Input and Output Devices

An input/output device, often known as an IO device, is any hardware that allows a

human operator or other systems to interface with a computer. Input/output devices, as
the name implies, are capable of delivering data (output) to and receiving data from a
computer(input).
An input/output (I/O) device is a piece of hardware that can take, output, or process
data. It receives data as input and provides it to a computer, as well as sends computer
data to storage media as a storage output.

There are many IO Devices available, some of them are:

1. Input Devices
1. Keyboard

The keyboard is the most frequent and widely used input device for entering data into
a computer. Although there are some additional keys for performing other operations,
the keyboard layout is similar to that of a typical typewriter.
Generally, keyboards come in two sizes: 84 keys or 101/102 keys, but currently
keyboards with 104 keys or 108 keys are also available for Windows and the Internet.

Types of Keys
 Numeric Keys: It is used to enter numeric data or move the cursor. It usually
consists of a set of 17 keys.
 Typing Keys: The letter keys (A-Z) and number keys (09) are among these keys.
 Control Keys: These keys control the pointer and the screen. There are four
directional arrow keys on it. Home, End, Insert, Alternate(Alt), Delete,
Control(Ctrl), etc., and Escape are all control keys (Esc).
 Special Keys: Enter, Shift, Caps Lock, NumLk, Tab, etc., and Print Screen are
among the special function keys on the keyboard.
 Function Keys: The 12 keys from F1 to F12 on the topmost row of the keyboard.
 2. Mouse
The most common pointing device is the mouse. The mouse is used to move a little
cursor across the screen while clicking and dragging. The cursor will stop if you let go
of the mouse. The computer is dependent on you to move the mouse; it won’t move by
itself. As a result, it’s an input device.
A mouse is an input device that lets you move the mouse on a flat surface to control the
coordinates and movement of the on-screen cursor/pointer.
The left mouse button can be used to select or move items, while the right mouse button
when clicked displays extra menus.

3. Joystick

A joystick is a pointing device that is used to move the cursor on a computer screen. A
spherical ball is attached to both the bottom and top ends of the stick. In a socket, the
lower spherical ball slides. You can move the joystick in all four directions.

The joystick’s function is comparable to that of a mouse. It is primarily used in CAD

(Computer-Aided Design) and playing video games on the computer.

4. Light Pen
A light pen is a type of pointing device that looks like a pen. It can be used to select a
menu item or to draw on the monitor screen. A photocell and an optical system are
enclosed in a tiny tube.
When the tip of a light pen is moved across a monitor screen while the pen button is
pushed, the photocell sensor element identifies the screen location and provides a signal
to the CPU.

5. Scanner
A scanner is an input device that functions similarly to a photocopier. It’s employed
when there’s information on paper that needs to be transferred to the computer’s hard
disc for subsequent manipulation.
Scanner collects images from the source and converts them to a digital format that may
be saved on a disc. Before they are printed, these images can be modified.
 6. OCR
OCR stands for optical character recognition, and it is a device that reads printed text.
OCR optically scans the text, character by character, turns it into a machine-readable
code, and saves it to the system memory.

7. Magnetic Ink Card Reader (MICR)

MICR is a device commonly present in banks as they deal with many cheques every day. The
bank’s code number and cheque number have magnetic ink present in them allowing
machines to read the letters. This process is Magnetic Ink Character Recognition that has
fewer errors and is very fast.

8. Bar Code Reader

A bar code reader is a device that reads data that is bar-coded (data that is represented
by light and dark lines).
Bar-coded data is commonly used to mark things, number books, and so on. It could be
a handheld scanner or part of a stationary scanner.
A bar code reader scans a bar code image, converts it to an alphanumeric value, and
then sends it to the computer to which it is connected.

9. Web Camera
Because it records a video image of the scene in front of it, a webcam is an input device.
It is either built inside the computer (for example, a laptop) or attached through a USB
connection.
A webcam is a computer-connected tiny digital video camera. It’s also known as a web
camera because it can take images and record video. These cameras come with software
that must be installed on the computer in order to broadcast video in real-time over the
Internet. It can shoot images and HD videos, however, the video quality isn’t as good
as other cameras (In Mobiles or other devices or normal cameras).

10.Digitizer

Responsible for converting analog information into digital form, a digitizer converts
signals into numeric values stored in a computer. The computer can now do anything
with it as long as the camera is pointing out the image. A graphic tablet is also a
digitizer converting graphics into binary data. It is ideal for drawing and image
manipulation applications.

11.Track Ball
A common accessory for notebooks and laptops, that works as a replacement for a
mouse. With a similar structure, it has a half inserted ball which the fingers move to
send signals for cursor movement. It is kind of stationary taking very little space. It
comes in a ball, button, and square shape as well

12. Microphone

It is an inbuilt voice input device to take in the sound signals and then convert
them into digital form. It is a very common device present in multimedia
presentation and music-related applications.

13. Optical Mark Reader (OMR)

It is an optical scanner to recognize marks by pen and pencil and is commonly

present in educational institutions to check objective exam papers.

2. Output Devices

1. Monitor
Monitors, also known as Visual Display Units (VDUs), are a computer’s primary output
device. It creates images by arranging small dots, known as pixels, in a rectangular
pattern. The amount of pixels determines the image’s sharpness.
The two kinds of viewing screen used for monitors are:
(1) Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT): Pixels are minuscule visual elements that make up a
CRT display. The higher the image quality or resolution, the smaller the pixels.
(2) Flat-Panel Display Cathode-Ray Tube Monitor: In comparison to the CRT, a
flat-panel display is a type of video display with less volume, weight, and power
consumption. They can be hung on the wall or worn on the wrist.
Flat-panel displays are currently used in calculators, video games, monitors, laptop
computers, and graphical displays.

2. Printer
Printers are output devices that allow you to print information on paper.
There are two types of printers:

(a) Impact Printer:

Characters are printed on the ribbon, which is subsequently crushed against the paper,
in impact printers. The following are the characteristics of impact printers:

 Exceptionally low consumable cost.

 Quite noisy
 Because of its low cost, it is ideal for large-scale printing.
 To create an image, there is physical contact with the paper.
(b) Non-Impact Printers:
Characters are printed without the need for a ribbon in non-impact printers. Because
these printers print a full page at a time, they’re also known as Page Printers. The
following are the characteristics of non-impact printers:

 Faster
 They don’t make a lot of noise.
 Excellent quality
 Supports a variety of typefaces and character sizes

3. Projector
This is an optical device that presents visuals on the screen, stationary and moving both.
They are present at movie theatres, auditoriums, etc. It connects to the computer and displays
the image on it on a larger screen.

4. Plotter
It is a device to make graphics, prints and other vector images to give a real life illustration
vibe. It is mandatory to have a graphic card to use the device. The pen like device that comes
with it helps in replicating the exact design on the computer.

5. Braille Reader
Made for the blind users, this device is to process computer data in braille format. It allows users
with low or no vision to recognize the data as the braille reader put data on the paper in embossed
format. They can run their fingers over it to understand everything easily.

Both Input and Output Devices of Computer

There are many devices that have characteristics of both input and output devices.
They can receive data as well as give out a result becoming useful for both
purposes.
Some of them are –
1. USB Drive – It is a detachable device which can receive data from any
computer as well as send out data to other devices.
2. Modems – It is responsible for transmitting data from one device to another
using telephonic lines.
3. CD and DVD Drives – Saves data from the computer in the given format and
can also send out data to other devices with disk space.
4. Headset – It has a speaker which is an output device and a microphone which is
an input device.
5. Facsimile – This is a fax machine with scanner being an input device and printer
being the output device.