Keyboard and Mouse

These are input devices, what you do to the device is displayed on the monitor.

Keyboards like processors have came a long way since the old IBM PC, from 86 keys to the 101 key and beyond.

The mouse has not changed all that much since introduced in the late 1980's. some came with only two buttons, some with three. Some were controlled by a ball and some were controlled with two led's (Light emitting diodes) and metal mouse pad with dark blue grid over a light blue back ground.

The main changes with them are how they connect to the computer.

There is the wired and the wireless.

A wired keyboard and mouse have a cable that connects to the computer motherboard with what are known as "ports" most cases today have an Icon to distinguish the different ports. Or they can be connected with a "USB" (Universal Serial Bus) cable.

A wireless devices use either RF (Radio Frequency) or IR (Infrared Frequency) to communicate with the computer. (You still can't use a wireless device on a aircraft!! In the USA the FAA seems to be waffling back and forth on this...)

I am old fashioned, at home I have a wired (PS/2 port) keyboard or mouse [Since writing this article I have moved to wireless]. The laptop for travel has two mice, a wired (USB) for on a Airliner and wireless for when I get to my destination, I like the wireless for the laptop, sometimes you don't have a lot of room to spread out.

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So if you like to sit back three to five feet from your monitor to type, play games, then the wireless would be a better choice. ( My Wife took pity on me and bought me a wireless setup for Christmas, now I can sit back and not worry about pulling the cables too hard. )

P.S.

Every now and then I  [would in the old] get a Q and A question on digital (wireless mice or pointing devices):

Will a wireless mouse wear out?

Yes, but it will take a long time because it has no moving parts, dropping it on a hard surface will cause it to "break" but with normal use it should last a very long time. When I wrote this article my new wireless k & m were about three months old, that was in 2007, now at 2016 they are still working. The mouse has wear marks from my palm and fingers on the buttons but nothing else.

Cleaning them and not dropping them will make them last a very long time....