Unit II Input, Hard/Soft copy Devices, Storage Devices

Three main actions take place on a computer-

1) Inputting

2) Processing

3) Outputting

1) Input Concepts
Any operations or actions performed on or by the input devices are converted into electrical/ electromagnetic signals.
These electrical signals or analog signals are converted to digital signal by ADC(analog to digital converter) devices. Now
it is passed to processor for further processing.

Example:-

Every keystroke of keyboard is recorded into electrical signals with the help of circuits and switches similarly every
movement of mouse are sensed by sensor and converted into electrical signal. These signals are converted into digital form
by signal processing unit and passed to processor.

Input Devices

These are hardware devices which take the real world data from users and pass it to processing unit
along with proper control signals.

or

An input device is any peripheral (piece of computer hardware equipment) used to provide data and
control signals to an information processing system.

So finally speaking input is the process of entering and translating data into machine readable form. The
data to be entered is often referred to as input.

Any hardware item which is attested to the main unit of the computer, that houses the cpu is referred
to as a peripheral device. An input device is a peripheral device through which data are entered and
transformed into machine readable form.

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Input process involves:-

a) Data preparation

b) Processing of data

c) Accuracy check

2) Input Devices

3) Keyboard

Keyboard
One of the main input devices used on a
computer, a PC's keyboard looks very similar to
the keyboards of electric typewriters, with some
additional keys.

In computing, a keyboard is an input device, partially modeled after the typewriter keyboard, which
uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches. A keyboard
typically has characters engraved or printed on the keys and each press of a key typically corresponds to
a single written symbol. However, to produce some symbols requires 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 computer commands.

In normal usage, the keyboard is used to type text and numbers into a word processor, text editor or
other program. In a modern computer, the interpretation of keypresses is generally left to the software.
A computer keyboard distinguishes each physical key from every other and reports all keypresses to the
controlling software. Keyboards are also used for computer gaming, either with regular keyboards or by
using 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 a task window or shuts down the machine.

keys on computer keyboards are often classified as follows:

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  alphanumeric keys -- letters and numbers

 punctuation keys -- comma, period, semicolon, and so on.

 special keys -- function keys, control keys, arrow keys, Caps Lock key, and so on.

The standard layout of letters, numbers, and punctuation is known as a QWERTY keyboard because the
first six keys on the top row of letters spell QWERTY.

4) Mouse

Mouse
In computing, a mouse (plural mouses, mice, or
mouse devices) is a pointing device that functions
by detecting two-dimensional motion relative to
its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse
consists of an object held under one of the user's
hands, with one or more buttons. It sometimes
features other elements, such as "wheels", which
allow the user to perform various system-
dependent operations, or extra buttons or features
can add more control or dimensional input. The
mouse's motion typically translates into the
motion of a pointer on a display, which allows for
fine control of a Graphical User Interface.

DPI- Dots per inch (DPI)

This is the technical measurement of mouse movement, which shows how many dots(pixels) are
covered by one inch movement of mouse.

Mechanical mouse devices

The ball-mouse replaced the external wheels with a single ball that could rotate in any direction.

Mechanical or opto-mechanical
A mouse described as simply "mechanical" has a contact-based incremental rotary encoder, a system
prone to drag and unreliability of contact. Opto-mechanical mice still use a ball or crossed wheels, but
detect shaft rotation using an optical encoder with lower friction and more certain performance.

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Optical mice

An optical mouse uses a light-emitting diode and photodiodes to detect movement relative to the
underlying surface, rather than moving some of its parts – as in a mechanical mouse.

5) Joystick

Joystick
Joystick is an input which allows an individual to
easily navigate an object in a game such as
navigating a plane in a flight simulator.
Types:-
Analog Joystick
Digital Joystick

A Joystick is similar to a mouse, accept that with a mouse the cursor stops moving as soon as you stop moving the
mouse while in a joystick the pointer remains in motion in the direction the joystick is pointed. To stop the pointer
you must return the joystick its upright position. Most joystick includes two buttons called triggers.

