Information and communication technology.

ICT Assessment 04
Prepare a document about hardware devices that you know. Document should
contain with,

1) Introduction of hardware.
2) Description about each and every category.
a. Input Devices.
b. Output devices.
c. Storage devices.
d. Communication devices.
3) Attach images of several hardware devices.
4) Document should not be more than 25 pages.

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CONTENT
Introduction to hardware...................... page 2

Input devices......page 3 9

Output devices.......page 10 14

Storage devices....page 15 - 19

Communication devices.page 20 - 23

Introduction to Hardware.
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Information and communication technology.

All the electronic and mechanical devices which physically exist in the
computer system that can be seen and touch is known as Hardware. The
hardware components of the computer system together with the software are
used to carry out the required operations of the computer. Hardware
components can be categorized based on their functions. They are,

Input devices.
Output devices.
Storage devices.
Communication devices.

The basic function of processing data remains the same for all computer
systems, as illustrated in the block diagram below.

Input devices.
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These are devices used to transfer data from the external environment to the
computer system. The ideal input devices would take the least amount of time
and would transfer the data accurately with very little help from the user.

Input devices are;

Keyboard.
Mouse.
Joystick.
Scanners.
o Image/graphic scanner.
o Barcode reader.
o OCR.
o OMR.
o MICR.
Trackball.
Light pen.
Microphone.
Touch Pad.
Webcam.
Touch pen.
Digitizer.
Digital camera.

KEYBOARD.

The keyboard is the oldest and most common input device (similar to the
typewriter) and has been used since the computer was manufactured. The
keyboard converts letters, numbers and other characters into electrical signals
that are computer readable.
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These keyboards are intelligent devices and contain their own chips. Each key
is a switch which closers when that particular key is pressed. The
microprocessor scans the computer hundred times in a second to see whether
any key is pressed. If any key is pressed, the code which corresponds to the
particular key is sends to the processing unit. Then the CPU translates the code
into ASCII code, which is then used by the computer program.

There are different types of keyboard. Namely;

I.
II.
III.

QWERTY keyboard - Most commonly used keyboard.

BWORAC keyboard - Most frequently used, letters are in the middle
of the keyboard.
Wireless keyboard - Data transmit via IR light waves.

MOUSE.
Mouse is a pointing device. A mouse is another popular input device that forms
an essential part of the computer system. The movement of the mouse over a
flat surface is mirrored by a pointer on the monitor screen. In a conventional
mouse, on the underside of the device is ball which rotates as the mouse is
moved by the user. The sensors pick up this movement to move the cursor. The
mouse usually has two or three buttons which are used to make selections on
the screen and a scroll wheel, which can also act as a third button.
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There are different types of mouse. They are;

I.
II.

III.
IV.
V.

Mechanical mouse Most commonly used in earlier days.

Optical mouse Emits a small beam of red light which
bouncers of the surface
into a sensor. The sensor then send coordinates to the
computer and causes the cursor to move on the screen.
IR Optical mouse Use an infra red sensor instead of LED. It
is power saving and more accurate.
Laser mouse Use an infra red laser diode instead of LED.
Wireless/codeless mouse Use IR or radio
waves to
transmit data to the system unit.

JOYSTICK.
Joystick is a pointing device similar to trackball. It consists of a vertical handle
like a gearshift lever mounted on a base. The stick fits through a movable shaft
into a cable. The cursor moves on the screen according to the way the stick
moved. They are mainly used in video games and in scanners in hospitals.

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SCANNERS.

Scanner is an input device. Scanners are in different types according to their

use. They are;
1) Image/Graphic scanners - It converts text, drawings and
photographs into digital form that can be stored in a computer and
then manipulated. There are cheap hand-held scanners available
as well as flatbed A4 size ones. Both black and white and color
scanners are available.

2)

Barcode readers This reads a set of parallel lines

of
different thicknesses which is black and white, which
represents a number. These barcodes can be seen in manufactured
goods.

3) OCR (Optical Character Reader) This is useful to convert text from

a paper to an electronic format that can be edited, using word
processing software. But OCR cannot identify handwritten
characters and characters of unusual font.

