What Is Input Output Devices?

What is input devices?

An Input/Output (I/O) device is a hardware device that has the ability to accept input, output, or other processed data. Computer hardware devices can be viewed and touched by the user. The use of these hardware tools made the process of obtaining data for computers, storing them as storage media, and retrieving much easier.
Hardware is one of the basic and essential parts of a computer system. Computer hardware includes communication buses, ports, input devices, output devices, etc. So what is the input and output device? What are the input output devices in a computer? Let’s know about them in detail.
An input device can be defined as an electro mechanical device that helps a user input data into a computer, such as keystrokes on a keyboard and clicking with a mouse, we input data into the computer. The data is entered into the main memory through the input device. They accept instructions from the user and convert the accepted instruction into machine language.

The following are examples of some input devices:

  • Keyboard: This is an input device that allows the user to input Alphabets, Numbers and other characters characters. It is a board with a set of buttons by which pressing a set of keyboard buttons is a primary device for inputting data into a computer. There are two types of keyboards: General Purpose Keyboard and Special Purpose Keyboard.
    In general, a computer keyboard consists of the following Keys:
    1. Alphanumric Keys: Contains letter Letters and Numbers Numbers.
    2. Punctuation Keys: This includes Comma, Period, Semicolon, etc.
    3. Special Keys: These are Function Keys, Control Keys, Arrow Keys and Caps Lock Key etc.
  • Mouse: A mouse is a small input device that is used to point and navigate to a particular location on the screen and is also used to select one or more functions such as this Menu Commands, programs Used to select Start Programs, etc.
  • Trackball: A trackball is a rotatable ball on a permanent device, which is manually rotated using the fingers. It is also a pointing device. They are used in playing video games.
  • Joystick: A joystick is an input device which is a vertical stick shaped device with the help of which we move the cursor in any direction. There is usually a button at the top of it which is used to select the option indicated by the cursor. The joystick is primarily used as an input device used to control video games, training simulators, and robots.
  • Light Pen: It is an electro-optical pointing device, which is used for drawing, graphics and menu selection. The pen has a photocell in a small tube. It senses the light through the attached photocell and generates a pulse when it comes close to the screen. It is used exclusively in Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). It is very useful to identify. However, it does not provide any information on any blank part of the screen.
  • Barcode Reader: A barcode reader is used to input data from a barcode. Shops and malls have barcodes on most products. Barcode readers detect the existing data in the barcode by hitting a beam of light on the barcode lines.
  • Graphics Tablet: A graphics tablet is a computer input device that allows images and graphics to be used by hand, drawing the picture with a pencil and paper in exactly the same way as graphics graphics input that picture and graphics. Is taken as computer. These devices are used to obtain data from handwritten signatures. Some tablets are used as navigation tools like a mouse. They are used by architects, engineers and designers in Computer Aided Design (CAD) for design purposes, such as buildings, cars, mechanical parts, robots, etc. They are also used in the digitization of maps i.e. Global Positioning System (GPS).
  • Biometric Sensor: It is an input device that identifies a person’s Physical or Behavioural symptoms through a biometric sensor. It is mainly used for security purposes and for the presence of employees / students in institutions. Since biometric sensors are operating with accuracy they are widely used in security purpose.
  • Scanner: A scanner is an input device used to obtain direct data from a document to a computer system. This document converts the image into digital form so that it can be stored on the computer or can edit the data. The possibility of errors in capturing such information is reduced, which is typically experienced during large data entry.
  • Webcam: It is a video capturing device. A webcam is a digital camera attached to a computer and can be used for video conferencing or online chatting etc. Nowadays, webcams are either embedded in a display with a laptop computer or are connected to the computer via a USB or FireWire port or Wi-Fi.
  • Microphone: We can send via input sound to a computer via an input device called a microphone or mic. A mic converts the received sound to a computer format, called digital audio, from a computer to record sound. The microphone is connected. Nowadays, microphones are also being used with speech recognition software. This means that we do not have to type but only speak and the words spoken appear in our document. Which we know as The Speech Input Device.

What is output device

The output device is a core part of computer hardware, when the input we give to the computer through the input device is the result we get after processing the data, the result we get from the output device itself. The most computer data output for humans is in the form of audio or video. Thus, most of the output devices used by humans are in these categories. Examples include monitors, projectors, speakers, headphones, and printers. We can print the output by looking at the computer monitor, listening through the speaker, through the printer.

The following are examples of some output devices:

  • Monitor: A monitor is an output device similar to a TV screen and uses a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) to display information. The monitor is manually connected to the CPU and displays information as we know it also displays program or application output. Like television, monitors are also available in different sizes.
  • Liquid Crystal Display (LCD): LCD was introduced in the 1970s and. Due to its low energy consumption and small and light size, it was also used in portable computers (laptops). Light Emitted Diode (LED) is an electronic device that emits light, which produces light when an electric current passes through it. LEDs typically produce red light, but today’s LEDs can produce RGB (red, green, and blue) light, as well as white light, with the Thin Film Transistor (TFT) and Active Matrix LCD (AMLCD) active matrix displays. Along with a liquid crystal display (LCD), each pixel is controlled by one to four transistors that can make the screen brighter, brighter, more colorful and viewable at different angles. Because of this technology, the Active Matrix Screen is often more expensive but has a better quality than the Passive Matrix Display.
  • Printer: Printer is mainly used to convert softcopy to hardcopy. Depending on the technology used, they are classified as Impact or Non-Impact Printer.
    Impact printers use a typewriting printing mechanism in which a hammer strikes the paper through a ribbon to produce output. Dot matrix printers fall into this category. Non-impact printers do not touch the paper while printing the paper. They use chemical, heat, or electrical signals to bring symbols to paper. Inkjet Printer, Deskjet Printer, Laser Printer, Thermal Printer fall into this category.
  • Plotter: It is an output device that uses a pen, pencil, marker, or other writing tool to create vector graphics. Just as we use printers to print documents or images, the plotter uses large images in size to print on paper, they are mainly large images or images such as construction plans, mechanical objects, AUTOCAD, Used to produce blueprints for CAD / CAM, etc.
    Plotters generally come in two designs:
    1. Flat Bed Plotter: Flat Bed Plotter This is small in size and can be easily done by placing it on the table but it has limited paper length, they are given small size so that it can be used easily at home and office.
    2. Drum Plotter: Drum Plotter uses rolls of unlimited length of paper and are very large in size.
  • Speaker: It is an output device that receives sound in the form of an electric current. It requires a sound card connected to a CPU, which produces sound through a card. These are used to listen to music.
  • Headphones: It is a pair of small loudspeakers that are normally held near a user’s ear and connected to a source such as a music player, radio, CD player or portable media player. They are also known as Stereophone or Headset.
  • Projector: It is an output device that is used to display information from a computer to a large screen, so it is widely used to display information to a large group of people from a large audience group. It is also used in classroom training or conferences. It provides a temporary output display. Projectors are of the following types: 1. DLP (Digital Light Processing) 2. LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) 3. LED (Light Emitting Diode)

What is Multifunction Device

Multifunctional device (MFD) is a device that can perform both input and output functions and has a variety of functions. For example Multi Function printer which can perform both printer and scanner functions. Examples are Fax Machine, Modem and ATM Machine etc.