HARDWARE COMPONENTS OF A COMPUTER

SYSTEM

This lesson introduces you to the study of components of a Computer System which
include Input, Processing, Output and Storage devices. This is designed to help you
understand computer systems before you can engage on troubleshooting, repairing,
maintaining and upgrading them.

Computer
A computer is an electronic device, operating under the control of instructions stored in
its own memory that can accept data (input), process the data according to specified
rules, produce information (output), and store the information for future use1.

Functionalities of a computer
Any digital computer carries out five functions in gross terms:
 Takes data as input
 Stores the data/instructions in its memory and use them when required
 Processes the data and converts it into useful information
 Generates the output
 Controls all the above four steps.

Computer Components
Any kind of computers consists of Hardware and Software.

Hardware:
Computer hardware is the collection of physical elements that constitutes a computer
system. Computer hardware refers to the physical parts or components of a computer
such as the monitor, mouse, keyboard, computer data storage, hard drive disk (HDD),
system unit (graphic cards, sound cards, memory, motherboard and chips), etc. all of
which are physical objects that can be touched.
 1. INPUT DEVICES

Input device is a device through which data and instruction are entered into computer
system. An input devices converts the data and instructions into binary form that
computer can understand. This transformation is performed by “Input interface”.
The data entered through input device can be some text, some graphical image or
symbol, sound etc, depending on the form of the raw data the various input devices are
available.

Basic Function Performed by Input unit of a computer system:

1. It accepts the instruction and data from the user.

2. It converts these instruction and data in computer acceptable form.
3. It supplies the converted instruction and data to the computer system for further
processing.

Some of the commonly input devices used are:

1. Keyboard
2. Mouse
3. Joy stick
4. Track ball
5. Touch screen
6. Light Pen
7. Digitizer
8. Scanner
9. Speech Recognition Devices

1. Keyboard
Keyboard is an input device for entering data and instructions into a computer. Data is
entered into the computer by pressing set of keys available with this device. The most
popular keyboard used today is the 101-keys QWERTY keyboard but multimedia
keyboard is also available which contains more than 101 keys.

Keyboard keys are arranged in 6 groups such as:

 1. Alphanumeric keys: - The alphanumeric keys are the collection of alphabets A-
Z, numerals from 0-9 and punctuation marks that are arranged the same way on
almost every keyboard.
2. Numeric keys: - It is usually located on right side of keyboard and appears like a
non-scientific calculator with ten digits (0-9) and arithmetic operators.
3. Function keys: - The Function keys numbered from F1 to F12 are usually
arranged in a first row at top of keyboard. Each function key performs different
function depending upon the current application being run by user.
4. Cursor movement keys: - These keys allows user to change the position of the
cursor on the screen. Cursor movement keys move cursor up, down, left and
right.
5. Special purpose keys: - These keys perform special function i.e. insert, delete,
print screen.
6. Modifier keys: - These keys are used in conjunction with other keys. Modifier
keys include keys such as Alt (Alternate), Shift and Ctrl (Control).

2. Mouse

Mouse is a pointing device that controls the position of the cursor on a computer screen
without using keyboard. It is called pointing device because it is used to point and
select option on screen. There are two or more depression switched on the top of
mouse.

Types of Mouse:

1. Mechanical mouse
It has rubber or metal ball on its underside that can roll in all directions.
Mechanical sensors within mouse detect the direction the ball is rolling and
move the screen pointer accordingly.
 2. Optomechanical mouse
It is same as a mechanical mouse but it uses optical sensor to detect motion of the
ball.

3. Optical mouse
It uses a laser to detect the mouse’s movement. It respond more quickly and
precisely than mechanical and Optomechanical mouse, but is more expensive.

Three simple techniques to use mouse:

1. Clicking: - To click on something with the mouse means, to move the pointer to
the item on the screen and to press and release the mouse button once.
2. Double clicking: - To double click on item means, to move the pointer to the
item on the screen and to press and release the mouse button twice with quick
succession.
3. Dragging: - To drag an item, user position the mouse cursor over the item, the
press the mouse button and hold it down as you move mouse.
3. Joy stick
It is also a pointing device which is used to move cursor position on a monitor screen. It
consists of a lever which moves in all directions and controls the movement of pointer.
Lever is having spherical ball at its base. When the lever steers the cursor moved in the
respective direction. Potentiometers are used to sense the movements. On most of
joystick a button at top is provided to select the option.
E.g. It is commonly used with computer games, flight simulators and for controlling
robots.

