Computer Fundamentals Index

Computer Introduction Types of computer Characteristics of computer Uses of computer History of Computers

Computer Languages

Low Level language Middle level Language High level language

Computer Generation

Generation of Computers First Generation of Computer Second generation of Computers Third generation of Computers Fourth generation of Computers Fifth generation of Computers Sixth Generation of Computer

Peripheral Devices

Input devices Output device

Components

Block diagram and basic components Control processing unit (CPU) Software Hardware

Memory

Computer Memory Registers Memory Hierarchy RAM Vs ROM Understanding file sizes (Bytes, KB, MB, GB, TB, PB, EB, ZB, YB)

Computer Network

Types of Network Types of Area Networks (LAN, WAN, MAN) TCP Flags

Computer Virus

Computer Virus

Computer Ports

Computer Ports

How

How to hack a computer How much do Computer Programmers make How does a Computer work How to associate a file with a program How does a computer convert text into binary How does a computer process data into information How to fix a CD-ROM DVD How to fix the no input signal How to install computer memory How to associate a file with a program How to log out of your operating system How do I change my name on Google How to installation or uninstallation Microsoft Paint How to fix a not a valid Win32 application error How to fix missing Microsoft Windows .dll files How to use a computer keyboard How to erase my hard drive and start over How can I test how many words I can write a minute How to shut down a computer How do I open and edit the Windows registry How to edit the registry from the command line How to restart Microsoft Windows How to install a computer processor How to open Microsoft Paint How to fix problems in Windows after installing new software How to enable or disable the preview pane of Microsoft Outlook How to open a Microsoft .wps or Works file in Word How to view the HTML source code in Microsoft Word How to View or Change the Screen Resolution of a Monitor How to Connect and Install a Computer Keyboard How to Delete Temporary Files in Windows 10 How to determine Which Version of Microsoft Office I'm using How to find out how much hard drive space is available How to Fix PC Stuck on Verifying DMI Pool Data How to choose which items show in the notification area How to find similar images using Search by Image How to fix Low Memory and out of memory errors How To Replace the CMOS Battery How do I Update my Antivirus Program How to fix a general protection fault How to Identify problems in the Windows Device Manager How can the Base be Shown How to test if a Website or Web Page is down How Much is 1 Byte, Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte, etc How to fix a CMOS checksum error How to Fix a Windows CD-ROM, DVD, or Disc Drive Issue How to Open Safe Mode How to Password Protect Files and Folders in Windows How to Reset CMOS or BIOS Settings How to use Computer Keyboard How to create a text file How to enable or disable DHCP in Windows How to test computer memory to determine if its bad How do double space or change line spacing in Microsoft Word How do I know if I have Windows Administrator Rights How many cores does my computer have How to Create a Directory or Folder How to Enter and Exit the BIOS or CMOS Setup How to change Windows Compatibility mode How to clear your internet browser history How to Connect Computer Speakers How to Copy a Web Page Link or URL How to install a Hard Drive or SSD How to Open the Windows Control Panel How to split a screen in Windows How to copy text from a scanned PDF