Working:-
Most joysticks are two-dimensional, having two axes of movement (similar to a mouse), but one and
three-dimensional joysticks do exist. A joystick is generally configured so that moving the stick left or
right signals movement along the X axis, and moving it forward (up) or back (down) signals movement
along the Y axis. In joysticks that are configured for three-dimensional movement, twisting the stick left
(counter-clockwise) or right (clockwise) signals movement along the Z axis. These three axes - X Y and Z -
are, in relation to an aircraft, roll, pitch, and yaw.

USE:-
a) Computer Games
b) CAD/ CAM systems
c) Industrial Application -
In recent times, the employment of joysticks has become common place in many industrial and
manufacturing applications, such as; cranes, assembly lines, forestry equipment, mining trucks, and
excavators.

6) Track Ball

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Kensington Expert Mouse trackball, it can use a standard American pool ball

A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect a
rotation of the ball about two axes—like an upside-down mouse with an exposed protruding ball. The
user rolls the ball with the thumb, fingers, or the palm of the hand to move a cursor.

Currently, the trackball has become extremely hard to find. Only three major companies, Logitech
A4Tech and Kensington, continue to produce them.

Application
a) Computer Games
b) CAD/ CAM systems
c) In Mobiles- as a mouse.

7) Touch Screen
A touchscreen is a display that can detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area.
The term generally refers to touch or contact to the display of the device by a finger or hand.
Touchscreens can also sense other passive objects, such as a stylus(stick).

The touchscreen has two main attributes. First, it enables one to interact with what is displayed directly
on the screen, where it is displayed, rather than indirectly with a mouse or touchpad. Secondly, it lets
one do so without requiring any intermediate device, again, such as a stylus that needs to be held in the
hand. Such displays can be attached to computers or, as terminals, to networks.

Working:-

basic systems that are used to recognize a person's touch:

• Resistive
• Capacitive
• Surface acoustic wave

The resistive system consists of a normal glass panel that is covered with a conductive and a resistive
metallic layer. These two layers are held apart by spacers, and a scratch-resistant layer is placed on top
of the whole setup. An electrical current runs through the two layers while the monitor is operational.
When a user touches the screen, the two layers make contact in that exact spot. The change in the

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electrical field is noted and the coordinates of the point of contact are calculated by the computer. Once
the coordinates are known, a special driver translates the touch into something that the operating
system can understand, much as a computer mouse driver translates a mouse's movements into a click
or a drag.

Application-
They also play a prominent role in the design of digital appliances such as the personal digital assistant
(PDA), satellite navigation devices, mobile phones, and video games.

8) Light pen

A light pen is a computer input device in the form of a light-sensitive wand used in conjunction with a
computer's CRT TV set or monitor. It allows the user to point to displayed objects, or draw on the
screen, in a similar way to a touch screen but with greater positional accuracy. A light pen can work with
any CRT-based display, but not with LCD screens (though Toshiba and Hitachi displayed a similar idea at
the "Display 2006" show in Japan[1]), projectors and other display devices.

Working
A light pen is fairly simple to implement. The light pen works by sensing the sudden small change in
brightness of a point on the screen when the electron gun refreshes that spot. By noting exactly where
the scanning has reached at that moment, the X,Y position of the pen can be resolved. This is usually
achieved by the light pen causing an interrupt, at which point the scan position can be read from a
special register, or computed from a counter or timer. The pen position is updated on every refresh of
the screen.

Uses
The light pen became moderately popular during the early 1980s. It was notable for its use in the
Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument), and the BBC Micro. Even some consumer products were
given light pens.
 In Whether reporting.

 On screen Drawing

9) MICR

Magnetic Ink Character Recognition is a character recognition system that uses special ink and
characters. When a document that contains this ink needs to be read, it passes through a machine,
which magnetizes the ink and then translates the magnetic information into characters.

Working-
 MICR technology uses a special font and iron oxide additive to print the bank account
information at the bottom of each check. The font consists of 14 characters consisting of
numbers 0-9 and four special symbols. The bank information printed on the bottom line
of the check is read and sorted by special magnetic or OCR readers.