4. Track ball

Track ball is pointing device that works like an upside down mouse. The only
difference is that the ball in case of the track ball is placed on the top along with the
button of the trackball. The movement of cursor is controlled by movement of ball by
the fingers.
Trackball is most commonly used in notebook or laptop instead of a mouse.
Advantages of Trackball: -
1. Trackball is stationary.
2. Require Less Space.
3. Compact size.
4. Most suitable for portable computers.
5. It can be placed on any type of surface.
5. Touch Screen
Touch Screen is the most simple and easiest to learn of all input devices. It is also a
pointing device by which users touch areas of the screen with their fingers to issue
commands. Touch screen enables the users to choose from available options by simply
touching with their fingers the desired icon or menu displayed on the screen.

E.g. A common application of touch screen is ATM’s installed in banks.

5. Light Pen

Light is pointing device which is used to select a displayed menu item or draw pictures
on the monitor screen. It is connected by a cable to the display device. The light pen
consists of a light sensing element (photo diode) at the tip of pen and a cable through
which the signal is transmitted. When the screen touched with the tip of pen, pen gets
activated light spots are sensed and a signal sent to the system indicating the position.
E.g. Used for corrections in architectural designs.

7. Speech recognition system

These devices are used to recognize the voice and translate it into the text using speech
recognition system. Speech recognition software is loaded into the machine which
gathers sound waves remove unwanted noise and compare the incoming signal against
a pattern stored in memory. If sound is similar or almost similar then the voice is
translated into text otherwise it is ignored.
Speech recognition system equipped with the following components:
a) Computer system with sound card
b) Speech Recognition software
c) Microphone

8) Scanner

“A scanner is an input device which translates paper documents into an electronic

format, which can be stored in a computer.”
Input documents may be typed text, pictures, graphics or handwritten material.
Scanner is helpful in preserving paper documents in electronic format.
Or
Scanner is an input device that is capable of capturing image, text and handwritten
document and stores it in computer system. Scanner captures data and converts it into
bit pattern for processing.
Characteristics of Scanner
1. Human efforts required for manually entry of data is eliminated by scanner.
2. The reduction in human intervention improves the data accuracy.
3. Scanner requires high quality of input document.
4. Most of these device are not economical feasible.

Types of scanner

Scanner comes in various shapes and sizes following are its category:
1. Flatbed scanner
2. Sheet-fed Scanners
3. Hand-held scanner
4. Drum Scanners

Example of Scanners based on technology

Example of scanner is optical scanner and Magnetic ink character readers
.
1. Optical Scanner

Optical scanner uses light source and light sensors to read information recorded on
paper. Commonly used optical scanner include:

a) Optical character reader (OCR)

b) Optical mark reader (OMR)
c) Optical barcode reader (OBR)

a) OCR
It is used to recognize alphanumeric characters printed or typewritten on paper. The
scanner detects the light reflected from the paper. The change in the reflected light is
converted to binary data which is sent to processor.
OCR can recognize text written in two font format specified by ANSI (American
National Standard Institute) that are OCR-A (American standard) and OCR-B
(European standard).

Application of OCR
These devices are used in bank, insurance companies, air lines and some retail outlets.

Advantages
1) It reduces manual key stroke operation.
2) It can also read the hand written characters.
3) It saves time and money in transforming the data.
4) It can easily & quickly convert printed text into an electronic & editable form.

Disadvantages
1) Poorly handwritten document cannot be easily read by OCR
2) It cannot read character printed in format other than some special format (OCR –A
and OCR-B).
3) OCR is not fully accurate.
3) OBR
It is photoelectric device that scans a set of vertical bars of different width by means of
reflected light. These vertical lines are called Bar codes that are used to represent alpha
numeric data by varying the width and combination of adjacent vertical lines. Bar code
reading is done by scanner connected to a computer.

b) Optical mark reader (OMR)

Optical Mark Recognition is the process of gathering data with an optical scanner
(Optical mark reader) by measuring the reflectively of light at predetermined positions
on a surface. Optical mark reader is commonly used to check special examination
sheets.

