ACC 421

Management Information System

Data Processing Technology
Computer Hardware

• Computer Input

• Computer Output

• Storage devices
What is a Computer
• Computer is an advanced electronic device that takes raw
data as input from the user and processes these data under
the control of set of instructions (called program) and gives
the result (output) and saves output for the future use. It
can process both numerical and non-numerical (arithmetic
and logical) calculations.

• It is an electronic machine that follows instructions, gets

data from an input device, directs processing of the data
and directs information to an output device.

• To do this successfully requires a variety of hardware and

software.
Basic Hardware
• Our main objective here is to examine the basic hardware
in a computer system.
Computer System
An Input Device
• Is a device which provides the computer with data,
which it then uses to process and give out
information.

• This unit is responsible for the entering of data into

the computer.

• Input units are made up of input devices

• auditory (microphone),
• visual (scanners, smart card readers), and
• tactile (pressure sensitive pens, touch pads, touch
screens, keyboard, mouse, trackball).
An Input Device (cont.)

• Mouse • Keyboard/Trackball

• Scanner • Touch Pad

Mouse
• A computer mouse is a handheld hardware input
device that controls a cursor in a GUI and can move
and select text, icons, files, and folders.

• For desktop computers, the mouse is placed on a flat

surface such as a mouse pad or a desk and is placed in
front of your computer.

• The picture as shown above is an example of a

desktop computer mouse with two buttons and a
wheel.
Keyboard/Trackball
• A computer keyboard is one
of the primary input
devices used with a computer
that looks similar to those
found on electric typewriters,
but with some additional
keys.
• Keyboards allow you to input
letters, numbers, and other
symbols into a computer that
can serve as commands or be
used to type text.
• A Trackball Keyboard is a standard
computer keyboard with a built-in
trackball.
• This allows the typist the option of either
using no external mouse, or a secondary
pointing device.
• Trackball Keyboards are equipped with
two mouse buttons allowing you to
perform "point and click" operations
without removing your hands from the
keyboard.
• This style of keyboard provides relief for
the user whose work demands excessive
use of a mouse, keeping the hands in a
more natural, relaxed position with the
hands resting on the keyboard.
Scanner
• A scanner is a device that captures images from photographic
prints, posters, magazine pages, and similar sources for
computer editing and display.

• Scanners come in hand-held, feed-in, and flatbed types and for

scanning black-and-white only, or color.

• Very high resolution scanners are used for scanning for

high-resolution printing, but lower resolution scanners are
adequate for capturing images for computer display.

• Scanners usually come with software, such as Adobe's

Photoshop product, that lets you resize and otherwise modify a
captured image.
Touchpad
• Alternatively referred to as a glide pad, glide point, pressure sensitive
tablet, or trackpad, a touchpad is an input device on laptops and
some keyboards that allows the user to move a cursor with their finger.

• It can be used in place of an external mouse.

• A touchpad is operated by using your finger and dragging it across the flat
surface of the touchpad.

• As you move your finger on the surface, the mouse cursor moves in that
same direction.

• Like most computer mice, the touchpad also has two buttons below the
touch surface that allows you to left-click or right-click.
An Input Device (cont.)
• Audio input is any data entered into the computer via sounds. Sounds can
be entered into a computer via a microphone or other devices such as
electrical piano keyboards and digital music devices. These devices
connect to the computer via the sound card or special MIDI card. They
allow you to change the speed of sounds, add sounds, and rearrange
sounds as well.

• USB Microphone Plug

An Input Device (cont.)
• One of today's common video input devices is the digital camera and
digital VHS recorder. Images instead of being stored on regular film
are stored in the camera's PC card ( memory card ), floppy disk, flash
card, memory stick, CD (a mini) or microdrive. The more expensive
the camera, the more storage. Images can be seen and edited while still
in the camera or downloaded to a computer for work in PhotoShop, for
example. Cameras can be attached to computers by means of USB or
serial ports or even the parallel port which use special reading devices.

• Digital Camera
Output Device
• An output device is a device which the computer uses to
"put out" or display information.
• visual (a printer, monitor, or plotter), auditory
(speakers), or
• tactile (pagers or beepers which vibrate). It is possible
that taste and smells may come from computers in the
future.
• Monitor Printer
A Monitor
• A monitor is a display device that consists of a screen housed in a plastic
or metal case. The quality of the display depends on a monitor's
resolution, dot pitch, and refresh rate. Resolution, or sharpness, is
related to the number of pixels a monitor can display.

