BABBAGES ANALYTICAL ENGINE

This analytical engine, the first fully-automatic calculating machine, was constructed by British
computing pioneer Charles Babbage (1791-1871), who first conceived the idea of an advanced
calculating machine to calculate and print mathematical tables in 1812. Conceived by him in
1834, this machine was designed to evaluate any mathematical formula and to have even higher
powers of analysis than his original Difference engine of the 1820s. Only part of the machine as
a trial piece was completed before Babbage's death in 1871.
COMPACT DISK
A compact disk (cd) is a popular form of digital storage media used for computer files, pictures,
and music. The plastic platter is read and written to by a laser in a CD drive. It comes in several
varieties including CD-ROM, CD-R, and CD-RW.
FLOPPY DISK
In 1971, IBM introduced the first "memory disk", as it was called then, or the "floppy disk" as it
is known today. The first floppy was an 8-inch flexible plastic disk coated with magnetic iron
oxide; computer data was written to and read from the disk's surface. The nickname "floppy"
came from the disk's flexibility. The floppy disk was considered a revolutionary device in the
"History of Computers" for its portability which provided a new and easy physical means of
transporting data from computer to computer.
KEYBOARD
A computer keyboard is one of the primary input devices used with a computer that looks similar
to those found on electric typewriters, but with some additional keys. Keyboards allow you to
input letters, numbers, and other symbols into a computer that often function as commands. The
following image shows a Saitek keyboard with indicators pointing to each of the major key
sections of a keyboard. Earlier computer keyboards had been based either on teletype machines
or keypunches.
COMPUTER MOUSE
Originally referred to as an X-Y Position Indicatorfor a Display System, a mouse is a
hardware input device that was invented by Douglas Engelbart in1963 while working at Xerox
PARC. The mouse allows an individual to control a pointer in a graphical user interface (GUI)
and manipulate on-screen objects such as icons, files, and folders. By using a mouse, the user
doesn't have to memorize commands, such as those utilized in a text-based command line
environment like MS-DOS.

LASER PRINTER
First developed at Xerox PARC by Gary Starkweather and released in 1971, a laser printer is a
printer that utilizes laser technology to print images on the paper. Laser printers are often used in
corporate, school, and other environments that require print jobs to be completed quickly and in
large quantities. In the picture is a Lexmark C782n laser printer and a good example of a laser

printer. As can be seen much larger than an ink jet printer found in most homes. Finally, below is
a chart of the steps a laser printer takes to print.
USB
Alternatively referred to as a USB flash drive, data stick, pen drive, memory unit, key chain
drive and thumb drive, a jump drive is a portable storage device. It is often the size of a human
thumb (hence the name) and it connects to a computer via USB port. Today, flash drives are
available in sizes such as 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, 5GB, and 16GB and are an easy way
to transfer and store information. The drive has a small casing that stores the flash memory
connected to a USB connection that is plugged into the USB port on your computer.

RAM
Alternatively referred to as main memory, primary memory, or system memory, Random Access
Memory (RAM) is a hardware device that allows information to be stored and retrieved on a
computer. RAM is usually associated with DRAM, which is a type of memory module. Because
information is accessed randomly instead of sequentially like it is on a CD or hard drive, the
computer can access the data much faster. However, unlike ROM or a the hard drive, RAM is
a volatile memory and requires power to keep the data accessible; if power is lost all data
contained in memory lost

TRACKBALL
A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect
a rotation of the ball about two axeslike an upside-down mouse with an exposed protruding
ball. The user rolls the ball with the thumb, fingers, or the palm of the handto move a pointer.
Compared with a mouse, a trackball has no limits on effective travel; at times, a mouse can reach
an edge of its working area while the operator still wishes to move the screen pointer farther.
With a trackball, the operator just continues rolling, whereas a mouse would have to be lifted and
re-positioned.

LIGHT PEN
A light pen is a computer input device in the form of a light-sensitive wand used in conjunction
with a computer's CRT display. It allows the user to point to displayed objects or draw on the
screen in a similar way to a touchscreen but with greater positional accuracy.

FLASH MEMORY
Flash memory is an electronic non-volatile computer storage medium that can be electrically
erased and reprogrammed. Introduced by Toshiba in 1984, flash memorywas developed from
EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory).

INTEL 4004
The Intel 4004 is a 4-bit central processing unit (CPU) released by Intel Corporation in 1971the
4004 was made commercially available to the general market. The 4004 was historys first
monolithic CPU, fully integrated in one small chip. Such a feat of integration was made possible
by the use of the then-new silicon gate technology which allowed twice the number of randomlogic transistors and an increase in speed by a factor of five compared to the incumbent
technology. The 4004 microprocessor was one of 4 chips constituting the MCS-4 chip-set, which
included the 4001 ROM, 4002 RAM, and 4003 Shift Register. With these components, small
computers with varying amounts of memory and I/O facilities could be built.