Questions

Who invented Computer What are the advantages of the Internet? What are the disadvantages of the Internet? Is my computer 64 bit? What is Edge Computing? What is a Router? What is Monitor What is Printer What is a Web Browser What is Microphone What is a Webcam What is PC What is Keyboard What is Motherboard What is WAP What is URL What is a Digital Assistant When was the first Computer Invented What is Modem What is Firmware What is Imperative Programming What is Protocol What is Safe Mode What is Device Driver What is Hybrid Topology What is Mesh Topology What is Procedural language What is a hyperlink What is a Username Who invented the Internet What is Video Card What is Sound Card What is Binary What does Alt+B do What does Alt+D do What does Alt+E do What does Alt+Esc do What does Alt+R do What does ALT + Q do What does Alt + Tab do What is Data Manipulation What is a touch screen What is Back Panel What is Analog Monitor What is AR lens What is an ATX Style Connector What is a File System What is Hard Disk Drive (HDD) What is a boot device What is accessibility What is Line In What is network Interface card (NIC) What is Optical Disk Where can I ask questions on the internet What is Auto Rotate What is CAD (Computer-aided design) What is Cable Modem What is Home Page What is boot menu What is braille reader What is flash memory What is Windows What is Clipboard What is Cyber Warfare What is Myspace Why has my IP address changed What is Jacquard Loom My computer is running slow, what steps can I do to fix it What is a Kensington Lock What is a multicore processor What is automation Are smartphones and tablets computers What is a Login Script What is a Loosely Typed Language What is Multitasking? Why my computer monitor shows no display or black screen What is REM What is Parallelization What is Overtype mode What is open with What is Bracket What is an Online Service What is REM What is Parallelization What is Overtype mode What is open with What is Bracket What is an Online Service What is the Pg Dn Key (Page Down Key) What is the Pg up Key (Page up Key) What is Palmtop Computer What is a Processing Device What is a Print Preview What is the Print Screen Key What can I do if my computer or laptop is lost or stolen What is a Model Number What are the currently available antivirus programs What are Toggle keys What is a Case fan What is a Silicon Chip What is a Slate PC What is a TAB stop What is an Octothorpe What is Task Pane What is Task View What is the svchost.exe file used for in Windows Where can I find free online virus scanners Why am I unable to increase the resolution in Windows What is Autofill When I click my mouse, it sometimes double-clicks What is Scratch What is UDIMM What is MsConfig What is an Expansion Card What is an Executable File What is an Elevated Command Prompt What is an AC Adapter What is AIMBOT What is a Software Suite What is a LED Monitor What does Alt + X do What does alt + space do What does Alt + O do Now that I’ve got a Computer, what can i do What is a Punch Card What is RDIMM What is Select All What is Serial number What is Thermos flask What programs can I use for speech recognition What are the Advantages of Computers What are the Disadvantages of Computers What does Alt + T do What Hardware Device Drivers should be Updated What is a Desktop What is a Ring Topology What is CMOS What is a Directory What is a Mechanical Mouse What is a Plotter What is a Variable What is an Icon What is Data What is HDMI What is Remote What is Right-Click What is SMPS Why does my Laptop not turn on What is a Copyright What is a Cordless Mouse What is a CSV file What is a Joystick What is a Start Button What is a Taskbar What is an Alignment What is an Output Device What is Cat 5 What is Google Chrome What is Post What are Recordable DVD Drives What Does Alt + F4 Do What Does Alt + L Do What is a bit (Binary Digit) What is a cable What is a Calculator What is a capacitor What is a Cold Boot What is a Dialog Box What is a Dual-boot What is a Slide What is A4 What is AM What is Barcode Reader What is EHCI What is a Header What is a Joystick What is a Secondary Storage Device What is Access Time What is Account Sharing What is an Asterisk What is Asynchronous DRAM What is Back Quote What is BIOS What is Borderless Printing What is Case Badge What is CD-ROM What is Chat Slang What is Composite What is RJ Cable What Are Bottom Row Keys What is SAN What is Tray What is VDU What Does Alt + M Do What Does Alt + P Do What is a Cell What is a Command Key What is a key Combination What is a Menu Bar What is a Startup What is a T What is Chat What are the F1 through F12 keys What does Alt + Enter do What Does Alt + Home DO What does Alt + R do What does Ctrl + B do What Does Ctrl + Enter Do What Does Ctrl + R Do What does Ctrl + G do What does Ctrl + 9 do What does Ctrl + End do What does Ctrl + O do What Does Ctrl + P do What Does Ctrl + Q do What is a Colon What is a Core What is Apple Touch Icon What is Clock What is Code What is Computer Crime What is Ctrl What is DAT What is Data diddling What is Date Why won't my computer turn on What Does Alt + N Do What does ctrl + 2 do What does ctrl + space do What does Ctrl + W do What does Ctrl + T Do What Does Ctrl + 2 do What does Ctrl + 5 Do What are the most common file types and file extensions What are Sticky keys What Does Ctrl + Shift + Esc Do What is Settings What is Task Manager What is Taskbar What is a DNS Resolver What does ctrl + 1 do What does ctrl + 0 do How to install software What is a Folder What is a Legend What is a MAC Address What is a Path What is a Ruler What is a Toolbar What is an Intranet Meaning and Differences with Internet What is an SSD What is Inheritance What is Tablet What is Depth What is Docking Station What is Double Click What is a Solid Ink Printer What is a Temporary File What is Backup and Restore What is Electronic Payment Systems Eps What is Marshalling

