Input/ Output devices

input/output devices

Let’s examine some I/O devices in more detail. The most common input devices are the keyboard and the mouse. Others include:

- bar code readers, such as the ones used at a grocery store checkout

- joysticks, often used for games and advanced graphical applications

- microphones, used by voice recognition systems that interpret simple voice commands

- virtual reality devices, such as gloves that interpret the movement of the user’s hand

- scanners, which convert text, photographs, and graphics into machinereadable form

Monitors and printers are the most common output devices. Others include:

- plotters, which move pens across large sheets of paper (or vice versa)

- speakers, for audio output

- goggles, for virtual reality display

Some devices can provide both input and output capabilities. A touch screen system can detect the user touching the screen at a particular place. Software can then use the screen to display text and graphics in response to the user’s touch. Touch screens are particularly useful in situations where the interface to the machine must be simple, such as at an information booth.