into the computer. A scanner
copies a picture or document into the
computer. There are several types of
scanners and some look very different,
but most look like a flat tray with a glass
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pane and a lid to cover it. You can input photographs into a
computer with a digital camera. Photos are taken with the camera
away from the computer and stored on a memory chip. Then the
camera is plugged into the computer, so that the images can be
downloaded. Another input device is a graphics tablet. A pressure
sensitive pad is plugged into the computer. When you draw on
the tablet with the special pen (never use an ink pen or pencil!),
the drawing appears on the screen. The tablet and pen can also
be used like a mouse to move the cursor and click.

KEYBOARD
In computing, a keyboard is an input device, partially modeled
after the typewriter keyboard, which uses an arrangement of
buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic
switches. A keyboard typically has characters engraved or printed
on the keys and each press of a key typically corresponds to a
single written symbol. However, to produce some symbols
requires pressing and holding several keys simultaneously or in
sequence. While most keyboard keys produce letters, numbers or
signs (characters), other keys or simultaneous key presses can
produce actions or computer commands.
In normal usage, the keyboard is used to type text and numbers
into a word processor, text editor or other program. In a modern
computer, the interpretation of keypresses is generally left to the
software. A computer keyboard distinguishes each physical key
from every other and reports all keypresses to the controlling
software. Keyboards are also used for computer gaming, either
with regular keyboards or by using keyboards with special gaming
features, which can expedite frequently used keystroke
combinations. A keyboard is also used to give commands to the
operating system of a computer, such as Windows' Control-Alt-

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Delete combination, which brings up a task window or shuts down
the machine

Types
Standard
Standard keyboards for desktop computers, such as the 101-key US
traditional keyboards or the 104-key Windows keyboards, include alphabetic
characters, punctuation symbols, numbers and a variety of function keys.
The internationally-common 102/105 key keyboards have a smaller 'left shift'
key and an additional key with some more symbols between that and the
letter to its right (usually Z or Y).

Laptop-size
Keyboards on laptops and notebook computers usually have a shorter travel
distance for the keystroke and a reduced set of keys. They may not have a
numerical keypad, and the function keys may be placed in locations that
differ from their placement on a standard, full-sized keyboard.

The keyboards on laptops have a shorter travel distance and a reduced set
of keys.
Gaming and multimedia
Keyboards with extra keys, such as multimedia keyboards, have special keys
for accessing music, web and other frequently used programs and. For
example, 'ctrl+marked on color-coded keys are used for some software
applications and for specialized uses video editing.
Thumb-sized
Smaller keyboards have been introduced for laptops, PDAs,
cellphones or users who have a limited workspace. The size of a

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standard keyboard is dictated by the practical consideration that
the keys must be large enough to be easily pressed by fingers. To
reduce the size of the keyboard, the numeric keyboard to the
right of the alphabetic keyboard can be removed, or the size of
the keys can be reduced, which makes it harder to enter text.
Another way to reduce the size of the keyboard is to reduce the
number of keys and use chording keyer, i.e. pressing several keys
simultaneously. For example, the GKOS keyboard has been
designed for small wireless devices. Other two-handed
alternatives more akin to a game controller, such as the
AlphaGrip, are also used as a way to input data and text. Another
way to reduce the size of a keyboard is to use smaller buttons
and pack them closer together. Such keyboards, often called a
"thumbboard" (thumbing) are used in some personal digital
assistants such as the Palm Treo and BlackBerry and some Ultra-
Mobile PCs such as the OQO.
Numeric
Numeric keyboards contain only numbers, mathematical symbols
for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, a decimal
point, and several function keys (e.g. End, Delete, etc.). They are
often used to facilitate data entry with smaller keyboard-equipped
laptops or with smaller keyboards that do not have a numeric
keypad. A laptop does sometimes have a numeric pad, but not all
the time. These keys are also known as, collectively, a numeric
pad, numeric keys, or a numeric keypad, and it can consist of the
following types of keys:
• arithmetic operators such as +, -, *, /
• numeric digits 0-9
• cursor arrow keys
• navigation keys such as Home, End, PgUp, PgDown, etc.
• Num Lock button, used to enable or disable the numeric pad

Non-standard or special-use types

Chorded

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A keyset or chorded keyboard is a computer input device that
allows the user to enter characters or commands formed by
pressing several keys together, like playing a "chord" on a piano.
The large number of combinations available from a small number
of keys allows text or commands to be entered with one hand,
leaving the other hand free to do something else. A secondary
advantage is that it can be built into a device (such as a pocket-
sized computer) that is too small to contain a normal sized
keyboard. A chorded keyboard designed to be used while held in
the hand is called a keyer.

Virtual
Virtual keyboards, such as the I-Tech Virtual Laser Keyboard,
project an image of a full-size keyboard onto a surface. Sensors in
the projection unit identify which key is being "pressed" and relay
the signals to a computer or personal digital assistant. There is
also a virtual keyboard, the On-Screen Keyboard, for use on
Windows. The On-Screen Keyboard is an image of a standard
keyboard which the user controls by using a mouse to hover over
the desired letter or symbol, and then clicks to enter the letter.
The On-Screen Keyboard is provided with Windows as an
accessibility aid, to assist users who may have difficulties using a
regular keyboard. The iPhone uses a multi-touch screen to display
a virtual keyboard.
Touchscreens
Touchscreens, such as with the iPhone and the OLPC laptop, can
be used as a keyboard. (The OLPC initiative's second computer
will be effectively two tablet touchscreens hinged together like a
book. It can be used as a convertible Tablet PC where the
keyboard is one half-screen (one side of the book) which turns
into a touchscreen virtual keyboard.)
Foldable
Foldable (also called flexible) keyboards are made of soft plastic
or silicone which can be rolled or folded on itself for travel. When
in use, these keyboards can conform to uneven surfaces, and are
more resistant to liquids than standard keyboards. These can also

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be connected to portable devices and smartphones. Some models
can be fully immersed in water, making them popular in hospitals
and laboratories, as they can be disinfected.