4) OMR (Optical Mark

Reader) This is used in
marking multiple choice answer sheets. It sense marks printed on
special forms in specific positions.

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5) MICR (Magnetic Ink Character

Recognition/ Reader) This is
used to read characters which are printed
using magnetic ink. As the document is passed through the reader,
the ink is magnetized and the characters are recognized by their
strength of magnetism. Cheques are used for this.

TRACKBALL.
Trackball is an upside down mouse. The user rotates the ball, but the mouse
stays still. When compared to mouse the advantage of the trackball is that it
takes a less desk space and that is why they are
often used in
laptops.

LIGHTPEN.
Light pen is another input device that is connected to the computer. It is a pen
shaped device. The pen is used to select a point on the screen. It is used in
computer aided design where one has to draw figures, lines, etc.

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MICROPHONE.
A
microphone can be used to record voices or sounds and
place them onto computers, generally as a wav file. It converts sound waves
into electrical waves.

TOUCH PAD.

This is a small, touch-sensitive pad used as a pointing device with some

portable computers. By moving the finger along the touch pad, you can move
the pointer on the display screen and you click by tapping the pad.

WEBCAM.
Webcam is an input device. The webcam captures the image of the surrounding
and can be displayed on the screen. The webcam is also used in video links and
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for conferences done through the computer. The webcam is a peripheral device
but also fixed in portable computers like laptops.

TOUCH PEN.
Touch pen is an input device which takes the shape of a pen
similar to a light pen. Touch pens re used mostly in I-pads,
touch pones, etc. This is used to select on the screen.

DIGITAL CAMERA.
A digital camera records images in the digital form. The images captured are
transferred to the computer by the use of a USB cable, a memory card or
wireless technology. The main advantage of a digital camera is being able to
see the final image before printing so that faulty pictures can be instantly
erased. It is also convenient since you can also print a picture without waiting
to develop an entire roll of film, or wasting the whole roll for just a few pictures.

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Output devices.

Output devices are used to obtain soft copies (what we see on the screen) or
hard copies (printouts) of the result after processing. With the widespread use
of e-mail, output can be in the form of electronic message to another computer.

Output devices are;

Monitors/ VDU (Visual Display unit)

o CRT (Cathode Ray Tube).
o TFT (Thin Film Transistor).
o LCD (Liquid Crystal Display).
o LED (Light Emitting Diode).
Printers.
o Laser printers.
o Ink-Jet printers.
o Dot-Matrix printers.
Graph plotters.
Computer speakers.
Multimedia projectors.

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MONITOR/ VDU (VISUAL DISPLAY UNIT).

VDU, display, screen are all referred to the monitor which is an input device.
There
are several types of monitors according to their resolution and
use.
Resolution means the number of dots or pixels in the
computer. The different types of monitors are;

1) CRT Cathode Ray Tube is the least expensive type of monitors.

They use vacuum tubes containing an electron gun that fires
against a fluorescent screen, which creates
images,
made up of tiny dots. CRT monitors are
becoming increasingly rare.

2) TFT Thin Film Transistors screen is made up of thousands of tiny

pixels which are controlled by a microprocessor. TFT monitors are
highly used in laptop computers. Even though light weight or more
energy saving compared to CRT monitors, the viewing angle of TFT
monitors are yet to be improved and they cannot be used with
light pens.

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3) LCD Liquid Crystal Display are used

in laptops, TVs, etc. It only needs a less
desk space than VDUs.

4) LED Light emitting diode are used in modern laptops and in

modern TVs.

PRINTERS.

A printer is an output device used for producing printed copies of text or

graphics on papers. Printers can be classified mainly into two categories. They
are Impact printers and Non-Impact printers.
1) Laser printers These printers use toner cartridges. They offer high
speed printing and excellent quality in text and graphics. They are
more expensive than other types of printers. Compared to black
and white printers, color laser printers are much more expensive
since they use four different color toners.

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2) Ink-Jet printers These

printers
print high quality graphics. They
are less
noisy than dot-matrix printers. InkJet printers can
be expensive to use due to the cost of the cartridges which contain
the ink. However, they are repetitively cheaper than laser printers
but the print rate is slower than
that of a laser
printer.