Difference

Difference between hardware and software Difference between multiprocessor and distributed systems Difference between Desktop and Laptop Difference between File and folder Difference between Hard Copy and Soft Copy Open Source Programs vs Closed Source Programs Difference between Optical Fibre and Coaxial Cable Difference between Website and Webpage Difference between Classes and Objects Input VS Output Difference between Primary and Secondary Storage with Examples

Misc

Quantum Computing Computer Software Autoexec.bat and config.sys info Update an Antivirus Use of Internet Advantages and disadvantages of Email Computing Power Internet Explorer Shortcut Keys Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) Augmented Reality Infrastructure Readiness Check Top 10 Internet tips and tricks Introduction and Features of FoxPro Features of Multimedia Top 10 online services and applications Receiving S.M.A.R.T. status bad backup and replacing error Version Control System Uninstalling Software or Apps in Windows Data Warehouse Increase or decrease font size in Word using keyboard shortcuts Mouse not detected or working in Windows Computer Cleaning Information and Steps Function Keys on Keyboard Windows 7 Alt+Tab won’t stay on top or stick 10 Essential Examples of Web Browsers Binary Subtraction using 2’s Complement Case Sensitive Languages Computer Pioneers and people who are CEO Microsoft Word Shortcut Keys Parts of Computers Names, Definitions and Images ROM and its Types Basics of Information Technology Characteristics of a Good Software Design Characteristics of Management Information System Classification of Management Information System Implementation of MIS Input Devices of Computer Definition Limitations of Management Information System 3 Types Of Network in Computer Block Diagram Of Control Unit Difference Between Computer and Embedded System Difference Between Hard Disk and Floppy Disk Abstraction in OOAD Hardware and Software Devices Optomechanical Mouse CMOS Memory What is a Terminal? What is Graphic Design? What is Load? What is Passcode? What is Reboot? What is Registry? What is Safe Mode? What is Standby? What is SYN (Synchronize)? What is Task Manager? Attribute Computing BPS in Computer Bulletin Board System Light Pen Input Device 3 TYPES OF NETWORK IN COMPUTER Block diagram of control unit What is a Solid Ink Printer? What is a Temporary File? What is an App launcher? What is Backup and Restore? What is a Tab Character? What is the Core i3? What is Paint? What is a Workbook? Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Education What is a String? What is a VDU (Visible Display Unit)? 50 Uses of Computer What is Workspace? What is a Procedural Language? What is VGA (Video Graphics Array)?

Input devices of Computer

Computer Input Devices : The input device is the hardware device that connects to the computer system. The user can give the instructions to the computer with the help of these input devices. Input devices can convert the data or instruction into the machine-readable form and sent it to the processor for further processing.

Here we have discussed some essential input devices which are given below:

  1. Keyboard
  2. Point and draw devices (Mouse)
  3. Joystick
  4. Trackball
  5. Light pen
  6. Data scanning devices (image scanner)
  7. OCR (optical character reader)
  8. OMR (optical mark reader)
  9. MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition)
  10. Bar code reader
  11. Card reader
  12. Touch screen
  13. Digitizers
  14. Voice recognition device
  15. Microphone

1. Keyboard

The keyboard is the typewriter-style device which can use the alphanumeric keys or buttons for the input given by the user to the computer system. There are various types of keyboard available nowadays, which are designed with the focus on the specific features according to the user's need.