A foldable keyboard.
Laser/Infrared
Some devices have recently been produced which project a
keyboard layout onto any flat surface using a laser. These devices
detect key presses via infrared, and can artificially produce the
tapping or clicking sound of a physical keyboard through their
software.

Mouse
In computing, a mouse (plural mouses, mice, or mouse devices.)
is a pointing device that functions by detecting two-dimensional

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motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse
consists of an object held under one of the user's hands, with one
or more buttons. It sometimes features other elements, such as
"wheels", which allow the user to perform various system-
dependent operations, or extra buttons or features can add more
control or dimensional input. The mouse's motion typically
translates into the motion of a pointer on a display, which allows
for fine control of a Graphical User Interface.
The name mouse, originated at the Stanford Research Institute,
derives from the resemblance of early models (which had a cord
attached to the rear part of the device, suggesting the idea of a
tail) to the common mouse.
The first marketed integrated mouse – shipped as a part of a
computer and intended for personal computer navigation – came
with the Xerox 8010 Star Information System in 1981. However,
the mouse remained relatively obscure until the appearance of
the Apple Macintosh; in 1984 PC columnist John C. Dvorak
ironically commented on the release of this new computer with a
mouse: “There is no evidence that people want to use these
things.”
A mouse now comes with most computers and many other
varieties can be bought separately.
Mechanical mouse devices

Mechanical mouse, shown with the top cover removed

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Operating an opto-mechanical mouse.
1: moving the mouse turns the ball.
2: X and Y rollers grip the ball and transfer movement.
3: Optical encoding disks include light holes.
4: Infrared LEDs shine through the disks.
5: Sensors gather light pulses to convert to X and Y vectors.

Bill English, builder of Engelbart's original mouse, invented the

ball mouse in 1972 while working for Xerox PARC. The ball-mouse
replaced the external wheels with a single ball that could rotate in
any direction. It came as part of the hardware package of the
Xerox Alto computer. Perpendicular chopper wheels housed inside
the mouse's body chopped beams of light on the way to light
sensors, thus detecting in their turn the motion of the ball. This
variant of the mouse resembled an inverted trackball and became
the predominant form used with personal computers throughout
the 1980s and 1990s. The Xerox PARC group also settled on the
modern technique of using both hands to type on a full-size
keyboard and grabbing the mouse when required.
The ball mouse utilizes two rollers rolling against two sides of the
ball. One roller detects the forward–backward motion of the
mouse and other the left–right motion. The motion of these two
rollers causes two disc-like encoder wheels to rotate, interrupting
optical beams to generate electrical signals. The mouse sends
these signals to the computer system by means of connecting
wires. The driver software in the system converts the signals into
motion of the mouse pointer along X and Y axes on the screen.

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Ball mice and wheel mice were manufactured for Xerox by Jack
Hawley, doing business as The Mouse House in Berkeley,
California, starting in 1975.
Based on another invention by Jack Hawley, proprietor of the
Mouse House, Honeywell produced another type of mechanical
mouse. Instead of a ball, it had two wheels rotating at off axes.
Keytronic later produced a similar product.
Modern computer mice took form at the École polytechnique
fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) under the inspiration of Professor
Jean-Daniel Nicoud and at the hands of engineer and watchmaker
André Guignard. This new design incorporated a single hard
rubber mouseball and three buttons, and remained a common
design until the mainstream adoption of the scroll-wheel mouse
during the 1990s. In 1985, René Sommer added a microprocessor to
Nicoud's and Guignard's design. Through this innovation, Sommer is credited
with inventing a significant component of the mouse, which made it more
"intelligent."
Another type of mechanical mouse, the "analog mouse" (now generally
regarded as obsolete), uses potentiometers rather than encoder wheels, and
is typically designed to be plug-compatible with an analog joystick. The
"Color Mouse," originally marketed by Radio Shack for their Color Computer
(but also usable on MS-DOS machines equipped with analog joystick ports,
provided the software accepted joystick input) was the best-known example.

Optical mice
An optical mouse uses a light-emitting diode and photodiodes to
detect movement relative to the underlying surface, rather than
moving some of its parts – as in a mechanical mouse.
Early optical mice

Xerox optical mouse chip

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Early optical mice, first demonstrated by two independent
inventors in 1980, came in two different varieties:
1. Some, such as those invented by Steve Kirsch of MIT and
Mouse Systems Corporation,[21][22] used an infrared LED and a
four-quadrant infrared sensor to detect grid lines printed
with infrared absorbing ink on a special metallic surface.
Predictive algorithms in the CPU of the mouse calculated the
speed and direction over the grid.
2. Others, invented by Richard F. Lyon and sold by Xerox, used
a 16-pixel visible-light image sensor with integrated motion
detection on the same chip[23][24] and tracked the motion of
light dots in a dark field of a printed paper or similar mouse
pad.[25]
These two mouse types had very different behaviors, as the
Kirsch mouse used an x-y coordinate system embedded in the
pad, and would not work correctly when the pad was rotated,
while the Lyon mouse used the x-y coordinate system of the
mouse body, as mechanical mice do.