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MICR technology is used by banks. Numbers and characters found on the bottom of checks
(usually containing the check number, sort number, and account number) are printed using
Magnetic Ink. To print Magnetic Ink need, you need a laser printer that accepts MICR toner.
MICR provides a secure, high-speed method of scanning and processing information.

The 14 characters of the E-13B font. The control characters bracketing each numeral block are (from left
to right) transit, on-us, amount, and dash.

An example of the CMC-7 MICR font. Shown are the 15 characters of the CMC-7 font. The control
characters after the numerals are (from left to right) internal, terminator, amount, routing, and an
unused character.

10)OMR
Optical Mark Recognition (also called Optical Mark Reading and OMR) is the process of capturing
human-marked data from document forms such as surveys and tests.

Working-
Many traditional OMR devices work with a dedicated scanner device that shines a beam of light onto
the form paper. The contrasting reflectivity at predetermined positions on a page is then utilized to
detect the marked areas because they reflect less light than the blank areas of the paper.

Application-
One of the most familiar applications of optical mark recognition is the use of #2 (HB in Europe) pencil
bubble optical answer sheets in multiple choice question examinations. Students mark their answers, or
other personal information, by darkening circles marked on a pre-printed sheet. Afterwards the sheet is
automatically graded by a scanning machine.

11)OBR
The Braille system is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write. Braille was devised
in 1821 by Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman. Each Braille character or cell is made up of six dot positions,
arranged in a rectangle containing two columns of three dots each. A dot may be raised at any of the six
positions to form sixty-four (26) permutations, including the arrangement in which no dots are raised.

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Optical Braille Recognition
OBR - Optical Braille Recognition - is a Windows software that allows you to "read" single and double
sided Braille documents with a standard scanner. The retrieved information is presented as the text that
can be used in all types of Windows applications.

OBR System
This software allows you to read Braille texts with an ordinary flatbed scanner. You can make a
dot-to-dot copy of your Braille documents on Braille embossers, convert them into computer text
files to store them for later use, or to process them immediately in other applications. As the
whole process of recognition is fully automated, you can perform all these tasks easily and
quickly.

Working
The process of the recognition is based on the newest high-tech image processing, artificial
intelligence, and computer vision methods. Although the Braille dots have the same color as the
background, they cast soft shadows when scanned with a standard flatbed scanner. These
shadows are used to locate the dots on the page. As the dots on both sides of the page are
visible from one side, both sides of the page can be recognized in a single scan. The recognition
engine is capable of processing both single sided and double sided documents with various
paper color, number of dots, Braille cell sizes, and orientations.

Application-

Used to read and write documents for blind people.

12)OCR

Optical character recognition, usually abbreviated to OCR, is the mechanical or electronic translation of
images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text (usually captured by a scanner) into machine-
editable text.

Working-
Optical character recognition (using optical techniques such as mirrors and lenses) and digital character
recognition (using scanners and computer algorithms) were originally considered separate fields.
Because very few applications survive that use true optical techniques, the OCR term has now been
broadened to include digital image processing as well.

Application-
-Handwriting Software in mobile or PDA.

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- Used in intelligence deppt.

13)Voice Input

Basics
 There are many different types of computer microphones, but all of them work in the same basic way.
Inside the microphone is a diaphragm, a screen which is sensitive to pressure waves. When you make a
sound, it creates waves of pressure in the air, which push on the diaphragm. When the diaphragm
moves, it produces an electric signal, which is sent to the computer sound card.

14)Smart Cards

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A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC), is any pocket-sized card with embedded
integrated circuits which can process data. This implies that it can receive input which is processed — by
way of the ICC applications — and delivered as an output.

Types
There are two broad categories of ICCs.

1. Memory cards contain only non-volatile memory storage components, and perhaps some
specific security logic.

2. Microprocessor cards contain volatile memory and microprocessor components. The card is
made of plastic, generally PVC.

The card may embed a hologram to avoid counterfeiting. Using smartcards is also a form of strong
security authentication for single sign-on within large companies and organizations.

