keyboard
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keyboard
1.
a. a complete set of keys, usually hand-operated, as on a piano, organ, typewriter, or typesetting machine
b. (as modifier): a keyboard instrument
2. a musical instrument, esp an electronic one, played by means of a keyboard
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
keyboard
[′kē‚bȯrd] (engineering)
A set of keys or control levers having a systematic arrangement and used to operate a machine or other piece of equipment such as a typewriter, typesetter, processing unit of a computer, or piano.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
keyboard
(hardware)A hardware device consisting of a number of
mechanical buttons (keys) which the user presses to input
characters to a computer.
Keyboards were originally part of terminals which were separate peripheral devices that performed both input and output and communicated with the computer via a serial line. Today a keyboard is more likely to be connected more directly to the processor, allowing the processor to scan it and detect which key or keys are currently pressed. Pressing a key sends a low-level key code to the keyboard input driver routine which translates this to one or more characters or special actions.
Keyboards vary in the keys they have, most have keys to generate the ASCII character set as well as various function keys and special purpose keys, e.g. reset or volume control.
Keyboards were originally part of terminals which were separate peripheral devices that performed both input and output and communicated with the computer via a serial line. Today a keyboard is more likely to be connected more directly to the processor, allowing the processor to scan it and detect which key or keys are currently pressed. Pressing a key sends a low-level key code to the keyboard input driver routine which translates this to one or more characters or special actions.
Keyboards vary in the keys they have, most have keys to generate the ASCII character set as well as various function keys and special purpose keys, e.g. reset or volume control.
This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Keyboard
(1) In musical instruments, the levers and keys arranged in a specific order; one of the main parts of a keyboard mechanism. It normally consists of keys, a frame, and middle (axial) and forward (guide) pins. It was first used in the 12th century in organs, which usually had a foot keyboard (pedals) in addition to the manuals. In reed keyboard instruments, such as the accordion, the keyboard consists of a row of buttons on fingerboards and on the body itself. In wind instruments the term is sometimes used to designate the valve mechanism.
(2) The keys on any mechanism (a typewriter, calculator, and so on).
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.