Input/output Devices (Hardware, Software, Human ware and Firmware)

INPUT DEVICE

An input device is any hardware device that sends data to a computer, allowing you to interact with and control it. The picture shows a Logitech trackball mouse, which is an example of an input device.

The most commonly used or primary input devices on a computer are the keyboard and mouse. However, there are dozens of other devices that can also be used to input data into the computer.

Some of the popular input devices are:

1. Keyboard

The keyboard is a basic input device that is used to enter data into a computer or any other electronic device by pressing keys. It has different sets of keys for letters, numbers, characters, and functions. Keyboards are connected to a computer through USB or a Bluetooth device for wireless communication.

2. Mouse

The mouse is a hand-held input device which is used to move cursor or pointer across the screen. It is designed to be used on a flat surface and generally has left and right button and a scroll wheel between them. Laptop computers come with a touchpad that works as a mouse. It lets you control the movement of cursor or pointer by moving your finger over the touchpad. Some mouse comes with integrated features such as extra buttons to perform different buttons.

The mouse was invented by Douglas C. Engelbart in 1963. Early mouse had a roller ball integrated as a movement sensor underneath the device. Modern mouse devices come with optical technology that controls cursor movements by a visible or invisible light beam. A mouse is connected to a computer through different ports depending on the type of computer and type of a mouse.

3. Scanner

The scanner uses the pictures and pages of text as input. It scans the picture or a document. The scanned picture or document then converted into a digital format or file and is displayed on the screen as an output. It uses optical character recognition techniques to convert images into digital ones.

4. Joystick

A joystick is also a pointing input device like a mouse. It is made up of a stick with a spherical base. The base is fitted in a socket that allows free movement of the stick. The movement of stick controls the cursor or pointer on the screen.

The frist joystick was invented by C. B. Mirick at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. A joystick can be of different types such as displacement joysticks, finger-operated joysticks, hand operated, isometric joystick, and more. In joystick, the cursor keeps moving in the direction of the joystick unless it is upright, whereas, in mouse, the cursor moves only when the mouse moves.

5. Light Pen

A light pen is a computer input device that looks like a pen. The tip of the light pen contains a light-sensitive detector that enables the user to point to or select objects on the display screen. Its light sensitive tip detects the object location and sends the corresponding signals to the CPU. It is not compatible with LCD screens, so it is not in use today. It also helps you draw on the screen if needed. The first light pen was invented around 1955 as a part of the Whirlwind project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

6. Digitizer

Digitizer is a computer input device that has a flat surface and usually comes with a stylus. It enables the user to draw images and graphics using the stylus as we draw on paper with a pencil. The images or graphics drawn on the digitizer appear on the computer monitor or display screen. The software converts the touch inputs into lines and can also convert handwritten text to typewritten words.

It can be used to capture handwritten signatures and data or images from taped papers. Furthermore, it is also used to receive information in the form of drawings and send output to a CAD (Computer-aided design) application and software like AutoCAD. Thus, it allows you to convert hand-drawn images into a format suitable for computer processing.

7. Microphone

The microphone is a computer input device that is used to input the sound. It receives the sound vibrations and converts them into audio signals or sends to a recording medium. The audio signals are converted into digital data and stored in the computer. The microphone also enables the user to telecommunicate with others. It is also used to add sound to presentations and with webcams for video conferencing.

8. Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR)

MICR computer input device is designed to read the text printed with magnetic ink. MICR is a character recognition technology that makes use of special magnetized ink which is sensitive to magnetic fields. It is widely used in banks to process the cheques and other organizations where security is a major concern. It can process three hundred cheques in a minute with hundred-percent accuracy. The details on the bottom of the cheque (MICR No.) are written with magnetic ink. A laser printer with MICR toner can be used to print the magnetic ink.

The device reads the details and sends to a computer for processing. A document printed in magnetic ink is required to pass through a machine which magnetizes the ink, and the magnetic information is then translated into characters.

9. Optical Character Reader (OCR)

OCR computer input device is designed to convert the scanned images of handwritten, typed or printed text into digital text. It is widely used in offices and libraries to convert documents and books into electronic files.

It processes and copies the physical form of a document using a scanner. After copying the documents, the OCR software converts the documents into a two-color (black and white), version called bitmap. Then it is analyzed for light and dark areas, where the dark areas are selected as characters, and the light area is identified as background. It is widely used to convert hard copy legal or historic documents into PDFs. The converted documents can be edited if required like we edit documents created in ms word.

OUTPUT DEVICE

An output device is any device used to send data from a computer to another device or user. Most computer data output that is meant for humans is in the form of audio or video. Thus, most output devices used by humans are in these categories. Examples include monitors, projectors, speakers, headphones and printers.

Following are some of the important output devices used in a computer.

1. Monitors

Monitors, commonly called as Visual Display Unit (VDU), are the main output device of a computer. It forms images from tiny dots, called pixels that are arranged in a rectangular form. The sharpness of the image depends upon the number of pixels.

There are two kinds of viewing screen used for monitors.

• Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT)
• Flat-Panel Display

2. Printer

A printer produces hard copies of the processed data. It enables the user, to print images, text or any other information onto the paper.

