INPUT DEVICES

An input device can send data to another device, but it cannot receive data from another device.
Examples of an input device include a computer keyboard and mouse, which can send data
(input) to the computer, but they cannot receive or reproduce information (output) from the
computer.

Name Details Images

External input device used to type data into some
sort of computer system whether it be a mobile
device, a personal computer, or another electronic
machine. A keyboard usually includes alphabetic,
numerical, and common symbols used in everyday
transcription. Keyboards for personal computers are
Keyboard connected to the machine through serial or USB
plugs. Keyboard is the most common and very
popular input device which helps in inputting data
to the computer. The layout of the keyboard is like
that of traditional typewriter, although there are
some additional keys provided for performing
additional functions.
Mouse is most popular pointing device. It is a very
famous cursor-control device having a small palm
size box with a round ball at its base which senses
the movement of mouse and sends corresponding
signals to CPU when the mouse buttons are
pressed.

Mouse
Generally it has two buttons called left and right
button and a wheel is present between the buttons.
Mouse can be used to control the position of cursor
on screen, but it cannot be used to enter text into
the computer.
 Joystick is also a pointing device which is used to
move cursor position on a monitor screen. It is a
stick having a spherical ball at its both lower and
upper ends. The lower spherical ball moves in a
socket. The joystick can be moved in all four
directions.
Joystick
The function of joystick is similar to that of a
mouse. It is mainly used in Computer Aided
Designing(CAD) and playing computer games.

Light pen is a pointing device which is similar to a

pen. It is used to select a displayed menu item or
draw pictures on the monitor screen. It consists of a
photocell and an optical system placed in a small
tube. When the tip of a light pen is moved over the
Light Pen
monitor screen and pen button is pressed, its
photocell sensing element detects the screen
location and sends the corresponding signal to the
CPU.

Track ball is an input device that is mostly used in

notebook or laptop computer, instead of a mouse.
This is a ball which is half inserted and by moving
fingers on ball, pointer can be moved. Since the
Track Ball
whole device is not moved, a track ball requires
less space than a mouse. A track ball comes in
various shapes like a ball, a button and a square.
 Scanner is an input device which works more like a
photocopy machine. It is used when some
information is available on a paper and it is to be
transferred to the hard disc of the computer for
Scanner further manipulation. Scanner captures images
from the source which are then converted into the
digital form that can be stored on the disc. These
images can be edited before they are printed.

Digitizer is an input device which converts analog

information into digital form. Digitizer can convert
a signal from the television or camera into a series
of numbers that could be stored in a computer.
They can be used by the computer to create a
picture of whatever the camera had been pointed at.
Digitizer
Digitizer is also known as Tablet or Graphics
Tablet because it converts graphics and pictorial
data into binary inputs. A graphic tablet as digitizer
is used for doing fine works of drawing and image
manipulation applications.

Microphone is an input device to input sound that

is then stored in digital form. The microphone is
Micropho
ne used for various applications like adding sound to a
multimedia presentation or for mixing music.

MICR MICR input device is generally used in banks

because of a large number of cheques to be
processed every day. The bank's code number and
cheque number are printed on the cheques with a
special type of ink that contains particles of
magnetic material that are machine readable. This
reading process is called Magnetic Ink Character
Recognition (MICR). The main advantages of
 MICR is that it is fast and less error prone.

OCR is an input device used to read a printed text.

Optical OCR scans text optically character by character,
Character
Reader(O
converts them into a machine readable code and
CR) stores the text on the system memory.

Bar Code Reader is a device used for reading bar

coded data (data in form of light and dark lines).
Bar coded data is generally used in labelling goods,
numbering the books etc. It may be a hand held
Bar Code scanner or may be embedded in a stationary
Reader
scanner. Bar Code Reader scans a bar code image,
converts it into an alphanumeric value which is then
fed to the computer to which bar code reader is
connected.
This is a digital camera that is used to take photos and then
send them across the internet. Webcams capture and
transmit still photographs that can be updated at various
speeds, from one frame every few minutes, to full
Web
Camera streaming video, depending on the speed of the computer
system and the software settings. The technology for
capturing the images is similar to that used in the other
digital cameras.

OMR is a special type of optical scanner used to

recognize the type of mark made by pen or pencil.
Optical
It is used where one out of a few alternatives is to
Mark
Reader be selected and marked. It is specially used for
(OMR)
checking the answer sheets of examinations having
multiple choice questions.
OUTPUT DEVICES

An output device can receive data from another device, but it cannot send data to another device.
Examples of an output device include a computer monitor, projector, and speakers, which can
receive data (output) from the computer, but they cannot send information (input) to the
computer.

