Computer keyboard

 Keyboard is the most common and very popular input device which helps in inputting
data to the computer.
 The layout of the keyboard is like that of traditional typewriter, although there are
some additional keys provided for performing additional functions.
 Keyboards are of two sizes 84 keys or 101/102 keys, but now keyboards with 104 keys
or 108 keys are also available for Windows and Internet.
 The keys on the keyboard are as follows:

Sr.No Keys Description

1 Typing Keys These keys include the letter keys (A-Z) and digit keys (0-9)
which generally give same layout as that of typewriters.

2 Numeric Keypad It is used to enter numeric data or cursor movement.

Generally, it consists of a set of 17 keys that are laid out in
the same configuration used by most adding machines and
calculators.

3 Function Keys The twelve function keys are present on the keyboard which
are arranged in a row at the top of the keyboard. Each
function key has unique meaning and is used for some
specific purpose.

4 Control keys These keys provide cursor and screen control. It includes
four directional arrow keys. Control keys also include Home,
End, Insert, Delete, Page Up, Page Down, Control(Ctrl),
Alternate(Alt), Escape(Esc).

5 Special Purpose Keys Keyboard also contains some special purpose keys such as
Enter, Shift, Caps Lock, Num Lock, Space bar, Tab, and Print
Screen.
Computer keyboard key explanations

When talking to tech support or to other people about keyboard commands, web pages,
andcommand line commands, you may hear such things as forward slash, backward slash,
and caret. Many times this can be confusing for users unfamiliar with each of
the symbols found on a keyboard. Below is a chart that can be used to identify
each keyboard key and give even more information about what that key is used for and
examples of how it could be used.

Symbol Explanation

Windows PC keyboards have a Windows key represented by a flag.

Command Apple Mac computers have a command key.

F1 - F12 Information about the F1 through F12 keyboard keys.

Tab Tab key

Caps lock Caps lock key

Shift Shift key

Ctrl Ctrl (Control) key

Alt Alt (Alternate) key (PC Only; Mac users have Option key)

Back Space Back space key

Delete Delete or Del key

Enter Enter key

Prt Scrn Print screen key

Scroll lock Scroll lock key

 Pause Pause key

Break Break key

Insert Insert key

Home Home key

Page up Page up or pgup key

Page down Page down or pgdn key

Num Lock Num Lock key

~ Tilde

` Acute, Back quote, grave, grave accent, left quote, open quote, or a push

! Exclamation mark, Exclamation point, or Bang

@ Ampersat, Arobase, Asperand, At, or At symbol

# Octothorpe, Number, Pound, sharp, or Hash

£ Pounds Sterling or Pound symbol

€ Euro

$ Dollar sign

¢ Cent sign

¥ Japanese Yen

$ Generic currency

§ Micro or Section
% Percent

° Degree

^ Caret or Circumflex

& Ampersand, Epershand, or And

* Asterisk and sometimes referred to as star.

( Open parenthesis

) Close parenthesis

- Hyphen, Minus or Dash

_ Underscore

+ Plus

= Equals

{ Open Brace, squiggly brackets, or curly bracket

} Close Brace, squiggly brackets, or curly bracket

[ Open bracket

] Close bracket

| Pipe, Or, or Vertical bar

\ Backslash or Reverse Solidus

/ Forward slash, Solidus, Virgule, or Whack

: Colon
 ; Semicolon

" Quote, Quotation mark, or Inverted commas

' Apostrophe or Single Quote

< Less Than or Angle brackets

> Greater Than or Angle brackets

, Comma

. Period, dot or Full Stop

? Question Mark

Types of Computer Keyboard

 A normal computer keyboard is composed of around 110 keys.

 Although on the basis of key arrangements there are four major keyboard layouts being
used worldwide, QWERTY, AZERTY, QWERTZ and HCESAR, but they can be classified
 in many more different categories depending on types of computer connector, size,
number of keys etc.  
 Among the various types listed below, keyboards can be based on multiple types.
ERGONOMIC KEYBOARD
 The artifact of this keyboard is slightly big and
different in shape, when compared with the
normal keyboard.
 In this keyboard certain space will exist
between the two sets of keys and the countered
shape of this keyboard allows the users to place
their hands in the natural position to type.
 These key boards are mostly used by the people who often work with the keyboard as
their usage is easier and is less stressful for the wrist.
ADB (Apple Desktop Bus)
 ADB refers to a special type of port which is
enabled in some computers such as Apple
computers.
 The ADB key boards can be connected only to
the ADB jack enabled computers, but with the
use of the adapter, the ADB key boards can also
be inserted over a USB port.
XT
 An obsolete type, these keyboards only support
the older computers such as IBM 8086/8088,
XT-286.
 Not supported by present computers, keyboards are much larger than the modern
keyboards and the “Enter” key is backward-”L” shaped.
PERSONAL SYSTEMS (PS/2)
 In the late 1990, most of the computers are integrated with
standard PS/2 connector, rather than USB ports, there by the
keyboards used for these computers are usually round pin that
fits into the PS/2 keyboard jack.
 For this reason these keyboards are named as PS/2 keyboards.
MINI PS/2
 The MINI PS/2 keyboards are very small in size and are
compatible with the PS/2 computers.
 This keyboard resembles the laptop keyboard and it is
square in shape.
 This keyboard is composed of fewer key and do not
have detach numeric keypad.
MULTIMEDIA
 The multimedia keyboard is specially designed for the
people who are much into multimedia designing.
 This keyboard is just like the standard key board, but
composed of additional keys for the multimedia
purposes such as multimedia application launch,
volume control and mute button.
INTERNET
 The Internet keyboards are designed for wider range
of multimedia applications, these keyboards are
specially designed for the intense Internet user.
 The special keys included in this keyboard are the
home key, back and forward key, e-mail launch key,
and browser launch key etc.
 These keys carry out the same functionality as of the
buttons on the webpage.
 In order use these extra keys the computer must be embedded with right operating
system.