3) Dot-Matrix printers These printers are used to print multi-part

stationary. They are cheaper and have the lowest running cost of
any printer. However, the print quality and the print rate are very
low.

GRAPH PLOTTERS.

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Graph plotters are used for printing banners, posters,

plans, maps, line diagrams and three-dimensional
drawings. Graph plotters use pens to produce images
and different pens containing different colored inks
are used to produce multi colored outputs. Plotters
can be classified as either pen plotters or pen less
plotters. Pen less plotters use
different
technologies. Currently,
high
quality work for
publication is done
using electrostatic plotters.

COMPUTER SPEAKERS.
Computer speakers are usually designed to output sounds. Also referred to as
multimedia speakers, these are external speakers usually with a plug for
computer sound card. There are also USB speakers which gain power from five
volts from the USB port. Advanced forms of computer speakers ranging widely
in quality and in price are available.

MULTIMEDIA PROJECTORS.
There are special projectors, which can be connected to the computer in the
same way as the monitor. The computer output is then projected onto a screen
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(or a wall). These are used when the output is to be showed to a large
audience.

Storage devices.

The device cable for storing data is known as storage device. There are two
types of storage devices called, primary storage devices and secondary
storage devices. Primary storage devices are not portable. They are fixed to
the system unit. But secondary storage devices are portable.
Primary storage devices.
o RAM (Random Access Memory).
o ROM (Read Only Memory).
o Hard drive.
Secondary storage devices.
o Magnetic tape.
o External hard drive.
o Optical disk.
CD (Compact Disk)
DVD (Digital Versatile Disk)
o Flash memory card.
o Flash drive.

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RAM (RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY)

All running programs and their data are temporarily stored in the RAM.
Programs can both read from and write into RAM. In generally, RAM is volatile,
as the information stored in RAM is lost when the
power is turned off.

ROM (READ ONLY MEMORY).

ROM is used to store data or programs that are permanent. The information is
generally put on the storage chip at the manufacturing stage and the contents
of the ROM cannot be changed, except
under special circumstances. Therefore, a
computer can read information stored in
Rom but cannot write to it. ROM is nonvolatile, as the information stored in Rom
remains when power is removed from the
computer.

HARD DRIVE.
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The hard drive is the computers main storage media device that permanently
stores all data on the computer. The hard drive was
first
introduced on September 13, 1956 and consists of
one or
more hard disk platters inside of air sealed casing.
Most
computer hard drives are in an internal drive bay at
the
front of the computer and connect to the
motherboard using either ATA, SCSI, or
a SATA cable and power cable. Below, is
an illustration of what the inside of a
hard disk drive looks like for a desktop
and laptop hard disk drive.
MAGNETIC TAPE.
Magnetic tape is a serial access
backing store (an item can only be
accessed after reading all the items which come
before it). These look similar to audio cassettes,
except they are large. Because of their large
capacity, they are mainly used for making backup
(security) copies of hard disks. A 3.5-inch diskette
can
hold 1.44MB of data and a large hard disk holds in excess of
10,000MB. A simple calculation (10,000/1.44) shows that to back up such a
hard disk when it is full of data and programs, you would need nearly 6500
diskettes and a large amount of time.

EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE.

An external hard drive has its own power source and is externally connected to
the computer via a special cable. External hard drives can be easily removed
and connected to another computer, giving portability and flexibility of use.

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OPTICAL DISK.
Disks that are read by laser lights are called optical disks. Optical disks are
made mainly of a type of plastic. The data is stored on a layer inside the
plastic. The main types of optical disks are CDs and DVDs.

1) CD (Compact Disk) CDROM (Read Only

Memory) drives work with
optical CD-ROM disks
which are capable of containing
significant amount of data. The most
usual amount that a CD-ROM can hold is
750 megabytes. CD-ROMs are burnt
by
the person or company that puts the
information on the disk. Burning means
that the
data cannot be erased or altered. To read
this data
you need a CDD-ROM drive.
CD-ROMs are an excellent means of storing and transporting
graphic files and application installers. Not all CD-ROM drives work
at the same speed. The faster the drive, the faster your computer
will be able to access data. This becomes particularly noticeable on
CD-ROMs that contain video.
CD-R (Recordable) disks allow you to write data onto the disk ones
only using a CD recorder. The disk then becomes a CD-ROM as the
contents cannot be changed.

