| (hardware) | input device - A peripheral used to transfer data from the
outside world into a computer system. Some input devices are
operated directly by the user, e.g. keyboard, mouse,
touch screen, joystick, digitising tablet, microphone;
others are sensors or transducers which convert external
signals into data, e.g. using an ananlog to digital converter (this would also be true of a microphone). Other
kinds of inputs are really one half of a bidirectional link
with another computer or storage device, e.g. serial line,
SCSI interface. | |