• Dot pitch, which is a measure of image clarity, is the distance between

each pixel. Refresh rate is the speed with which a monitor redraws
images on the screen.
• Refresh rate should be fast enough to maintain a constant, flicker-free
image.

• A video card converts digital output into an analog video signal that is
sent through a cable to the monitor. How the picture is produced is
determined by the display device. Several standards define resolution,
the number of colors, and other monitor properties.

• Today, most monitors and video cards support the super video graphics
array (SVGA) standard.
Printers
• Printers produce printed information, called hardcopy.
• Generally, printers are grouped into two categories: impact and non-impact.
• An impact printer forms characters and graphics by striking a mechanism against an
inked ribbon that physically contacts the paper.

• A dot-matrix printer is an impact printer that prints images when tiny wire pins on a
print head mechanism strike an inked ribbon.
• A line printer is a high-speed impact printer that prints an entire line at one time.

• A non-impact printer creates characters and graphics without actually striking the paper.
• An ink-jet printer is a high-speed, high-quality non-impact printer that sprays drops
of ink onto a piece of paper.
• A laser printer is a non-impact printer that operates in a manner similar to a copy
machine.
• A thermal printer generates images by pushing electrically heated pins against
heat-sensitive paper.

• A printer capable of Internet printing receives print instructions from an Internet service,
allowing it to print documents from desktop and wireless devices.
Printers (cont.)
• Other types of printers include:
• photo printers,
• label printers,
• portable printers, and
• plotters.

• Plotter Pager
Plotter
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsKSI0wtuvM

• A pager is a small telecommunications device that

receives (and, in some cases, transmits) alert signals
and/or short messages.

• This type of device is convenient for people expecting

telephone calls, but who are not near a telephone set to
make or return calls immediately.
Speakers
• Two commonly used audio output devices are speakers and headsets.
Most personal computers have an internal speaker that outputs
low-quality sound.

• Many users add high-quality stereo speakers or purchase personal

computers with larger speakers built into the sides of the monitor. A
woofer can be added to boost low bass sounds.

• A headset plugged into a port on the sound card or a speaker allows

only the user to hear sound from the computer.
• Speakers
Modem
• Another device, called a modem, also serves to both input
and output data.

• A modem is a communication device allowing data and

information to travel along telephone lines, across special
lines called DSL lines, across cable lines and even through
the air (known as wireless) to other computers and devices.

• Modems can be found inside the system unit or outside

connected to a port on the system unit.

• Wireless modems are not physically connected at all.

Modem
Processor and Chip
• What happens when input is received by a computer
system? What hardware might be involved and where does
the input go?

• Computer systems have a SYSTEM UNIT which includes

one or more processing CHIPS such as an Intel Pentium 4,
an Inte CELERON, or an AMB Athlon among others.

• It also includes drive bays or spaces for hard, floppy, and

CD drives as well as slots or spaces for electronic cards

• In addition, the system unit houses a power supply and a

fan which keeps the system from overheating.
Different Types of Processor
• The processor is a very fast calculator on a chip, which can do
arithmetic operations and comparison operations.

• While it does not seem possible that the graphics and windows we see
when using a computer, word processing and game software we use, are
the result of only these two operations, it is indeed true.
• The processor is referred to as the CPU or central processing unit.

• Pentium® 4 AMD Athlon™ Celeron®

A CHIP
• A chip is VERY tiny piece of silicon containing transistors and bus lines
like those pictured above on the chips.
• Bus lines are the electronic pathways along which data, instructions and
information travel on the chip.
• Chips are mounted on or inserted into the moterboard which contains
many bus lines as well.

• Motherbard
Memory
• The system also includes MEMORY chips as well, known as
RAM or random access memory.

• This is the temporary storage area for data, instructions

and information waiting to be used by the processor chip or
other devices.
Chip
• Another type of chip is the BIOS CHIP or the Basic Input and
Output System chip. This chip contain information about the
type of input and output devices the computer can use such as
the maximum size of the hard drive that the system can
accommodate.

• BIOS (basic input/output system) is the program a personal

computer's microprocessor uses to get the computer system
started after you turn it on.

• It also manages data flow between the computer's operating

system and attached devices such as the hard disk, video
adapter, keyboard, mouse and printer.

• It actually contains permanently stored software

(instructions), which perform the power-on test when a
computer is turned on and load the basics of the operating
system which then takes over control of the computer.