Fig: Many different pad layouts can be found on a contact Smart card.

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Working

Smart cards include a microchip as the central processing unit, random access memory (RAM) and data
storage of around 10MB.

A smart card is a mini-computer without the display screen and keyboard. Smart cards contain a
microchip with an integrated circuit capable of processing and storing thousands of bytes of electronic
data. Due to the portability and size of smart cards they are seen as the next generation of data
exchange.

Smart cards contain an operating system just like personal computers. Smart cards can store and
process information and are fully interactive. Advanced smart cards also contain a file structure with
secret keys and encryption algorithms. Due to the encrypted file system, data can be stored in separated
files with full security.

The most common smart card applications are:

• Credit cards
• Electronic cash
• Computer security systems
• Wireless communication
• Loyalty systems (like frequent flyer points)
• Banking
• Satellite TV
• Government identification

15)Bar Code readers

Fig: A UPC-A barcode symbol.

A barcode (also bar code) is an optical machine-readable representation of data. Originally, bar codes
represented data in the widths (lines) and the spacings of parallel lines, and may be referred to as linear
or 1D (1 dimensional) barcodes or symbologies. They also come in patterns of squares, dots, hexagons
and other geometric patterns.

A barcode reader (or barcode scanner) is an electronic device for reading printed barcodes.

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Working
Like a flatbed scanner, it consists of a light source, a lens and a light sensor translating optical impulses
into electrical ones. Additionally, nearly all barcode readers contain decoder circuitry analyzing the
barcode's image data provided by the sensor and sending the barcode's content to the scanner's output
port.

Fig: A typical handheld barcode scanner.

Types

1. Laser scanners : It uses a laser beam as the light source.

2. LED based or CCD Readers: CCD readers (also referred to as LED scanner) use an array
of hundreds of tiny light sensors lined up in a row in the head of the reader.Each sensor
measures the intensity of the light immediately in front of it.

3. Camera-Based Readers: They use a small video camera to capture an image of a bar
code. The reader then uses sophisticated digital image processing techniques to decode
the bar code.
4. Omni-Directional Barcode Scanners: It uses "series of straight or curved scanning lines
of varying directions in the form of a starburst.

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 16)Digitizer
Digitizing or digitization[1] is the representation of an object, image, sound, document or a signal (usually
an analog signal) by a discrete set of its points or samples. The result is called digital representation or,
more specifically, a digital image, for the object, and digital form, for the signal. Strictly speaking,
digitizing means simply capturing an analog signal in digital form.

Working:

The analog signal is converted into digital form either by using Discretization and Quantization process.

Discretization

The reading of an analog signal A, and, at regular time intervals (frequency), sampling the value
of the signal at the point. Each such reading is called a sample and may be considered to have
infinite precision at this stage;

Quantization

Samples are rounded to a fixed set of numbers (such as integers), a process known as
quantization.

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 17)Scanner.

In computing, a scanner is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object,
and converts it to a digital image.

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Type

Drum
Drum scanners capture image information with photomultiplier tubes (PMT), rather than the charge-
coupled device (CCD) arrays found in flatbed scanners and inexpensive film scanners. Reflective and
transmissive originals are mounted on an acrylic cylinder, the scanner drum, which rotates at high speed
while it passes the object being scanned in front of precision optics that deliver image information to the
PMTs. Most modern color drum scanners use 3 matched PMTs, which read red, blue, and green light
respectively. Light from the original artwork is split into separate red, blue, and green beams in the
optical bench of the scanner.

The drum scanner gets its name from the clear acrylic cylinder, the drum, on which the original artwork
is mounted for scanning. Depending on size it is possible to mount originals up to 11"x17", but
maximum size varies by manufacturer.

