Digital Planet:

Tomorrow’s Technology
and You
George Beekman • Ben Beekman

Tenth Edition

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

 Digital Planet:
Tomorrow’s Technology and You

Chapter 3
Hardware Basics
Peripherals

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

 Chapter 3 Objectives
 List several examples of input devices and explain
how they can make it easier to get different types of
information into the computer
 List several examples of output devices and explain
how they make computers more useful
 Explain why a typical computer has different types of
storage devices
 Diagram how the components of a computer system
fit together
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 Input: From Person to Processor
 Nuts and bolts of information processing hidden
from computer user.
 User sees only input and output or I/O.
 Early computer users had to flip switches or plug
wires into switchboards.
 Today, users have choice of hundreds of input
devices that make it easy to enter data and
commands.

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 The Keyboard
 Keyboard: Most familiar input device
 QWERTY keyboard dates back to manual typewriters
 Typical keyboard sends signals to computer through
cable—usually USB
 Keyboards may be wireless
 Ergonomic keyboards: Keys are
at angles; easy on
arms and hands

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 Pointing Devices
 Mouse: Designed to move pointer around screen
 Wireless mice: Use Bluetooth or other wireless
frequencies
 Touchpad: A flat panel, sensitive to light pressure
 Trackpoint and trackball: Used to control pointer
 Game controllers, graphics tablets, touch screens:
Used for inputting

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 Multi-Touch Input Devices
 Use multi-finger or multi-hand gestures to
accomplish complex tasks quickly
 Touch-sensitive screen, touch tablet, or trackpad can
recognize position, pressure, and movement of more
than one finger or hand at a time
 Best known example is
Apple’s iPhone
 iPad recognizes one- and
two- fingered movements
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 Reading Tools
 Devices allow computers to read marks that
represent codes:
• Optical mark readers
• Magnetic ink character readers
• Bar code readers
• Radio frequency identification
(RFID) readers
• Scanners and pen scanners
• Handwriting recognition devices
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 Digitizing Devices and Sensors
 Devices for capturing and digitizing
information—converting it into digital form:
• Scanners
• Flatbed scanner
• Film scanners
• Drum scanners
• Digital cameras and
digital video cameras

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 Digitizing Devices and Sensors (cont.)
 Voice Input
• PCs contain circuitry to convert
audio signals from microphones or
other sound sources into digital
signals.
• Speech recognition software can
convert voice data into words that
can be edited and printed.

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 Output: From Pulses to People
 Output devices convert computer’s internal bit
patterns into a form humans can understand.
 Output produced through two main devices:
• Display screens for immediate visual output
• Printers for permanent paper output

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 Digitizing the Real World
 Digitizing involves using an input device to take millions
of tiny samples.
 A representation of the original image can be
reconstructed by assembling all samples in sequence.

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 Screen Output
 Display: Also called a monitor
 Display size measured length of diagonal line across
screen
 Images composed of tiny dots called pixels.
 Resolution: Measured in dots per inch (dpi)
 Aspect ratio: Relationship between width and height
 Monitors use liquid crystal digital (LCD) technology.

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 Color Display
 Image is made up of rows of colored pixels
 Pixels are extremely small and can’t be distinguished
 Monitor’s image is refreshed many times per second
 Each pixel is made up of mixture of red, green, blue
 By varying the brightness of
the three colors, a monitor
can display millions of
unique colors

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 Paper Output
 Printers come in two basic groups:
 Impact printers: Form images by physically striking
paper, ribbon, and print hammer together
 Nonimpact printers: Replaced impact printers
• Laser printers: High-quality pages, quickly
• Inkjet printers: Spray ink directly onto paper
• Photo printers: Specialized inkjets print photos

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 Paper Output (cont.)
 Multifunction Printers
• All-in-one devices:
Take advantage of fact
that different tools can
use similar technology
• Devices can serve as a
printer, scanner, color
photocopy machine,
and fax machine.

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 Color Printing
 Most printers, like monitors, form images from
tiny dots.
 Most printers mix various amounts of cyan,
magenta, yellow, and black pigments to create a
color.
 Matching on-screen color
with printed color is difficult.
 Monitors can display more
colors than printers.
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 Fax Machines and Fax Modems
 Facsimile (fax) machine: Scans page, converts it to
series of electronic pulses, and sends signals over
phone lines to another fax machine
 Fax modem: Translates document into signals that
can be sent over phone wires
 Receiving fax machine uses signals to construct and
print facsimile of original pages

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 Output You Can Hear
 Most PCs have internal speakers
• Play system sounds and spoken recordings
 Sound output jacks for headphones, powered
speakers, and other audio output devices
• High-fidelity music playback
 Headsets are particularly useful for telephone and
teleconferencing applications

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 Controlling Other Machines
 Many machines and systems accept orders from
computers:
• Robot arms
• Telephone switchboards
• Transportation devices
• Automated factory
equipment
• Spacecraft

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 Storage Devices: Input Meets Output
 Some peripherals perform both input and output
functions:
• Storage devices: Include tape and disk drives
• Referred to as secondary storage
• Record information so it can be read later

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 Magnetic Tape
 Tape drives: Common storage devices on most
mainframe computers
• Can store massive amounts of information on
magnetic tape in a small space at a relatively low cost
• Tape is sequential-access medium, so retrieving
information is time consuming
 Primarily used to back up data

