MOUSE

A computer mouse is an input device that is most often used with a personal computer. A mouse
is an input device that translates its movements on the desktop into digital information; this is
feed to the computer which in turn causes the cursor to move on the screen. Underneath the
mouse is a ball which rotates as the mouse is moved on the desk, and sensors pick up this
movement. Mouse usually have one, two or three buttons, used which are to make selection on
the screen.
The computer mouse as we know it today was invented and developed by Douglas Engelbart,
with the assistance of Bill English, during the 1960's and was patented on November 17, 1970.
Originally wired to a computer, many modern Mouse are cordless, relying on short-range radio
communication with the connected system. Mouse originally used a ball rolling on a surface to
detect motion, but modern Mouse often have optical sensors that have no moving parts. In
addition to moving a cursor, computer Mouse have one or more buttons to allow operations such
as selection of a menu item on a display. Mouse often also feature other elements, such as touch
surfaces and "wheels", which enable additional control and dimensional input.

Who Named the Mouse?

When asked who named his most famous invention, Doug Engelbart recalled, “No one can
remember. It just looked like a mouse with a tail, and we all called it that.” The wire “tail”
originally came out under the user’s wrist.
Variants Of Mouse
Mechanical Mouse

It is a computer mouse that contains a metal or rubber ball on its under side. When the ball is
rolled in any direction, sensors inside the mouse detect this motion and move the on-screen
mouse pointer in the same direction.

Optical Mouse

It is a computer mouse that uses Light Emitting Diode (LED)to detect the movement of cursor on
the screen.

Laser Mouse

It is a computer mouse that uses Infrared Laser Diode for detecting the mouse movement.
Inertial and gyroscopic Mouse

It is a computer mouse which is Often called "air Mouse" because they do not require a surface
to operate

3D Mouse

These devices generally function through ultrasound and provide at least three degrees of

freedom. 

Ergonomic Mouse

As the name suggests, this type of mouse is intended to provide optimum comfort and avoid
injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis and other repetitive strain injuries. It is designed
to fit natural hand position and movements, to reduce discomfort.
Gaming Mouse

These Mouse are specifically designed for use in computer games. They typically employ a wide
array of controls and buttons and have designs that differ radically from traditional Mouse. 
 KEYBOARD

In computing, a computer keyboard is a typewriter-style device which uses an arrangement of

buttons or keys to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches. Following the decline
of punch cards and paper tape, interaction via teleprinter-style keyboards became the main input
method for computers.
Keyboard buttons typically have characters engraved or printed on them, and each press of a key
typically corresponds to a single written symbol. However, producing some symbols may require
pressing and holding several keys simultaneously or in sequence. While most keyboard keys
produce letters, numbers or signs (characters), other keys or simultaneous key presses can
produce actions or execute computer commands.
In normal usage, the keyboard is used as a text entry interface for typing text and numbers into
a word processor, text editor or any other program. In a modern computer, the interpretation of
key presses is generally left to the software. A computer keyboard distinguishes each physical
key from every other key and reports all key presses to the controlling software. Keyboards are
also used for computer gaming — either regular keyboards or keyboards with special gaming
features, which can expedite frequently used keystroke combinations. A keyboard is also used to
give commands to the operating system of a computer, such as Windows' Control-Alt-
Delete combination, which brings up the system security options screens. A command-line
interface is a type of user interface navigated entirely using a keyboard, or some other similar
device that does the job of one.
Types of Keyboards

Standard

Standard alphanumeric keyboards have keys that are on three-quarter inch centers (0.750 inches,
19.05 mm)and have a key travel of at least 0.150 inches (3.81 mm). Desktop computer
keyboards, such as the 101-key US traditional keyboards or the 104-key Windows keyboards,
include alphabetic characters, punctuation symbols, numbers and a variety of function keys.

