Unit-1

Mainframe computer – a large powerful computer that can do a lot of complicated jobs quickly
and can be used by a lot of people at the same time.
Microprocessor – the device that controls what a computer does; it takes
data as input, does something with it and provide output.

Examples of devices that used microprocessors –

 Washing machines
 Television other household appliances
 personal computers
 digital cameras
 home entertainment systems

embedded computing – computing hardware that is fixed into position and

carries out a specialist task.

Physical computing – interactive systems that can sense and respond to

the world around them.

Digital cameras and camcorders use light sensors to capture images

formed by light passing through the device’s lens

The quality of image depends on-

 The quality of the lens

 The quality of the image processor
 The resolution of the sensor

Streaming – play a file on your computer while it is being downloaded from

the internet, rather than saving it as a file and then playing it

Handheld consoles have a built-in screen and less storage than a full-size
console

GPS does not require internet, but navigation aids need internet
connection
Convergence – When the designs of devices change so that they become
similar to one
another. The combination of one device technology to multiple other devices.

User interface

The system that allows a user to interact with a device

Types of interfaces-

1. Command Line Interface (CL)

2. Menu-Driven Interface
3. Graphical User Interface (GUI)
4. Voice Interface
5. Gesture Interface

Command Line Interface

 Users enter instructions in text

 System provides results or feedback as text
 Help menu for users that lists and explains the acceptable commands

Advantages

 Use on systems or devices with limited storage

 Requires only little memory

Disadvantages

 Commands or instructions have to be typed precisely

Menu-Driven Interface
  Displays a list of options as a menu
 Each option triggers a command or display another menu for more
options

Advantages

 Easy to use

Disadvantages

 Take more time as you have to go through the menu structure each
time you want to carry out the command, rather than typing the
command directly

Examples of devices that use Menu-Driven Interface –

ATMS, televisions and older mobile phones.

Graphical User Interface

 Controlled by a pointer on the screen by user

 Uses a screen made up of windows, icons and menus

Advantages

 Easiest interface to use

Disadvantages

 Takes up more memory and storage

Voice Interface

 Allows the user to give spoken commands to a device

 Require voice recognition software which matches the spoken words
against a library of words to find a match

Advantages

 Can save device’s storage by storing the library of words online

 Hands-free operation is possible and often uses in vehicles in order to
improve road safety

Disadvantages

 Sometimes the software cannot find a match or return an incorrect

match

*Some voice interfaces use the results of the confirmation to ‘learn’ the
voice of the user and improve future matches*

Gesture Interface

Allow the user to control the device by swiping their finger or fingers across
the screen or pinching their fingers together to zoom in or out. And mostly
found in devices with touch screens.

Software Security

 Pins or patterns to lock the device’s screen or turn on the device

 Touch id
 Voice recognition
 Biometric scanners
Input Peripherals devices

 Send data to the computer and allow the user to control it

 Example of devices-
o Keyboards
o Mouse
o Tracker ball
o Track pad
o Joystick
o Scanner (OCR and OMR)
o Barcode scanner
o WEBCAM
o Microphone
o Touch screen
o Biometric scanner
o Card readers
o Sensors
o Graphics tablet (a flat pad used with a stylus)

Stylus – a pen-shaped device

Scanner (OCR AND OMR)

 Use light sensor to record physical documents as images

Optical Character Recognition (OCR)

A software that allows scanners to read characters on the document and

store the result in a text file.

Optical Mark Recognition (OMR)

A software that allows scanners to detect simple marks on a document,

Barcode scanner
A scanner that can read and detect barcodes which are a pattern of lines
and gaps that can be read by a device. The barcode represents letters
and numbers which are used to identify the item.

Two types of barcodes:

 Linear
 Matrix

Matrix (Also known as QR codes)

Advantages over linear barcodes:

 Hold much more information than linear barcodes

 Can be scanned from any angle

*Linear barcodes are 1 dimensional and matrix barcodes are 2 dimensional*

Webcam

 Have generally lower quality than camcorders

 Hae built-in microphones
 Can be used as security cameras
 Can stream images or videos to the internet

Microphone

Used to capture sound. It uses a diaphragm which moves when air hits it.
This movement produces an analogue electrical signal. Then converts the
electrical signal to a digital signal with its sound card which convert
analogue signal to a digital signal.

Low-quality microphones are built in computers and are used for voice
recognition.

High-quality microphones are often used by artists and can be connected to

a sound card’s audio input port.

Touch Screen
There are two types of touch screen:

 Resistive
o When a user presses on a resistive screen, the pressure causes
two layers underneath the screen to touch and make a
connection.
o More durable but harder to read since more layer reflect more
light
o Can only recognize one touch at a time.
o Not suitable for muti-touch applications
 Capacitive
o There is a layer of capacitive material
o When user touches a screen a small amount of charge flows
away from their fingers because humans are conductive
o The closer the finger is to the charged areas the more current
flows away

Biometric Scanner

 Measure the unique part of the physical characteristics of a user

Fingerprint recognition

The scanners which read the pattern of arches, loops and whorls in a human
fingerprint.

Each fingerprint is unique, which makes them a useful method of

identification

But it can be damaged or changed by injury or disease.

Facial recognition

 Identify the structure of a human face

Voice recognition

 Require microphone to capture the voice and compared against the

saved original

Iris recognition

 More approximate and more reliable than fingerprint recognition

Advantages of Biometric Scanners:

 Easier for users than passwords because biometric data cannot be

forgotten
 More difficult to trick or confuse biometric scanners than some other
methods
 Can speed up transactions
 Are not restricted by language barriers

Disadvantages of Biometric Scanners:

 Cause privacy and security concerns because detailed personal

information is stored electronically
 Possible to trick or confuse them
 Expensive to make and buy
 Make some people feel uncomfortable

Advantages of Sensors:

 They can be places in remote or dangerous places

 They can monitor continually such as:
o Light
o Moisture and humidity
o temperature
o proximity and distance
o motion and movement
o pressure
 They remove the possibility of human error
 They can sense things that people cannot
 The data is easily converted to a digital form

Output devices:

 Monitor
 Printers
 Projector
 Speaker
Printers

 Dot matrix printer (also called as impact printer)

o Print is made by hitting or impacting the paper through a ribbon
of ink.
o Very noisy
o Often has a number of carbon copy layers
 Inkjet printer
o
 Laser printer
o Contain a rotating cylinder or drum that holds an electrical
charge.
o A laser is used to discharge certain points on drums and draw an
image
o Electrically charged toner is attached to those points on drum
and is heated onto the paper
 3D printer
o Work by adding layers of heated material from the bottom of the
model all the way to the top

Media

Hard disk

o Made of many concentric platters

o Platters make up a cylinder that spins on a centra spindle
o A read/write head moves on the platter
o When reading, the read/write head changes the magnetic field into
electrical current
o When writing it changes the electrical current into magnetic field

Flash media

o More efficient and faster because they do not have moving parts

Magnetic tape
*Storage media store data in binary form*

*Each bit of data holds one of two values 0 or 1*

Hard disk changes the magnetic charge of a platter to either negative or

positive depending on whether the value is o or 1

Optical media uses tiny bumps on the disk’s surface to represent 0 and 1

Flash media uses different levels of electrical charge held in tiny individual
cells to represent 0 or 1.

Magnetic tape changes the magnetic charge of the rape to either negative
or positive depending on whether the value is 0 or 1