SURFACE MICROSOFT

-- Provides effortless interaction with digital content through natural hand gestures, touch and physical objects.
-- Surface computing breaks down traditional barriers between people and technology, changing the way people interact with all kinds of everyday information — from photos to maps to menus.
-- We will offer on this site regularly updated versions of the media kit, which includes press releases, background material and images.
Touch the PossibilitiesHow can you use the Surface platform in your organization? The only limit is your imagination. Whether you’re in hospitality, retail, healthcare, professional services, or the public sector, you can change the way people interact with information and with each other.
--Touch the Possibilities :

• Make content more engaging. Give your customers immersive and collaborative ways to engage with photos, videos, documents, maps, custom applications, and more.
• Plan and simulate. Bring to life real-time "if/then" modeling and visualization, simulations and calculations—perfect for financial services, healthcare, and other consultative environments.
• Make learning more fun. Breathe new life into the education process with rich visualizations that encourage teamwork and enhance learning.
• Transform the shopping experience. Make shopping more immersive by connecting customers with more options, recommendations, product and service comparisons, and personalized service.
• Connect with customers through games and pastimes. Have some fun by putting Surface in restaurants, bars, hotel lobbies, and other venues, associating memorable experiences with your brand.
• Communicate and connect. Give people an efficient and intriguing new way to get the information they’re looking for—like maps and tourist destinations in a hotel lobby. Or use it to help them exchange personal information so they can connect with each other and to your business.

--For more informations, please refer to http://www.microsoft.com/surface/whatissurface.aspx

                                        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awUvEZNDHkQ

CHAPTER 8 = SECONDARY STORAGE

  SOLID-STATE STORAGE 

• Solid-state storage is a nonvolative, removable storage medium that employs integrated circuits (ICs ) rather than magnetic or optical media.
•  It is the equivalent of large-capacity, nonvolatile memory.  
• Examples include flash memory Universal Serial Bus (USB) devices and various proprietary removable packages intended to replace external hard drives.   
• Solid-state storage media lags behind electromechanical drives in terms of storage capacity.  
• Solid-state storage devices have no moving parts and are more reliable and require less power than hard disks. 
• For more information about solid-state storage refers to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_drive  

                                                        
                                          http://viroptics.pancamo.com/2008/01/bitmicro-832gb-solid-state-soft-drive.html  


 FLASH MEMORY  

• Flash memory refers to a particular type of EEPROM, or Electronically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory.  
• It is a memory chip that maintains stored information without requiring a power source.  
• It is often used in portable electronics, like MP3 players, and in removable storage devices. 
• Flash memory differs from regular EEPROM in that EEPROM erases its content one byte at a time. 
• Flash memory can erase its data in entire blocks, making it a preferable technology for application that require frequent updating of large amounts of data as in the case of a memory stick. 
• Flash memory is used in digital media players like the iPod to store and play music and video files. 
• Flash memory is also used to store images captured from digital cameras and then to transfer the images to desktop and other computers.  
• For more information about flash memory can refers to http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-flash-memory.htm   

                                         
                               http://www.blendsblog.com/guide/what-is-flash-memory/  
                                          

USB DRIVES DRIVES

• A USB flash drive consists of a flash memory data storage device integrated with a USB (Universal Serial Bus ) interface. 
• USB flash devices are typically removable and rewritable and physically much smaller than a floopy disk. 
• They are smaller, faster, have thousands of times more capacity, and are more durable and reliable because of their lack of moving parts.
• There are typically four parts to a flash drive:   

1. Male type-A USB connector – provides a physical interface to the host computer. 
2. USB mass storage controller – implements the USB host controller. The controller contains a small microcontroller with a small amount of on-chip ROM and RAM. 
3. NAND flash memory chip – stores data. NAND flash is typically also used in digital cameras. 
4. Crystal oscillator  – produces the device's main 12 MHz clock signal  and controls the device's data output through a phase-locked loop.    

• Advantages of USB Drives : 

1. Data stored on flash drives is impervious to scratches and dust, and flash drives are mechanically very robust making them suitable for transporting data from place to place and keeping it readily at hand. 
2. Flash drives implement the USB mass storage device class so that most modern operating systems can read and write to them without installing device drivers.   

• Disadvantages of USB Drives : 

1. USB flash drives do not include a write-protect mechanism, although some have a switch on the housing of the drive itself to keep the host computer from writing or modifying data on the drive. 
2. USB flash drives are more expensive per unit of storage than large hard drives, but are less expensive in capacities of a few tens of gigabytes as of 2011. 

• For more information refers to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_flash_drive  

                                          
                             http://www.engadget.com/2004/10/18/one-128mb-tomago-kudasai/
Citation :

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_drive 
• http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-flash-memory.htm 
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_flash_drive  
• Computing Essentials Complete 2010     

PRINTERS

~Printer is used to translated information processed by system unit and present the information on paper. Output from printers is described as hard copy.

FEATURES :

Four basic features:

üResolution

• A measurement of clarity of images produced.

• Measured in dpi( dots per inch). Higher the dpi, better the quality images produced.

