Chapter 3: Input Device

An input device is any hardware device that sends data to a computer, allowing you to interact with and control the computer. Some input devices that we are familiar with are mouse and keyboard. But, did you know? There are various kind of other input devices that we are unaware of?

There are 8 kinds of input devices for computer:

Keyboard
Pointing Devices
Games Controller
Digital Cameras
Voice Input
Video Input
Scanner
Biometric Input

1.Keyboard

It has function keys which is special keys to issue command to a computer. It is often attach to the computer via cable to a USB port. But, there are wireless keyboard that transmit information using radio wave.Below are the examples of keyboards.

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2.Pointing devices

It is a device that allow users to control a pointer on the screen (computers). It used to move the insertion point, selecting text, clicking button, graphics and menu command. We can see the example of pointing devices as below.

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3.Games Controller

Games controller is used to direct movement and actions on-screen objects. A few examples of popular games controller.

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4.Digital Cameras

It is a device that allows us to take pictures and store the image digitally instead of on traditional film. So, it is a camera that we used on these days.

5.Voice Input

It is the process of entering input by speaking to send information, via microphone. It’s like recording your voice.

6.Video Input

It is the process of capturing full-motion images and storing them on a computer’s storage. Some video devices record using analog signals meanwhile computer use digital signal. In order for video to enter personal computer (PC), the analog signal must be converted to digital signal by Video Capture Card. Without this card, the video cannot be read by PC. The example is like Web Cam.

7.Scanner

It is used to eliminate manual data entry. The good thing is that the user don’t have to type, speak or write into computer. It is because it captures data directly from original source documents. Meaning that it done automatically. Below are the examples of scanner that is used in our life.