How it works?
Sheet may contain square or bubble that is marked by pen/pencil. The actual technique
used for OMR device for recognition of marks involves focusing a light source on page.
The reflected light is detected by OMR and corresponding signals are sent to processor.
The change in light detects the presence of mark.

Advantages
1) Large volumes of data can be collected quickly and easily without the need for
specially trained staff.
2) The cost of inputting data and the chance of data input errors can be reduced.
3) Only one computer needed to collect and process data.

Disadvantages
1) OMR readers are relatively slow as compare to other optical scanners.
2) Only suitable for multiple choice question not suitable for text input.
3) Marks are required to be fill clearly otherwise OMR will not read correctly.
4) Documents for optical mark recognition are complicated to design.
5) Any folding or dirt on a form may prevent the form from being read correctly.
6) It is very expensive.

c) Optical barcode reader (OBR)

Bar code structure

These bars are detected at ten digits. The first five digits identify the supplier or
manufacturer of item. The second five identify individual product.
Advantage of Barcode reader
Accuracy, Speed, Cost effective, Ease of implementation (Can be easily operated)
Disadvantage of barcode reader
If the code becomes damaged or blur it may not be read.

2) MICR
MICR stands for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition. It is a character recognition
technology used to scan and read the information directly into a data-collection
device. MICR characters can be read easily by humans and it is printed on documents
using a magnetic ink.
E.g. MICR is primarily by the banking industry to facilitate the processing of cheques.
How it works
MICR scan document written with magnetic ink which contain iron oxide particles in it.
When a MICR document needs to be read, it passes through a machine, which
magnetizes the ink and then translates the magnetic information into characters.
There are two major MICR fonts in use: E-13B and CMC-7
Advantages
1. It reads the character quite speedily and accurately.
2. MICR can read data even if it's smudged crumbled or dirty.
3. It is hard to reproduce the ink, hence hard to forge cheques.
Disadvantages
1. Special type of ink is used.
2. It cannot be used for general purpose data processing
3. It can recognize few type of font type.
4. The readers and printers are relatively expensive.
Output device
An output device is an electromechanical device which accepts data from a computer
and translates them into a human acceptable form.
Output generated by output device classified into two types:
1) Soft-copy output – Output which is not produced on a paper is known as soft-copy
output. They are temporary in nature.
2) Hard-copy output – Output which is produced on a paper is known as hard-copy
output. They are permanent in nature.

2. OUTPUT DEVICES

The computer does its primary work in a part of the machine we cannot see, a control
center that converts data input to information output. This control center, called the
central processing unit (CPU), is a highly complex, extensive set of electronic circuitry
that executes stored program instructions. All computers, large and small, must have a
central processing unit. As Figure 1 shows, the central processing unit consists of two
parts: The control unit and the arithmetic/logic unit. Each part has a specific function.

Before we discuss the control unit and the arithmetic/logic unit in detail, we need to
consider data storage and its relationship to the central processing unit. Computers use
two types of storage: Primary storage and secondary storage. The CPU interacts closely
with primary storage, or main memory, referring to it for both instructions and data.
For this reason this part of the reading will discuss memory in the context of the central
processing unit. Technically, however, memory is not part of the CPU.

What is a CPU?

A central processing unit (CPU) is the electronic circuitry within a computer that carries
out the instructions of a computer program by performing the basic arithmetic, logical,
control and input/output (I/O) operations specified by the instructions.

 It is a processor, because it processes (moves and calculates) data.

 It is central, because it is the center of PC data processing.
 It is a unit, because it is a chip, which contains millions of transistors.

Components of the Microprocessor

The Control Unit

The control unit of the CPU contains circuitry that uses electrical signals to direct the
entire computer system to carry out, or execute, stored program instructions. Like an
orchestra leader, the control unit does not execute program instructions; rather, it
directs other parts of the system to do so. The control unit must communicate with both
the arithmetic/logic unit and memory.