üColour capability

• Printers contain black ink or colour ink.

• Colour is used more selectively of report containing graphics and photographs.

üSpeed

• Measured in number of pages printed per minute.

•Single-colour (black) output, 15 to 19 per minute. 13  to 15 pages per minute for colour output.

üMemory

•Used to store printing instructions and documents waiting to be printed.

• The more memory, the faster to create large documents.

It have 4 types of printers :

(1) INK-JET PRINTERS :

-- Although inkjets were available in the 1980s, it was only in the 1990s that prices dropped enough to bring the technology to the high street.
-- A type of printer that works by spraying ionized ink at a sheet of paper.
-- Producing high quality print approaching that produced by laser printers.
-- A typical ink-jet printer provides a resolution of 300 dots per inch, although some newer models offer higher resolutions.

-- Most widely used because:

i.Reliable

ii.Quite

iii.Inexpensive

-- Typical ink-jet printers produce 17 to 19 pages  per minute(black). 13 to 15 pages per minute(colour)

-- For more information, please refer to http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/I/ink_jet_printer.html , http://www.pctechguide.com/53Inkjets.htm

      http://www.desktopclass.com/education/computer-it/what-is-non-impact-printer-discuss-its-different-types.html

(2) LASER PRINTERS :

-- A laser printer is a common type of computer printer that rapidly produces high quality

text and graphics on plain paper.

-- In comparison with the laser printer, most inkjet printers and dot-matrix printers simply

take an incoming stream of data and directly imprint it in a slow lurching process.

-- A laser printer is unable to work this way because such a large amount of data needs to

output to the printing device in a rapid, continuous process.

-- The printer cannot stop the mechanism precisely enough to wait until more data arrives,

without creating a visible gap or misalignment of the dots on the printed page.

-- Laser printers use laser light beam to produce excellent letter and graphics quality images.

It is:

i.More expensive than ink-jet printers

ii.Faster

iii.Used in applications requiring high-quality output.

Another Two categories:

Personal laser printers

§Do not support colour

§Less expensive

§Used by many single player

Shared laser printers

§Support colour

§More expensive

§Used by a group of users

  Shared laser printers typically print over 50 pages a minute

-- For more information, please refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_printer

http://www.gadgetvenue.com/samsung-ml-1630-sleek-laser-printer-12222730/

(3) THERMAL PRINTERS :

§Uses heat elements to produce images on heat-sensitive paper.

§Widely used with ATMs and gasoline pumps to print receipts.

§Thermal printers print more quietly and usually faster than impact dot matrix printers.

§They are also smaller, lighter and consume less power, making them ideal for portable and retail applications.

§A thermal printer comprises these key components:

(4) OTHER PRINTERS :

 

Dot-matrix Printers

--Form characters and images using a series of small pins on a printer head.

It is:

I.Inexpensive

II.Quite noisy

Used in task where high-quality output is not required.

--Advantage : The ink ribbon also does not easily dry out, including both the ribbon stored in

the casing as well as the portion that is stretched in front of the print head; this unique
property allows the dot-matrix printer to be used in environments where printer duty can be
rare, for instance, as with a Fire Alarm Control Panel's output.
--For more information, please refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_matrix_printer

                                                     http://www.jestineyong.com/?p=2711

Plotters

--Used to produce a wide range of specialized output.

--Plotters used to create:

I.Maps

II.Images

III.Architectural

IV.Engineering drawings

--For more information, please refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plotter  
 
http://www.supplierlist.com/products/category/1003/100328/p-30/Machinery_for_Paper_Wood_and_Furniture.htm
  As my opinion, i think we as a student are more prefer to use laser printer. It is because it is
more easier and convinient are use in printing. This printer have white and black colour, also
have variety of colour. The price are cheaper than other kinds of printer.

Citations:
- http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/I/ink_jet_printer.html , http://www.pctechguide.com/53Inkjets.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_printer

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_printer

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_matrix_printer

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plotter  
-  http://www.sony.com.my/productcategory/di-dpp-photo-printer
-  http://www.smallportableprinter.com/

Photo Printers

§Special-purpose printers designed to print photo-quality images from digital cameras.

§Print 3x5’ or 4x6’ images on glossy, photo-quality paper.
§For more information, please refer to http://www.sony.com.my/productcategory/di-dpp-photo-printer

                                                      http://dutechs.com/products.html

Portable Printers

§Small and lightweight printers( designed to work with notebook computers)

§It may be ink-jet or laser printers

§Print in black and white or colour

§Connect with USB or parallel port connections

§Reduce the power and the features, while raising the price on the product.

§For more information, please refer to http://www.smallportableprinter.com/

                         http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20080414/canon-pixma-ip100-portable-printer/

• Thermal head — generates heat; prints on paper
• Platen — a rubber roller that feeds paper
• Spring — applies pressure to the thermal head, causing it to contact the thermo-sensitive paper
• Controller boards — for controlling the mechanism

--For more information, please refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_printer

                                                                 http://ean128.co.uk/