The optical sensor from a Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer

(v. 1.0A)

Modern optical mice

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Optical mouse sensor disassembled

Modern surface-independent optical mice work by using an

optoelectronic sensor to take successive images of the surface on
which the mouse operates. As computing power grew cheaper, it
became possible to embed more powerful special-purpose image-
processing chips in the mouse itself. This advance enabled the
mouse to detect relative motion on a wide variety of surfaces,
translating the movement of the mouse into the movement of the
pointer and eliminating the need for a special mouse-pad. This
advance paved the way for widespread adoption of optical mice.
Optical mice illuminate the surface that they track over, using an
LED or a laser diode. Changes between one frame and the next
are processed by the image processing part of the chip and
translated into movement on the two axes using an optical flow
estimation algorithm. For example, the Avago Technologies
ADNS-2610 optical mouse sensor processes 1512 frames per
second: each frame consisting of a rectangular array of 18×18
pixels, and each pixel can sense 64 different levels of gray.
Laser mice
The laser mouse uses an infrared laser diode instead of an LED to
illuminate the surface beneath their sensor. As early as 1998, Sun
Microsystems provided a laser mouse with their Sun SPARCstation
servers and workstations. However, laser mice did not enter the
mainstream market until 2004, when Logitech, in partnership with
Agilent Technologies, introduced its MX 1000 laser mouse.[28] This
mouse uses a small infrared laser instead of an LED and has
significantly increased the resolution of the image taken by the
mouse. The laser enables around 20 times more surface tracking
power to the surface features used for navigation compared to
conventional optical mice, via interference effects.

A wireless mouse on a mouse pad

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Manufacturers often engineer their optical mice – especially
battery-powered wireless models – to save power when possible.
In order to do this, the mouse dims or blinks the laser or LED
when in standby mode (each mouse has a different standby
time). This function may also increase the laser / LED life. Mice
designed specifically for gamers, such as the Logitech G5 or the
Razer Copperhead, often lack this feature in an attempt to reduce
latency and to improve responsiveness.
A typical implementation in Logitech mice has four power states,
where the sensor is pulsed at different rates per second:
• 1500 – full on condition for accurate response while moving,
illumination appears bright.
• 100 – fallback active condition while not moving, illumination
appears dull.
• 10 – standby
• 2 – sleep state
Some other mice turn the sensor fully off in the sleep state,
requiring a button click to wake.
Optical mice utilizing infrared elements (LEDs or lasers) offer
substantial increases in battery life. Some Logitech mice, such as
the V450 848 nm laser mouse, are capable of functioning on two
AA batteries for a full year, due to the low power requirements of
the infrared laser.

Scanner

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Image scanner.
In computing, a scanner is a device that optically scans images,
printed text, handwriting, or an object, and converts it to a digital
image. Common examples found in offices are variations of the
desktop (or flatbed) scanner where the document is placed on a
glass window for scanning. Hand-held scanners, where the device
is moved by hand, have evolved from text scanning "wands" to
3D scanners used for industrial design, reverse engineering, test
and measurement, orthotics, gaming and other applications.
Mechanically driven scanners that move the document are
typically used for large-format documents, where a flatbed design
would be impractical.
Modern scanners typically use a charge-coupled device (CCD) or a
Contact Image Sensor (CIS) as the image sensor, whereas older
drum scanners use a photomultiplier tube as the image sensor. A
rotary scanner, used for high-speed document scanning, is
another type of drum scanner, using a CCD array instead of a
photomultiplier. Other types of scanners are planetary scanners,
which take photographs of books and documents, and 3D
scanners, for producing three-dimensional models of objects.
Another category of scanner is digital camera scanners, which are
based on the concept of reprographic cameras. Due to increasing
resolution and new features such as anti-shake, digital cameras
have become an attractive alternative to regular scanners. While
still having disadvantages compared to traditional scanners (such
as distortion, reflections, shadows, low contrast), digital cameras
offer advantages such as speed, portability, gentle digitizing of

27
thick documents without damaging the book spine. New scanning
technologies are combining 3D scanners with digital cameras to
create full-color, photo-realistic 3D models of objects.
In the biomedical research area, detection devices for DNA
microarrays are called scanners as well. These scanners are high-
resolution systems (up to 1 µm/ pixel), similar to microscopes.
The detection is done via CCD or a photomultiplier tube (PMT).
Scanners can be considered the successors of early
telephotography input devices, consisting of a rotating drum with
a single photodetector at a standard speed of 60 or 120 rpm
(later models up to 240 rpm). They send a linear analog AM signal
through standard telephone voice lines to receptors, which
synchronously print the proportional intensity on special paper.
This system was in use in press from the 1920s to the mid-1990s.
Color photos were sent as three separated RGB filtered images
consecutively, but only for special events due to transmission
costs.
Types of Scanner
Drum
Drum scanners capture image information with photomultiplier
tubes (PMT), rather than the charge-coupled device (CCD) arrays
found in flatbed scanners and inexpensive film scanners.
Reflective and transmissive originals are mounted on an acrylic
cylinder, the scanner drum, which rotates at high speed while it
passes the object being scanned in front of precision optics that
deliver image information to the PMTs. Most modern color drum
scanners use 3 matched PMTs, which read red, blue, and green
light respectively. Light from the original artwork is split into
separate red, blue, and green beams in the optical bench of the
scanner.
The drum scanner gets its name from the clear acrylic cylinder,
the drum, on which the original artwork is mounted for scanning.
Depending on size it is possible to mount originals up to 11"x17",
but maximum size varies by manufacturer. One of the unique
features of drum scanners is the ability to control sample area
and aperture size independently. The sample size is the area that
the scanner encoder reads to create an individual pixel. The