Figure: keyboard and its keys.
Figure: keyboard and its keys.

The keyboard includes different types of sections such as control keys, function keys, LED indicators, wrist pad, arrow keys, and keypad. Mostly the keyboards are similar to each other, but maybe one or more sections are missing. The Smartphone and tablet keyboard do not come with the physical existence of the keyboard.

Multimedia keys

The multimedia keys allow the user to have control on the computer keyboard. These keys have some special functions such as play, pause, stop, rewind, fast forward, skip, track, eject, shuffle, and repeat.

2. Point and draw device (mouse)

The computer mouse is the input device with standard features. Today we are using various types of the mouse such as a cordless or wireless mouse, optical and laser mouse, etc. The mouse is the handheld pointing device that can detect two-dimensional motions related to the surface.

This motion is translated into the movement of a pointer on display. The first mouse controlling computer system was developed in 1968. Generally, the mouse used the ball rolling on the surface to detect motion, but the modern mouse has optical sensors that have no moving parts.

Mouse
Figure: Diagram of the computer mouse or draw device.

The computer mouse has one or more buttons to execute the operations such as the selection of the menu item on display. Some system allows the user to use two or more computer mouse at once as the input devices.

3. Joystick

The joystick is a pointing input device with the stick that pivots on the base and reports its angle or direction to the device. The movement of the rod controls the cursor or pointer on the screen. The C.B. Mirick developed the first joystick at the U.S. Naval research laboratory.

There are various types of joystick exist, such as displacement joysticks, finger-operated joysticks, hand-operated, isometric joystick, etc. The joystick is also known as the control column, which is the primary control device in many civilian and military aircraft. It is used to control the machines such as cranes, trucks, underwater unmanned vehicles, etc.

block diagram of the joystick
Fig: block diagram of the joystick.

The joysticks are also used to control the video games and have one or more push-buttons whose state can read by the computer. The main advantage of the joystick is that it provides fast interactions, which are needed in the game applications.

4. Trackball

The trackball is a pointing device which consists of the ball in the middle held by socket with sensors to detect the rotation of the ball. The trackball is the computer cursor control device. The trackball is similar to upside-down mouse with the ball that sticks out. The user can roll the ball by the thumb, fingers, or the palm to move the cursor. The trackball currently made by only three major companies: Logitech, A4Tech, and Kensington. It has the same capability as click buttons on the mouse. The trackball does not require much space. The trackballs are physically more extensive as compared to the computer mouse.

picture of the trackball
Fig: picture of the trackball

The trackball allowed continuous and fast scrolling and did not require repositioning. It needs less work surface to perform the function. These are a little more expensive. The selection of trackball is not as broad as other input devices. Trackball requires minimal cleaning as compared to other input devices. The precision control is more in the case of trackball.

5. Light Pen

The light pen is the computer input device which is used in conjunction with the computer's cathode ray tube display. It allows the user to point the displayed objects or draw on the screen with the greater positional accuracy. The first light pen was developed around 1955 as part of the Whirlwind project at MIT.

The light pen detects changes in brightness of neighboring screen pixels. The CRT scans the whole screen one pixel at a time. The computer can keep track of the familiar time of scanning at different locations on the screen via beam and the pen's position from the latest timestamp. The light pens were common on the graphic terminals during the 1960s.

The light pen is used to select or modify the text or data on the CRT monitor screen. This device was used in the early form of manipulating and highlighted data on the screen. Some graphic cards are also included the connection for the light pen. It can be used as the stroke input device. The light pen is mainly used to manipulate and highlight the data or information.

Light pen
Fig: the picture of the Light Pen and its parts.