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Flatbed
A flatbed scanner is usually composed of a glass pane (or platen), under which there is a bright light
(often xenon or cold cathode fluorescent) which illuminates the pane, and a moving optical array in CCD
scanning. CCD type scanners typically contain three rows (arrays) of sensors with red, green, and blue
filters. CIS scanning consists of a moving set of red, green and blue LEDs strobed for illumination and a
connected monochromatic photodiode array for light collection. Images to be scanned are placed face
down on the glass, an opaque cover is lowered over it to exclude ambient light, and the sensor array and
light source move across the pane, reading the entire area. An image is therefore visible to the detector
only because of the light it reflects. Transparent images do not work in this way, and require special
accessories that illuminate them from the upper side. Many scanners offer this as an option.

Hand
Hand scanners come in two forms: document and 3D scanners. Hand held document scanners are
manual devices that are dragged across the surface of the image to be scanned. Scanning documents in
this manner requires a steady hand, as an uneven scanning rate would produce distorted images - a
little light on the scanner would indicate if the motion was too fast. They typically have a "start" button,
which is held by the user for the duration of the scan; some switches to set the optical resolution; and a
roller, which generates a clock pulse for synchronization with the computer. Most hand scanners were
monochrome, and produced light from an array of green LEDs to illuminate the image.

Working
• A lamp is used to illuminate the document. The lamp in newer scanners is either a cold cathode
fluorescent lamp (CCFL) or a xenon lamp, while older scanners may have a standard fluorescent
lamp.
• The entire mechanism (mirrors, lens, filter and CCD array) make up the scan head. The scan
head is moved slowly across the document by a belt.

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 • The image of the document is reflected by an angled mirror to another mirror.
• The last mirror reflects the image onto a lens. The lens focuses the image through a filter
on the CCD array.
• The lens splits the image into three smaller versions of the original. Each smaller version passes
through a color filter (either red, green or blue) onto a discrete section of the CCD array. The
scanner combines the data from the three parts of the CCD array into a single full-color image.

Application
1. Creation of Digital Image
2. In Security System- Retina Scanner, Hand Scanner.
3. Creation of 3D graphics

Scanner Quality
Scanners typically read red-green-blue color (RGB) data from the array. This data is then processed with
some proprietary algorithm to correct for different exposure conditions, and sent to the computer via
the device's input/output interface (usually SCSI or bidirectional parallel port in machines pre-dating the
USB standard).

1. Color depth varies depending on the scanning array characteristics, but is usually at least 24 bits.
High quality models have 48 bits or more color depth.

2. The other qualifying parameter for a scanner is its resolution, measured in pixels per inch (ppi),
sometimes more accurately referred to as Samples per inch (spi). Instead of using the scanner's
true optical resolution, the only meaningful parameter, manufacturers like to refer to the
interpolated resolution, which is much higher thanks to software interpolation. As of 2009, a
high-end flatbed scanner can scan up to 5400 ppi and a good drum scanner has an optical
resolution of 12,000 ppi.

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 3. Scanning Speed : - Capacity to scan pages at a particular time. Usually measured in PPM (pages
per minute).

Graphic Display Devices :

1. DVST (The direct view storage tube)

A cathode-ray tube in which secondary emission of electrons from a storage grid is used to provide an
intensely bright display for long and controllable periods of time.

The direct view storage tube was invented by Robert H. Anderson in the late 1950's' and first introduced
in the model 564 oscilloscope. As computer display requirements matured, it was felt that a larger-
screen version of the DVST might fulfill a need in the computing industry, and thus the 611 11-inch
storage monitor was introduced in 1967.

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Working-
Emission of electrons by cathode ray tube which strikes the storage grid or phosphorus coating and produces
continuously glowing patterns on the face of the CRT.

Use-
2. In analog oscilloscopes
3. As a display monitor for computer terminals

3. Graphical input devices

Input devices in which users select from a list of choices.

Refer Touch screen.

Use:-
1. ATM machines.
2. Security System

4. Three dimensional input devices

An apparatus and method for detecting a three-dimensional image. The apparatus includes a projector
which projects a reference light on an object; an image sensor which senses an image of the object; and
a controller for controlling the projector and the image sensor. Wherein the image sensor includes an
aperture that restricts the passage of entering light; and an aperture controller for setting an aperture
(In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels) value for the aperture when
receiving a two-dimensional image input, and setting an aperture value for the aperture when receiving
a three-dimensional image input.