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

 Monitors

 Graphic Plotter

 Printer

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

Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) Monitor

The CRT display is made up of small picture elements called pixels. The
smaller the pixels, the better the image clarity, or resolution. It takes more
than one illuminated pixel to form whole character, such as the letter ‘e’ in
the word help.

A finite number of characters can be displayed on a screen at once. The

screen can be divided into a series of character boxes - fixed location on the
screen where a standard character can be placed. Most screens are capable
of displaying 80 characters of data horizontally and 25 lines vertically. There
are some disadvantages of CRT:

 Large in Size

 High power consumption

Flat-Panel Display Monitor

The flat-panel display refers to a class of video devices that have reduced
volume, weight and power requirement in comparison to the CRT. You can
hang them on walls or wear them on your wrists. Current uses of flat-panel
displays include calculators, video games, monitors, laptop computer,
graphics display.

The flat-panel display is divided into two categories:

 Emissive Displays - The emissive displays are devices that convert electrical
energy into light. Example are plasma panel and LED(Light-Emitting Diodes).
 Non-Emissive Displays - The Non-emissive displays use optical effects to
convert sunlight or light from some other source into graphics patterns.
Example is LCD(Liquid-Crystal Device)
Printers
Printer is an output device, which is used to print information on paper.

There are two types of printers:

 Impact Printers
 Non-Impact Printers

Impact Printers
The impact printers print the characters by striking them on the ribbon which is then pressed on
the paper.

Characteristics of Impact Printers are the following:

 Very low consumable costs

 Very noisy
 Useful for bulk printing due to low cost
 There is physical contact with the paper to produce an image
These printers are of two types

 Character printers
 Line printers
Character Printers
Character printers are the printers which print one character at a time.

These are further divided into two types:

 Dot Matrix Printer(DMP)

 Daisy Wheel
DOT MATRIX PRINTER
In the market one of the most popular printers is Dot Matrix Printer. These printers are popular
because of their ease of printing and economical price. Each character printed is in form of
pattern of dots and head consists of a Matrix of Pins of size (5*7, 7*9, 9*7 or 9*9) which come
out to form a character that is why it is called Dot Matrix Printer.

Advantages
  Inexpensive
 Widely Used
 Other language characters can be printed
Disadvantages

 Slow Speed
 Poor Quality

DAISY WHEEL
Head is lying on a wheel and pins corresponding to characters are like petals of Daisy (flower
name) that is why it is called Daisy Wheel Printer. These printers are generally used for word-
processing in offices which require a few letters to be sent here and there with very nice quality.

Advantages

 More reliable than DMP

 Better quality
 The fonts of character can be easily changed
Disadvantages

 Slower than DMP

 Noisy
 More expensive than DMP

Line Printers
Line printers are the printers which print one line at a time.

These are of further two types

 Drum Printer
 Chain Printer
DRUM PRINTER
This printer is like a drum in shape so it is called drum printer. The surface of drum is divided
into number of tracks. Total tracks are equal to size of paper i.e. for a paper width of 132
characters, drum will have 132 tracks. A character set is embossed on track. The different
character sets available in the market are 48 character set, 64 and 96 characters set. One rotation
of drum prints one line. Drum printers are fast in speed and can print 300 to 2000 lines per
minute.

Advantages

 Very high speed

Disadvantages

 Very expensive
 Characters fonts cannot be changed
CHAIN PRINTER
In this printer, chain of character sets are used so it is called Chain Printer. A standard character
set may have 48, 64, or 96 characters.

Advantages

 Character fonts can easily be changed.

 Different languages can be used with the same printer.
Disadvantages

 Noisy

Non-impact Printers
Non-impact printers print the characters without using ribbon. These printers print a complete
page at a time so they are also called as Page Printers.

These printers are of two types

 Laser Printers
 Inkjet Printers
Characteristics of Non-impact Printers
 Faster than impact printers.
 They are not noisy.
 High quality.
 Support many fonts and different character size.
Laser Printers
These are non-impact page printers. They use laser lights to produce the dots needed to form the
characters to be printed on a page.

ADVANTAGES

 Very high speed

 Very high quality output
 Give good graphics quality
 Support many fonts and different character size
DISADVANTAGES
 Expensive.
 Cannot be used to produce multiple copies of a document in a single printing.

Inkjet Printers
Inkjet printers are non-impact character printers based on a relatively new technology. They
print characters by spraying small drops of ink onto paper. Inkjet printers produce high quality
output with presentable features.

They make less noise because no hammering is done and these have many styles of printing
modes available. Color printing is also possible. Some models of Inkjet printers can produce
multiple copies of printing also.

ADVANTAGES

 High quality printing

 More reliable
DISADVANTAGES

 Expensive as cost per page is high

 Slow as compared to laser printer