Elements of Computer System

Computer System - a complete, working computer. The computer system includes not only the computer but
also any software but also any software and peripheral devices that necessary to make the computer function.
Hardware - refers to the physical equipment or components of an electronic data processing
Input device

An input device is any hardware device that sends data to the

computer, without any input devices, a computer would only be a
display device and not allow users to interact with it, much like a
TV. The picture is a Logitech trackball mouse and an example of an
input device. Below is a complete listing of all the different
computer input devices that can be used on a computer.
Barcode
Lines of different widths and sizes
representing data, that when read
determine what the scanned object
is. Barcodes are often used to help organize and index information or prices about an object. Barcodes used
by the U.S. postal service that helps speed the delivery of mail is another perfect example of how a barcode
could be used. The picture is an example of what a barcode for an address may look like.
Barcode readers and scanners
A barcode reader or scanner, also known as a point of sale (POS) scanner is a
hardware device capable of reading a barcode and printing out the details of
the product or logging that product into a database. A perfect example of a
barcode reader is a super market barcode scanner that reads and logs the price
of a product. In the picture is an example of a Barcode reader from HP.
Today, many smartphones with the proper apps are also capable of scanning
and reading barcodes.
Barcode Printers
A hardware device capable of printing out adhesive barcodes that can be attached to a product. This
helps identify the product or a company keep track of its inventory.
Joystick

An input device that looks similar to a control device you would find on an
arcade game at your local arcades. Ajoystick allows an individual to move
an object in agame such as navigating a plane in a flight simulator. The picture
shows the Logitech Freedom 2.4 joystick and an example of what a Joystick
may look like.

Keyboard
One of the primary input devices used with a
computer, the keyboard looks very similar to the
keyboards of electric typewriters, with some
additional keys. Keyboards allow a computer user
to input letters, numbers, and other symbols into
a computer and is what allows you to write e-mail
and is what you used to visit this web page. Below
is an example of a Saitek keyboard with indicators
pointing to each of the major sections of the
keyboard.

Overview of each section of the keyboard

Keyboard
The keyboard is the primary portion of the keyboard that contains all alphanumeric and symbol keys.
Today most users use the QWERTY style keyboards, as shown in the below graphic illustration.
Function keys
The Function keys or F1 through F12 keys are used in programs as shortcut keys to performed
frequently performed tasks. For example, the F1 key is the key to open the online help for most
programs.
Control Keys
The Control keys are what give you additional control of a document. See our Control keys definition for
additional information and further examples of control keys.
Control keys

Not to be confused with the "CTRL keys", control keys are a section of keys on
your keyboard that enable additional control over a document and
the computer. Print Screen,Scroll Lock, Pause, Break, Insert, Home, Page
Up, Delete,End, and Page down are all examples of control keys. The picture is
an example of all the control keys and how they look on a US keyboard.
In the picture below, is an example image of a Saitek keyboard to help
illustrate where the control keys are commonly located on the keyboard
Mouse
Functions as a pointing device by detecting two dimensional motion
relative to its supporting surface
Optical scanner
An optical scanner is a hardware input device that allows a user to take an
image or text and convert it into a digital file, allowing the computer to read
or display the scanned object. Ascanner can be connected to a computer
using USB, Firewire,Parallel, or a SCSI port. The picture shows an example of a
flatbed photo scanner, the Epson V300.
Other scanners include: sheetfed scanner, which is a scanner that scans paper
fed into it, handheld scanner, which is a scanner that is held and drag over a
page to scan it, and a card scanner, which is a small scanner capable of scanning business cards.
Microphone
Sometimes abbreviated as mic, a microphone is a hardware peripheral originally invented
by Emile Berliner in 1877 that allows computer users to input audio into their computers.
The picture is an example of Blue Microphones Yeti USB Microphone - Silver Edition and an
example of what a high quality computer microphone may look like.
Most microphones connect to the computer using the "mic" port on the computer sound
card. See our sound card definition for further information about these ports and an
example of what they look like on your computer. Higher quality microphones or microphones with additional
features such as the one shown on this page will connect to the USB port.
Output device
Any peripheral that receives or displays output from acomputer. The picture shows
an inkjet printer, anoutput device that can make a hard copy of anything being
displayed on a monitor. Below is a listing of all the different computer output
devices used with a computer.