28
aperture is the actual opening that allows light into the optical
bench of the scanner. The ability to control aperture and sample
size separately is particularly useful for smoothing film grain when
scanning black-and white and color negative originals.
While drum scanners are capable of scanning both reflective and
transmissive artwork, a good-quality flatbed scanner can produce
good scans from reflective artwork. As a result, drum scanners
are rarely used to scan prints now that high quality inexpensive
flatbed scanners are readily available. Film, however, is where
drum scanners continue to be the tool of choice for high-end
applications. Because film can be wet-mounted to the scanner
drum and because of the exceptional sensitivity of the PMTs,
drum scanners are capable of capturing very subtle details in film
originals.
Only a few companies continue to manufacture drum scanners.
While prices of both new and used units have come down over
the last decade, they still require a considerable monetary
investment when compared to CCD flatbed and film scanners.
However, drum scanners remain in demand due to their capacity
to produce scans that are superior in resolution, color gradation,
and value structure. Also, since drum scanners are capable of
resolutions up to 12,000 PPI, their use is generally recommended
when a scanned image is going to be enlarged.

The first scanned image

In most graphic-arts operations, very-high-quality flatbed
scanners have replaced drum scanners, being both less
expensive and faster. However, drum scanners continue

29
to be used in high-end applications, such as museum-
quality archiving of photographs and print production of
high-quality books and magazine advertisements. In
addition, due to the greater availability of pre-owned
units many fine-art photographers are acquiring drum
scanners, which has created a new niche market for the
machines.

The first image scanner ever developed was a drum

scanner. It was built in 1957 at the US National Bureau of
Standards by a team led by Russell Kirsch. The first
image ever scanned on this machine was a 5 cm square
photograph of Kirsch's then-three-month-old son, Walden.
The black and white image had a resolution of 176 pixels
on a side.
Flatbed
A flatbed scanner is usually composed of a glass pane (or platen),
under which there is a bright light (often xenon or cold cathode
fluorescent) which illuminates the pane, and a moving optical
array in CCD scanning. CCD type scanners typically contain three
rows (arrays) of sensors with red, green, and blue filters. CIS
scanning consists of a moving set of red, green and blue LEDs
strobed for illumination and a connected monochromatic
photodiode array for light collection. Images to be scanned are
placed face down on the glass, an opaque cover is lowered over it
to exclude ambient light, and the sensor array and light source
move across the pane, reading the entire area. An image is
therefore visible to the detector only because of the light it
reflects. Transparent images do not work in this way, and require
special accessories that illuminate them from the upper side.
Many scanners offer this as an option.

Quality

30
Scanners typically read red-green-blue color (RGB) data from the
array. This data is then processed with some proprietary
algorithm to correct for different exposure conditions, and sent to
the computer via the device's input/output interface (usually SCSI
or bidirectional parallel port in machines pre-dating the USB
standard). Color depth varies depending on the scanning array
characteristics, but is usually at least 24 bits. High quality models
have 48 bits or more color depth. The other qualifying parameter
for a scanner is its resolution, measured in pixels per inch (ppi),
sometimes more accurately referred to as Samples per inch (spi).
Instead of using the scanner's true optical resolution, the only
meaningful parameter, manufacturers like to refer to the
interpolated resolution, which is much higher thanks to software
interpolation. As of 2009[update], a high-end flatbed scanner can
scan up to 5400 ppi and a good drum scanner has an optical
resolution of 12,000 ppi.
Manufacturers often claim interpolated resolutions as high as
19,200 ppi; but such numbers carry little meaningful value,
because the number of possible interpolated pixels is unlimited.
The size of the file created increases with the square of the
resolution; doubling the resolution quadruples the file size. A
resolution must be chosen that is within the capabilities of the
equipment, preserves sufficient detail, and does not produce a file
of excessive size. The file size can be reduced for a given
resolution by using "lossy" compression methods such as JPEG, at
some cost in quality. If the best possible quality is required
lossless compression should be used; reduced-quality files of
smaller size can be produced from such an image when required
(e.g., image designed to be printed on a full page, and a much
smaller file to be displayed as part of a fast-loading web page).
The third important parameter for a scanner is its density range.
A high density range means that the scanner is able to reproduce
shadow details and brightness details in one scan.
By combining full-color imagery with 3D models, modern hand-
held scanners are able to completely reproduce objects
electronically. The addition of 3D color printers enables accurate
miniaturization of these objects, with applications across many
industries and professions.

31
Computer connection
Scanning the document is only one part of the process. For the
scanned image to be useful, it must be transferred from the
scanner to an application running on the computer. There are two
basic issues: (1) how the scanner is physically connected to the
computer and (2) how the application retrieves the information
from the scanner.
Direct physical connection to a computer
The amount of data generated by a scanner can be very large: a
600 DPI 9"x11" (slightly larger than A4 paper) uncompressed 24-
bit image is about 100 megabytes of data which must be
transferred and stored. Recent scanners can generate this volume
of data in a matter of seconds, making a fast connection
desirable.
Scanners communicate to their host computer using one of the
following physical interfaces, listing from slow to fast:
• Parallel - Connecting through a parallel port is the slowest
common transfer method. Early scanners had parallel port
connections that could not transfer data faster than 70
kilobytes/second. The primary advantage of the parallel port
connection was economic: it avoided adding an interface
card to the computer.
• GPIB - General Purpose Interface Bus. Certain drumscanners
like the Howtek D4000 featured both a SCSI and GPIB
interface. The latter conforms to the IEEE-488 standard,
introduced in the mid ’70's. The GPIB-interface has only been
used by a few scanner manufactures, mostly serving the
DOS/Windows environment. For Apple Macintosh systems,
National Instruments provided a NuBus GPIB interface card.
• Small Computer System Interface (SCSI), which is supported
by most computers only via an additional SCSI interface
card. Some SCSI scanners are supplied together with a
dedicated SCSI card for a PC, although any SCSI controller
can be used. During the evolution of the SCSI standard
speeds increased, with backwards compatibility; a SCSI
connection can transfer data at the highest speed which