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 Magnetic Disks
 Magnetically coated surface stores encoded
information
• Provide random access capability
• Retrieve information rapidly
 PCs include hard disks as
main storage device
 Older diskettes (floppy disks)
and Zip disks have all but disappeared

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 Optical Discs
 Optical disc drives: Use laser beams to read and
write data
 Transparent plastic disc surface protects from
physical damage – while letting laser light through
 Access speeds are slower than for magnetic disks
 Often used to make backup copies
 Upper surface is more sensitive to scratching – which
leads to deterioration & information loss

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 Optical Discs (cont.)
 CD-ROM (compact disc—read-only memory) discs –
oldest & also identical to those used to store music
 CD-RW drive: Read data from CD-ROMs; record data
onto CD-R and CD-RW discs
• CD-R (compact disc-recordable)—write-once, read-many
• CD-RW (compact disc rewritable) erasable
 Rewritable DVD drives: Commonplace in PCs today
• Can read and write to CD and DVD media
• Gradually being replaced by Blu-ray drives
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 Disc Capacity
CD-ROM DVD-ROM BD/ROM
(read-only CD-RW (read-only DVD/RW (read-only BD/RW
CD) DVD) Blu-ray)

4.7 GB 4.7 GB 27 GB 27 GB
(single-layer (single-layer (single-layer (single-layer
disc) disc) disc) disc)

9.4 GB 9.4 GB 50 GB 50 GB
700 MB 700 MB
(dual-layer (dual-layer (dual-layer (dual-layer
disc) disc) disc) disc)

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 Internal and External Drives
 Hard disk drives and optical disk drives can be
external or internal.
• Internal drives: Reside inside casing of computer
• External drives: Can be connected through USB or
FireWire ports
• Relatively easy to transport between locations
• Can be shared between computers

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 Disk Storage

Magnetic disks CD-ROM

• Coated with a magnetic • CD-ROM drive contains a
oxide similar to material small laser that shines on
used to coat cassette tapes the disc surface, “reading”
and videotapes reflections.
• Hard disks consists of • Information is represented
several platters, each optically on bottom surface
accessed by a read/write of CD.
head on a movable • CD-ROMs are read only.
armature.

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 Flash Memory Storage Devices
• Flash memory: Type of
erasable memory
• Flash memory cards: Used
to store images in digital
cameras
• USB flash drives: Store and
transport data
• Still more expensive than
spinning drives

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 Ergonomics and Health
• Choose equipment • Let technology work for
that’s ergonomically you.
designed. • Stretch.
• Create a healthful • Listen to your body.
workspace. • Don’t leave healthy
• Build flexibility into work habits at home.
environment. • Seek help when you
• Protect your ears. need it.
• Rest your eyes.

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 The Computer System:
The Sum of Its Parts
 Four basic design classes for personal computers:
• Tower systems: Tall narrow boxes that generally have
more expansion slots and bays
• Flat desktop systems: Designed to sit under the
monitor like a platform
• All-in-one systems: Combine the monitor and system
unit into a single housing
• Laptop computers: Include all essential components
in one compact box

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 Ports and Slots Revisited
 Legacy ports are too slow for today’s needs:
• Serial ports send and receive data one bit at a time
• Parallel ports send and receive bits in groups
 USB (universal serial bus) transmits data faster:
• USB 1.0 data transmitted at approximately 11 Mbps
• USB 2.0 has transfer rates of up to 480 Mbps
• USB 3.0 has data transfer rate of more than 3 Gbps

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 Ports and Slots Revisited (cont.)
 FireWire: A high-speed connection standard
developed by Apple
 Can move data between devices at:
• 400 Mbps (original version)
• 800 Mbps (newer FireWire 800)
 FireWire allows multiple devices to be connected to
the same port.
 Also can supply power to peripherals so they don’t
need an external power supply
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 Wireless Peripherals, Network
Peripherals, and the Cloud
 Wireless technology
• Wireless keyboards, mice, cameras, printers
 Computer networks
• Peripherals communicate with multiple PCs
 Internet “cloud”
• Common for computers to use peripherals—especially
storage devices—located somewhere in the cloud

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 Chapter 3 Summary
 Peripherals allow computer to communicate with
outside world and store information for later use.
 Some peripherals are strictly input devices.
 Others are output devices
 Storage devices can accept and send information.
 Keyboard and mouse are most common peripherals.
 Growing number of devices can support multi-touch
technology.

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 Summary (cont.)
 Bar code readers, optical mark readers, and magnetic
ink readers recognize and translate specially printed
patterns and characters.
 Scanners and digital cameras convert photographs,
drawings, and other analog images to digital files.
 Sound digitizers convert information from
microphone and other external audio devices.
 Sensors detect motion, temperature, pressure, and
other characteristics.
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 Summary (cont.)
 Output devices accept strings of bits from the
computer and transform them into a form useful
outside the computer.
 Video monitors used to display information
 Variety of printers produce paper output.
 Sound output is delivered through speakers and
headphones.
 Output devices allow computers to control other
machines.
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 Summary (cont.)
 Storage devices designed to send and receive large
quantities of data
 Large capacity magnetic disks are most common
form of storage because of high-speed random
access capability.
 Optical discs are most common removable storage
media
 Solid-state flash memory is replacing disks and tapes
for many applications.
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