Other Common Input / Output Devices
As we saw in the previous blog about the display output devices and their ports. In this blog we will discuss about the other input/output devices which we attach to our systems to expand its capabilities. There are huge number of devices which we use as input/output but here we will talk about some of the basic devices which we use everywhere.
1. Audio Devices
Audio cards enable the computer to play and record sound. The audio devices are attached to the system through different jacks but commonly using jack is 3.5mm audio jack. Every sound card has three known jacks that are Line in , Line out and Mic in. These are shown in the figure below.
There are two basic types of audio devices which are sound input and sound output.
Sound input
A computer use the sound processor, the audio software, and a microphone or other audio device to record sound. We attach the Microphone through Mic in audio jack on the sound card and we speak through Mic as a result the computer records it.
Sound Output
Computer uses the sound processor and audio software to play music and sounds through speakers or headphones which can be attached through Line out audio jack on the sound card. x.1 speaker set is the speaker set formula in which, x refers to the number of stereo speakers and 1 refers to the subwoofer (which provides the bass).
2. Imaging peripherals
These devices are used for capturing and digitizing visual informations. Mostly two imaging peripheral devices are used with the computer systems which are Scanner and Webcam.
Scanner
It makes digital copies of existing hard paper photos, documents, drawings and other items. Scanners are connected through the USB connectors.
Webcam
We can also add digital cameras to our system for capturing pictures as well as recording videos. Webcam is also one type of digital cameras which is used for capturing pictures, video chatting, and messaging over the internet. It can be either built-in the portable computers like laptops or it can also come in stand alone which are connected through the USB cable to our system.
3. Printer
Printers, as we know are used to print output data on the screen (such as text and images) to hard paper. There are different kinds of printing technologies and I will discuss about the basic four types which are broadly used in the market. These four Printing technologies are
- Impact Printers like Dot-Matrix which uses mechanical striking mechanism on the paper through the pins.
- Inkjet printers which uses liquid ink which are sprinkled through the micro nozzles on the papers for printing.
- Laser printers which uses the laser light or LED light, toner powder and magnetized drum for printing. These are mostly used today because these are more reliable than all the others.
- Thermal printers which uses special wax papers for printing. These wax papers are effected by the heat and due to which dots are created on it and these dots combines to form letters and words. Mostly used in the Fax machines and register counters in the shopping malls.
4. Fax Machines
These acts as both input and output device. At the sender’s side, it acts as a scanner which scans the images,letters on the papers and convert them to a digitized form and then sends them through the telephone line to the other end. These machines have built-in modem for communication through the Internet.
At the receiver end, fax machines act as printers that print the digitized data on the papers. It uses special wax paper for printing.
5. Multifunction Device (MFD)
It is basically a printer which has many other devices built-in and it looks like a single device. MFD has printer, scanner, copier and fax machine all in one device. It can be connected to the computer through USB connector. One must install the software/driver before use it so that it would enable the computer to interact and communicate with the device.
This was all about the common Input/ Output Devices mostly used in todays era.
Thanks for Reading…!!!