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Use-

1. Creation of 3D graphics

2. Digitization of Real World objects

3. Creation of Virtual World.

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Figure : Augmented Reality based liver surgery planning in action. The images were captured by a
tracked camera and overlaid with the information about the virtual objects placed in space to visualize
the virtual planning process.

5. Voice output systems

a) Sound Card

Converts digital signal into analog form.

b) Speakers

A speaker is essentially an air pump. I like to say the bigger the pump the bigger the
sound!!! It converts electrical signals into sound/Sonic wave.

Hard copy Devices

1. Printer

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In computing, a printer is a peripheral which produces a hard copy (permanent readable text and/or
graphics) of documents stored in electronic form, usually on physical print media such as paper or
transparencies.

Types of printers

There are two types of printers

1) Impact printers.
2) Non-Impact printers.

In Impact Printers, the result is produced by a character shaped print hammer, striking a ribbon
against the paper. Impact printers are of two kinds i.e Character printers and line printers. Character
printers are just like typewriters. These print character by character across the page within the defined
margin. Daisy Wheel printer is an example of character printers. Line printers assemble all characters on
a line at one time and print them simultaneously. Chain printer is an example of line printers.

In Non-Impact printers, there is no physical contact with the paper while printing on it. These printers
are faster and quieter. Non-impact printers are also of two kinds i.e Ink jet printers and Laser Printer. Ink
jet printer sprays ink from jet nozzles and is ten times faster than impact printers. Laser printers use a
light beam to transfer images to paper. Laser beam writes an image onto the surface of the rotating
metal drum, then ink toner writes an image on the paper.

- Printers can also be categorized based on the print method or print technology. The most popular ones
are inkjet printer, laser printer, dot-matrix printer and thermal printer. Among these, only dot-matrix
printer is impact printer and the others are non-impact printers.

Details-

DOT Matrix Printer - Type of printer that employs movable print heads with pins or wires that shoot and
strike the ribbon placing a dot on the paper with hundreds of dots forming images or text.

Inkjet Printer - Printer developed by Canon which forms letters and images on the paper by spraying
small streams of quick-drying ink. The ink is stored in a disposable ink cartridge.

Laser Printer - Laser printers are Printer that uses laser technology to print images on the paper. The
laser recreates the image on a negatively charged drum which will then collect ink that is positively
charged to attract to the areas of the image. The Paper is then negatively charged therefore the
positively charged ink is attracted to the paper and then is fused onto the paper.

Thermal printer - A printer that uses heated pins to "burn" images onto heat-sensitive paper. The pins
are electrically heated and brought into contact with the specially treated paper easily, instead of with
great impact. The coating on the paper discolors when heated in this way. These printers, used in

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calculators and many fax machines, are inexpensive, but produce low-quality, low resolution print. They
are however, quiet and fast as they print.

-Some printers are named because they are designed for specific functions, such as photo printers,
portable printers and all-in-one / multifunction printers. Photo printers and portable printers usually
use inkjet print method whereas multifunction printers may use inkjet or laser print method.

Features of printers

{Features}
There may be a Lot of features associated with a printer. A printers features must include
the following main points :-

SPEED
Printing Speed.
PUBLIC
The printer is a public printer.
COLOR
The printer is a color printer.
DUPLEX
The printer can print duplex or both sides of the page in addition to the normal single
sided or simplex printing.
TRANSPARENCY
The printer is normally loaded with transparencies instead of paper.
HIGH
The printer is designed for high volume usage. It has a reasonably high printing speed
and has a monthly duty cycle that is expected to handle a large number of pages printed.
PAPER SIZE
The printer is capable of printing 11x17 or tabloid sized paper some even can print a
poster as well; 3 feet by 6 feet.

