Output devices

• Output unit consists of devices that enable users to get information

from computer. This unit is a link between computer and users
• Hardware devices that allow data and information to be output from
the computer.
• Data presented may either be softcopy or hardcopy.
• Softcopy is output that is presented by the screens and speakers/ headphones.
• Hardcopy is output that is produced by printers and plotters.
• Hence output devices can be categorized as either
• Softcopy output devices or
• Hardcopy output devices
Softcopy output devices:
• These are devices that present intangible data that can be easily
edited by the user.
• They are basically of three types:
• Visual Display Unit (VDU): CRTs and Flat panel screen.

• Sound output devices: speakers and headphones.

• projectors
Monitors (visual display unit)
• These are computer’s screens which are primary output devices.
• The clarity and sharpness of an image on computers screen is known as screen
resolution.
• The higher the resolution the clear an image is displayed.
• Images on VDU are formed by a combination of tiny dots called Picture Elements
(Pixels)
• The higher the number of pixels per square inch the higher the resolution.
• There are two types of VDU, namely: -
• Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)
• Flat panel Screens
Cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors
• They are TV-like shaped with a screen that is convex (outwardly
curved).
• They are bell-like shaped at the back.
• They present softcopy information such as text and graphics to the
user
• They are becoming rare because of newer
technologies in the market(flat panes)
• CRT monitors are bulky( not portable) and
Consume a lot of electrical energy
• They emit radiations that can affect users
Flat panel screens
• These are light, portable and flat
screens.
• They are common on laptops,
calculators, watches, palmtops and
now available for desktop computers.
• They use less electricity than the CRTs.
• They are flat at the back unlike the CRTs
• The emit less radiations compared to
CRTs
• Types of flat panels include: LCD, TFT,
and gas plasma displays
Speakers and headphones

• These are devices that present

voice data from the computer to
the user.
• Voice data may be music,
warning or video.
• To output sound a computer
must have a sound card.
Projectors
• Used to project information from a computer to a wall for
presentation a large audience.
• The image from the source is magnified and projected to a large
screen
• Remote controls can be used to manage presentations
• They can also be used in advertisements and home cinema systems
Hard copy output devices
• These are output devices that produce tangible output, output that
can not be edited.
• They include: -
• Printers:
• Plotters
Printers
• Is the most important output device, which is used to print
information on paper.
• The output may be pictures or text
• There are two types of printers:
• Impact Printers
• Non-Impact Printers
Impact printers
• These are printers whose printing mechanism is similar to typewriter.
• These printers print the characters by striking against the ribbon and
onto the paper.
• Characteristics of Impact Printers are the following:
Cheap in terms of cost
very noisy
There is physical contact with the paper to produce an image

• These printers are of two types:

Character printers
Line printers
Impact printers: character printers
• Character Printers are printers, which print one character at a time.
• These are of further two types:
• Dot Matrix Printer (DMP)
• Daisy Wheel
Dot Matrix Printer
• In the market, one of the most popular printers is Dot Matrix Printer because of their ease of
printing features and economical price. Each character printed is in form of pattern of Dot's and
head consists of a Matrix of Pins of size (5*7, 7*9, 9*7 or 9*9) which comes out to form a
character that is why it is called Dot Matrix Printer.
Advantages
• Inexpensive
• Widely Used
• Other language characters can be printed
Disadvantages of dot matrix printer
• Slow Speed
• Poor Quality printouts
Character printers: daisy wheel
printer
• It’s a printer with a wheel
containing petals on which
characters are embossed.
• When information to be printed is
received, the wheel rotates when
the character to be printed is
reached, the petal with the
character strike ink ribbon thus
creating the character on paper.
• It prints only text of one pitch (e.g.
12), font (e.g. Roman), and style
(e.g. normal)
• It does not print pictures.
Impact printers: line printers
• Line printers are printers, which
print one line at a time.
• These are of further two types:
 Drum Printer
 Chain Printer
Non-impact printers
• These are printers that produce printouts quietly and there is no direct
contact between the printing mechanism and paper being printed on.
• They are faster in printing and produce high quality printouts.
• These printers print a complete page at a time, also called as Page
Printers
• They include the following: -
Thermal printers
Inkjet printers
Laser printers
Photo printers
Characteristics of non-impact
printers
• Faster than impact printers.
• They are not noisy.
• High quality.
• Support many fonts and different character size.
3-D printers
• Primarily used in computer aided design applications
• They are based on ink jet and laser technologies and can print a solid
object.
• The solid object is built up layer by layer using materials such as
powdered resin, powdered metal, paper or ceramic.
• Can be used for manufacturing various products – the future of
production
Plotters
• These are output devices that
produce wide complex printouts
of information in computers’
memory.
• They print wide drawings and
images such as maps,
architectural drawings, charts
and engineering drawings.
• Their printouts are of very high
quality than those of printers.
• They are slower in printing and
more expensive than printers.
Processing hardware : CPU
• This is part of computer that does the processing activities and
controlling all operations in the computer.
• The CPU is an Integration of Circuits on a silicon chip which normally
housed inside the system unit and mounted on the motherboard.
• The CPU is composed of:
Control Unit (CU)
Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU)
Registers
CPU Structure

ALU CU

Internal bus

Registers
Link between CPU and
RAM
Transmission of data & instructions

• CPU sends data, instructions and information to the components inside the
computer as well as to the peripherals and devices attached to it.

• Bus is a set of electronic signal pathways that allows information and signals
to travel between components inside or outside of a computer. The
different components of computer, i.e., CPU, I/O unit, and memory unit are
connected with each other by a bus. The data, instructions and the signals
are carried between the different components via a bus
System bus
• A bus is a set of wires used for interconnection, where each wire can
carry one bit of data.
• A bus width is defined by the number of wires in the bus.
• A computer bus can be divided into two types—Internal Bus and
External Bus.
• The Internal Bus connects components inside the motherboard like,
CPU and system memory. It is also called the System Bus
Internal system bus
External bus

• The External Bus connects the different external devices, peripherals,

expansion slots, I/O ports and drive connections to the rest of
computer. The external bus allows various devices to be attached to
the computer. It allows for the expansion of computer’s capabilities.

• It is generally slower than the system bus. It is also referred to as the

Expansion Bus
The CONTROL UNIT (CU)
• It monitors and oversees all processing in the CPU .

• It also coordinates (controls) input and output operations.

• The CU decodes program instruction to determine what is to be done

and directs the appropriate device to execute the instruction.
The ARITHMETIC AND LOGIC UNIT (ALU)

• This is a section of CPU that carries out all arithmetic operations and logical
operation.
• Arithmetic operations include
• Addition,
• Subtraction,
• Multiplication and
• division.
• Logical operations involves comparison of two or more values to determine
whether a piece of data is
• greater than,
• less than,
• equal to, or
• not equal to.
 CPU SPEED
• This is the rate at which the CPU processes data or executes
instructions.
• This rate is measured in Hertz (Hz).
• 1Hz is equal to one cycle (operation by the CPU) per second.
Therefore the higher the number of hertz the faster the CPU.
• For instance, a CPU with a speed of 500MHz will complete
500,000,000 cycles (operations) in one second.
 CPU Speed units
Number of Operations
Unit Number of Hz
per second

1 electronic pulse per 1Hz 1 Operation

second

1KiloHertz (KHz) 1,000Hz 1,000 operations

1MegaHertz (MHz) 1,000,000Hz 1,000,000 operations

1GigaHertz (GHz) 1,000,000,000Hz 1,000,000,000 operations

1TeraHertz (THz) 1,000,000,000,000Hz 1,000,000,000,000

operations