Controller (computing)

In computing and especially in computer hardware, controller is a chip, an expansion card, or a stand-alone device (usually called a control unit) that interfaces with a peripheral device. This may be a link between two parts of a computer (for example a memory controller that manages access to memory for the computer) or a controller on an external device that manages the operation of (and connection with) that device. A controller is usually also an adapter.

See also

Types of controller in computing and electronics

• Microcontroller, a computing device
• Game controller, a device used for video games
• MIDI controller, a device or software module used to transmit performance data to an electronic musical instrument, computer, or recording system
• Controllers specifically found in computers may include:
  • Graphics controller or video display controller
  • Memory controller, logic which manages the flow of data in a computer system
  • Disk array controller, also known as RAID controller, a type of storage controller
  • Disk controller, integrated into modern disk drives, it interfaces between the read-write head of any disk drive and the computer's peripheral bus
    • Floppy disk controller, a specific disk controller for floppy drives
  • Flash controller or SSD controller, manages flash memory and interfaces with the host computer
  • SCSI controller, more properly called SCSI host bus adapter
  • Network interface controller (NIC)
  • Keyboard controller
  • Programmable Interrupt Controller
  • Terminal Access Controller, a host computer that accepts terminal connections such as remote log-ons.

Chips that may act as controllers

• Northbridge (computing) – the name of a common type of memory controller in computing
• Southbridge (computing) – the name of a common type of I/O controller in computing

Other articles

• Adapter (computing)
• Programmable logic controller
• Computer bus
• Super I/O

External links

• Controller description at Webopedia, a computer term dictionary.

This computer hardware article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Computer peripherals Computer hardware stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР Catheter ablation Controller (control theory) Look at other dictionaries: Controller — may refer to: Contents 1 Occupations 2 Computing and electronics 3 Other devices …   Wikipedia Computing with Memory — refers to computing platforms where function response is stored in memory array, either one or two dimensional, in the form of lookup tables (LUTs) and functions are evaluated by retrieving the values from the LUTs. These computing platforms can… …   Wikipedia Controller area network — Controller–area network (CAN or CAN bus) is a vehicle bus standard designed to allow microcontrollers and devices to communicate with each other within a vehicle without a host computer. CAN is a message based protocol, designed specifically for… …   Wikipedia Controller-free motion control — is a specific type of video game which requires no actual controller, executing game play solely on the user s movement. Unlike the Nintendo Wii or recently announced Sony Playstation Move, no controller is held. Instead, hardware including a… …   Wikipedia Computing — For the formal concept of computation, see computation. For the magazine, see Computing (magazine). For the scientific journal, see Computing (journal). A difference engine: computing the solution to a polynomial function …   Wikipedia computing — noun 1. the procedure of calculating; determining something by mathematical or logical methods • Syn: ↑calculation, ↑computation • Derivationally related forms: ↑computational (for: ↑computation), ↑compute …   Useful english dictionary Disk controller — The disk controller is the circuit which enables the CPU to communicate with a hard disk, floppy disk or other kind of disk drive. Early disk controllers were identified by their storage methods and data encoding. They were typically implemented… …   Wikipedia Adapter (computing) — In computing, adapter is a hardware device or software component, that converts transmitted data from one presentation form to another. The data presentation can be, for example, a message sent between objects in an application, or a packet sent… …   Wikipedia Organic Computing — bezeichnet eine interdisziplinäre Forschungsinitiative mit dem explanatorischen Anliegen, ein besseres Verständnis organischer Strukturen zu gewinnen und dem Entwicklungsziel einer organisch strukturierten Informationstechnologie. Die… …   Deutsch Wikipedia List of computing and IT abbreviations — This is a list of computing and IT acronyms and abbreviations. Contents: 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”