Chapter 10 - Essential Peripherals

Peripheral

Any device that connects to the system unit.

Removable Media

Any storage on a computer that can be easily removed. For example, optical discs, flash drives, or memory cards.

Universal Product Code (UPC)

Barcode used to track inventory.

Blu-ray Disc-Read Only Media (BD-ROM)

Blu-ray Disc equivalent of a DVD-ROM or CD-ROM.

Blu-ray Disc REwritable (BD-RE)

Blu-ray Disc equivalent of the rewritable DVD, allows writing and rewriting several times on the same BD.

Blu-ray Disc-Recordable (BD-R)

Blu-ray Disc format that enables writing data to blank discs.

streaming media

Broadcast of data that is played on your computer and immediately discarded.

CD-Recordable (CD-R)

CD technology that accepts a single "burn" but cannot be erased after one burn.

CD-Rewritable (CD-RW)

CD technology that accepts multiple reads/writes like a hard drive.

Digital camera

Camera that simulates film technology electronically.

sampling

Capturing sound waves in electronic format

serial port

Common connector on older PC. Connects input device (such as a mouse) or communications devices (such as a modem). Also referred to as a COM port.

mini-USB

Smaller USB connector often found on digital cameras.

codec (compressor/decompressor)

Software that compresses or decompresses media streams.

pulse code modulation (PCM)

Sound format developed in the 1960s to carry telephone calls over the first digital lines.

CD-Digital Audio (CDDA)

Special format used for early CD-ROMs and all audio CDs; divides data into variable-length tracks. A good format to use for audio tracks but terrible for data because of lack of error checking.

RS-232

Standard port recommended by the Electronics Industry Association (EIA) for serial devices.

SuperSpeed USB

A fast form of USB, with speeds up to 5 Gbps. Also called USB 3.0.

barcode

A scannable, read-only binary code often used to mark items for inventory.

DVD-RW/DVD+RW

Incompatible rewritable DVD media formats.

mouse

Input device that enables users to manipulate a cursor on the screen to select items.

Keyboard

Input device. Three common types of it exist: those that use a mini-DIN (PS/2) connection, those that use a USB connection, and those that use wireless technology.

Multitouch

Input method on many smartphones and tablets that enables you to perform gestures (actions with multiple fingers) to do all sorts of fun things, such as using two fingers to scroll or swipe to another screen or desktop.

USB host controller

Integrated circuit normally built into the chipset that acts as the interface between the system and every USB device that connects to it.

FireWire (IEEE 1394)

Interconnection standard to send wide-band signals over a serialized, physically thin connector system. Serial bus developed by Apple and Texas Instruments; enables connection of 63 devices at speeds up to 800 Mbps. Mostly supplanted by Thunderbolt.

Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI)

Interface between a computer and a device for simulating musical instruments. Rather than sending large sound samples, a computer can simply send "instructions" to the instrument describing pitch, tone, and duration of a sound. MIDI files are therefore very efficient. Because a MIDI file is made up of a set of instructions rather than a copy of the sound, modifying each component of the file is easy. Additionally, it is possible to program many channels, or "voices" of the music to be played simultaneously, creating symphonic sound.

Compact Disc (CD)

Originally designed as the the replacement for vinyl records, but (along with other optical media) is also useful for long term storage of music and data.

Webcam

PC camera most commonly used for Internet video communication.

USB root hub

Part of the host controller that makes the physical connections to the USB ports.

optical mouse

Pointing device that uses light rather then electronic sensors to determine movement and direction the mouse is being moved.

Subwoofer

Powerful speaker capable of producing extremely low-frequency sounds.

Burn

Process of writing data to a writable optical disc, such as a DVD-R

compact disc/read-only memory (CD-ROM)

Read-only compact storage disc for audio or video data. CD-ROMs are read by using CD-ROM drives and optical drives with backward compatibility, such as DVD and Blu-ray Disc drives.

USB Type-C (connector)

Reversible USB-type cable that supports up to USB 3.1 with a top speed of 10 Gbps. Quickly becoming the de facto standard port on Andriod devices. Thunderbolt-enabled of this USB-type can reach top speeds of 40 Gbps.

MP3

Short for MPEG Audio Layer 3, a type of compression used specifically for turning high-quality digital audio files into much smaller, yet similar-sounding, files.

DB-9

A two-row DB connector (male) used to connect the computer's serial port to a serial communication device such as a modem or a console port on a managed switch.

Joystick

A type of game controller. Commonly used for flight-simulator games.

microphone

An input device for recording audio.

game controller

An input device specifically designed for playing computer games. Typically has an array of buttons and triggers that control movement and actions on screen.

Thunderbolt

An open standards connector interface that is primarily used to connect peripherals to devices, including mobile devices, if they have corresponding port.

