Hardware & Storage

Hardware & Storage

1. Output

2. Input

   • The data or instructions you type into the computer.

3. Input Devices

   • Keyboard
     • Types: Standard, Ergonomic, Wireless and Braille
       • 1) Standard: Contains own chips. 2) Ergonomic: Provide comfort and safety. 3) Wireless: Transmit data using wireless technology such as radio waves. 4) Braille: Allow visually-impaired users to enter data(unique dots to differentiate different characters.
   • Mouse
     • Uses: Select options, position cursor, draw shapes.
       • Types: Ball bearing, optical and tracker ball
   • Magnetic Strip Reader
     • Magnetic tape stuck on the surface of a tag or card
       • Adv: Simple and cheaper to produce & stores a large no. of characters. Disadv: Magnet can change or erase data.
   • Barcode Readers
     • Barcode contains country of origin, manufacturer and item code.
       • Adv: Less error when entering data, faster data entry. Disadv: Barcodes only be read by machine, only numbers can be coded this way
   • OCR
     • Optical Character Recognition
       • Reads typewritten docs and convert into a form that can be edited by computer
         • Immigration checkpoint to scan passport
   • OMR
     • Optical Mark Recognition
       • Uses light to scan the marking and convert it into data.
         • MCQ/ Voting ballot
   • MICR
     • Magnetic Ink Character Reader
       • Ink is magnetized when document pass through the reader so the the character shapes can be recognized electrically.
         • Used in banks to process cheques
           • Lower left characters are cheque number. Bank number and account number.
       • Adv: Documents can be read when folded or written on. Disadv: Readers are expensive and on certain fonts are acceptable.
   • EPOS/EFTPOS
     • Electronic Point Of Sale/ Electronic Fund Transfer at Point Of Sale.
       • EPOS: Cash register which act as the terminal connected to computerised system and provide customer itemised bills
       • EFTPOS: Identical to EPOS but with extra features. They are able to tarnsfer funds from bank account directly to a store's debit card
       • Adv: Faster mode of payment Disadv: encourage people to spend more.
   • Scanner
     • Read data/ info form source
       • Flatbed, Sheetfeed, Handheld
   • Camera
     • Digital Camera
       • Used to store pics in digital form.
         • Adv: View/edit pics immediately, easily transferred to computer(digital form)
     • Web Camera
       • Capture still images/ video images
         • Used for video conferencing/ check traffic condition