CHAPTER 2 : INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2.
COMPUTER HARDWARE FOR HOSPITALITY

Objective:

This chapter introduces the concept of a computer system. The fact that the computer is never useful by itself is introduced here. It is the computer system as a whole, with each component complementing the others, which perform the task of processing data into information to help ease humans with the burden of manual processing especially in the field of hotel management and tourism.


2.1 THE COMPUTER SYSTEM
The purpose of a computer system is to convert data into information. A computer system is a combination of six elements. These are:

• Hardware
• Software
• Data / Information
• Procedures
• People
• Communications

2.1.1 HARDWARE
Hardware refers to the machine itself or the physical component of the computer system. It is what most people think of when they picture computers. Any piece of hardware that is connected to a computer is referred to as peripheral device. In general, computer hardware falls into five categories. These are:

• Ø Input
• Ø Output
• Ø Processor and memory
• Ø Secondary Storage
• Ø Communications

INPUT HARDWARE

Input is the process of transferring human readable data into the computer system. This process can be done by means of an input device through a keyboard, pointing, scanning or voice-recognition device. The function of input hardware, therefore, is to collect data and convert it into a form suitable for computer processing.

A keyboard type of input devices contains the standard typewriter keys plus a number of specialized keys. The standard keys are used mostly to enter words and number, while the special keys which include the function keys (labeled F1, F2, etc.) are used to enter commands. These devices can be a terminal device which may be dumb, smart or intelligent, a touch-tone device or an information appliance.

Pointing devices are used to control an on-screen cursor for such actions as “clicking” on-screen buttons in dialog boxes, choosing menu items, and selecting sub-areas in the work area of a screen window. They are also used to create drawings or graphical shapes. These devices include the mouse, which is the most common pointing device, trackball, joystick, stylus, light pen, graphics tablet and puck.

Scanning devices translate image of text, drawings, photos and the like into digital form. The images can then be processed by a computer, displayed on a monitor, stored on a storage device, or communicated to another computer. These devices include an image or graphic scanner, fax machine, bar-code readers, Magnetic-Ink Character Recognition (MICR), Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) and Optical Mark Recognition devices, and smart and optical card readers.

Voice Recognition devices convert a person’s speech into digital code by comparing the electrical patterns produced by the speaker’s voice with a set of prerecorded patterns stored in the computer. Voice recognition systems are finding many uses including speed inventory-taking, stock-market trading, and for giving commands to computers (e.g. blind people, astronauts on repairing equipment on space, etc.).