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CD-RW (Re-Writable) is becoming more popular now, as they

provide the facility to data to be erased and rewritten as many as
1000 times.

2) DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) DVDs look similar to CDs but are
capable of holding more information. They are mainly used for
string movies as the quality of sound and video output is superior.
Analogous to CDs, DVDs also come in DVD-ROM (Read Only
Memory), DVD-R (Recordable) and DVD-RW (Re-Writable) types.

FLASH MEMORY CARD.

Flashed memory card uses a technology based on electrical charges being
used to program data. They are used in many electronic devices like digital
cameras, mobile phones, PDAs and video game consoles. Flash memory card
are very compact therefore easily removable. They can be used for transferring
data between devices.

FLASH DRIVE.
This is a newer type of a flash memory storage device, usually connected to
the computer through a USB port. The power to operate is drawn from the host
computer. They are extremely small and portable. Also referred to as pen
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drives, these are very convenient to use due to its large storage capacity and
compatibility. This type of device works on a plug and play method where
additional software is not needed.

Communication devices.

A communication device is a peripherally used for communication between

the computers and other devices. Modem is a popular communication device
which is normally used for internet communication. Examples of
communication devices are;

Modem.

Network card.
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Hub.

Switch.

Bluetooth.

Router.

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MODEM.
Modem is the short word for modulator-demodulator. A modem is
a device or program that enables a computer to transmit data over, for
example, telephone or cable lines. Computer information is stored digitally,
whereas information transmitted over telephone lines is transmitted in the form
of analog waves.

There are 2 types of modems;

External Modem: This is a modem separated from the system

unit in the computer case. It is connected to the serial port of the
computer by means of a cable. It is connected to the telephone
wall jack by another cable.
Internal Modem: An internal modem is a circuit board (a modem
card) that can be added to the system unit of the computer. It takes
one of the expansion slots.

NETWORK CARD.

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A network card is a piece of hardware that allows a computer to connect to

a computer network. Sometimes the network
card is integrated on the motherboard. Each
network card has a unique number; this is used
for addressing. It is called the MAC address.
MAC addresses can be used to obtain
an IP address (in those network cards that use
IP).

HUB.
A common connection point for devices in a network. Hubs are commonly used
to connect segments of a LAN. A hub contains multiple ports. When a
packet arrives at one port, it is copied to the other ports so that all segments of
the LAN can see all packets.

SWITCH.
In a telecommunications network, a switch is a device that channels incoming
data from any of multiple input ports to the specific output port that will take
the data toward its intended destination. In a
wide area packet-switched network such as
the Internet, a switch determines from the IP
address in each packet which output port to
use for the next part of its trip to the intended
destination. In the traditional circuitswitched telephone network, one or more
switches are used to set up a dedicated though
temporary connection or circuit for an
exchange between two or more parties.

BLUETOOTH.

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Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging

data over short distances (using short-wavelength radio transmissions in the
ISM band from 24002480 MHz) from fixed and mobile devices,
creating personal area networks (PANs) with high levels of security. Created by
telecoms vendor Ericsson in 1994, it was originally conceived as a wireless
alternative to RS-232 data cables. It can connect several devices, overcoming
problems of synchronization. Bluetooth is available in computers and in
phones.

ROUTER.

A router is a device that forwards data packets between computer networks,

creating an overlay internetwork. A router is connected to two or more data
lines from different networks. When a data packet comes in on one of the lines,
the router reads the address information in the packet to determine its ultimate
destination. Then, using information in its routing table or routing policy, it
directs the packet to the next network on its journey. Routers perform the
"traffic directing" functions on the Internet. A data packet is typically forwarded
from one router to another through the networks that constitute the
internetwork until it gets to its destination node.

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