32
 both the controller and the device support. SCSI has been
largely replaced by USB and Firewire, one or both of which
are directly supported by most computers, and which are
easier to set up than SCSI.
• Universal Serial Bus (USB) scanners can transfer data
quickly, and they are easier to use and cheaper than SCSI
devices. The early USB 1.1 standard could transfer data at
only 1.5 megabytes per second (slower than SCSI), but the
later USB 2.0 standard can theoretically transfer up to 60
megabytes per second (although everyday rates are much
lower), resulting in faster operation.
• FireWire is an interface that is much faster than USB 1.1 and
comparable to USB 2.0. FireWire speeds are 25, 50, and 100,
400 and 800 megabits per second (but a device may not
support all speeds). Also known as: IEEE-1394.
• Some early scanners used a proprietary interface card rather
than a standard interface.
Indirect (network) connection to a computer
During the early nineties, professional flatbed scanners were
targeted to professional users. Some vendors (like Umax) allowed
a single scanner connected to a host computer to function as a
scanner accessible by all users within a local computer network.
This proved to be very handy to e.g. publishers, print shops, etc.
This functionality gradually disappeared after the mid-’90's as
flatbed scanners became more affordable each year. However, as
of 2000 and later, all-in-one multi-purpose devices targeted to
serve both (small) offices and consumers usually combine a
printer, scanner, copier and fax into a single apparatus available
to a whole workgroup, providing each individual fax, scan, copy
and print functionality.

Output data
The scanned result is a non-compressed RGB image, which can be
transferred to a computer's memory. Some scanners compress
and clean up the image using embedded firmware. Once on the
computer, the image can be processed with a raster graphics

33
program (such as Photoshop or the GIMP) and saved on a storage
device (such as a hard disk).
Images are usually stored on a hard disk. Pictures are normally
stored in image formats such as uncompressed Bitmap, "non-
lossy" (lossless) compressed TIFF and PNG, and "lossy"
compressed JPEG. Documents are best stored in TIFF or PDF
format; JPEG is particularly unsuitable for text. Optical character
recognition (OCR) software allows a scanned image of text to be
converted into editable text with reasonable accuracy, so long as
the text is cleanly printed and in a typeface and size that can be
read by the software. OCR capability may be integrated into the
scanning software, or the scanned image file can be processed
with a separate OCR program.

Joystick
A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a
base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is
controlling. Joysticks are often used to control video games, and
usually have one or more push-buttons whose state can also be
read by the computer. A popular variation of the joystick used on
modern video game consoles is the analog stick.
The joystick has been the principal flight control in the cockpit of
many aircraft, particularly military fast jets, where centre stick or
side-stick location may be employed (see also Centre stick vs
side-stick).
Joysticks are also used for controlling machines such as cranes,
trucks, underwater unmanned vehicles, wheelchairs, surveillance
cameras and zero turning radius lawn mowers. Miniature finger-
34
operated joysticks have been adopted as input devices for smaller
electronic equipment such as mobile phones.

Joystick elements: 1. Stick 2. Base 3. Trigger 4. Extra buttons 5.

Autofire switch 6. Throttle 7. Hat Switch (POV Hat) 8. Suction Cup

Joysticks were originally controls for an aircraft's ailerons and

elevators.
The name "joystick" is thought to originate with early 20th
century French pilot Robert Esnault-Pelterie.[1] There are also
competing claims on behalf of fellow pilots Robert Loraine, James
Henry Joyce and Mr A.E. George. Loraine is credited with entering
the term 'joystick' in his diary in 1909 when he went to Pau,
France to learn to fly at Bleriot's school. George was a pioneer
aviator who with his colleague Mr. Jobling built and flew a biplane
at Newcastle, England in 1910. He is alleged to have invented the
"George Stick" which became more popularly known as the
joystick. The George and Jobling aircraft control column is in the
collection of the Discovery Museum in Newcastle Upon Tyne,
England. The joystick itself was present in early planes, though

