Intro to IT

Ergonomic keyboards are designed to reduce muscle strains of the wrists and fingers that are caused by repetitive movements while typing. The key are usually separated into two groups allowing the user to type at a more comfortable angle compared to the traditional keyboard. There are two types of ergonomic keyboards which are the fix-split key board and the adjustable split keyboard. The adjustable split keyboard consist of several pieces  which angles can be change according to the user's preference. Although usage is more comfortable, buying an ergonomic keyboard may be more costly.

An inkjet printer prints images by spraying extremely tiny dots of ink (with a diameter between 50 to 60 microns) at very high speeds. Colour printing is available in inkjet printers. They are one of the popular types of printers being used today as it is reliable, does not produce much noise and not too expensive. However, what may be costly about having an inkjet printer is the replacement of its ink cartridges. 

Using a similar technology used in photocopying machines, laser printers can produce images with high letter and graphics quality. The images are produced by using a laser light beam (as suggested by its name). Compared to inkjet printers, laser printers produce better quality black text documents and printing does not cost as much. There are two categories for laser printers; personal laser printers which are less expensive but do not support colour and shared laser printers which support colour but is more expensive.

Magnetic ink character recognition is a system which uses ink that can be magnetised and read by a computer. This system by mainly used in banks in processing cheques (the digits and characters at the bottom of cheques). The advantage about this system is that the characters can still be read even if it is obscured by other marks or overprinted.

The OCR system uses an optical scanner to read preprinted characters. The data read by the optical scanner is transferred to the computer and a software analyses the characters and converts them into a form that the computer can understand (ASCII codes). This system is widely used today in retail shops, supermarkets and even in libraries. Items can be easily found and traced using the OCR system as all the information is stored in the software.

OMR systems are usually used in checking survey forms or examination documents such as the multiple-choice sheet. The system recognize human marked data by using a scanner that shines a beam of light. The scanner differentiates the reflectivity of bright and shaded areas  and interprets it into a form that the computer can understand. This is a very efficient way of checking documents as the OMR system is able to do it quickly without any errors.