Based on the printing mechanism, the printers are of two types: Impact Printers and Non-impact Printers.

(a) Impact Printers: They are of two types:

(i) Character Printers

• Dot Matrix printers
• Daisy Wheel printers

(ii) Line printers

• Drum printers
• Chain printers

(b) Non-impact printers: They are of two types:

• Laser printers
• Inkjet printers

3. Projector

A projector is an output device that enables the user to project the output onto a large surface such as a big screen or wall. It can be connected to a computer and similar devices to project their output onto a screen. It uses light and lenses to produce magnified texts, images, and videos. So, it is an ideal output device to give presentations or to teach a large number of people.

Modern projects (digital projectors) come with multiple input sources such as HDMI ports for newer equipment and VGA ports that support older devices. Some projectors are designed to support Wi-Fi and Bluetooth as well. They can be fixed onto the ceiling, placed on a stand, and more and are frequently used for classroom teaching, giving presentations, home cinemas, etc.

A digital projector can be of two types:

(i) Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) digital projector: This type of digital projectors are very popular as they are lightweight and provide crisp output. An LCD projector uses transmissive technology to produce output. It allows the light source, which is a standard lamp, to pass through the three colored liquid crystal light panels. Some colors pass through the panels and some are blocked by the panels and thus images are on the screen.

(ii) Digital Light Processing (DLP) digital projector: It has a set of tiny mirrors, a separate mirror for each pixel of the image and thus provide high-quality images. These projectors are mostly used in theatres as they fulfill the requirement of high-quality video output.

Hardware (H/W)

Hardware (H/W), in the context of technology, refers to the physical elements that make up a computer or electronic system and everything else involved that is physically tangible. This includes the monitor, hard drive, memory and the CPU. Hardware works hand-in-hand with firmware and software to make a computer function.

Hardware is an encompassing term that refers to all the physical parts that make up a computer. The internal hardware devices that make up the computer and ensure that it is functional are called components, while external hardware devices that are not essential to a computer’s functions are called peripherals.

Hardware is only one part of a computer system; there is also firmware, which is embedded into the hardware and directly controls it. There is also software, which runs on top of the hardware and makes use of the firmware to interface with the hardware.

Software

Computer software, or simply software, is a collection of data or computer instructions that tell the computer how to work. This is in contrast to physical hardware, from which the system is built and actually performs the work. In computer science and software engineering, computer software is all information processed by computer systems, programs and data. Computer software includes computer programs, libraries and related non-executable data, such as online documentation or digital media. Computer hardware and software require each other and neither can be realistically used on its own.

The theory of software was first proposed by Alan Turing in 1935 in his essay “Computable numbers with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem.” However, the word software was coined by mathematician and statistician John Tukey in a 1958 issue of American Mathematical Monthly in which he discussed electronic calculators’ programs.

Software is often divided into three categories:

• System software serves as a base for application software. System software includes device drivers, operating systems (OSs), compilers, disk formatters, text editors and utilities helping the computer to operate more efficiently. It is also responsible for managing hardware components and providing basic non-task-specific functions. The system software is usually written in C programming language.
• Programming software is a set of tools to aid developers in writing programs. The various tools available are compilers, linkers, debuggers, interpreters and text editors.
• Application software is intended to perform certain tasks. Examples of application software include office suites, gaming applications, database systems and educational software. Application software can be a single program or a collection of small programs. This type of software is what consumers most typically think of as “software.”

Humanware

Humanware is hardware and software that emphasizes user capability and empowerment and the design of the user interface. The process of building humanware generally consists of these steps:

1. Define users (age, mindset, environmental context, previous product experience and expectations, and so forth) and what they really want to do.
2. Identify tasks they will need to do or capabilities they will want.
3. Specify usability objectives (if possible, these should be measurable, such as how long to do something or how many mouse clicks to get to a specified task point) for each task or capability.
4. Build a prototype of the user interface (it can be a paper or simulated prototype if time is short).
5. Test and verify or correct the prototype.
6. Provide the prototype and usability objectives to the program designers and coders.
7. Test the code against the prototype and objectives and, if necessary, redesign or recode the software.
8. Test the product with users or valid test subjects and revise as necessary.
9. Get feedback from users and continually improve the product.

Firmware

Firmware is a software program or set of instructions programmed on a hardware device. It provides the necessary instructions for how the device communicates with the other computer hardware. Firmware is typically stored in the flash ROM of a hardware device. While ROM is “read-only memory,” flash ROM can be erased and rewritten because it is actually a type of flash memory.

Firmware can be thought of as “semi-permanent” since it remains the same unless it is updated by a firmware updater. You may need to update the firmware of certain devices, such as hard drives and video cards in order for them to work with a new operating system. CD and DVD drive manufacturers often make firmware updates available that allow the drives to read faster media. Sometimes manufacturers release firmware updates that simply make their devices work more efficiently.

You can usually find firmware updates by going to the “Support” or “Downloads” area of a manufacturer’s website. Keeping your firmware up-to-date is often not necessary, but it is still a good idea. Just make sure that once you start a firmware updater, you let the update finish, because most devices will not function if their firmware is not recognized.