Laptop-size

Keyboards on laptops and notebook computers usually have a shorter travel distance for the

keystroke, shorter over travel distance, and a reduced set of keys. They may not have a numeric
keypad, and the function keys may be placed in locations that differ from their placement on a
standard, full-sized keyboard. The switch mechanism for a laptop keyboard is more likely to be a
scissor switch than a rubber dome.
Flexible keyboards

Flexible keyboards are a junction between normal type and laptop type keyboards: normal from
the full arrangement of keys, and laptop from the short key distance. Additionally, the flexibility
allows the user to fold/roll the keyboard for better storage and transfer. However, for typing the
keyboard must be resting on a hard surface.

Handheld

Handheld ergonomic keyboards are designed to be held like a game controller, and can be used
as such, instead of laid out flat on top of a table surface. Typically handheld keyboards hold all
the alphanumeric keys and symbols that a standard keyboard would have, yet only be accessed
by pressing two sets of keys at once; one acting as a function key similar to a 'Shift' key that
would allow for capital letters on a standard keyboard.
Multifunctional

Multifunctional keyboards provide additional function beyond the standard keyboard. Many are
programmable, configurable computer keyboards and some control multiple PCs, workstations
(incl. SUN) and other information sources (incl. Thomson Reuters FXT/Eikon, Bloomberg, EBS,
etc.) usually in multi-screen work environments. Users have additional key functions as well as
the standard functions and can typically use a single keyboard and mouse to access multiple
sources.

Backlit Keyboard

A backlit keyboard is a keyboard where the keys are illuminated for viewing in dim or
completely dark conditions. Backlighting is a common feature among the PC gamer market of
keyboards due to their practicality in low light environments and for aesthetics.
 PRINTER

In computing, a printer is a peripheral device which makes a persistent human-readable

representation of graphics or text on paper. The first computer printer designed was a
mechanically driven apparatus by Charles Babbage for his difference engine in the 19th century;
however, his mechanical printer design was not built until 2000. The first electronic printer was
the EP-101, invented by Japanese company Epson and released in 1968. The first commercial
printers generally used mechanisms from electric typewriters and Teletype machines. In the
1980s were wheel systems similar to typewriters, line printers that produced similar output but at
much higher speed, and dot matrix systems that could mix text and graphics but produced
relatively low-quality output. The plotter was used for those requiring high quality line art
like blueprints.
The introduction of the low-cost laser printer in 1984 with the first HP LaserJet, and the addition
of PostScript in next year's Apple LaserWriter, set off a revolution in printing known as desktop
publishing. Laser printers using PostScript mixed text and graphics, like dot-matrix printers, but
at quality levels formerly available only from commercial typesetting systems. By 1990, most
simple printing tasks like fliers and brochures were now created on personal computers and then
laser printed; expensive offset printing systems were being dumped as scrap. The HP DeskJet of
1988 offered the same advantages as laser printer in terms of flexibility, but produced somewhat
lower quality output (depending on the paper) from much less expensive mechanisms. Inkjet
systems rapidly displaced dot matrix and daisy wheel printers from the market. By the 2000s
high-quality printers of this sort had fallen under the $100 price point and became commonplace.
Today, traditional printers are being used more for special purposes, like printing photographs or
artwork, and are no longer a must-have peripheral.
Starting around 2010, 3D printing became an area of intense interest, allowing the creation of
physical objects with the same sort of effort as an early laser printer required to produce a
brochure. These devices are in their earliest stages of development and have not yet become
commonplace.
Types of Printers
1) Impact Printers-It establishes a mechanical contact between the print head and paper.
i. Dot-Matrix Printer- The dot-matrix printer uses print heads containing from 9 to 24
pins. These pins produce patterns of dots on the paper to form the individual characters.
The 24 pin dot-matrix printer produces more dots that a 9 pin dot-matrix printer, which
results in much better quality and clearer characters.

ii. Daisy-Wheel Printer- It is called daisy-wheel printer because the print mechanism looks
like a daisy; at the end of each “Petal” is a fully formed character which produces solid-
line print. A hammer strikes a “petal” containing a character against the ribbon, and the
character prints on the paper. Its speed is slow typically 25-55 characters per second.

