Information Systems/Peripherals

Peripherals are devices used to put information into or get information out of a computer. Peripheral types include input, output, and storage.

Objectives and Skills

Objectives and skills for the peripherals portion of CLEP Information Systems include:

• Devices (processing, storage, input and output, telecommunications, networking)

Readings

1. Wikipedia: Peripheral
2. Wikipedia: Input device
3. Wikipedia: Output device
4. Wikibooks: Introduction to Computer Information Systems/Input and Output
5. Wikibooks: Introduction to Computer Information Systems/Storage

Multimedia

1. YouTube: Understanding the Parts of Your Computer
2. YouTube: What is a Peripheral
3. YouTube: Input and output devices
4. YouTube: Computer Terms: Peripherals
5. YouTube: List of computer peripherals
6. YouTube: OCR GCSE Computing: Input/output Devices
7. YouTube: Explaining USB 3.1
8. YouTube: What does Peripheral mean?
9. YouTube: Peripheral vs. Hardware
10. YouTube: What Are Peripheral Devices of a Computer Definition, Examples & Types

Activities

1. Practice identifying personal computer hardware and peripherals.
2. Create an inventory list of all peripherals available on your system. Include separate categories for input, output, and storage.
3. Create an inventory list of all connectors available on your system. Note which peripherals use each connector type.
4. Research and identify options not included in your system's current configuration. Are there options you could add that would make you more productive?
5. Review Wikipedia: Unicode input. Insert special characters into a text document:
   • Windows: Run the Notepad application and use the Character Map utility to select special characters and paste them into Notepad.
   • macOS: Run the TextEdit application and insert special characters into the text file.
   • Linux: Run the gedit application and use the GNOME Character Map utility to select special characters and paste them into gedit.
6. Review Wikipedia: ASCII and Wikipedia: Alt code. On a PC, open Notepad and then use Alt codes to enter the ASCII value for the characters in your first name. Observe how the ASCII values are converted into standard display characters just as if you had typed those characters on the keyboard.

Research and Discussion

1. Identify common computer peripherals in use in your work and personal environments. What devices are in use? How are they connected (built-in, wired, wireless)? What device or devices could you add to increase productivity?
2. Research cloud computing services and cloud storage. Identify ways in which cloud services are replacing or have replaced peripherals in your work and home environments. What cloud services could you add to increase reliability or productivity?

Lesson Summary

There are many peripherals that go along with making a computer function as it should. Input devices, such as the mouse and keyboard are peripherals referred to as input because they are some of the many parts used to input, enter or give information, data, and instructions to the computer. Output peripheral devices such as the printer and headphones, help to get information out of the computer. Finally, there are devices with the dual functionality of input/output, such as the external hard drive or USB flash drives. These are able to be used to both send or store and receive or retrieve information to/from your computer.

Peripherals

• Peripherals are auxiliary devices used for computer input (keyboards, pointing devices, etc.), output (monitors, printers, etc.), or data storage (hard drives, flash drives, etc.).
• Peripherals are ancillary components used to put information into a computer and as a way to get information out of a computer.

Input

• Input devices are different instruments of computer hardware used to provide data to a computer or any other kind of IPS. .
• Devices include mouse, keyboard, joystick, scanning device, touchscreens, etc..
• Input device is any hardware device that sends data to a computer.

Output

• Output devices are different instruments of computer hardware used to transfer commands from the user to the computer to store data, follow user commands, and perform computer tasks..
• Devices include headphones, monitors, speakers, wireless devices, touchscreens, etc..
• Output device is any peripheral that receives data from a computer.
• Combined input / output devices are the pieces of hardware used by a human (or other system) to communicate with a computer. .

Data Storage

• Data storage devices are used to transfer data from one computer source to the other. You may also use these devices for recording and storing information for future use and retrieval.
• There are two types of storage devices that computers use, primary devices like RAM, and secondary devices like discs. The primary memory or storage is the brain of the computer where data can be stored for fast access. If the computer isn't running, all the data stored will be lost. However, with secondary memory, data is stored on a long term basis on devices like hard disk drive, DVD or CD, Flash drives, memory cards etc.
• External devices, like solid state and hard disk drives, connect to the motherboard through an external USB or other port, providing extra storage space with the convenience of mobility.
• External devices usually have a larger capacity to store enough data since primary devices can't. They also ensure the data stored is backed up and back up sources should be made known to most staff so that when need arises, data can be retrieved by anyone present at that time the data stored is backed up and these back up sources should be made known to most staff and trained on how to access them so that when need arises, data can be retrieved by anyone present at that time.
• Rotating optical storage devices, such as CD and DVD drives, have even longer access times. Other examples of secondary storage technologies includeUSB flash drives floppy disks, magnetic tape, paper tape, punched cards, and RAM disks.