35
the mechanical origins themselves are uncertain. The coining of
the term 'joystick' may actually be credited to Loraine, as his is
the earliest known usage of the term, although he most certainly
did not invent the device.
The first electrical 2-axis joystick was probably invented around
1944 in Germany. The device was developed for targeting the
glide bomb Henschel Hs 293 against ship targets. Here, the
joystick was used by an operator to steer the missile towards its
target. This joystick had on-off switches rather than analogue
sensors, i.e. a digital joystick. The signal was transmitted from the
joystick to the missile via radio.
This invention was picked up by someone in the team of scientists
assembled at the Heeresversuchsanstalt in Peenemünde. Here a
part of the team on the German rocket program was developing
the Wasserfall missile, a variant of the V-2 rocket, the first
ground-to-air missile. The Wasserfall steering equipment
converted the electrical signal to radio signals and transmitted
these to the missile.
In the 1960s the use of joysticks became widespread in radio-
controlled airplane modelling systems such as the Kwik Fly
produced by Phill Kraft (1964). Kraft Systems eventually became
an important OEM supplier of joysticks to the computer industry
and other users. The first use of joysticks outside the RC aircraft
industry may have been in the control of powered wheelchairs
such as the Permobil (1963). During this time period NASA used
joysticks as control devices as part of the Apollo missions. For
example, the lunar lander test models were controlled with a
joystick.
Ralph H. Baer, inventor of television video games and the
Magnavox Odyssey console, created the first video game joysticks
in 1967. They were analog, using two potentiometers to measure
position.
The Atari standard joystick, developed for the Atari 2600 was a
digital joystick, with a single 'fire' button, and connected via a DE-
9 connector, the electrical specifications for which was for many
years the 'standard' digital joystick specification. Joysticks were
commonly used as controllers in first and second generation
game consoles, but then gave way to the familiar game pad with
36
the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Master System in
1985 and 86, though joysticks - especially arcade-style ones -
were and are popular after-market add-ons for any console.
More recently, analog sticks (or thumbsticks, due to their being
controlled by one's thumbs) have become standard on video
game consoles and have the ability to indicate the stick's
displacement from its neutral position. This means that the
software does not have to keep track of the position or estimate
the speed at which the controls are moved. These devices usually
use a magnetic flux detector to determine the position of the
stick.
In the latest aircraft, like most of the Airbus aircraft, the joystick
has found a new lease of life for flight control in the form of a
'sidestick' - a controller similar to a games joystick but which is
used to control the electronics. The sidestick saves weight,
improves movement and visibility in the cockpit and is said to be
safer in the event of an accident than the traditional 'control
yoke'.

WEBCAM
A webcam is a video capture device connected to a computer or
computer network, often using a USB port or, if connected to a
network, ethernet or Wi-Fi.

Their most popular use is for video telephony, permitting a

computer to act as a videophone or video conferencing station.
This can be used in messenger programs such as Windows Live
Messenger, Skype and Yahoo messenger services. Other popular
uses, which include the recording of video files or even still-
images, are accessible via numerous software programs,
applications and devices.

37
They are well known for their low manufacturing costs and
flexibility.Some, for example those used as online traffic
cameras, are expensive, rugged professional-grade hardware.

History
First employed in 1991, a webcam was pointed at the Trojan
room coffee pot in the computer science department of
Cambridge University. The camera was finally switched off on
August 22, 2001. The final image captured by the camera can
still be viewed at its homepage.[ The coffee machine was
repaired for free by Krups.
The oldest webcam still operating is FogCam at San Francisco
State University, which has been running continuously since
1994. One of the most widely reported-on webcam sites was
JenniCam, started in 1996, which allowed Internet users to
constantly observe the life of its namesake, somewhat like
reality TV series Big Brother, launched three years later. More
recently, the website Justin.tv has shown a continuous video and
audio stream from a mobile camera mounted on the head of the
site's star. Other cameras are mounted at bridges, public
squares and other public places, their output made available on
a public Web page in accordance with this original conception of
"webcam".

Around the turn of the century, computer hardware

manufacturers began building webcams directly into laptop and
desktop screens, thus eliminating the need to use an external
USB or Firewire camera. Gradually webcams came to be used
more for communication with one person or among a few
people, than for offering a view on a Web page for an indefinite
public.

Video calling and conferencing

As webcam capabilities have been added to instant messaging,

38
text chat services such as AOL Instant Messenger, one-to-one
live video communication over the Internet has now reached
millions of mainstream PC users worldwide. Improved video
quality has helped webcams encroach on traditional video
conferencing systems. New features such as automatic lighting
controls, real-time enhancements (retouching, wrinkle
smoothing and vertical stretch), automatic face tracking and
autofocus assist users by providing substantial ease-of-use,
further increasing the popularity of webcams.

Webcam features and performance can vary by program,

computer operating system and also by the computer's
processor capabilities. For example, 'high-quality video' is
principally available to users of certain Logitech webcams if their
computers have dual-core processors meeting certain
specifications.

Video calling support has been included in programs such as

Yahoo Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), Windows Live
Messenger, Skype, iChat, Paltalk (now PaltalkScene), Ekiga,
Stickam, Tokbox, Camfrog, Gmail, 6rounds, Meetcam and
FilmOn.

Output Devices
Output devices display information in a way that you can you can
understand. The most common output device is a monitor. It
looks a lot a like a TV and houses the computer screen. The
monitor allows you to 'see' what you and the computer are doing
together.

39
Speakers are output devices that allow
you to hear sound from your computer.
Computer speakers are just like stereo
speakers. There are usually two of them
and they come in various sizes.
A printer is another common part of a
computer system. It takes what you see
on the computer screen and prints it on
paper. There are two types of printers. The inkjet printer uses inks
to print. It is the most common printer used with home computers
and it can print in either black and white or color. Laser printers
run much faster because they use lasers to print. Laser printers
are mostly used in businesses. Black and white laser printers are
the most common, but some print in color, too.

SCREEN
Monitor or display is a piece of electrical equipment which
displays images generated by devices such as computers, without
producing a permanent record. The monitor comprises the display
device, circuitry, and an enclosure. The display device in modern
monitors is typically a thin film transistor liquid crystal display
(TFT-LCD), while older monitors use a cathode ray tube (CRT).