The Arithmetic/Logic Unit

The arithmetic/logic unit (ALU) contains the electronic circuitry that executes all
arithmetic and logical operations.

The arithmetic/logic unit can perform four kinds of arithmetic operations, or

mathematical calculations: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. As its
name implies, the arithmetic/logic unit also performs logical operations. A logical
operation is usually a comparison. The unit can compare numbers, letters, or special
characters. The computer can then take action based on the result of the comparison.
This is a very important capability. It is by comparing that a computer is able to tell, for
instance, whether there are unfilled seats on airplanes, whether charge- card customers
have exceeded their credit limits, and whether one candidate for Congress has more
votes than another.

Logical operations can test for three conditions:

 Equal-to condition. In a test for this condition, the arithmetic/logic unit

compares two values to determine if they are equal. For example: If the number
of tickets sold equals the number of seats in the auditorium, then the concert is
declared sold out.
 Less-than condition. To test for this condition, the computer compares values to
determine if one is less than another. For example: If the number of speeding
tickets on a driver's record is less than three, then insurance rates are $425;
otherwise, the rates are $500.
 Greater-than condition. In this type of comparison, the computer determines if
one value is greater than another. For example: If the hours a person worked this
week are greater than 40, then multiply every extra hour by 1.5 times the usual
hourly wage to compute overtime pay.

A computer can simultaneously test for more than one condition. In fact, a logic unit
can usually discern six logical relationships: equal to, less than, greater than, less than or
equal to, greater than or equal to, and not equal.

The symbols that let you define the type of comparison you want the computer to
perform are called relational operators. The most common relational operators are the
equal sign (=), the less-than symbol (<), and the greater-than symbol (>).
Processor Clock

The CPU clock, sometimes called the system clock sends out constant vibration or
pulses of transistors. The vibrations of these transistors push data to be processed or
data that has been processed. Each vibration of the clock is a sends a signal to process
particular data or work on a set of instructions.

Clock speed is a measure of how quickly a computer completes basic computations and
operations. It is measured as a frequency in hertz, and most commonly refers to the
speed of the computer's CPU, or Central Processing Unit. Since the frequency most
clock speed measures is very high, the terms megahertz and gigahertz are used. A
megahertz is one-million cycles per second, while a gigahertz is one-billion cycles per
second. So a computer with a clock speed of 800MHz is running 800,000,000 cycles per
second, while a 2.4GHz computer is running 2,400,000,000 cycles per second.

Every processor has its own built-in clock; this clock dictates how fast the processor can
process the data (0's and 1's). You will see processors advertised as having a speed of
say 2GHz, this measurement refers to the internal clock.
If a processor is advertised as having a speed of 2GHz, this means that it can process
data internally 2 billion times a second (every clock cycle). If the processor is a 32-bit
processor running at 2GHz then it can potentially process 32 bits of data
simultaneously, 2 billion times a second!!
Front Side Bus (FSB)
The front side bus consists of two channels, one for transferring data, and one for
indicating the memory address where the data is to be retrieved from or stored.

The front side bus transfers data between the processor and the computer's other
components such as memory, hard drives, etc. The FSB will have a certain width
(measured in bits) which dictates how many bits can be transferred at any one time. As
the 533MHz and 800MHz figures suggest, the FSB also has a clock cycle frequency
indicating how fast the data can be transferred. For example a processor having a FSB
width of 32-bits and running at 533MHz, can transfer a set of 32-bits of data, 533,000,000
times a second.
The Cache Memory

This is a memory which is imbedded on most modern CPUs. It offers quick access of
data that is awaiting processing or keeps data that has been processed awaiting
transmission to other parts like the RAM. Cache memory offers very high speed of
transfer rate. The transfer of data on cache memory is actually faster than on RAM.

Most computer systems have level 1 (L1) and level 2 (L2) cache memory modules. These
two may both reside inside the CPU or level 2 may reside on a separate chip close to the
CPU.

Bigger cache memory offers an advantage to the overall speed of the computers in that
is holds a lot of data at any given time, as compared to smaller cache memory.
How the CPU Functions
The CPU is centrally located on the motherboard. Since the CPU carries out a large
share of the work in the computer, data pass continually through it. The data come from
the RAM and the units (keyboard, drives etc.). After processing, the data is send back to
RAM and the units.

