input device The input unit is formed by the input devices attached to the computer.

Ex - Key board, Microphone etc. An input unit takes the input & converts it into binary f orm so that it can be understood by the computer. KEYBOARD This is most commonly used device which acts as input device. Its structure is l ike typewriter.It contains no. of keys which have some specific ASCII values. L ike A has ASCII value 65. When this is pressed , it is converted into 65 & this 65 is sent to CPU in the form of Binary language (i.e. 1000001). Then operations a re done on this data MOUSE This is a pointing device which contains a roller in its base. When the mouse is moved on any surface, the pointer on the screen is also moved. It contains a po tentiometer coupled with the roller. This potentiometer senses the motion of mou se & convert it into digital value. A mouse may contain two or three buttons. Now a day's optical mouse are very popular. BAR CODE READER It is a device which is used to read the code from the products which are usuall y in the form of Bars. It contains a light sensitive detector which identifies t he values of the bars on the product & converts them into numeric code. These Bar readers are used in Shopping malls in a very large scale LIGHT PEN It is a pointing device which contains a photocell mounted at its tip. It senses the light from the screen when it becomes closer to the screen, & generates a p ulse. So for identifying a particular location on the screen these light pens ar e very useful. But this is not in very much use these days. SCANNER The scanner is an input device like the photocopier machine which makes the elec tronic copy of the picture or document which can be further edited. OUTPUT DEVICES

The devices which are used to display the data to the user either in the form of hard copy or soft copy are called output devices. SPEAKERS Speakers receive the sound in the form of electric current from the sound card & convert it to sound format. These are used for listening music, chatting , semi nars for presentations etc. VDU (Visual Display Unit) This is also called monitor. It is used to get the data in the form of soft copy . Their functioning is exactly similar to the television. It contains a CRT whic h emits the electrons to trace a regular pattern of horizontal lines on the scre en.

PRINTER These devices gives the hard copy of the output. These are in different types. Impact - Have mechanical contact in between paper & printing head Non Impact - No mechanical contact between paper & printing head IMPACT : Line Printers - print line wise (E.g. Drum Printer) Character Printer - print character wise (E.g. Daisy Printer) LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) These screens are used in laptops & notebook sized PCs. A special type of liquid is sandwiched between two plates. The top plate is clear & bottom plate is refl ective. The molecules in these liquids are normally aligned & the computer signa ls are used to align these molecules.