10 INPUT DEVICES AND THEIR FUNCTIONS

1. KEYBOARD
A keyboard consists of a series of keys that can be pressed to
input commands or letters. These are used to write documents
but can be used to navigate user interfaces in lieu of a mouse.

2. MOUSE
A mouse consists of a ball or laser that tracks the movement of
the device. The computer is able to register the movement of
the mouse and translate it as movement of the cursor on the
screen. A mouse also contain buttons that allow the user to
select objects, move windows or open applications. Many also
include a scrolling wheel to allow for scrolling through long
documents or Web pages.

3. TRACKBALL
These devices work like a standard mouse except the users
rolls a ball inside a base rather than moving the device across
the table top. Many users prefer a trackball to a mouse,
because it involves less wrist movement, reducing repetitivemotion issues.

4. TOUCHPAD
This is a device typically found on laptop computers. It works
like a mouse or trackball, except it's a flat panel you move your
finger across. The motion of your finger registers as cursor
movement on the screen. Many touchpads now enable
gestures to scroll through documents or zoom in on a photo.
Buttons are typically below the touchpad.
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5. GRAPHICS TABLET
These devices are used like a piece of paper and a pencil.
These allow artists to draw more naturally in a graphics
application. They have a stylus that looks like a plastic pencil
that you can use to draw on a flat panel. The device will
register the pressure of the user's hand to draw lighter or
darker lines on screen. Many even have erasers on the back
that allow you to erase mistakes with the stylus.

6. TOUCHSCREEN MONITOR
These devices double as an output and input device. They
display the computer environment on screen, and allow a user
to manipulate and interface with it just by touching the
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screen. These can take the place of a mouse and even a

keyboard if a virtual keyboard application is installed.

7. JOYSTICK
These devices are primarily used for computer gaming. They
consist of a stick on a base with various buttons that all have
different functions. It operates similar to a yoke on an aircraft,
making them suitable for flight simulators.

8. SCANNER
These devices allow a user to input a photograph or document
into the computer. By placing a piece of media in a scanner,

you can create an image file that can be opened and

manipulated on the computer.

9. MICROPHONE
This is a device used to input voice data and sound. You hold
the microphone up to a source, most likely a person's mouth,
and it registers the sounds and inputs them into audio
recording applications. This will let you do many things, from
recording a song to talking to someone on Skype.

10.

WEBCAM

This is a small video camera that takes video and inputs it into
the computer. These allow you to record and send small videos
or have a video chat with someone over the Internet.

10 OUTPUT DEVICES AND THEIR FUNCTIONS

1. COMPUTER MONITOR - Computer has a got a monitor or
display Unit that allows one to see whatever is being done,
when typing in word you will be able to see the words,
sentence as you type from the computer monitor, a monitor
is basically a electronic screen on which words, numbers,
texts, graphics and drawing can be viewed.

2. PRINTER - as an external output device that enables one to

output all relevant soft copies into a hardcopy materials like
paper, basically printer print what you have in your screen.

3. SPEAKERS - Speaker gives you a sound output if connected

to your computer, while other computers comes with built in
speakers some operate with external speakers.

4. HARD DISK - a computer hard disk is also an output device

where one can store all the information in one place.

5. HEADPHONE - These are also computer output devices.

Headphones give sound output from the computer. They are
similar to speakers, except they are worn on the ears so
only one person can hear the output at a time.

6. FLOPPY DISKS - These were some of the original output

devices that were used to save data, but time has seen them
getting out of market for the newer output devices.

7. FLASH DISK - This is one of the portable output devices

that can be used in any computer as long as you have a
USB connection.

8. COMPACT DISK - Some compact disks can be used to put

information on. This is called burning information to a CD.

9. COMPUTER VCD - is the higher version of a CD does

output both audios and video files

10.

Computer DVD - is a higher version of computer VCD

does output both audios and video files

7 INTERNAL DEVICES THAT CAN BE FOUND INSIDE

SYSTEM UNIT AND THEIR FUNCTIONS
1. MOTHERBOARD: The motherboard is the main component
of computer. It is a large rectangular board with integrated
circuitry that connects the other parts of the computer
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including the CPU, the RAM, the disk drives(CD, DVD, hard
disk, or any others) as well as any peripherals connected via
the ports or the expansion slots.
2. OPTICAL DRIVE: An optical drive is any storage device that
uses light to read and write information. Common optical
disc drives include CD, DVD, and Blu-ray drives. An optical
drive in a computer system allows you to use CDs, DVDs,
and Blu-ray discs to listen to music or watch a movie.
3. POWER SUPPLY UNIT: A power supply unit (PSU) converts
mains AC to low-voltage regulated DC power for the internal
components of a computer.
4. HARD DISK DRIVE: A hard disk drive is a hardware device
that's used to store information like software and files. Hard
disk drives are the mechanism that reads and writes data
on a hard disk.
5. FLOPPY DRIVE: The floppy drive is the piece of computer
hardware that's used to read and write data on 3.5 or 5.25
inch floppy diskettes.
6. CASE FAN: Alternatively referred to as a system fan, a case
fan is a fan located inside a computer case attached to the
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front or back of the computer that helps bring air into the
case and also take hot air out of the case.
7. RAM: The Random-Access Memory (RAM) stores the code
and data that are being actively accessed by the CPU.

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GENERATIONS OF COMPUTER
1. First Generation (1940-1956) Vacuum Tubes
The first computers used vacuum tubes for circuitry and
magnetic drums for memory, and were often enormous, taking
up entire rooms. They were very expensive to operate and in
addition to using a great deal of electricity, generated a lot of
heat, which was often the cause of malfunctions. First
generation computers relied on machine language, the lowestlevel programming language understood by computers, to
perform operations, and they could only solve one problem at
a time. Input was based on punched cards and paper tape,
and output was displayed on printouts.
2. Second Generation (1956-1963) Transistors
Transistors replaced vacuum tubes and ushered in the second
generation of computers. The transistor was invented in 1947
but did not see widespread use in computers until the late
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1950s. The transistor was far superior to the vacuum tube,

allowing computers to become smaller, faster, cheaper, more
energy-efficient and more reliable than their first-generation
predecessors. Though the transistor still generated a great deal
of heat that subjected the computer to damage, it was a vast
improvement

over

the

vacuum

tube.

Second-generation

computers still relied on punched cards for input and

printouts for output.
3. Third Generation (1964-1971) Integrated Circuits
The development of the integrated circuit was the hallmark of
the

third

miniaturized

generation
and

of

computers.

placed

on

Transistors

silicon

chips,

were
called

semiconductors, which drastically increased the speed and

efficiency of computers.
Instead of punched cards and printouts, users interacted with
third generation computers through keyboards and monitors
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and interfaced with an operating system, which allowed the

device to run many different applications at one time with a
central program that monitored the memory.

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