Input Devices (Computing)

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Input devices are used not only to enter data into the computer but also the instructions or programs that tell the computer what to do and how to do with the given data. Some of the common input devices are keyboard, mouse, joystick, optical character reader, light pen, scanner and disk drives etc.

Keyboard:-

Keyboard is an important input device used to enter data and instructions into the computer.The standard arrangement

of keys is the QWERTY arrangement. Popular keyboards have enhanced QWERTY arrangement designed for easy entry of numbers. Such keyboards have numeric keypad at the right of the standard keyboard. A keyboard is connected with the system unit through a dedicated keyboard port that contains signal as well as power lines. As soon as key is pressed for a character a signal is produced for that character which directly passes to the main storage of the computer.

The Mouse:-

A mouse is a useful input device. It is a pointing device used to select various options. A mouse is a small hand-held unit with two or three buttons. It can roll over a small ball at bottom. Nowadays, mouse with laser technology are widely being used. Innovations are also being made in the form of enhanced wireless mouse.

Joystick:-

Joystick is an input device, a small box with moving stick and buttons. It is generally found with microcomputers and is used for playing computer games, educational software and computer aided design (CAD) systems. You manipulate the handle of joystick to position the cursor and click on a button. The joystick neither interferes with the view of your screen nor does it require the movement of an object like mouse. A joystick is very popular among kids due to the speed with which it moves the objects on the screen.

Scanner:-

Image scanner is a very useful input device. It converts every scanned bit to the electrical pulses. Suitable scanning software converts the documents, pictures or photographs into digital files. The digital files so formed can be stored on computer’s memory. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is one the examples of scanning software.

Electric Light Pen:-

A light pen is an input device attached to some video display terminal. It consists of a photo-cell placed in a small tube which is capable of sensing the position on display tube when tip of the pen is held against the screen. In specially designed display screens data can be entered, or existing data can be modified with the help of it.