CareerGears

To enable a computer read and process the data, it has to be in computer readable form. This involves a process of data conversion from human readable form into machine readable form. The data conversion stage can be avoided if data is in machine readable form. This is possible with direct input device.

Direct Input Device:
Direct Input Devices are those which do not involve data conversion from machine readable form to human readable form. The process of data conversion is time consuming and error prone. This can be avoided by using direct input device. Point of sales terminal (POS), credit card is such a direct input device.
Example: Credit card reader is one of the direct input devices. The credit card has magnetic strip which is fixed on the card which contains vital information viz., owner’s code and the details. This card is inserted into card reader and it processes up the details. Then card number is noted and the amount is credited.

Indirect input device:
Data is in the human readable form hence it has to be converted into machine readable form. This involves the data conversion. This process of data conversion is time consuming and error prone and it causes a major bottleneck in the data processing, keyboard, mouse and joystick are some of the examples of indirect input devices.