Key Terms

barcode reader

An electronic device that can read and decode barcodes and send the result to a computer through the device's output port.

biometric reader

Measures biological traits such as eyes, fingerprints, voice and face in an attempt to identify someone.

Blu-Ray (BD-ROM)

A digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format, with a storage capacity of 25 GB per layer, and dual layer discs (50 GB) being the industry standard for high definition (1080p) feature-length video discs.

Bluetooth

A wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, and building personal area networks (PANs).

CD (Compact Disc)

A digital optical disc data storage format originally developed to store and play only sound recordings (CD-DA), but was later adapted for storage of data (CD-ROM), with a storage capacity of 737 MB.

CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only Memory)

A pre-pressed optical compact disc which contains data and is not writable or erasable.

CD-RW (Compact Disc-ReWritable)

A compact disc that can be written, read arbitrarily many times, erased and written again.

CRT (Cathode Ray Tube)

A vacuum tube containing one or more electron guns, and a fluorescent screen used to view images.

digital camera

A camera that encodes digital images and videos digitally and stores them for later reproduction.

digitize

Represent an object, image, sound, document or signal (usually an analog signal) by generating a series of numbers that describe a discrete set of its points or samples.

display resolution

The number of distinct pixels in each dimensions that can be displayed on a device.

dot-matrix printer

A type of computer printing which uses a print head that moves back and forth, or in an up and down motion, on the page and prints by impact, striking an ink-soaked cloth ribbon against the paper, much like the print mechanism on a typewriter.

DVD

A digital optical disc storage format with a storage capacity of 4.7 GB for a single-layered, single-sided disc and 8.5 GB for a dual-layered, single-sided disc.

ergonomic keyboard

A computer keyboard designed with ergonomic considerations to minimize muscle strain and related problems.

ergonomics

The practice of designing products, systems or processes to take proper account of the interaction between them and the people who use them.

external drive

A data storage device used for storing and retrieving digital information, connected via USB, eSATA, FireWire, or Thunderbolt.

fax (short for facsimile)

The telephonic transmission of scanned printed material.

fax modem

Enables a computer to transmit and receive documents as faxes on a telephone line.

FireWire (IEEE 1394)

An interface standard for a serial bus for high-speed communications and isochronous real-time data transfer developed by Apple and replaced with Thunderbolt.

flash drive

A data storage device that includes flash memory, typically with an integrated Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface.

flatscreen display / flat panel display

A light, thin display usually based on LCD technologies, and back-lit to make them easier to read in bright environments.

graphics tablet

A computer input device that enables a user to hand-draw images, animations and graphics, with a special pen-like stylus, similar to the way a person draws images with a pencil and paper.

handwriting recognition

The ability of a computer to receive and interpret intelligible handwritten input from sources such as paper documents, photographs, touch-screens and other devices.

heads-up display

Any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints.

hot swap

The ability to replace computer system components without shutting down the system.

impact printer

Uses a print head that either hits the surface of the ink ribbon, pressing the ink ribbon against the paper (similar to the action of a typewriter), or hits the back of the paper, pressing the paper against the ink ribbon.

ink-jet printer

A type of computer printer that recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper, plastic, or other substrates.

joystick

An input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling.

keyboard

A typewriter-style device, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches.

laser printer

An electrostatic digital printing process that passes a laser beam back & forth over an electron-charged, cylindrical drum, to define a deferentially-charged image.

LCD (liquid-crystal display)

A flat panel display, electronic visual display, or video display that uses the light modulating properties of liquid crystals. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly.

line printer

An impact printer in which one line of text is printed at a time.

magnetic tape

A medium for magnetic recording, made of a thin magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film.

MICR (magnetic ink character recognition)

A character-recognition technology used mainly by the banking industry to ease the processing and clearance of checks and other documents.

memory card

An electronic flash memory data storage device used for storing digital information, commonly used in many electronic devices, including digital cameras, mobile phones, laptop computers, MP3 players and video game consoles.

microphone

An acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound in air into an electrical signal.

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)

A technical standard that describes a protocol, digital interface and connectors and allows a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers and other related devices to connect and communicate with one another.

modem

A device that modulates signals to encode digital information and demodulates signals to decode the transmitted information.

monitor

An electronic visual display device.

mouse

A pointing device that detects two-dimensional motion relative to a surface.

multi-function printer (MFP)

An office machine which incorporates the functionality of multiple devices in one, including printer, scanner, photocopier, fax, and e-mail.

multi-touch

Technology that enables a surface to recognize the presence of more than one or two points of contact with the surface.