WIRELESS
 A wireless keyboard, the name itself doles the meaning that this keyboard can be
operated without addressing a wired connection to the processor.
 These keyboards require batteries (“AA” or “AAA” batteries) to provide the electricity
which usually delivered through a PS/2 or USB cable.
 These keyboards usually work at 2.4 GHz frequency and come with a dongle that
connects and makes them communicate with the computer. 
GAMING
 As the name suggest, gaming keyboards are those
who are into gaming and need easy access to the keys
that are usually utilized in gaming.
 These keyboards are composed of particular gaming-
oriented features such as key lighting, programmable keys, and/or extra controls of
volume and brightness.
 These keyboards are available in wired and wireless, in case if wired, it usually
supports the USB port.
MEMBRANE
 Membrane keyboards are one of the keyboard types,
which are used very rarely.
 The keys integrated in this keyboard are non-moving
pressure-sensitive keys.
 The keys in this keyboard are so close, so that there is no scope for spill liquids into the
keyboard.  Such keyboard types are also used in mobile phones and old landline
phones.
 Keyboards are slowly being incorporated into touch screens that are being widely
incorporated in various phones and tablet computers.
 Named as touch screen keyboards, these are virtual keyboard units have a QWERTY
and numeric appearance so that message typing and number calling are quite easy.
 Also, gaming consoles that provide social networking such as the PlayStation 3 have an
on-screen keyboard which can be accessed by user joystick

How a Computer keyboard Works?

 Computer keyboard is an device used to convert the keystrokes in to the electrical
signals that a computer can understand.
 There are special types of switches and circuits to do this.
 When we press a key, it completes its corresponding circuit and an electrical signal goes
to keyboard’s internal processor which detects the key which is pressed.
 Keyboard contains its own internal processor that takes electrical signals through key
strokes.
 Each key has a special shaped arrangement at the bottom known as plunger.

Key matrix

o The inside of the keyboard is like a mini-computer and consists of a processor and
circuits. These transfer the information to the processor inside of the computer. Inside
of the keyboard's processor resides the key matrix. The key matrix is a grid of circuits.
These circuits are individually placed under each key. When a key is pushed, it pushes
the switch on the circuit board underneath the key causing an electrical current to pass
through the circuit and into the processor. When the current passes through, the switch
vibrates, signaling the processor to read it.

Keymap

o The circuit is closed when a key is pressed. The closing of the circuit signals the
processor to read the keymap stored within it. The processor uses the keymap,
sometimes called the character map, to find the key that is closed off on the board. By
using the keymap, the processor in the keyboard can tell which letter is being pushed
and if it should be a capital or lowercase letter depending on if the shift key is being
pressed.

Communication

o The keyboard connects to the computer via a five pin male plug or a PS/2 plug.
Keyboards and computers work together in a bi-directional format. This means that
they can each send information to one another. These bi-directional lines are the clock
line coming from the keyboard and the data line coming from the computer. Both lines
 must be idle, or high in order for the keyboard to send data. The computer will send a
signal to the keyboard through the clock line letting it know that the line is clear to
send. If the line is not clear, the keyboard will hold the information until the line opens.
When the line is low, the keyboard is waiting for a command from the computer. When
the computer wants to send information to the keyboard, it brings the data and the
clock line low. It does this to ensure that the keyboard does not send it a message at the
same time.
A) What's under the keys?

Pull a key off the keyboard and you can see roughly how
it works. There's a little hole in the plastic base and the
keyboard has a long round bar the same shape. When you
press the key, the bar pushes down through the hole to
touch the contact layers below. Inside the hole, there's a
little tiny piece of rubber (you can't see it in this photo) that
stops the key moving down and pushes it back up when you
release it. This is what gives the spring to the keys.

B) What's under the keyboard?

Take off the keyboard's bottom panel and
you can see how it all works from beneath. You
can see the transparent plastic contact layers that
detect keypresses and (through those layers) you
can see the round bars poking the keys down from
above. The green rectangle at the top contains
three small LEDs that activate the indicator lights
for "Num lock", "Caps lock", and "Scroll lock".
Notice also the cable running along the inside of
the case at the top of the keyboard, which carries
electrical signals from the keyboard to your
computer's USB port (or PS/2 port on older
machines).
C) How do the keys press down?
 Peel back the electrical contact layers and you can see the bottom of the keys and where
they press down. Balancing on my fingertip, you can see one of the little rubber pieces that
makes the keys bounce up and down. Notice the pattern of electrical tracks on the contact
layers. In this photo, we are looking down through the bottom of the keyboard (so the keys
are underneath).

D) How do the contact layers work?

This is the magic part of a keyboard. There

are three separate layers of plastic that work
together to detect your key presses. Two of them
are covered in electrically conducting metal tracks
and there's an insulating layer between them with
holes in it. The dots you can see are places where
the keys press the two conducting layers together.
The lines are electrical connections that allow tiny
electric currents to flow when the layers are
pressed tight to one another by a key moving down
from above.

In the photo below, you can see a closeup of the

underside of one key—and, if you look closely, just about
see how it works. There's one set of electrical
connections on the lower sheet of plastic, printed in light
gray. The other set is on the upper sheet of plastic and
printed in dark gray. The two sheets are kept apart by a
clear plastic layer except at the holes, which is where the
keys push down to make the two sheets touch.

E) How does it all work together?

When you press a key, the top and bottom contact layers come together and the
keyboard sends a signal to your computer—just like this...