The light pen consists of the photocell and an optical system placed in the small tube. When the tip of the light pen is move over the monitor screen, and the user presses the pen button, then the photocell sensing element detects the screen location and sends the corresponding signals to the CPU.

6. Data Scanning Device (Image Scanner)

The Image Scanner is the digital input device which is used to scan the images, printed text, objects and then convert them into digital form. The Image Scanners are used in various domestic and industrial applications like design, reverse engineering, gaming, and testing.

Image Scanner
Fig: Image Scanner

The image scanner was developed in 1957 by the team of Russell kirsch at the U.S. National Bureau. When the document is placed inside the data scanning device, then the image scanned first.

Block diagram of Scanner
Fig: Block diagram of Scanner

Scanners can read red-green-blue color from the color array. The depth of these colors measured based on array characteristics. The image resolution measured in pixels per inch. 

7. OCR (Optical Character Reader)

The optical character reader or optical character recognition is the mechanical or electronic conversion of images, handwritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. The OCR is widely used in the form of information entry from printed paper data records to the digital file. The optical character reader is the research field in pattern recognition, artificial intelligence, and computer vision. It is used in different areas such as invoices, bank statements, digital receipts, business cards, mail, print outs of static data. The technique used in optical character recognition is the standard method of digitizing printed text. We can electronically edit, search, store more compactly, display online, and use in machine processes such as cognitive computing, machine translation, text to speech, key data, and text mining.

optical character recognition
Fig:  optical character recognition.

The early versions of optical character reader needed to be trained with the images of each character. Those old versions of OCR can work only on one font at a time. Now, the advanced OCR systems are capable of producing a high degree of recognition accuracy for every type of font.

Optical character recognition
Fig:  The Optical character recognition.

These advanced systems support the variety of digital image file format inputs. The OCR systems can produce formatted output that output contains approximates the original page include the image, columns and other non-textual components.

8. Optical Mark Reader (OMR)

The optical mark reader or optical mark recognition can capture the human marked data from any document forms such as surveys and tests. There are various traditional optical mark reader devices which can work with the scanner device that shines a beam of light onto the form paper.

Optical Mark Reader
Fig: The Optical Mark Reader.

The OMR can handle hundreds or thousands of physical documents per hour, and the accuracy of Optical Mark Reader is up to 99%. It is mostly used in offices, academics and research departments where a large number of hand-filled documents or forms must be processed.

9. MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition)

The Magnetic Ink character recognition code is known as MICR code in short. This input device is used in the character recognition technology. It can encode the characters which are mentioned at the bottom of cheques and other vouchers.

The Magnetic Ink character recognition allows the user to scan and read the information directly from the data collection of the device. There are two types of major fonts used in the MICR: E-13B and CMC-7.

Magnetic Ink Character Recognition
Fig: The Magnetic Ink Character Recognition.

The font E-13B has the 14 character set which can contain ten decimal digits. The font CMC-7 has the 15 character set, which can include ten digits and five control characters. The CMC-7 has the barcode format, with every character having two different large gaps at different places.

These two unique fonts are used to help the computers in recognition of the characters and the limit check related to the frauds so that this device can help to prevent financial fraud. The Magnetic Ink Character Recognition is mainly used for the banking industries.

The CMC-7 font is used in many European countries, and the E-13B font has been adopted as the international standard in ISO. The MICR reader head reads the characters; this device is similar to the playback head of the tape recorder. This input device is the primary tool for cheque sorting and utilizes the check distribution network at multiple stages. The use of Magnetic Ink Character recognition is to verify the legitimacy or originality of paper documents.

working process of Magnetic Ink Character Recognition.
Fig: The working process of Magnetic Ink Character Recognition.

10. Bar Code Reader

The Bar Code Reader is the optical Scanner which can read the printed barcodes and decode the data contained in the Bar code and send that data to the computer.

Bar Code Reader
Fig: The Barcode reader.