iii. Line Printers- Line printers, or line-at-a-time printers, use special mechanism that can
print a whole line at once; they can typically print the range of 1,200 to 6,000 lines per
minute. Drum, chain, and band printers are line-at-a-time printers.
 iv. Drum Printer- The hammers of these printer strike the paper, along the ink ribbon,
against the proper character on the drum as it passes. One revolution of the drum is
required to print each line. This means that all characters on the line are not printed at
exactly the same time, but the time required to print the entire line is fast enough to call
them line printers. Typical speeds of drum printers are in the range of 300 to 2000 lines
per minute.

v. Chain Printer- A chain printer uses a chain of print characters wrapped around two
pulleys with one hammer for each print position. Circuitry inside the printer detects when
the correct character appears at the desired print location on the page. The hammer then
strikes the page, pressing the paper against a ribbon and the character located at the
desired print position. An impression of the character is left on the page. The chain keeps
rotating until all the required print positions on the line have filled. Then the page moves
up to print the next line. Speeds of chain printers range from 400 to 2500 characters per
minute.
vi. Band Printer- It uses a band and has fewer hammers. Band printer has a steel band
divided into five sections of 48 characters each. The hammers on a band printer are
mounted on a cartridge that moves across the paper to the appropriate positions.
Characters are rotated into place and struck by the hammers. Font styles can easily be
changed by replacing a band or chain.
2) Non-Impact Printers- It doesn't establishes a mechanical contact between the print head and
paper.
i. Ink-Jet Printers- These printer form characters on paper by spraying ink of various
colors from tiny nozzles through an electrical field that arranges the charged ink particles
into characters at the rate of approximately 250 characters per second. The ink is absorb
into the paper and dries instantly.
 ii. Laser Printer- A laser printer works like a photocopy machine. It uses a beam of laser
for printing. It is very fast and can print almost 15-20 pages per minute with very high
quality of printout.

3) 3D Printers-It is used to create a three-dimensional object. Objects can be of almost any

shape or geometry and typically are produced using digital model data from a 3D model or
another electronic data source such as an Additive Manufacturing File (AMF) file.
 SCANNER

Scanner is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting or an object and
converts it to a digital image. Commonly used in offices are variations of the desktop flatbed
scanner where the document is placed on a glass window for scanning. Hand-held scanners,
where the device is moved by hand, have evolved from text scanning "wands" to 3D
scanners used for industrial design, reverse engineering, test and measurement, orthotics, gaming
and other applications. Mechanically driven scanners that move the document are typically used
for large-format documents, where a flatbed design would be impractical.
Modern scanners typically use a charge-coupled device (CCD) or a contact image sensor (CIS)
as the image sensor, whereas drum scanners, developed earlier and still used for the highest
possible image quality, use a photomultiplier tube (PMT) as the image sensor. A rotary
scanner, used for high-speed document scanning, is a type of drum scanner that uses a CCD
array instead of a photomultiplier. Non-contact planetary scanners essentially photograph
delicate books and documents. All these scanners produce two-dimensional images of subjects
that are usually flat, but sometimes solid; 3D scanners produce information on the three-
dimensional structure of solid objects.
Digital cameras can be used for the same purposes as dedicated scanners. When compared to a
true scanner, a camera image is subject to a degree of distortion, reflections, shadows, low
contrast, and blur due to camera shake (reduced in cameras with image stabilization). Resolution
is sufficient for less demanding applications. Digital cameras offer advantages of speed,
portability and non-contact digitizing of thick documents without damaging the book spine. As
of 2010 scanning technologies were combining 3D scanners with digital cameras to create full-
color, photo-realistic 3D models of objects.
In the biomedical research area, detection devices for DNA microarrays are called scanners as
well. These scanners are high-resolution systems (up to 1 µm/ pixel), similar to microscopes. The
detection is done via CCD or a photomultiplier tube.
Types Of Scanner
Flatbed Scanner

A flatbed scanner is made up of a glass pane and a moving optical CIS or CCD array. The pane
is illuminated with the help of bright light planted underneath it. The image is then placed on the
glass pane. The sensor and source of light move across the glass pane to scan the document and
produce its digital copy. If you want to scan transparent slides on your flatbed scanner, you will
require a transparency adapter. Flatbed scanners derive their name from the fact that their glass
plane or bed, where the object to be scanned is placed, is flat.
Sheet fed Scanner

