ASSIGNMENT 1

1.Explain in brief about different types of input and output devices used
in computer systems?
Ans:
A computer is only useful when it is able to communicate with the external
environment. When you work with the computer you feed your data and
instructions through some devices to the computer. These devices are called
Input devices. Similarly, computer after processing gives output through other
devices called output devices.
I. Input Devices
Input devices are necessary to convert our information or data into a form which
can be understood by the computer. A good input device should provide timely,
accurate and useful data to the main memory of the computer for processing
followings are the most useful input devices.
1.Keyboard:
This is the standard input device attached to all computers. The layout of the
keyboard is just like the traditional typewriter of the type QWERTY. It also
contains some extra command keys and function keys. It contains a total of 101 to
104 keys. You have to press correct combination of keys to input data. The
computer can recognize the electrical signals corresponding to the correct key
combination and processing is done accordingly.

2.Mouse:
The mouse is an input device which is used with your personal computer. It rolls
on a small ball and has two or three buttons on the top. When you roll the mouse
across a flat surface the screen censors the mouse in the direction of mouse
movement. The cursor moves very fast with mouse giving you more freedom to
work in any direction. It is easier and faster to move through a mouse.
3. Scanner:
The keyboard can input only text through keys provided in it. If we want to input a
picture the keyboard cannot do that. The Scanner is an optical device that can
input any graphical matter and display it back.

4. Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR):

This is widely used by banks to process large volumes of cheques and drafts.
Cheques are put inside the MICR. As they enter the reading unit the cheques pass
through the magnetic field which causes the read head to recognize the character
of the cheques.

5. Optical Mark Reader (OMR):

This technique is used when students have appeared in objective type tests and
they had to mark their answer by darkening a square or circular space by pencil.
These answer sheets are directly fed to a computer for grading where OMR is
used.

6. Optical Character Recognition (OCR):

This technique unites the direct reading of any printed character. Suppose you
have a set of handwritten characters on a piece of paper. You put it, inside the
scanner of the computer. This pattern is compared with a site of patterns stored
inside the computer. Whichever pattern is matched is called a character read.
Patterns that cannot be identified are rejected. OCRs are expensive though better
the MICR.

7. Joy Stick:
This is one of the popular input devices, which is used for playing video games.

8. Touch Screen:
The Touch screen takes input as when a finger or object comes in contact with the
screen, the light beam is broken, and the location of the breaking of a light beam
is recorded, which acts as inputs.

9. Light Pen:
Light is a type of pointing device that is used to choose a displayed menu option
on screen for a program. This pen contains a photocell placed in a small tube.

10. Voice Input Devices:

These devices are in the stage of experimenting and development, where various
problems like speech should be independent of persons.

II. Output Devices

Output devices can adopt different shapes and styles, which are used to give the
output of the processing of data. The output can be in any form i.e. typed,
printed, sketched, visible, nonviable, audio, video etc. Output devices are those
peripheral devices that allow a user to retrieve information from a computer. Any
Output devices can be divided into two basic categories.

1. Hard Copy:
It is that form of output which can be read directly and immediately, stored to be
read later. This output is on paper and which is permanent.

2. Soft Copy: It is the magnetic or audio form of output which is usually

unreadable directly and which is not long-lasting.

I. Hard Copy Devices:

These are those devices, which produce a permanent record of data on media like
paper. These are relatively slow in operation when compared to soft copy devices.
Some of the popular devices are Printers, Plotters, and Photographic output
devices.

1. Printers: Printers can be categorized into

Impact Printers
These are those types of printers which have direct mechanical contact between
the head of the printers and paper. The impact printers are
a. Dot Matrix Printers:
b. Daisy Wheel Printers:
c. Line Printers:

Non -Impact Printers:

These printers print without any direct mechanical contact between the head of
the printer and paper. These printers can be categorized into

a. Thermal Printers:
b. Inkjet Printers:
c. Laser Printer:
d. Electrographic Printer:
e. Electro Static Printer: -

2. Plotter:
A plotter is an output device similar to the printer but normally allows you to print
larger images. Their use is common in the design and research sector.