40
A 19" LG flat-panel LCD monitor.

Imaging Technologies
As with television, many hardware technologies exist for
displaying computer-generated output:

Liquid crystal display (LCD). TFT LCDs are the most popular
display device for computers.
Passive LCDs are noted for poor contrast and slow response.
They were used in laptops until the mid 1990s.
Thin film transistor. Nearly all modern LCD monitors are
TFTs.

Cathode ray tube (CRT)

Raster scan computer monitors produce images using
pixels. These were the most popular display device for older
computers.
Vector displays, as used on the Vectrex, scientific and radar
applications, and several early arcade machines such as
Asteroids use CRT displays because of requirement for a
deflection system, although a raster-based display may be used.

Television sets were used by most early personal and

home computers, connecting composite video to the television
set using a modulator. Resolution and image quality were
limited by the display capabilities of television.
Penetron - military aircraft displays

41
 Plasma display
Video projectors use CRT, LCD, DLP, LCoS, and other
technology to emit light to a projection screen. Front projectors
use screens as reflectors to send light back, while rear
projectors use screens as diffusers to refract light forward. Rear
projectors are often integrated into the same case as their
screen.
Surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED) and field
emission display (FED)
Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display

SPEAKERS
Computer speakers, or multimedia speakers, are speakers
external to a computer, that disable the lower fidelity built-in
speaker. They often have a low-power internal amplifier. The
standard audio connection is a 3.5mm (1/8 inch) stereo jack plug
42
often colour-coded lime green (following the PC 99 standard) for
computer sound cards. A plug and socket for a two-wire (signal
and ground) coaxial cable that is widely used to connect analog
audio and video components. Also called a "phono connector,"
rows of RCA sockets are found on the backs of stereo amplifier
and numerous A/V products. The prong is 1/8" thick by 5/16" long.
A few use an RCA connector for input. There are also USB
speakers which are powered from the 5 volts at 200 milliamps
provided by the USB port, allowing about half a watt of output
power.

Common features
Features vary by manufacturer, but may include the following:

An LED power indicator.

A 3.5-mm (1/8-inch) headphone jack.
Controls for volume, and sometimes bass and treble
A remote volume control.

Cost cutting measures and technical compatibility

In order to cut the cost of computer speakers (unless designed

for premium sound performance), speakers designed for
computers often lack an AM/FM tuner and other built-in sources
of audio. However, the male 8th-inch plug can be jury rigged
with "female 8th-inch to female stereo RCA" adapters to work
with stereo system components such as CD/DVD audio/SACD
players (although computers have CD-ROM drives of their own
with audio CD support), Audio cassette players, turntables, etc.

Despite being designed for computers, computer speakers are

electrically compatible with the aforementioned stereo
components. There are even models of computer speakers that
have stereo RCA in jacks.

43
Major computer speaker companies
Altec Lansing
Bose Corporation
Creative Labs
Cyber Acoustics
Dell
Edifier
General Electric
Harman Kardon
Hewlett-Packard
JBL
Klipsch
Logitech

PRINTER
Printer is output Device which gives the output in user
acceptable format In computing, a printer is a peripheral which
produces a hard copy (permanent readable text and/or
44
graphics) of documents stored in electronic form, usually on
physical print media such as paper or transparencies. Many
printers are primarily used as local peripherals, and are
attached by a printer cable or, in most newer printers, a USB
cable to a computer which serves as a document source. Some
printers, commonly known as network printers, have built-in
network interfaces (typically wireless and/or Ethernet), and can
serve as a hardcopy device for any user on the network.
Individual printers are often designed to support both local and
network connected users at the same time. In addition, a few
modern printers can directly interface to electronic media such
as memory sticks or memory cards, or to image capture devices
such as digital cameras, scanners; some printers are combined
with a scanner and/or fax machine in a single unit, and can
function as photocopiers. Printers that include non-printing
features are sometimes called Multifunction printers (MFP),
Multi-Function Devices (MFD), or All-In-One (AIO) printers. Most
MFPs include printing, scanning, and copying among their
features.

A Virtual printer is a piece of computer software whose user

interface and API resemble that of a printer driver, but which is
not connected with a physical computer printer.

TYPES OF PRINTERS
Toner-based printers

Toner-based printers work using the Xerographic principle that

is used in most photocopiers: by adhering toner to a light-
sensitive print drum, then using static electricity to transfer the
toner to the printing medium to which it is fused with heat and
pressure.

The most common type of toner-based printer is the laser

45
printer, which uses precision lasers to cause toner adherence.
Laser printers are known for high quality prints, good print
speed, and a low (Black and White) cost-per-copy. They are the
most common printer for many general-purpose office
applications, but are much less common as consumer printers
due to their high initial cost — although this cost is dropping.

Laser printers are available in both color and monochrome varieties.

Another toner based printer is the LED printer which uses an

array of LEDs instead of a laser to cause toner adhesion to the
print drum.

Recent research has also indicated that Laser printers emit

potentially dangerous ultrafine particles, possibly causing health
problems associated with respiration and cause pollution
equivalent to cigarettes.The degree of particle emissions varies
with age, model and design of each printer but is generally
proportional to the amount of toner required. Furthermore, a
well ventilated workspace would allow such ultrafine particles to
disperse thus reducing the health side effects.

Liquid inkjet printers

Inkjet printers operate by propelling variably-sized droplets of

liquid or molten material (ink) onto almost any sized page. They
are the most common type of computer printer for the general
consumer.