In this type of scanner, the document is fed into the horizontal or vertical slot provided in it. The
prominent components of a sheet fed scanner include the sheet-feeder, scanning module, and
calibration sheet. While the sensor and source of light move across the glass pane in flatbed
scanners, in sheet fed scanners, they are stationary. Instead, the document moves through the
scanner. Ideal for scanning single page documents.
Handheld Scanner

A handheld scanner is a small manual scanning device which is moved over the object that needs
to be scanned. In the case of handheld scanner, you have to drag it over the document that is to
be scanned. Using a handheld scanner can be a cumbersome task as the hand needs to be steady
all the time. Even a slight movement of hand can lead to distortion of the image. One of the
most-utilized handheld scanner is the barcode scanner, typically used in shopping stores to
valuate goods.

Drum Scanner

A drum scanner is the one which uses a photomultiplier tube (PMT) to scan images instead of
the charge-coupled device that is typically used in a flatbed scanner. Photomultiplier tubes are
vacuum tubes which are extremely sensitive to light. In drum scanners, the image is mounted on
the glass tube. When the beam of light moves across the image, its reflection is picked up by the
PMT and processed. Drum scanners are known for their high resolution, which makes them apt
for detailed scans. If they are not as popular as flatbed scanners, it is because of their cost and
large size.
Photo Scanner

A photo scanner is mostly used to scan photographs. It boasts of high resolution and color depth.
This scanner is best to digitize film negatives and slide. While flatbed scanners can also scan
your photographs for you, they are not as fast as dedicated photo scanners. It's also worth noting
that the in-built software in some photo scanners helps in cleaning and restoring old photographs.

Film Scanner

A film scanner is utilized to scan photographic films directly into a computer. The photographer
has direct control over certain aspects, such as cropping, ratio of original image on the film, etc.
Some film scanners available today have specialized software through which it is possible to
minimize scratches and improve color quality. Low-end film scanners most often accept 35 mm
film strips, while high-end scanners―armed with interchangeable film loaders―can accept 35
mm or 120 mm strips and even individual slides.
Portable Scanners

It can be easily carried around as some of these are as small as your PDAs, hence, can be carried
in the pockets. They are of great help when it comes to text document scanning. Their drawback
though, is their limitation in terms of resolution. They can't be used for scanning photographs or
for applications which require high-resolution scanning.
 HARD DISK

A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk, is an electromechanical data

storage device that uses magnetic storage to store and retrieve digital information using one or
more rigid rapidly rotating disks (platters) coated with magnetic material. The platters are paired
with magnetic heads, usually arranged on a moving actuator arm, which read and write data to
the platter surfaces. Data is accessed in a access manner, meaning that individual blocks of data
can be stored or retrieved in any order and not only sequentially. HDDs are a type of non-volatile
storage, retaining stored data even when powered off.
Introduced by IBM in 1956, HDDs became the dominant secondary storage device for general-
purpose computers by the early 1960s. Continuously improved, HDDs have maintained this
position into the modern era of servers and personal computers. More than 200 companies have
produced HDDs historically, though after extensive industry consolidation most units are
manufactured by Seagate, Toshiba, and Western Digital. HDDs dominate the volume of storage
produced (Exabyte per year) for servers. Though production is growing slowly, sales revenues
and unit shipments are declining because solid-state drives (SSDs) have higher data-transfer
rates, higher areal storage density, better reliability, and much lower latency and access times.
The revenues for SSDs, most of which use NAND, slightly exceed those for HDDs. Though
SSDs have nearly 10 times higher cost per bit, they are replacing HDDs where speed, power
consumption, small size, and durability are important.
The primary characteristics of an HDD are its capacity and performance. Capacity is specified
in unit prefixes corresponding to powers of 1000: a 1-terabyte (TB) drive has a capacity of
1,024 gigabytes. Typically, some of an HDD's capacity is unavailable to the user because it is
used by the file system and the computer operating system, and possibly inbuilt redundancy
for error correction and recovery. Performance is specified by the time required to move the
heads to a track or cylinder (average access time) plus the time it takes for the desired sector to
move under the head (average latency, which is a function of the physical rotational
speed in revolutions per minute), and finally the speed at which the data is transmitted (data
rate).
The two most common form factors for modern HDDs are 3.5-inch, for desktop computers, and
2.5-inch, primarily for laptops. HDDs are connected to systems by standard interface cables such
as PATA (Parallel ATA), SATA (Serial ATA), USB or SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) cables.
Parts

