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Once your computer is set up you can begin expanding its versatility with a number of available peripherals. A printer is great for printing documents and pictures. Scanners will let you import still images and even text into your computer. Digital cameras let you transfer images directly to your computer and now its not too hard to get large video files imported into the computer either.
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| Printers, Scanners and Cameras are all examples of Peripherals |
Adding peripherals is not a difficult process. You just have to go through the steps.
Essentially this is the software that the device needs to work with your computer. All devices have 'drivers' and these will often be provided on a cd with the device. Just insert the cd and it will generally 'auto-play.' Follow the instructions and the drivers will be loaded onto your machine.
Sometimes if the drivers are not provided, you might have to download them from the device manufacturer's website. Also, if the device seems buggy after installation, things are not working properly, the computer is crashing etc., go to the manufacturer's website and see if they have a newer version of their drivers for the operating system you are using. That will often solve a lot of problems, since manufacturers are often running into errors on their own and issuing updates to their drivers.
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| All hardware manufacturers will have updated drivers available for download on their websites. Look for their 'support' section |
The Mac operating system and most Windows operating systems these days are plug and play, which means that the operating system will generally recognize the new hardware or peripheral device. Its a good idea to load drivers if provided, but sometimes you can get away with just plugging in the device and seeing if your operating system will pick it up and save you the trouble.
Before connecting a new device to your computer, make sure both the device and the computer are powered off. However, with USB and Firewire devices it is not necessary to turn off your computer. These are 'hot-pluggable' interfaces, but be sure to ground yourself before plugging in these devices. Most peripherals these days are USB or Firewire, but some still rely on Parallel ports and Serial ports. Some computers use a SCSI interface as well, and can work with devices that use SCSI, although that seems to be less common these days.
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| The Firewire and USB interfaces are 'hot-pluggable' and devices that use these interfaces do not require the computer to be turned off when connecting them |
First of all make sure your peripheral is turned on. That can often be the root of a lot of problems. Second, if after doing some troubleshooting, you still are unsuccessful, give the manufacturer a call. They generally have a toll-free tech support line, and it may save you some time, although you might have to endure some bad elevator music while on hold.
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| Remember to turn on your peripheral device |
If your peripheral is a printer, try printing from a word processing program. If you are unable to, go into your printer settings, accessible from your control panel on both a PC and a Mac. If you see no printer here then the device has not been installed properly and you will need to load or reload the drivers. If the printer is here, try right-clicking it and making sure it is the default printer. If you still have no success, consult the manual or contact the manufacturer.
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| Look for 'Printers' in your Control Panel | Make sure your printer is the default printer by right-clicking the icon |
If your peripheral is a scanner, open up its software and see if you can scan. If you have a copy of Adobe Photoshop, you can access your scanner from the Import function in the File Menu. Look for your scanner name or the term 'TWAIN.' This will give you access to your scanner. If you are unsuccessful, consult the manual or contact the manufacturer.
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| In Photoshop you can get to your scanner through the 'Import' menu. Look for your device name and the term 'TWAIN' |
If your peripheral is an external drive of some sort, be it a zip drive, a hard drive, a cd-rom drive or even a digital camera (the memory cards in cameras are seen by the computer as an external drive), take a look at your my computer window and see if you have a new 'removable drive' that was not there before. If there is something in the drive, double-click the 'removable drive' icon to view the contents. On a Mac, any new drive will appear on the desktop. If no drive appears on either the Mac or the PC, then you will need to load or reload the drivers. If this does not work, consult the manual or contact the manufacturer.
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| Peripherals like external Zip and DVD drives as well as digital cameras are seen by the computer as a 'removable drive' |
Finally, if your peripheral is a digital camcorder, you will be able to access it from the video capturing software on your computer. There are no drivers for camcorders themselves, but whatever editing software you use will allow you to control your camera through the Firewire interface. If you are having problems, a possible cause might be that your camera is not turned to vcr mode. If thats true, exit the software, turn the camera to vcr mode and open the software again. It should recognize your camera now. If you still have problems, they are probably linked to your software or your firewire interface and not the camera itself. Consult your software manual or contact the manufacturer of your computer.
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| Digital Video Cameras use Firewire because they require a very fast interface to transmit data to the computer |
Well, that about covers it. Have fun with your computer and all its possibilities. Check out our other lessons to learn more about peripherals. We have lessons on Using Digital Still Cameras, Using Camcorders and one on acquiring web graphics, which will teach you about scanning.
| Camcorder Basics |
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| Digital Camera Basics |
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| Acquiring Graphics |
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