OCR

The mechanical or electronic conversion of images of typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text.

open architecture

A type of computer architecture or software architecture that is designed to make adding, upgrading and swapping components easy.

optical disk drive

A disk drive that uses laser light or electromagnetic waves within or near the visible light spectrum as part of the process of reading or writing data to or from optical discs.

optical mark reader

A device used to capture human-marked data from document forms such as surveys and tests.

parallel port

A communication interface based on a 25-pin connector, also known as a printer port or Centronics port.

pixel

A physical point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable element in an all points addressable display device; so it is the smallest controllable element of a picture represented on the screen.

plotter

A wide format printer for printing vector-based graphics.

POS terminal (Point of Sale terminal)

A device which processes customer payments in exchange for goods or after provision of a service.

printer

A peripheral which makes a persistent human readable representation of graphics or text on paper or similar physical media.

RFID

The use of wireless electromagnetic fields to transfer data, for the purposes of identifying and tracking objects.

random access

The ability to access an item of data at any given coordinates in a population of addressable elements.

repetitive strain injury

Injury to the musculoskeletal and nervous systems that may be caused by repetitive tasks, forceful exertions, vibrations, mechanical compression, or sustained or awkward positions.

Retina Display

A brand name used by Apple for screens that have a higher pixel density than their previous models.

scanner

A device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object, and converts it to a digital image.

sensor

A device whose purpose is to detect events or changes in its environment, and then provide a corresponding output.

sequential access

The ability to access a group of data elements in a predetermined, ordered sequence.

solid-state drive (SSD)

A device that uses integrated circuit assemblies as memory to store data persistently.

serial port

A communication interface through which information transfers in or out one bit at a time and based on a 9-pin connector.

speaker

A device which converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound.

stylus pen

A computer accessory used to assist in navigating or providing more precision when using a touchscreen.

tape drive

A data storage device that reads and writes data on a magnetic tape.

thermal printer

A digital printing device which produces a printed image by selectively heating coated thermochromic paper, primarily used for label printing.

touchscreen

An input device normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system.

touchpad

A pointing device featuring a tactile sensor, a specialized surface that can translate the motion and position of a user's fingers to a relative position on the operating system that is outputted to the screen.

trackball

A stationary pointing device consisting of a ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect a rotation of the ball about two axes.

TrackPoint (pointing stick)

An isometric joystick used as a pointing device and typically mounted in a computer keyboard.

uninterruptible power supply (UPS)

An electrical apparatus that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source, typically main power, fails.

USB

An industry standard that defines the cables, connectors and communications protocols used in a bus for connection, communication, and power supply between computers and electronic devices communicating at 12 Mbps, 480 Mbps, 5 Gbps, or 10 Gbps.

video projector

A device that receives a video signal and projects the corresponding image on a projection screen using a lens system.

webcam

A video camera that feeds or streams its image in real time to or through a computer to a computer network.

wireless

The use of radio waves in place of cables allowing peripheral devices to transfer information to and from a computer through a transmitter in the device and a receiver plugged into the computer, usually in the form of a USB dongle.

Review Questions

1. Peripherals are _____ used for _____, _____, or _____.

   Peripherals are auxiliary devices used for computer input (keyboards, pointing devices, etc.), output (monitors, printers, etc.), or data storage (hard drives, flash drives, etc.).
2. Input devices include _____, _____, _____, _____, and _____.

   Input devices include keyboards, pointing devices, scanners, microphones, and webcams.
3. Output devices include _____, _____, _____, and _____.

   Output devices include monitors, projectors, printers, and speakers.
4. Combined input / output devices include _____ and _____.

   Combined input / output devices include fax and touchscreen displays.
5. Data storage devices include _____, _____, _____, _____, _____, and _____.

   Data storage devices include hard drives, flash drives, optical drives, Network Attached Storage (NAS), media players, and smart phones.
6. External hard drives, including _____ and _____, connect to the motherboard through ____, providing _____.

   External hard drives, including solid state and hard disk drives, connect to the motherboard through an external USB or other port, providing extra storage space with the convenience of mobility.

Assessments

• Quizlet Flashcards: Information Systems - Peripherals
• Quizlet Quiz: Information Systems - Peripherals
• EasyNoteCards Quiz: Information Systems - Peripherals
• ProProfs: Input and Output Devices
• Sporcle: Input or Output Game
• http://www.easynotecards.com/quiz/2318 Computer Peripheral Quiz]

See Also

• Computer Hardware
• Wikibooks: Introduction to Computer Information Systems

Additional Resources

• Doyle, Leo F. (1999). Computer Peripherals, 2nd Edition. ISBN 9780137794638
• Dummies: Connect Peripherals to Your PC
• Computer Hope: What is a Peripheral

References

Type classification: this is a lesson resource.

Completion status: this resource is considered to be complete.

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