1. Actuator that moves the read-write arm. In older hard drives, the actuators
were stepper motors. In most modern hard drives, voice coils are used instead. As their
name suggests, these are simple electromagnets, working rather like the moving coils that
make sounds in loudspeakers. They position the read-write arm more quickly, precisely,
and reliably than stepper motors and are less sensitive to problems such as temperature
variations.

2. Read-write arm swings read-write head back and forth across platter.

3. Central spindle allows platter to rotate at high speed.

4. Magnetic platter stores information in binary form.

5. Plug connections link hard drive to circuit board in personal computer.

6. Read-write head is a tiny magnet on the end of the read-write arm.

7. Circuit board on underside controls the flow of data to and from the platter.

8. Flexible connector carries data from circuit board to read-write head and platter.

9. Small spindle allows read-write arm to swing across platter.

The platters are the most important parts of a hard drive. As the name suggests, they are disks
made from a hard material such as glass, ceramic, or aluminum, which is coated with a thin layer
of metal that can be magnetized or demagnetized. A small hard drive typically has only one
platter, but each side of it has a magnetic coating. Bigger drives have a series of platters stacked
on a central spindle, with a small gap in between them. The platters rotate at up to 10,000
revolutions per minute (rpm) so the read-write heads can access any part of them.
There are two read-write heads for each platter, one to read the top surface and one to read the
bottom, so a hard drive that has five platters (say) would need ten separate read-write heads. The
read-write heads are mounted on an electrically controlled arm that moves from the center of the
drive to the outer edge and back again. To reduce wear and tear, they don't actually touch the
platter: there's a layer of fluid or air between the head and the platter surface.

How does a Hard Disk works?

In our computer's hard disk, there's just a large shiny, circular "plate" of magnetic material called
a platter, divided into billions of tiny areas. Each one of those areas can be independently
magnetized (to store a 1) or demagnetized (to store a 0). Magnetism is used in computer storage
because it goes on storing information even when the power is switched off. If we magnetize a
nail, it stays magnetized until we demagnetize it. In much the same way, the computerized
information (or data) stored in our PC hard drive or iPod stays there even when we switch the
power off.

Reading and Writing data

The data is stored in a very orderly pattern on each platter. Bits of data are arranged in
concentric, circular paths called tracks. Each track is broken up into smaller areas called sectors.
Part of the hard drive stores a map of sectors that have already been used up and others that are
still free. (In Windows, this map is called the File Allocation Table or FAT.) When the computer
wants to store new information, it takes a look at the map to find some free sectors. Then it
instructs the read-write head to move across the platter to exactly the right location and store the
data there. To read information, the same process runs in reverse.

There is an interface (a connecting piece of equipment) between them called a controller. This is
a small circuit that operates the actuators, selects specific tracks for reading and writing, and
converts parallel streams of data going from the computer into serial streams of data being
written to the disk (and vice versa). Controllers are either built into the disk drive's own circuit
board or part of the computer's main board (motherboard).