The CPU continually receives instructions to be executed. Each instruction is a data

processing order. The work itself consists mostly of calculations and data transport:
Data have a path to the CPU. It is kind of a data expressway called the system bus. You
can read more about the system bus in module 2b.

3. OUTPUT DEVICES

Following is list of most commonly used output device.

1. Monitor
2. Printer
3. Plotter
4. Speaker
5. Projector

1. Monitor
Monitor is an output device which is used for producing soft-copy output. It is also
known as VDU i.e. Visual Display Unit. It forms images from tiny dots, called pixels
that are arranged in a rectangular form. The sharpness of the image depends upon the
no. of the pixels.

Factors for considering display:-

1. Dot pitch is amount of space between the centers of adjacent pixels. Closer the dots
crisper the image.
2. Refresh rate is the number of times per second that the pixels are recharged so that
their glow remains bright. (In general it is 45-100 times per second).
3. Resolution is the image sharpness. Resolution is expressed in terms of formula
horizontal pixels X vertical pixels. (e.g. 800 X 600 pixels)

On the basis of volume monitor is of two types:

a) Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT)

CRT’s Screen display is made up of small picture elements called pixels. The smaller the
pixels the better the image clarity or resolution. CRT is the large bulky sized monitor. It
has high power requirement so it is not appropriate for portable devices.
How it works

A monochrome CRT contains single electron gun which emits beam of electrons. These
electrons are attached towards positive phosphorous screen. When an electron strikes
the screen it glows and emits light. A small area in which an electron strikes is known
as pixel. To display a screen all the pixel are strike by electrons. Accelerating anode
varies the speed of the electron and deflecting system changes the path of the electron.
In short
A heated cathode emits a high-speed electron beam onto phosphor-coated glass screen.
Glass screen glows when they are struck by electron beam.
Advantages of CRT Monitors
1. It has better brightness.
2. It is cheaper in cost.
3. It is more durable.
4. It has better graphics and larger viewing angle (~180)
Disadvantages of CRT monitors
1. It bulky and large in size. It is large in size so occupies more space.
2. More power consumption.
3. It is not portable.

b) Flat- Panel Display

Flat panel monitors are thinner and lighter and commonly used with portable computer
systems.
Following are Flat-Panel display:
 1. Light emitting diode
LED contains multiple small bulbs. The contents are displayed by turning the
bulbs “on” and “off”. Initially it was used only for simple digital displays like in
calculator, digital watch, etc. At present it is also used in television, desktop PC,
laptop, etc.

Advantages of LED
1. It is light in weight so, it can be used in portable devices.
2. It requires less power.
3. It is small in size.
4. Its viewing angle is larger compared to LCD.
Disadvantages of LED
1. It has low brightness but is better than LCD and plasma.
2. It is expensive compared to CRT.
3. It is difficult to maintain.

