Chapter 7

Input Devices

Input devices are devices that allow the user to input data into a computer. The most obvious input devices are Mouse and keyboards.

Keyboards

The keyboard is the main input device for most computers. There are many sets of keys on a typical “windows” keyboard. On the left side of the keyboard are regular alphanumeric and punctuation keys similar to those on a typewriter. These are used to input textual information to the PC.

A numeric keypad on the right is similar to that of an adding machine or calculator. Keys that are used for cursor control and navigation are located in the middle. Keys that are used for special functions are located along the top of the keyboard and along the bottom section of the alphanumeric keys.

Keyboards are mainly divided into two types:

1. Multimedia keyboard.

2. Ordinary Keyboard.

Mouse

Mouse is another input device used in computer. Mouse is a device that controls the movement of the cursor or pointer on a display screen.

A mouse is a small object you can roll along a hard, flat surface. Its name is derived from its shape, which looks a bit like a mouse, its connecting wire that one can imagine to be the mouse's tail, and the fact that one must make it scurry along a surface. As you move the mouse, the pointer on the display screen moves in the same direction.

Mouse contain at least one button and sometimes as many as three, which have different functions depending on what program is running. Some newer mouse also includes a scroll wheel for scrolling through long documents.