I/O devices
I/O Devices can be categorized into following category.
| S.N. | Category & Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Human readableHuman Readable devices are suitable for communicating with the computer user. Examples are printers, video display terminals, keyboard etc. |
| 2 | Machine readableMachine Readable devices are suitable for communicating with electronic equipment. Examples are disk and tape drives, sensors, controllers and actuators. |
| 2 | CommunicationCommunication devices are suitable for communicating with remote devices. Examples are digital line drivers and modems. |
Following are the differences between I/O Devices
| S.N. | Criteria & Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Data rateThere may be differences of several orders of magnitude between the data transfer rates. |
| 2 | ApplicationDifferent devices have different use in the system. |
| 3 | Complexity of ControlA disk is much more complex whereas printer requires simple control interface. |
| 4 | Unit of transferData may be transferred as a stream of bytes or characters or in larger blocks. |
| 5 | Data representationDifferent data encoding schemes are used for different devices. |
| 6 | Error ConditionsThe nature of errors differs widely from one device to another. |