2. Liquid crystal display

LCD contains liquid crystals in between two plates of the screen. The plates are
made by either glass or plastic. The front plate is transparent and the back plate
is reflective. Liquid crystals are charged electronically to display the content.
 Advantages of LCD
1. It is small in size.
2. It is light in weight.
3. It has low power requirements so, can be used in portable devices.
4. It is cheaper than LED and plasma display.
Disadvantages of LCD
1. It has low brightness.
2. It is expensive compared to CRT.
3. It requires viewing angle of almost 90.
3. Plasma display
It contains neon gas in between the two plates of the screen in place of liquid crystals of
LCD. It has larger viewing angle but is expensive than LCD. It is smaller in size, light in
weight and it has low power requirement and low brightness.
Advantages of plasma display
1. It is smaller in size and light in weight.
2. It has low power requirement so can be used in portable devices.
3. It has larger viewing angle.
Disadvantages of plasma display
1. It has low brightness.
2. It is expensive than LCD.
Types of monitor on the basis of color display are:
1. Monochrome monitor
It is a single colored monitor. It can display only text and images of a single color
against a contrasting background. The first monitor displayed text and images of light
green color against black background.
2. Gray scale monitor
It can display 256 different variations of black and white color. It can also display video.
The first television set was gray scale.
3. Color monitor
It can display 16-42 million colors. It uses 3 basic colors Red, Blue and Green. All the
other colors are the combination of these colors. Color monitor is also known as RGB
monitor.
2. Printers
Printers are the most popular output devices. They produce hard-copy output.
Printers are broadly classified into two categories:
a) Impact printer: -
Impact printers are those printers that print the characters by striking hammers or pins
against ribbon onto paper. Impact printers are noisy printers.
Characteristics of Impact Printers are following
 Less expensive
 Impact printers are very noisy
 Useful for bulk printing due to low cost
 There is physical contact with the paper to produce a pattern
b) Non-impact Printers
The printers that print the characters without striking against the ribbon and onto the
paper are called Non-impact Printers.
Characteristics of Non-impact Printers
 Faster than impact printers.
 They are not noisy.
 High quality.
 Support many fonts and different character size.
Printers can be further classified into the different categories:-
a) Character Printer
i. Dot Matrix Printer (Impact printer)
ii. Daisy wheel Printer (Impact printer)
iii. Inkjet printer (Non-impact printer)
b) Line Printer
i. Drum printer (Impact printer)
ii. Chain printer (Impact printer)
c) Page printer
i. Laser printer (Non-impact printer)

Character printer prints only one character at a time. This types of printer is
described as follows:

a) Dot matrix
Dot matrix is an impact printer and it prints one character at a time in the form of
dots. Its speed is usually ranges from 30 to 550 characters per second (cps). Dot matrix is
the cheapest and the noisiest printer and has a low print quality. It was 1 st introduced
by Centronics in 1970.
How it works

1. In this printer an inked ribbon between paper and the print head. The print head
moves across the paper and goes on printing the information.
2. Uses tiny pins to hit an ink ribbon and the paper. 9 to 24 vertical column pins are
contained in a rectangular print head.
3. When print head moves across the paper, pins are activated to form a dotted
character image. When pins get activated they strike on paper along with ribbon. These
printers can produce carbon copies along with the originals.

Advantages
1. Less-expensive.
2. Low per page cost.
3. Energy efficient.
4. Multipage forms can be printed on this printer.

Disadvantages:
1. Noisy
2. Low resolution
3. Limited fonts flexibility
4. Poor quality graphics output.

b. Daisy wheel printer

A daisy wheel printer is basically an impact printer consisting of a wheel and attached
extensions on which molded metal characters are mounted. A daisy wheel printer
produces letter quality print and it can’t produce graphics output. It speed is around 90
cps.

How it works
1. In Daisy wheel printer each petal of wheel has a character embossed on it.
2. A hammer presses the wheel against a ribbon which in turn makes an ink stain on the
paper
3. A motor spins the wheel rapidly and when the desired character spins to the correct
position, a print hammer strikes it to produce the output.

Advantages
1. Quality output is produced
2. The font of character can be easily changed
3. More reliable than DMP.
Disadvantages
1. Slower than DMP.
2. Produce noise while printing.
3. More expensive than DMP.
c. Inkjet printer
It is a non-impact printer producing a high quality print. Multipage forms cannot be
printed by these printers. Its speed ranges from 40 to 300 characters per second with a
resolution of from 300 dpi to 1200 dpi.

How it works
1. Print head having four ink cartridges moves.
2. Software instructs where to apply dots of ink, which color and what quantity to use.
3. Electrical pulses are sent to the resistors behind each nozzle.
4. Vapor bubbles of ink are formed by resistors and the ink is forced to the paper
through nozzles.
5. A matrix of dots forms characters and pictures.

Advantages
1. High quality of printing.
2. More reliable.
3. Energy efficient.

Disadvantages
1. Expensive as cost per page is high.
2. Slow as compare to laser printer.

b) Line printers

Line printers are the impact printers and are used for producing high volume paper
output. These printers print the complete line at a time so that’s why they are called line
printers. They are faster printers having speed in the range of 300 to 2500 lines per
minute.

