Computer systems

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 Description of a computer system
• A computer system: is a collection of three entities
namely hardware, software and liveware that work
together to receive, process, manage and present
information in a meaningful format.
• Hardware: physical or tangible components that
make up a computer system. They are classified into
four categories namely: input devices, central
processing unit, output devices and storage devices.
• Software: refers to a set of instructions that direct a
computer on what to do. They are mainly classified
into two categories namely: System software and
Application software. 2
• Liveware/orgware/people: an informal term that
refers to the human beings attachment to
computers. These include users, people who make
computer programs (programmers) and computer
engineers. This term refers to the user who
commands a computer to perform a certain task.

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 Input devices
• They convert user input which is in human
readable form to machine language that a
computer can process.
• They can be classified according to the
methods that they use to enter data as follows:
1. Keying devices
2. Pointing devices
3. Scanning devices
4. Other technologies

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 Keying devices
• Typing is the most common way to input data.
• A keying device converts typed numbers, letters
and special characters into machine readable form
before processing takes place. They include:
1. Flexible keyboard: It is a more portable
keyboard that can be folded and packed into a
bag.

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2. Ergonomic Keyboard: Specifically designed to
provide comfort and alleviate wrist strain.

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3. Keypad: A miniature keyboard used on portable
devices such as PDAs, laptops and mobile
phones.

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4. Braille keyboard: A keyboard designed for use
by the blind. It consists of keys identified by
raised dots.

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5. Android Keypad: Android (software found in
smart phones) supports a variety of keyboard
devices including special function keypads
(volume and power controls), compact
embedded QWERTY keyboards, and fully
featured PC-style external keyboards.

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6. Standard/traditional keyboard: this is the
most common type of keying device. It is a
full sized rigid keyboard.

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 Pointing Devices
• They are used for controlling a pointer on the
screen. They include: Mouse, trackball, joystick
and light pen.
1. Mouse: This is the most common pointing
device. There are different types of mouse
available in the market:
a. Standard/traditional Mouse: it has a ball underneath,
two buttons and an optional scroll button located
between the left and right buttons.

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b. Optical Mouse
• It does not have many moving parts.
• It works by using a tiny camera to take 1,500
pictures every second of the surface on which it is
resting.
• Interpreting the pictures indicates the direction of
the mouse movement hence the pointer’s position
on the screen.

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c. Cordless/wireless mouse
• This is a battery powered mouse that uses radio or
infrared waves instead of being physically
connected to the system unit.

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 Trackball
• It works just like a mouse, only that its ball is
located on the top.
• Instead of moving the device on a flat surface, the
user rotates the ball using a finger.
• Some computer keyboards come with an
integrated trackball, hence no need for a mouse.

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 Joystick

• It looks like lever and it is used to control a

pointer on the screen.
• It’s purposely used for playing computer
games.
• The user controls game actions by varying the
pressure, speed and direction of the joystick.
• Command buttons and triggers are used to
issue commands or actions in the software
being controlled by the joystick user.
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A joystick
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 Light pen and stylus
• A light pen operates by detecting the command or
item being illuminated by it.
• A stylus is used on devices such as PDAs, that
recognize commands or hand written data.

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 Scanning Devices
• They capture data from an object by converting it
into digital format.
• They are classified according to technology used
to capture data into two: optical scanners and
magnetic scanners.
1. Optical Scanners: they capture data using
optical or light technology.
 A light beam passes over an object and the image
is analyzed by a specialized software. Examples
of optical scanners include:

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a) Optical mark recognition/reader scanner (OMR)
• It detects marks made on a piece of paper using
ink or a soft pencil, by passing an infrared beam
over them.
• They are used to mark multiple choice questions,
analyze responses to structured questionnaires
and selecting correct number combinations from
lottery tickets.

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b) Optical Bar recognition/reader (OBR)
• OBR scanners are used to capture data coded as
lines of varying thickness known as barcodes or
Universal Product Code (UPC).
• Barcodes hold manufacturer’s details and the
product code but not price details because they
vary from one place to another.
Bar code
reader

Barcodes

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 c) Optical Character recognition/reader (OCR)
• An OCR scanner is used to read typewritten,
computer-printed or handwritten characters and
transforms the images into a softcopy that can be
manipulated using a word processor
• It can also be used to capture pictures and other
real objects.

Flat-bed scanner

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 Magnetic scanners
• They are used to capture data written using
magnetic ink or coded onto a magnetic strip.
• Examples of magnetic scanners are Magnetic Ink
Character Recognition/reader (MICR) and card
readers.
a) Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR)
• They are used to read characters written using
magnetic ink. E.g. the shiny characters on bank
cheques.

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 MICR Cheque reader

b) Card readers: they are plastic cards with a black magnetic

strip which stores data. Once swiped on a card reader, data
stored on the magnetic strip is displayed in the computer. These
cards include: ATM cards, Supermarket smart cards, etc.

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 Other input technologies
1. Digitizer also known as graphic tablet allows a
user to draw an image using a stylus. The image
drawn does not appear on the tablet but on the
computer screen. It is used for tracing highly
detailed engineering and architectural drawings
and designs.

Stylus pen
Graphic tablet

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2. Digital Cameras: They capture images the same
way other cameras do, only that the image is stored
in digital form. Pictures are mostly stored on
memory card. The stored images can be transferred
to the computer for editing, printing or upload to the
Internet.
3. Touch Screen: this technology lets the user to touch
the screen using a finger or a stylus in order to write
or select an item. The screen consists of infrared
light crisscrossing behind it. When the user touches a
location on the screen, the finger interrupts the
infrared light and the output is displayed on the
screen. They are used in airports, Smart phones,
hotels etc. 25
4. Voice input: this is a type of input uses a
microphone to enter data in form of speech into
the computer. It is suitable especially for the
physically challenged users. Voice input has
limitations in that it does not fully support speech
related aspects such as accents,
inflections/variations and tones. However the
system can be “trained” to overcome some of
these problems.

Headset microphone
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 Interactive whiteboard/smart board
• An interactive whiteboard is a large interactive
display that connects to a computer. A projector
projects the computer's desktop onto the board's
surface where users control the computer using a
pen, finger, stylus, or other device. The board is
typically mounted to a wall or floor stand.

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