II. SOFT COPY DEVICES:

These devices output is usually not visible directly but the output can be viewed
with the help of computer where one can update, modify data etc. Some of the
softcopy output devices are.
a. Visual Display Unit
b. Terminals
c. Speakers

2. Explain in brief about different types of storage devices used in computer

system (semiconductor memory, magnetic disks, raid storage, magnetic tape,
optical disks, RFID)

Ans: Alternatively referred to as digital storage, storage, storage media, or storage

medium, a storage device is any hardware capable of holding information either
temporarily or permanently. There are two types of storage devices used with
computers: a primary storage device, such as RAM, and a secondary storage
device, such as a hard drive. Secondary storage can be removable, internal, or
external.
Examples of computer storage

1. Semiconductor memory
Semiconductor memory is used in any electronics assembly that uses
computer processing technology. Semiconductor memory is the essential
electronics component needed for any computer-based PCB assembly.
There are two main types or categories that can be used for semiconductor
technology. These memory types or categories differentiate the memory to the
way in which it operates:
 RAM - Random Access Memory: As the names suggest, the RAM or
random-access memory is a form of semiconductor memory technology
that is used for reading and writing data in any order - in other words as it is
required by the processor. It is used for such applications as the computer
or processor memory where variables and other stored and are required on
a random basis. Data is stored and read many times to and from this type
 of memory.

 ROM - Read Only Memory: A ROM is a form of semiconductor memory

technology used where the data is written once and then not changed. In
view of this it is used where data needs to be stored permanently, even
when the power is removed - many memory technologies lose the data
once the power is removed.

2. Magnetic storage devices

Today, magnetic storage is one of the most common types of storage used with
computers. This technology is found mostly on extremely large HDDs or hybrid
hard drives.

Hard drive
A hard disk drive (sometimes abbreviated as a hard drive, HD, or HDD) is a non-
volatile data storage device. It is usually installed internally in a computer,
attached directly to the disk controller of the computer's motherboard. It contains
one or more platters, housed inside of an air-sealed casing.

Magnetic card
A magnetic card is a card that contains either a magnetic strip or a magnetic
object in the card, encoded with digital data. A magnetic card may contain
information about an individual, such as available credit on a credit card or pass
codes for entering secure buildings. It's usually the size of a business card.

Super Disk
Alternatively referred to as a LS-120 and LS-240, the Super Disk is a disk drive and
diskette introduced by 3M, which later became Imation. The drive was most
popular with OEM computers, such as Compaq and Packard Bell computers.

FDD
A floppy disk drive, also called FDD or FD for short, is a computer disk drive that
enables a user to save data to removable diskettes. Although 8" disk drives were
first made available in 1971, the first real disk drives used were the 5 1/4" floppy
disk drives, which were later replaced with the 3 1/2" floppy disk drives.

3.Optical storage devices

Another common type of storage is optical storage, which uses lasers and lights as
its method of reading and writing data.
Blu-ray disc
Short for Blu-ray disc, BD or BD-ROM, is an optical disc format developed by
thirteen consumer electronics and PC companies. These companies include Dell,
Hitachi, Hewlett Packard, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Sony, and TDK.
CD-ROM disc
Short for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory, a CD-ROM is an optical disc that
contains audio or software data whose memory is read-only. A CD-ROM Drive or
optical drive is the device used to read them. CD-ROM drives have speeds ranging
from 1x to 72x, meaning it reads the CD roughly 72 times faster than the 1x
version.
CD-R and CD-RW disc.
Alternatively referred to as a cd writer, CD-WO (write once), or WORM (write
once read many), CD-R is short for Compact Disc-Recordable. It's a writable disc
and drive that is capable of having information written to the disc once and then
having that disc read many times after that.

DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW disc.

Alternatively referred to as a DVD writer, recordable DVD drives are disc drives
capable of creating DVD discs. Unfortunately, unlike recordable CD drives, many
competing standards exist for creating DVD discs.
4.RAID - redundant array of independent disks

RAID is short for redundant array of independent disks. Originally, the term RAID
was defined as redundant array of inexpensive disks, but now it usually refers to a
redundant array of independent disks. RAID storage uses multiple disks in order
to provide fault tolerance, to improve overall performance, and to increase
storage capacity in a system. This is in contrast with older storage devices that
used only a single disk drive to store data. RAID allows you to store the same data
redundantly (in multiple paces) in a balanced way to improve overall
performance. RAID disk drives are used frequently on servers but aren't generally
necessary for personal computers.

5.RFID (Radio-frequency identification)

RFID tags use low, high, ultra-high and microwave frequencies. Each frequency
has advantages and disadvantages that make them more suitable for some
applications than for others. The amount of data that can be stored on the
microchip in an RFID tag. It can range from 64 bits to 32 kilobytes or more on
passive tags.

3.Explain about the roles of optical storage in business application.

Ans: Optical storage, electronic storage medium that uses low-power laser
beams to record and retrieve digital (binary) data. In optical-storage
technology, a laser beam encodes digital data onto an optical, or laser, disk in
the form of tiny pits arranged in concentric tracks on the disk’s surface. A low-
power laser scanner is used to “read” these pits, with variations in the
intensity of reflected light from the pits being converted into electric signals.
This technology is used in the compact disc, which records sound; in the CD-
 ROM (compact disc read-only memory), which can store text and images as
well as sound; in WORM (write-once read-many), a type of disk that can be
written on once and read any number of times; and in newer disks that are
totally rewritable.
There are some major roles of optical storage in business. Some of them are
described below.

Unalterable Data : In these days when users have little way to determine when
material distributed over the Internet is original or has been altered, distributing
material on an optical disc is a great way to assure the organizations and
individuals that, when the disc is put into the computer or player, what is played
hasn’t been altered. By contrast, the data on a flash drive can be easily changed,
and data sent over a network can also be compromised.

Compact Storage: Depending on the media used, a stack of 100 discs can contain
as much as 5 terabytes of data. Soon, that same amount of space will be able to
store 10 TB or more. For backup or archival storage, optical media can be pretty
hard to beat. Properly stored optical media can last years – if not decades.

Sanitization: One of the issues related to storage that hasn’t been fully explored is
the issue of sanitization. The idea usually relates to hard drives – if you reformat
a hard drive, the data is still on the drive. Removing the data from the drive
correctly can require the use of special equipment such as Aleratec’s hard disk
drive duplicator/sanitizers. By contrast, sanitizing an optical disc is as easy as
running it through a shredder (disc shredders are offered by Aleratec), or
manually cracking it into pieces – a process that quite a bit more difficult.

‘Burning’ speeds faster than network transfers: Finally, there is the issue of
speed. A 4.7 GB DVD can be recorded in minutes. If it isn’t essential that the data
be stored on an organization’s SAN, or at a cloud storage facility, hours can
possibly be saved by writing the data onto optical media. Similarly, 25 or 50 GB
Blu-ray discs can be recorded at transfer rates that dwarf Internet speeds.
4.Illustrate about privacy issues of RFID technology with relevant examples.
Ans: RFID has created some major privacy issues. It’s nature of invisibility system
and the ability to transmit sophisticated messages have created some privacy
concerns. There are basically two major privacy issues of RFID technology which
are given below.

 Because of the owner of an item will not necessarily be aware of the

presence of an RFID tag and the tag can be read at a distance without the
knowledge of the individual, it becomes possible to gather sensitive data
about any individual without consent.

 If a customer pays for a tagged item by credit card then it would be to

deduce the identity of the buyer indirectly by reading the globally unique ID
of that item.