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.^[1]

Objectives and Skills

Objectives and skills for the peripherals portion of CLEP Information Systems include:^[2]

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

Readings

Read Wikibooks: Introduction to Computer Information Systems/Input and Output.
Read Wikibooks: Introduction to Computer Information Systems/Storage.
Read Wikipedia: Peripheral.
Read Wikipedia: Input device.
Read Wikipedia: Output device.

Multimedia

Watch YouTube: Understanding the Parts of Your Computer.
Watch YouTube: What is a Peripheral.
Watch YouTube: Input and output devices.
Watch YouTube: Computer Terms: Peripherals.
Watch You Tube: List of computer peripherals
Watch You Tube: OCR GCSE Computing: Input/output Devices - topic 5

Activities

Practice identifying personal computer hardware and peripherals.
Create an inventory list of all peripherals available on your system. Include separate categories for input, output, and storage.
Create an inventory list of all connectors available on your system. Note which peripherals use each connector type.
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.
- OS X: 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.
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.
Review the lesson summary, key terms, review questions, and assessments below.
Play Teacher Invaders Fill in the blank game on output devices.

Lesson Summary

Peripherals are auxiliary devices used for computer input (keyboards, pointing devices, etc.), output (monitors, printers, etc.), or data storage (hard drives, flash drives, etc.).^[3]
Input devices include keyboards, pointing devices, scanners, microphones, and webcams.^[4]
Output devices include monitors, printers, and speakers.^[5]
Combined input / output devices include fax and touchscreen displays.^[6]
Data storage devices include hard drives, flash drives, optical drives, Network Attached Storage (NAS), media players, and smart phones.^[7]
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.^[8]

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.^[9]
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.^[10]
Bluetooth: A wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, and building personal area networks (PANs).^[11]
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.^[12]
CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only Memory): A pre-pressed optical compact disc which contains data and is not writable or erasable.^[13]
CD-RW (Compact Disc-ReWritable): A compact disc that can be written, read arbitrarily many times, erased and written again.^[14]
CRT (Cathode Ray Tube): A vacuum tube containing one or more electron guns, and a fluorescent screen used to view images.^[15]
digital camera: A camera that encodes digital images and videos digitally and stores them for later reproduction.^[16]
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.^[17]
display resolution: The number of distinct pixels in each dimensions that can be displayed on a device.^[18]
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.^[19]
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.^[20]
ergonomic keyboard: A computer keyboard designed with ergonomic considerations to minimize muscle strain and related problems.^[21]
ergonomics: The practice of designing products, systems or processes to take proper account of the interaction between them and the people who use them.^[22]
external drive: A data storage device used for storing and retrieving digital information, connected via USB, eSATA, FireWire, or Thunderbolt.^[23]
fax (short for facsimile): The telephonic transmission of scanned printed material.^[24]
fax modem: Enables a computer to transmit and receive documents as faxes on a telephone line.^[25]
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.^[26]
flash drive: A data storage device that includes flash memory, typically with an integrated Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface.^[27]
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.^[28]
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.^[29]
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.^[30]
head-up display: Any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints.^[31]
hot swap: The ability to replace computer system components without shutting down the system.^[32]
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.^[33]
inkjet printer: A type of computer printer that recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper, plastic, or other substrates.^[34]
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.^[35]
keyboard: A typewriter-style device, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches.^[36]
laser printer: An electrostatic digital printing process that passes a laser beam back & forth over an electron-charged, cylindrical drum, to define a differentially-charged image.^[37]
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.^[38]
line printer: An impact printer in which one line of text is printed at a time.^[39]
magnetic tape: A medium for magnetic recording, made of a thin magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film.^[40]
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.^[41]
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.^[42]
microphone: An acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound in air into an electrical signal.^[43]
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.^[44]
modem: A device that modulates signals to encode digital information and demodulates signals to decode the transmitted information.^[45]
monitor: An electronic visual display device.^[46]
mouse: A pointing device that detects two-dimensional motion relative to a surface.^[47]
multifunction printer: An office machine which incorporates the functionality of multiple devices in one, including printer, scanner, photocopier, fax, and e-mail.^[48]
multi-touch: Technology that enables a surface to recognize the presence of more than one or two points of contact with the surface.^[49]
OCR: The mechanical or electronic conversion of images of typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text.^[50]
open architecture: A type of computer architecture or software architecture that is designed to make adding, upgrading and swapping components easy.^[51]
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. ^[52]
optical mark reader: A device used to capture human-marked data from document forms such as surveys and tests.^[53]
parallel port: A communication interface based on a 25-pin connector, also known as a printer port or Centronics port.^[54]
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.^[55]
plotter: A computer printer for printing vector graphics. ^[56]
POS terminal (Point of Sale terminal): A device which processes customer payments in exchange for goods or after provision of a service.^[57]
printer: A peripheral which makes a persistent human readable representation of graphics or text on paper or similar physical media.^[58]
RFID: The use of wireless electromagnetic fields to transfer data, for the purposes of identifying and tracking objects.^[59]
random access: The ability to access an item of data at any given coordinates in a population of addressable elements.^[60]
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.^[61]
Retina Display: A brand name used by Apple for screens that have a higher pixel density than their previous models.^[62]
scanner: A device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object, and converts it to a digital image.^[63]
sensor: A device whose purpose is to detect events or changes in its environment, and then provide a corresponding output.^[64]
sequential access: The ability to access a group of data elements in a predetermined, ordered sequence.^[65]
solid-state storage: A device that uses integrated circuit assemblies as memory to store data persistently.^[66]
serial port: A communication interface through which information transfers in or out one bit at a time and based on a 9-pin connector.^[67]
speaker: A device which converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound.^[68]
stylus pen: A computer accessory used to assist in navigating or providing more precision when using a touchscreen.^[69]
tape drive: A data storage device that reads and writes data on a magnetic tape.^[70]
thermal printer: A digital printing device which produces a printed image by selectively heating coated thermochromic paper.^[71]
touch screen: An input device normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system.^[72]
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.^[73]
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.^[74]
TrackPoint (pointing stick): An isometric joystick used as a pointing device and typically mounted in a computer keyboard.^[75]
UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply): An electrical apparatus that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source, typically main power, fails.^[76]
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, or 5 Gbps.^[77]
video projector: A device that receives a video signal and projects the corresponding image on a projection screen using a lens system.^[78]
webcam: A video camera that feeds or streams its image in real time to or through a computer to a computer network.^[79]

Review Questions

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.).
Input devices include _____, _____, _____, _____, and _____.

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

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

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

Data storage devices include hard drives, flash drives, optical drives, Network Attached Storage (NAS), media players, and smart phones.
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

Flashcards: Quizlet: Information Systems - Peripherals
Quiz: Quizlet: Information Systems - Peripherals

Additional Resources

Doyle, Leo F. (1999). Computer Peripherals, 2nd Edition. ISBN 9780137794638
Dummies: Connect Peripherals to Your PC

References

This article is issued from Wikiversity - version of the Sunday, January 03, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.