Headphones
Sometimes referred to as earphones, headphones are a hardware device that either
plugs into your computer (line out) or your speakers and allow you to privately listen to
audio without disturbing anyone else. The picture is an example of a
USB headset from Logitech with a microphone and a popular solution for computer
gaming.
Monitor
1. Alternatively referred to as a video display terminal (VDT) and video display unit (VDU),amonitor is a video
display screen and the hard shell that holds it. In its most common
usage, monitor refers only to devices that contain no electronic
equipment other than what is essentially needed to display and adjust
the characteristics of an image.
Like most early TVs, the early computer monitor's have a CRT (Cathode
Ray Tube) that is found inside. Today, most users have replaced the
traditional CRT monitor with the newer flat panel displays like that
shown in the picture on this page.
Printer
A printer is an external hardware device responsible for taking computer data and generating a hard copy of
that data. Printers are one of the most used peripherals on computers and
are commonly used to print text, images, and photos. The picture is
the Lexmark Z605 Inkjet printer and an example of a computer printer.
Speaker
1. A speaker is a term used to describe
the user who is giving vocal commands to
a software program.
2. A hardware device

connected to a computer's sound

cardthat outputs sounds generated by the

computer. The picture

shows the Altec

Lansing VS2221 speakers withsubwoofer and resemble what most computer speakers look like today.
Input/output device

Alternatively referred to as a IO device, an input/output device is a hardware device

that accepts inputted information and also has the capability of outputting that
information. Good examples of input/output devices are a floppy diskette drive, CDR/RW drives,Modem, USB thumb drives, and a hard drive.

FDD
A Floppy Disk Drive, or 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 3
1/2" floppy disk drives. Today, because of the limited capacity and
reliability of floppy diskettes many computers no longer come equipped
with floppy disk drives and are being replaced with CD-R, other writable
discs, and flash drives.
CD-R
Alternatively referred to as a cd writer, CD-WO(Write
once), WORM (Write Once Read Many) drive. CD-R is short for CDRecordable and is 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. If the data is not written to the disc properly, has errors,
or has the incorrect information that disc or portions of that disc cannot
be erased and is often jokingly referred to as a coaster.
A CD-R disc is coated with a photosensitive organic dye that allows a user
to record information. Once the CD-R disc is placed within the computer, the recording process begins. The
laser inside the drive heats the dye to reveal areas that diffuse the light like a traditional CD pit. The CD-R drive
does not create pits on the CD; instead the burner creates reflective sections on the CD causing the
computer's CD-ROM laser to interpret it as a pit. Once a CD-R disc is finished recording, the CD will be able to
be used in any standard CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, or DVD drive. Although, there were issues with the first
revision DVD drives reading CD-R discs.