Caution
Hard drives can go wrong if they get dirt or dust inside them. A tiny piece of dust can make the
read-write head bounce up and down, crashing into the platter and damaging its magnetic
material. This is known as a disk crash (or head crash) and it can (though it doesn't always) cause
the loss of all the information on a hard drive. A disk crash usually occurs out of the blue,
without any warning. That's why we should always keep backup copies of your important
documents and files, either on another hard drive, on a compact disc (CD) or DVD, or on a flash
memory stick.
SOLID STATE DRIVE

A solid-state drive (SSD) is a solid-state storage device that uses integrated circuit assemblies

as memory to store data persistently. It is also sometimes called solid-state disk, although SSDs
do not have physical disks. SSDs may use traditional hard disk drive (HDD) form-factors and
protocols such as SATA and SAS, greatly simplifying usage of SSDs in computers. Following
the initial acceptance of SSDs with HDD interfaces, new form factors such as the M.2 form
factor, and new I/O protocols such as NVM Express have been developed to address specific
requirements of the Flash memory technology used in SSDs.
SSDs have no moving mechanical components. This distinguishes them from
conventional electromechanical drives such as hard disk drives (HDDs) or floppy disks, which
contain spinning disks and movable read/write heads. Compared with electromechanical drives,
SSDs are typically more resistant to physical shock, run silently, have quicker access time and
lower latency. While the price of SSDs has continued to decline over time, SSDs are (as of 2018)
still more expensive per unit of storage than HDDs and are expected to continue to be so into the
next decade.
As of 2017, most SSDs use 3D TLC NAND-based flash memory, which is a type of non-volatile
memory that retains data when power is lost. For applications requiring fast access but not
necessarily data persistence after power loss, SSDs may be constructed from random-access
memory (RAM). Such devices may employ batteries as integrated power sources to retain data
for a certain amount of time after external power is lost.
However, all SSDs still store data in electrical charges, which slowly leak over time if left
without power. This causes worn out drives (that have exceeded their endurance rating) to start
losing data typically after one (if stored at 30 °C) to two (at 25 °C) years in storage; for new
drives it takes longer. Therefore, SSDs are not suited for archival purposes.
Hybrid drives or solid-state hybrid drives (SSHDs), such as Apple's Fusion Drive, combine the
features of SSDs and HDDs in the same unit, containing a large hard disk drive and an SSD
cache to improve performance of frequently accessed data.

Types Of Solid State Drives

SATA Drive

A SATA SSD has the same form factor as a standard hard drive and uses a SATA cable to
connect to the motherboard. These SSDs commonly come in the 2.5-inch form factor (the size of
a laptop’s hard drive).
The latest SATA SSDs use the SATA revision 3.0 interface, which has a maximum transfer
speed of 600MB/s. These drives are relatively cheap compared to other form factors and are
commonly found in professional laptops and mid-range desktop PCs.

M.2 Module
The M.2 (formerly NGFF) SSD form factor was developed to provide support for SATA and
PCIe interfaces.M.2 SSDs are long, thin PCBs with multiple NAND Flash modules, and connect
via an M.2 connector to an M.2 slot on the motherboard.
There are several types of interfaces and controllers used by M.2 SSDs, mainly:
 SATA
 PCIe
 NVMe
M.2 SATA drives do not look like conventional SATA drives and connect to an M.2 port, but
use the same interface and are also limited by the 600MB/s cap. M.2 PCIe SSDs use the PCI
Express lanes exposed via an M.2 slot to connect to the computer and provide increased
performance.

M.2 PCIe SSDs can use two different controllers: AHCI and NVMe.
AHCI PCIe SSDs provide backward compatibility for systems with SATA support, but have
limited efficiency due to AHCI being designed for mechanical drives.
NVMe and PCIe SSDs have vastly superior performance, as the interface was designed for high-
speed flash storage. M.2 PCIe NVMe SSDs can boast transfer speeds many times that of
conventional SSDs and feature thousands of processing queues instead of the single queue
provided by older interfaces.

PCIe Card
These SSD’s are large, single-slot storage drives which connect to a PCI Express slot on your
motherboard – similar to a graphics card. Dedicated cards use the NVMe interface and usually
include heat sinks to dissipate heat.
These devices can usually only fit in desktop PCs and are used in workstations or enterprise
systems. The development of smaller NVMe SSDs and the increasing popularity of the M.2 form
factor have negated the need for the average consumer to purchase a dedicated PCIe SSD card.