Input Devices : Light Pen

A light pen is a special pen which you can point at any computer monitor. When the pen is pointed at the screen the computer can work out where the pen is pointing.

Light pens can be used to "draw" on the screen or to select options from menus presented on the screen.

Light pens are extremely poor input devices. They are very inaccurate and tiring to use. Light pens were popular in the 1980s and early 1990s but most have now been replaced with other input devices.

GCSE ICT Companion 04 - (C) P Meakin 2004