CD-Rs are a low cost solution for backing up software. Each CD-R often only costs a few cents (as of 2010
around 17-cents a disc) and are capable of holding up to 650 MB (74 minutes of music) or 700MB (80 minutes
of music). Although these are still a very popular solution for backing up data, more users are turning to USB
thumb drives to backup and transfer their data.
Above is an example of each of the different floppy drives. As can be seen, the size of the floppy drive and the
diskettes they use have decreased over time.
Recordable DVD drives
Alternatively referred to as a DVD writer, recordable DVD drives are disc drives capable of creating DVD discs.
Unfortunately, unlike recordable CD drives, there are many different competing standards for creating DVD
discs. For example, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD+R DL (DVD+R9), and DVD-RAM are all different
competing standards. Below is a brief explanation of each of these standards and related links to each of these
standards.
DVD-R
Short for Digital Versatile Disc-Recordable, DVD-R is similar to the idea behind CD-R, where the drive is
capable or recording once to a disc and then read many times after it has been created. DVD-R is an
approved standard by DVD Forum and the drives are capable of recording to DVD-R discs, also known
as DVD-5 and DVD-10 discs.
Note: DVD-R discs are compatible with most stand alone DVD players and computer DVD-ROM drives.
DVD-RW (DVD-R/W)
Short for Digital Versatile Disc-Read/Write, DVD-RW is an approved standard by DVD Forum and, much
like CD-RW, is a technology that enables a user to read and write to a DVD-RW or DVD-R disc several
times. DVD-RW drives are capable of recording toDVD-R and DVD-RW discs, also known as DVD5 and DVD-10 discs.
Note: DVD-RW discs are compatible with most stand-alone DVD players and computer DVD-ROM drives.
Jump drive
1. Alternatively referred to as a USB flash drive, data stick, pen drive,keychain drive and thumb drive, a jump
drive is a portable drivethat is often the size of your thumb that connects to the
computerUSB port. Today, flash drives are available in sizes such as 256MB, 512MB, 1GB,
5GB, and 16GB and are an easy way to transfer andstore information.
The picture is an example of the SanDisk Cruzer Micro 16GB flash drive and a good example
of what many flash drives look like. As can be seen in this picture, 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.

Unlike a hard drive the flash drive only contains an integrated circuit memory board capable of storing
information and has no movable parts.
Hard drive
Alternatively referred to as a hard disk drive and abbreviated
as HD or HDD, thehard drive is the computer's main storage media
device that permanently stores all data on the computer. The hard
drive was first introduced on September 13, 1956and consists of one
or more hard drive platters inside of air sealed casing. Most computer
hard drives are in an internal drive bay at the front of the computer
and connect to the motherboard using either ATA, SCSI, or
a SATA cable and power cable. Below, is a picture of what the inside of
a hard drive looks like for a desktop and laptop hard drive.
As can be seen in the above picture, the desktop hard drive has six
components: the head actuator, read/write actuator arm, read/write
head, spindle, and platter. On the back of a hard drive is a circuit
board called the disk controller.
Software
o Also called programs
o Computer software provides instruction that tell computer how to operate
o Programs are usually created using other software called programming language

Types of software
System Software consists of Programs designed to facilitate the use of the computer by user. Any
software required to support the production or execution of application program but which is not
specific to any particular application
o Operating System a set of program designed to efficiently manage the resources of the
computer system
o Language Translator is a system program that converts the English like instruction used by
computer programmers into the machine readable code used by the hardware
o Utility Program perform such standard task as organizing and maintaining data files,
translating programs written in various languages to a language acceptance to the computer
Application Software is a type of program that solves specific user oriented processing problems
o Word Processing program accepts words typed into a computer and processes them to
produce edited text
o Desktop Publishing System system allows you to use different typefaces specify various
margins and justification and embed illustrations and graphics directly into the text. The most
powerful desktop publishing system enable you to create illustrations while less powerful
systems let you insert illustrations created by other programs

o Spreadsheets are computer program that let people electronically create and manipulate
spreadsheets (tables of values in rows and columns with predefined to relations to each
others). Spreadsheets are used for mathematical calculations such as accounts budgets,
statistics and so on.
o Database Management a set of programs is necessary to facilitate adding new data as well as
modifying and retrieving of existing data within a database
o Electronic Games interactive hardware or software played for entertainment challenge or
educational purposes
o Graphics Packages are computer programs that enable users to create highly stylized images
for slide presentations and reports. They can also be used to produce various types of charts
and graphs. Many software applications include graphics components including: paint
programs, desktop publishing application and so on.
o Communication Program in relation to computers a software program that enables a
computer to connect with other computer