Features of an IBM’s Infoprint 2060ES :-

1. Printing speed of up to 60-70 pages per minute.

2. A public printer.
3. Colored printer.
4. Duplex.
5. No Transparencies.
6. High Volume Usage.
7. A4, Tabloid sized 11x17.
8. A high-performance controller with an 800 MHz PowerPC 750FX processor with 512K of on-chip
L2 cache, and a 133 MHz data bus.
9. PCI Ethernet Adapter to make it a complete Network printer.
10. Standard memory of 512 MB of 266 MHz DDR memory. Maximum memory is 1 GB.
11. A 40 GB hard drive.

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 12. Resolution of 600 dots per inch (dpi) for images and 600 or 1200 dpi for documents.
13. Software support.
14. Stapling facility of a Booklet.

2. Plotter
A plotter is a vector graphics printing device to print graphical plots, that connects to a computer.

Very often it might be requirred to create high-quality visuals on paper, which cannot be obtained using
a printer. For this purpose, a plotter is used. A plotter is an output device that is used to creat
presentatiion visuals, charts, graphs, tables and diagrams.

Unlike printers a plotter directly accepts commands to create a new drawing. Like we can directly give
command to a plotter like “draw a line from here to here”, and this creates the line.

Working :-

A plotter consists of an arm that moves across the paper on which the diagram or graph needs to
be drawn . A pen moves along the arm. and the arm itself moves relative to the paper. A
combination of the two thus provides movement along the horizontal and vertical axes.

Types of plotters-

1. flat-bed plotter :- In some plotters, the paper is held stationary while the arm and the
pens move over it. This is called a flat-bed plotter.
2. drum plotter: In the other type of plotter, the paper is wrapped around a drum and
anchored at anchored at both ends. The drum rotates while the pen moves laterally along
a fixed rail. This is called a drum plotter.

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 3. Inkjet Plotter: These plotters use inkjet in place of pen. To draw clear and high-qualit
diagrams, a plotter needs high-quality pens with special inks of different colors.

Fig:- Flat-bed plotter

Fig: - Drum Plotter

Features of plotters:-

{Features}
There may be a Lot of features associated with a printer. A printers features must include
the following main points :-

SPEED

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 Printing Speed.
COLOR
Depends on color of pen used.
TRANSPARENCY
The plotter is normally loaded with transparencies instead of paper/ flex.
HIGH
The Plotter is designed for high volume usage.
PAPER SIZE
Posters of at least; 3 feet by 6 feet.

Cutting plotters

Mehta cad cam systems pvt. Ltd manufactures cutting plotters with digital servo motor drive, puma iii. It
is a Cutting plotters with digital servo provides easy operation and simple navigation. The lcd allows user
to glance or monitor all operational settings including offset value, quality mode, cutting speed and
force. The salient features cutting plotters with digital servo motor drive:
 Digital servo motor drive up to 24 inches per second

 Greater quality graphs.

 Guaranty 5 meter tracking ability

 Available accu-align auto-alignment for contour cutting

 user-friendly control panel that comes with a large 20-digit x 2 line lcd and 14 control buttons.

 Automatic cutter provides a desired sized sheets.

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Soft copy devices

VDU

A monitor or display (sometimes called a visual display unit) is a piece of electrical equipment which
displays images generated by devices such as computers, as image on screen.

Performance measurements

The performance of a monitor is measured by the following parameters:-

1. Aspect ratios is the ratio of the horizontal length to the vertical length. 4:3 is the standard aspect
ratio, for example, so that a screen with a width of 1024 pixels will have a height of 768 pixels.
16:9 is also one of the common aspect ratio.

2. Display resolution : No of pixels in a per unit area.

3. Refresh rate is the number of times in a second that a display is illuminated. Or the rate by
which the pixels glow again.

4. Contrast ratio is the ratio of the luminosity of the brightest color (white) to that of the darkest
color (black) that the monitor is capable of producing.

5. Power consumption is measured in watts.

6. Viewing angle is the maximum angle at which images on the monitor can be viewed, without
excessive degradation to the images. It is measured in degrees horizontally and vertically.

7. Dot pitch is the distance between pixels of the same color in millimeters. In general, the smaller
the dot pitch, the sharper the picture will appear.

