10/19/2021 Competitive Exams Output Devices- Examrace

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Competitive Exams Output Devices
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Another introductory topic is that of output devices such as a monitor, printer or plotter.

Plotter
A plotter is a device which uses a motor to move pens or drawing implements in tightly
controlled horizontal and vertical motions on a piece of paper or film. The computer can
control a plotter to combine on one piece of paper differing pen colors and text and
pictures stored within the computer. Computer plotter can be purchased with flat table or
flat bed configurations or in models which move the pen (s) back and forth with gears that
also drive the paper movement at the same time.

Printer
The printer is probably the most common and useful output device attached to your
computer. There are many types of modern computer printer with differing speeds and
capabilities. The most common printer is the Dot

matrix printer which provides characters made up from tiny dots of ink on paper. Line
printers (usually with Mainframe computers or Minicomputers) print entire lines of text
in one sweep then move to the next line and are thus very fast. Ink jet printers produce
characters made from individual dots of ink sprayed onto the paper.

The ink jet printer squirts individual dots of ink onto the paper to form letters or other
characters. A high quality paper is necessary since the wet ink can smear if not carefully
handled. Although with the most recent models, ordinary paper can also be used. The
Colour print facility is also now standard with most inkjet printer.

Finally, laser printers use a rapidly scanning laser to sensitize a polished drum with an
entire page of information quickly and look and work roughly like an office copier. The
first two printers are classified as impact printers since something strikes the paper while
the later two are non impact printers.

The laser and ink jet printers are becoming more popular due to rapid speed of printing
and quiet mode of operation.

The laser printer is used for quickly producing one page of text at a time. In operation, the
laser scans a polished drum with an image which is then dusted with dark toner particles
which stick to the exposed areas made sensitive by the laser. Paper is then placed in
contact with the drum and the toner is transferred to the page and is finally fused with
heat to “fix” or seal the toner particles to the page.

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Of the Microcomputer printers, the Laser is the most expensive in terms of purchase
price, maintenance cost and consumable cost.

Dot matrix printers are common and affordable alternatives for many small offices, home
computer hobbyists or organizations with voluminous printing requirements (e. g.
Statements of accounts for banks) . The Dot matrix is additionally designed for use with
continuous flow paper, as well as typical single sheet paper.

Dot matrix usually operates in varying modes of draft and letter quality. In draft mode,
the printer speed is faster, with draft quality. Letter quality is slower with higher quality.

Dot matrix printers produce letters via small pins which strike the ink ribbon and paper to
produce print which can be jagged looking. Nine pin dot matrix printers produce
somewhat rough looking letters while 24 pin dot matrix printers produce crisper, fully-
formed letters. The Dot matrix printer strikes the paper through a ribbon to transfer ink to
the printed page.

Connecting a printer via a cable to the computer is always done through one of two plugs
(or interfaces) on the back of the computer. One type of interface (computer plug) is
serial, the other called parallel.

The most commonly used interface for printers today is the parallel interface but serial
interface printers do exist. What is the difference? Recall that there are eight bits
(computer dots and dashes) to a byte (or computer word) . The serial interface has each
bit sent one at a time to the printer-like men in single file at the supermarket checkout
counter. The parallel interface sends all eight bits at once-like eight men all entering eight
supermarket counters at once. Each interface is different, the printer manufacturer will
tell you which interface to use, i.e.. . Serial or parallel.

Frequently, modems or mouse devices use the serial interface leaving the printer to the
parallel interface.

Monitors
We have talked about output to paper, next let՚s briefly discuss output to a monitor or
screen. The monitor is a television like device that the computer uses to communicate
with you. The monitor or video display works much like your television-some older home
computers still use a TV. An old term for a monitor is the cathode ray tube or CRT.
Monitors differ in the sharpness or resolution they can display. On the low end of the
resolution spectrum is the monochrome (single color) monitor frequently available in
either green or amber screens. Next is the color RGB monitor (RGB stands for Red, Green
and Blue) which displays low resolution color dots to make up an image.

Higher resolution is obtained with an EGA monitor (Enhanced Graphics Adapter) and
still higher with a VGA (Video Graphics Array) Monitor and even higher with an SVGA
(Super Video Graphics Array) Monitor.

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Each monitor is matched to work with a circuit card located within the body of the
computer. One way to upgrade a computer is to switch both the monitor and
display/graphics circuit card to produce a sharper, more colorful image. The dots which
make up all images on the monitor screen are called pixels. The smaller the pixels, the
higher and sharper the image resolution.

Typically the monitor displays 80 columns (characters) by 25 rows (lines) of information.

The initial SVGA cards could only display 16 colours. And then 256 colours. Now some
SVGA card can display millions of colours.

Input & Output Devices

Certain devices can act as both input and output devices to the computer. Typical devices
mentioned earlier are the disks (floppy and hard) .

Modem: Short for Modulator/Demodulator. A device to send and receive computer output
over telephone lines.

The Computer Devices & Relationships

Casing & Motherboard

Where is your CPU kept? don՚t look for RAM near your mouse. Most of the components
are internal, and kept inside a casing. This casing model can be Tower, minitower or
desktop. Inside the casing, there is a power supply unit that takes in the power supplied
from the public power supply and steps it down to supply the computer՚s needs. Also
inside the casing is the motherboard, which is a large printed circuit board that all
expansion boards plug into:

The motherboard contains the most essential parts of the computer such as the CPU,
RAM, ROM, keyboard, speaker and power connections, and other assortment of
important parts.

The expansion boards contain special circuits for the monitor (monitor card) , disk drives
and mouse (multi Input/Output card) and other options such as modem and scanner.

Developed by: Mindsprite Solutions

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