A peripheral is a device attached to a host computer but not part of it, and is more or less dependent on the host. It expands the host's capabilities, but does not form part of the core computer architecture In computer science and computer engineering, computer architecture or digital computer organization is the conceptual design and fundamental operational structure of a computer system. It is a blueprint and functional description of requirements and design implementations for the various parts of a computer, focusing largely on the way by which.
Examples are computer printers In computing, a printer is a peripheral which produces a hard copy of documents stored in electronic form, usually on physical print media such as paper or transparencies. Many printers are primarily used as local peripherals, and are attached by a printer cable or, in most newer printers, a USB cable to a computer which serves as a document, image scanners In computing, a scanner is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object, and converts it to a digital image. Common examples found in offices are variations of the desktop scanner where the document is placed on a glass window for scanning. Hand-held scanners, where the device is moved by hand, have evolved from, tape drives A tape drive is a data storage device that reads and writes data on a magnetic tape. It is typically used for off-line, archival data storage. Tape media generally has a favorable unit cost and long archival stability, microphones A microphone (colloquially called a mic or mike is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1876, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, tape recorders, karaoke systems, hearing aids,, loudspeakers A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical signal into sound. The speaker moves in accordance with the variations of an electrical signal and causes sound waves to propagate through a medium such as air or water, webcams A webcam is a video capture device connected to a computer or computer network, often using a USB port or, if connected to a network, ethernet or Wi-Fi, and digital cameras A digital camera is a camera that takes video or still photographs, or both, digitally by recording images via an electronic image sensor.
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Overview
Whether something is a peripheral or part of a computer is not always clearly demarcated. A video capture card A TV tuner card is a computer component that allows television signals to be received by a computer. Most TV tuners also function as video capture cards, allowing them to record television programs onto a hard disk inside a computer case is not part of the core computer but is contained in the case. However, whether something can be considered a peripheral or not is a trivial matter of nomenclature, and is not a significant issue.
Common peripherals
- Storage Computer data storage, often called storage or memory, refers to computer components, devices, and recording media that retain digital data used for computing for some interval of time. Computer data storage provides one of the core functions of the modern computer, that of information retention. It is one of the fundamental components of all
- Input In computing, input/output, or I/O, refers to the communication between an information processing system , and the outside world possibly a human, or another information processing system. Inputs are the signals or data received by the system, and outputs are the signals or data sent from it. The term can also be used as part of an action; to &
- Output Output is the term denoting either an exit or changes which exit a system and which activate/modify a process. It is an abstract concept, used in the modeling, system design and system(s) exploitation
- Output device An output device is any piece of computer hardware equipment used to communicate the results of data processing carried out by an information processing system to the outside world
- Display device
- Graphical output device An output device is any piece of computer hardware equipment used to communicate the results of data processing carried out by an information processing system to the outside world
- Computer display
See also
- Computer hardware A personal computer is made up of multiple physical components of computer hardware, upon which can be installed an operating system and a multitude of software to perform the operator's desired functions
- Controller The term controller, when used in computing and especially in computer hardware, signifies a chip or extension card that interfaces with a peripheral device. This may be a link between two parts of a computer or a controller on an external device that manages the operation of (and connection with) that device. A controller is usually also an
- Expansion card The expansion card in computing is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an expansion slot of a computer motherboard to add additional functionality to a computer system
References
External links
- The Wiktionary Wiktionary is a multilingual, web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 151 languages. Unlike standard dictionaries, it is written collaboratively by volunteers, dubbed "Wiktionarians", using wiki software, allowing articles to be changed by almost anyone with access to the website definition of peripheral
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