USB expansion card

expansion card that allows you to add USB 3.0/3.1 to your system, when it does not include it.

WAV

file format for audio faithfully recorded using the pulse code modulation format; produces large file sizes.

Secure Digital (SD)

Very popular format for flash media cards; also supports I/O devices. In addition to full sized SD cards, the format also includes two smaller form factors: miniSD and microSD.

DB connectors

D-shaped connectors once used for a variety of connections in the PC and networking world. Can be male (with prongs) or female (with holes) and have a varying number of pins or sockets. Also called D-sub, D-subminiature, or D-shell connectors. They are still reasonably common, but rarely used.

DVD-ROM

DVD equivalent of the standard CD-ROM

DVD-video

DVD format used exclusively to store digital video; capable of storing over 2 hours of high-quality video on a single DVD.

monaural

Describes recording tracks from one source (microphone) as opposed to stereo, which uses two sources.

stereo

Describes recording tracks from two sources (microphones) as opposed to monaural, which uses one source.

Digitizer Peripheral

Device enabling users to paint, inck,pencil, or otherwise draw with a computer. Also known as a pen tablet.

USB hub

Device that extends a single USB connection to two or more USB ports, almost always directly from one of the USB ports connected to the root hub.

speaker

Device that outputs sound by using magnetically driven diaphragm

card reader

Device with which you can read data from one of several types of flash memory.

optical drive

Drive used to read/write to optical discs, such as CDs or DVDs

sound card

Expansion card that can produce audible tones when connected to a set of speakers.

container file

File containing two or more separate, compressed tracks, typically an audio track and a moving-picture track. Also known as a wrapper.

USB thumb drive

Flash memory device that has a standard USB connector.

touchpad

Flat, touch-sensitive pad that serves as a pointing device for most laptops.

Universal Serial Bus USB

General-purpose serial interconnect for keyboards, printers, joysticks, and many other devices. Enables hot swapping of devices.

Compact Disc File System (CDFS)

Generic name for ISO-9660. File structure, rules, and conventions used when organizing and storing files and data on a CD.

smart card

Hardware authentication involving a credit card-sized card with circuitry that can be used to identify the bearer of that card.

Keyboard, Video, mouse switch (KVM)

Hardware device that enables multiple computers to be viewed and controlled by a single mouse, keyboard, and screen.

Biometric Device

Hardware device used to support authentication; works by scanning and remembering a unique aspect of a user's various body parts (e.g., retina, iris, face, or fingerprint) by using some form of sensing device such as a retinal scanner.

Sony/Philips Digital Interface Format

High-quality digital audio connector. User can connect their computers directly to a 5.1 speaker system or receiver with a single cable. It comes in both coaxial version and an optical version.

Secure Digital (SD)

Very popular format for flash media cards; also supports I/O devices. In addition to full-sized SD cards, the format also includes two smaller form factors: miniSD and microSD.

Extreme Digital (xD) Picture Card

Very small flash media card format

Touchscreen

Monitor with a type of sensing device (a digitizer) across its face that detects the location and duration of contact, usually by a finger or stylus.

MPEG-4

Moving Pictures Experts Group standard of video and audio compression offering improved compression over MPEG-2.

MPEG-2

Moving Pictures Experts Group standard of video and audio compression offering resolutions up to 1280 X 720 at 60 frames per second.

Digital Versatile Disc (DVD)

Optical disc format that provides for 4-17 GB of video or data storage.

Blu-ray Disc (BD)

Optical disc format that stores up to 100 GB of data, designed as a replacement media for DVD. Competed with HD DVD.

Advanced Audio Encoding (AAC)

The most common audio codec, the format is used by Youtube, Apple iPhone and iPad, and more.

CompactFlash (CF)

The oldest, most complex, and physically largest of all removable flash media cards.

Digitizer Screen

The touchscreen overlay technology that converts finger and stylus contact into input data for the device to use.

Quick Response Code (QR)

Two-dimensional bar code that typically contains an encoded web or e-mail address.

optical disc/media

Types of data discs (such as DVDs, CDs, BDs,etc.) that are read by a laser.

White

USB 1.1

Black

USB 2.0

Blue

USB 3.0

Teal

USB 3.1

SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps

USB 3.1 Gen 2 at 10 Gbps

micro-USB

USB connector commonly found on a variety of devices including Android phones. Slowly being replaced by USB Type-C connectors (especially in Android phones)

Low-Speed USB

USB standard that runs at 1.5 Mbps. Also called USB 1.1.

Full-Speed USB

USB standard that runs at 12 Mbps. Also known as USB 1.1.

Hi-Speed USB

USB standard that runs at 480 Mbps. Also referred to as USB 2.0.