Photographic Paper

Until the advent of digital photographic processes, the individual meaning of photographic.

Paper was paper covered with light-sensitive chemicals. So-called photo papers of today are frequently specially coated papers for use in inkjet or laser printers to make digital prints. This article center of attention on traditional photographic papers. Photographic paper may be showing to light in a controlled manner either by placing a negative in make contact with the paper directly (contact printing) or by using an enlarger (enlarging) in order to create a latent image. Photographic papers are subsequently developed using wet chemicals to generate a visible image.

Photographic Printing

Photographic printing is the method of producing a final image for viewing, usually on sensitized paper from a previously prepared photographic negative.

The procedure consists of three major steps, performed in a photographic darkroom or within an automated photo printing machine:

1. Exposure of the picture onto the sensitized paper using a contact printer or enlarger.

2. Processing of the latent image through a more than one step chemical immersion process.

1. Development of the uncovered image.

2. Optionally Stopping improvement by neutralizing, diluting or removing developing agent.

3. Fixing the final print by dissolving remaining unexposed/undeveloped light-sensitive liquid.

4. Washing thoroughly to eliminate chemicals used in processing, protecting the finished print from fading and decay.

3. If finished on glossy paper, ferrotyping to enhance the reflective gloss.

4. Optional Toning of the print through extra chemical processes.

5. Texturing and drying of the finishing print.

Inkless Printers

Inkless printers use paper with colorless dye crystals embedded connecting the two outer layers of the paper. When the printer is twisted on, heat from the drum causes the crystals to colorize at different rates and become visible. The technology was worked on by Zink Imaging and is now accessible (2007). Because of the way it prints, the printer can be as little as a business card, the images are waterproof, and in fact, one product slated for release by Zink Imaging is a digital camera with a printer built into it. Xerox is also working on an inkless printer which will use a extraordinary reusable paper coated with a few micrometres of UV light sensitive chemicals. The printer will use a particular UV light bar which will be able to write and erase the paper. As of early 2007 this technology is at a halt in development and the text on the printed pages can only last between 16-24 hours before fading.

Integrated circuit

Integrated circuit viewing memory blocks, logic and input/output pads around the periphery Microchips with a transparent window, showing the integrated circuit inside. Note the fine silver-colored wires that attach the integrated circuit to the pins of the package. A monolithic integrated circuit (also known as IC, microcircuit, microchip, silicon chip, or chip) is a miniaturized electronic circuit (consisting mostly of semiconductor devices, as well as passive components) that has been contrived in the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material.

A hybrid integrated circuit is a miniaturized electronic circuit build of individual semiconductor devices, as well as passive components, bonded to a substrate or circuit board.

Minicomputer

Minicomputer is a mostly outmoded term for a class of multi-user computers which generate the middle range of the computing spectrum, in between the largest multi-user systems (traditionally, mainframe computers) and the smallest single-user systems (microcomputers or personal computers). Formerly this class created a distinct group with its own hardware and operating systems notably having smaller address space (notice the cited numbers of bits in a data word, ranging from 8 to 24 bits commonly around 16-bits). While the distinction between mainframe computers and smaller computers residue fairly clear, contemporary middle-range computers are not well differentiated from personal computers, being typically just a more powerful but still compatible version of a personal computer. More modern conditions for such machines consist of midrange systems (common in IBM parlance), workstations (common in Sun Microsystems and general UNIX/Linux parlance), and servers.

Microcomputer

A microcomputer is mostly often taken to mean a computer with a microprocessor (µP) as its CPU. Another common characteristic of these computers is that they take up physically small amounts of space. Desktop computers, video game consoles, laptop computers, tablet PCs, and a lot of handheld strategy may all be considered examples of microcomputers. Most microcomputers serve only a particular user at a time, but some, in the form of PCs and workstations running e.g. a UNIX(-like) operating system, may cater to a number of users concurrently. The µP does the greater part of the job of calculating on and manipulating data that all computers do.

Mainframes

Mainframes (often colloquially referred to as big iron) are enormous and expensive computers used mostly by government institutions and large companies for mission critical applications, usually bulk data processing such as censuses, industry/consumer statistics, ERP, and financial transaction processing.

The term originated during the early 1970s with the introduction of lesser, fewer complex computers such as the DEC PDP-8 and PDP-11 series, which became known as minicomputers or in a minute minis. The industry/users then coined the term "mainframe" to describe bigger, earlier types (previously known simply as "computers").