Solid ink printers

Solid Ink printers, also known as phase-change printers,

are a type of thermal transfer printer. They use solid sticks of
CMYK colored ink (similar in consistency to candle wax), which
are melted and fed into a piezo crystal operated print-head. The
printhead sprays the ink on a rotating, oil coated drum. The
paper then passes over the print drum, at which time the image

46
is transferred, or transfixed, to the page.

Solid ink printers are most commonly used as color office

printers, and are excellent at printing on transparencies and
other non-porous media. Solid ink printers can produce excellent
results. Acquisition and operating costs are similar to laser
printers. Drawbacks of the technology include high power
consumption and long warm-up times from a cold state.

Also, some users complain that the resulting prints are difficult
to write on (the wax tends to repel inks from pens), and are
difficult to feed through Automatic Document Feeders, but these
traits have been significantly reduced in later models. In
addition, this type of printer is only available from one
manufacturer, Xerox, manufactured as part of their Xerox
Phaser office printer line is also available by various Xerox
concessionaires. Previously, solid ink printers were
manufactured by Tektronix, but Tek sold the printing business to
Xerox in 2001.

UV printers

Xerox is working on an inkless printer which will use a special

reusable paper coated with a few micrometres of UV light
sensitive chemicals. The printer will use a special UV light bar
which will be able to write and erase the paper. As of early 2007
this technology is still in development and the text on the
printed pages can only last between 16–24 hours before fading.

47
 PROJECTOR
A video projector takes a video signal and projects the
corresponding image on a projection screen using a lens system.
All video projectors use a very bright light to project the image,
and most modern ones can correct any curves, blurriness, and
other inconsistencies through manual settings. Video projectors
are widely used for conference room presentations, classroom
training, home theatre and live events applications. Projectors are
widely used in many schools and other educational settings,
connected to an interactive white board to interactively teach
pupils.

A video projector, also known as a Digital Projector, may be built

into a cabinet with a rear-projection screen (rear-projection
television, or RPTV) to form a single unified display device, now
popular for “home theater” applications.

Common display resolutions for a portable projector include

SVGA (800×600 pixels), XGA (1024×768 pixels), 720p
(1280×720 pixels), and 1080p (1920×1080 pixels).

The cost of a device is not only determined by its resolution, but

also by its brightness. A projector with a higher light output
(measured in lumens, abbreviated “lm”) is required for a larger
screen or a room with a high amount of ambient light. A rating
of 1500 to 2500 ANSI lumens or lower is suitable for smaller
screens with controlled lighting or low ambient light. Between
2500 and 4000 lm is suitable for medium-sized screens with
some ambient light or dimmed light. Over 4000 lm is
appropriate for very large screens in a large room with no
lighting control (for example, a conference room). Projected
image size is important; because the total amount of light does
not change, as size increases, brightness decreases. Image sizes
are typically measured in linear terms, diagonally, obscuring the
fact that larger images require much more light (proportional to
the image area, not just the length of a side). Increasing the

48
diagonal measure of the image by 25% reduces the image
brightness by 35%; an increase of 41% reduces brightness by
half.
PROJECTION TECHNOLOGY
CRT projector using cathode ray tubes. This typically involves a
blue, a green, and a red tube. Minimal maintenance is required
(unlike projectors that use expensive lamps which must be
periodically replaced after they burn out). This is the oldest
system still in regular use, but falling out of favor largely
because of the bulky cabinet. However, it does provide the
largest screen size for a given cost. This also covers three tube
home models, which, while bulky, can be moved (but then
usually require complex picture adjustments to get the three
images to line up correctly).
LCD projector[using LCD light gates. This is the simplest system,
making it one of the most common and affordable for home
theaters and business use. Its most common problem is a visible
“screen door” or pixelation effect, although recent advances
have minimized this.
DLP projector using Texas Instruments’ DLP technology. This
uses one, two, or three microfabricated light valves called digital
micromirror devices (DMDs). The single- and double-DMD
versions use rotating color wheels in time with the mirror
refreshes to modulate color. The most common problem with
the single- or two-DMD varieties is a visible “rainbow” which
some people perceive when moving their eyes. More recent
projectors with higher speed (2x or 4x) and otherwise optimised
color wheels have lessened this artifact. Systems with 3 DMDs
never have this problem, as they display each primary color
simultaneously.
LCOS projector using Liquid crystal on silicon.

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 PLOTTER
A plotter is a vector graphics printing device to print graphical
plots, that connects to a computer. There are two types of main
plotters. Those are pen plotters and electrostatic plotters

Pen plotters print by moving a pen across the surface of a piece

of paper. This means that plotters are restricted to line art,
rather than raster graphics as with other printers. Pen plotters
can draw complex line art, including text, but do so very slowly
because of the mechanical movement of the pens. Pen Plotters
are often incapable of creating a solid region of color; but can
hatch an area by drawing a number of close, regular lines. When
computer memory was very expensive, and processor power
was very limited, this was often the fastest way to efficiently
produce very large drawings or color high-resolution vector-
based artwork.

Traditionally, printers are primarily for printing text. This makes

it fairly easy to control, simply sending the text to the printer is
usually enough to generate a page of output. This is not the
case of the line art on a plotter, where a number of printer
control languages were created to send the more detailed
commands like "lift pen from paper", "place pen on paper", or
"draw a line from here to here". The two common ASCII-based
plotter control languages are Hewlett-Packard's HPGL2 or
Houston Instruments DMPL with commands such as "PA 3000,
2000; PD".

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 BIBLOGRAPHY
• www.google.com
• www.wikipedia.com
• www.learncomputer.com
• www.abcya.com
• www.computerhope.com

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