Types of VDUs: -

Broadly VDUs are divided into two categories:-

a) CRT monitors:- The cathode ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun (a
source of electrons) and a fluorescent screen, with internal or external means to accelerate and
deflect the electron beam, used to create images in the form of light emitted from the
fluorescent screen. The image may represent electrical waveforms (oscilloscope), pictures
(television, computer monitor), radar targets and others.

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 b) Non- CRT display (Flat Panel Display) : -

LCD/Flat panel Monitors

Short for liquid crystal display, LCD technology can be found in digital watches and computer
monitors. LCD displays use two sheets of polarizing material with a liquid crystal solution between
them. An electric current passed through the liquid causes the crystals to align so that light cannot
pass through them. Each crystal, therefore, is like a shutter, either allowing light to pass through or
blocking the light. Color LCD displays use two basic techniques for producing color: Passive matrix is
the less expensive of the two technologies. The other technology, called thin film transistor (TFT) or
active-matrix, produces color images that are as sharp as traditional CRT displays, but the technology
is expensive.

Plasma display panel (PDP)

A plasma is an ionized gas, a gas into which sufficient energy is provided to free electrons from
atoms or molecules. And PDP is a type of flat panel display common to large TV displays (32" inches
or larger). Many tiny cells between two panels of glass hold a mixture of noble gases. The gas in the
cells is electrically turned into a plasma which then excites phosphors to emit light.

A Graphics card is the component in your computer that handles generating the signals that are sent
to the monitor or "graphics". It is responible for generating all the text and pictures that are displayed
on your screen. It is called a "card" because most PCs will have a physical card that is inserted in a PCI
slot on the motherboard. Some motherboards have built-in graphics cards with is something of a
misnomer since it is built in as part of the motherboard and no longer a seperate "card".

TYPES OF CARDS

CGA

Abbreviation of color graphics adapter, an old graphics system for PCs. Introduced in 1981 by IBM,
CGA was the first color graphics system for IBM PCs. Designed primarily for computer games, CGA does
not produce sharp enough characters for extended editing sessions. CGA's highest-resolution mode is 2
colors at a resolution of 640 by 200.

CGA has been superseded by VGA systems.

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MGA/MDA

Monochrome Graphic Adapter

or

The Hercules Graphics Card (HGC) was a computer graphics controller made by Hercules Computer
Technology, Inc. which, through its popularity, became a widely supported display standard. It was
common on IBM PC compatibles connected to a monochrome monitor

The Monochrome Display Adapter (MDA, also MDA card, Monochrome Display and Printer Adapter,
MDPA) introduced in 1981 was IBM's standard video display card and computer display standard for the
PC.

EGA

The Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) is the IBM PC computer display standard specification located
between CGA and VGA in terms of color and space resolution. Introduced in 1984 by IBM for its new PC-
AT, EGA produces a display of 16 simultaneous colors from a palette of 64 at a resolution of up to
640×350 pixels. The EGA card includes a 16 kilobyte ROM.

VGA

Abbreviation of video graphics array, a graphics display system for PCs developed and introduced with
the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987 by IBM. VGA has become one of the de facto standards for PCs.
In text mode, VGA systems provide a resolution of 720 by 400 pixels. In graphics mode, the resolution is
either 640 by 480 (with 16 colors) or 320 by 200 (with 256 colors).

SVGA

Super Video Graphics Array or Ultra Video Graphics Array[1], almost always abbreviated to Super VGA,
Ultra VGA or just SVGA or UVGA is a broad term that covers a wide range of computer display
standards. Originally, it was an extension to the VGA standard first released by IBM in 1987. Super VGA
was defined by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA).

In that first version, it called for a resolution of 800 × 600 4-bit pixels. Each pixel could therefore be any
of 16 different colours. It was quickly extended to 1024 × 768 8-bit pixels, and well beyond that in the
following years.

Storage devices viz.

Fixed Disk or Hard Disk

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A hard disk drive[2] (often shortened as hard disk[3], hard drive[4], or HDD) is a non-volatile storage device
that stores digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating platters with magnetic surfaces.

Floppy Diskette

Data Retrieval and Characteristics

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