Types of line printers

a) Drum printers
Drum printers print one line at time. It consists of a solid cylindrical drum with
character embossed on its surface in the form of circular bands. Each band contains
numerals, alphabets and special characters.
In addition to drum a set of hammer mounted in front of drum in manner that an inked
ribbon and paper can be placed between hammers and the drum. It is very fast and also
expensive. It speed ranges from 300 to 2000 lines per minute.

How it works
1. The drum rotates rapidly and one revolution is required to print one line.
2. Character at print position is printed by activating the appropriate hammer, when
character embossed on the band at print position passes below it.
Advantages
1. They can be used to produce multiple copies by using carbon paper.
2. It is very fast.
Disadvantages
1. Expensive
2. Noisy while operation.
3. Cannot produce different sizes of print and graphics.
b. Chain printer
Chain/band printers are line printers which print one line at a time. It consists of a
metallic chain on which all the characters of the character set supported by printer is
embossed. A charcter set may have 48, 64, or 96 characters. Its speed ranges from 400 to
3000 line per minute.
How it works
Chain rotates rapidly and a character at print position is printed by activating the
appropriate hammer, which is embossed on the chain pass below it.
Advantages
1. Fast than drum printers
2. Chain or chain printer can be easily changed. This allows the use of different font
with same printer.
Disadvantage
1. It does not have ability to print graphics such as charts and graphs.
2. Slower as compare to laser printer.
3) Page printer
Page printer is a very high speed non impact printer and prints the entire page at a
time. The quality of these printers is the best quality but there cost is much higher.
Laser printer
Laser printers are page printers which print one page at a time. The main components
of laser printers are a laser beam source, multi-sided mirror, a drum and a toner. Laser
printer produces very high quality output. Its print speed ranges from 4 to 12 pages per
minute in case of low speed laser printer and 500 to 1000 pages per minute in case of
high speed laser printer. It has resolution 600 dpi.
How it works
1. Paper is fed and the drum rotates.
2. A laser beam conveys information from the computer to a rotating mirror and thus an
image is created on the drum.
3. The charges on the drum are ionized and the toner sticks to the drum.
4. Toner is transferred from drum to paper.
5. Heat is applied to fuse the toner on the paper.

4. OUTPUT DEVICES

Primary Memory:-
1. RAM: Random Access Memory (RAM) is a memory scheme within the computer
system responsible for storing data on a temporary basis, so that it can be promptly
accessed by the processor as and when needed. It is volatile in nature, which means
that data will be erased once supply to the storage device is turned off. RAM stores
data randomly and the processor accesses these data randomly from the RAM
storage. RAM is considered "random access" because you can access any memory
cell directly if you know the row and column that intersect at that cell.
2. ROM (Read Only Memory): ROM is a permanent form of storage. ROM stays active
regardless of whether power supply to it is turned on or off. ROM devices do not
allow data stored on them to be modified.

Secondary Memory:-
Stores data and programs permanently: it’s retained after the power is turned off
1. Hard drive (HD): A hard disk is part of a unit, often called a "disk drive," "hard
drive," or "hard disk drive," that store and provides relatively quick access to large
amounts of data on an electromagnetically charged surface or set of surfaces.
2. Optical Disk: an optical disc drive (ODD) is a disk drive that uses laser light as part
of the process of reading or writing data to or from optical discs. Some drives can
only read from discs, but recent drives are commonly both readers and recorders,
also called burners or writers. Compact discs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs are common
types of optical media which can be read and recorded by such drives. Optical drive
is the generic name; drives are usually described as "CD" "DVD", or "Blu-ray",
followed by "drive", "writer", etc. There are three main types of optical media: CD,
DVD, and Blu-ray disc. CDs can store up to 700 megabytes (MB) of data and DVDs
can store up to 8.4 GB of data. Blu-ray discs, which are the newest type of optical
media, can store up to 50 GB of data. This storage capacity is a clear advantage over
the floppy disk storage media (a magnetic media), which only has a capacity of 1.44
MB.

3. Flash Disk

A storage module made of flash memory chips. A Flash disks have no mechanical
platters or access arms, but the term "disk" is used because the data are accessed as if
they were on a hard drive. The disk storage structure is emulated.