These bar code readers consist of the light source, the lens, and light sensors for the translation. Every barcode reader contains decoder circuitry which can analyze the barcodes image data that the sensors provide data and send to the Scanner's output port.

The Barcode Reader
Fig: The Barcode Reader.

The barcode reader can be differentiating by many technologies which are given below:

Pen -type readers: This type of barcode readers consist of light source and photodiode that are placed next to each other. The photodiode is used to measure the intensity of the light reflected from the light source.

Laser Scanners: The Laser scanner works the similar way as the pen type bar code readers except that the laser scanner uses the laser beam as the light source in this device.

The light emitted by the reader is varied in brightness with the data pattern. The photodiode can receive circuitry, design to detect only signals with similar modulated patterns in both bar code readers.

Camera-based readers: The two-dimensional imaging scanners are the latest type of bar code readers. They can use the camera and image processing techniques to decode any bar code.

11. Card reader

The card reader is the type of data input device that can read the data from the card. It is the hardware device which is used to deliver data to the computer.

The Card Reader
Fig: The Card Reader.

This input device provides complete security, and it looks like a small calculator. The card reader is mainly used in the sales process to read the payment data, which is stored in the credit or debit card.

In a basic sense, the card reader is used to access contents of the memory card in the given format and passes that content on to another device. Most card readers accept multiple memory card formats.

 Smart card reader.
Fig: the Smart card reader.

The card reader is the device used to communicate with the smart card or memory card. The magnetic card reader is the device used to read magnetic stripe cards such as credit card, debit card, etc.

12. Touch screen

The touch screen is the input device which is generally layered on the top of any electronic visual display. It can be the computer system display screen; these types of screen are sensitive to the pressure.

When the finger touches the touch screen, it registered the event and sent that event to the controller for further processing. The touch screen may contain photos or words that the user can touch to interact with the device. It has two advantage, which is given below:

1. The touch screen of any computer or phone allows the user to communicate directly with that display rather than indirectly with a pointer controlled by the mouse or touchpad.

2. Touch screen does not require the use of an intermediate device.

The Touch Screen.
Fig: The Touch Screen.

The touch screens are common in different devices such as gaming devices, personal computers, electronic voting machines, and point of sale systems.

13. Digitizers

The Digitizers are those types of devices which receive analog information or data and create the digital representation of that data; this process is known as the digitization. For example, the digital camera is the digitizer.

Block Diagram of the digitizer
Fig: Block Diagram of the digitizer.

The dual digitizer provides features of both active and capacitive digitizers. The digitizers are mostly used in computer-aided design software. The analog input signal related to the digitizer may be A.C. or D.C. coupled and terminated in 50W.

14. Voice recognition device

The voice recognition is the hardware device with the capability to decode the human voice. It is mainly used to operate any device, perform any command without having to use the keyboard, mouse, or press any button.

Both the speech and voice recognition work on the principle of translates the "analog" spoken words into the "digital" signals so that the machine can understand the voice. For the work of voice recognition device with the computer, you must have a sound card either the Microphone or the headset. Other devices, such as smartphones already have all the necessary hardware built into the device.

components of the voice recognition device
Fig: components of the voice recognition device

The voice recognition device can evaluate the voice biometrics of an individual, such as the frequency and the flow of their voice. Auto speech recognition is also an example of voice recognition. There are various types of voice recognition systems which are given below:

  1. Speaker dependent system.
  2. Speaker independent system.
  3. Discrete Speech recognition.
  4. Continuous Speech recognition.
  5. Natural language.

15. Microphone

The Microphone is generally known as the mic or mike, and it is the input device. The Microphone can convert the sound into electrical signals. These microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, public address systems for the concerts in hall, live and recorded audio, sound recording, megaphones, radio, and television broadcasting.

Microphone.
Fig: The Microphone.

The dynamic microphones are the most common input device which uses the coil of wire suspended in the magnetic field. The Microphone is an example of a transducer, which is the device that changes the information from one form to another.