I have read few sources that says
"Peripheral is a device which is connected to host computer but not
part of it. A peripheral is generally defined as any auxiliary device such as a computer mouse, keyboard, hard drive" – Wiki.
I am confused if I connect my computer(also consider microcontroller or microprocessor) to an host computer(lets say controller or server) will my system become an peripheral device for that host system?
Note: I am not sure if this is right place to ask this question please consider migrating it to other site before down voting or closing. I am not familiar with tags on this site please update if I add any wrong tag to my question. Thanks.
Best Answer
In essence, yes, your microcontroller device, or System-on-Chip device, if connected to a host computer, will be considered a peripheral device for that host system.
In practical terms and from a purely technical / pedantic viewpoint, pretty much any device that is not an integral part of the host computer, but is connected to it, is a peripheral. This includes even internal hard drives or optical drives, and of course external devices (internal in the case of a laptop) such as displays.
On a contrary note, peripheral devices are typically understood to be devices which provide some type of facility, additional feature, or service to the core computing host, be it input, output, sensing et cetera. A microcontroller board such as an Arduino, or a single-board computer like the Raspberry Pi do not necessarily provide any feature or service addition to the host computer: It is up to the user to create an application on said boards to provide a peripheral function.
Thus from a non-technical viewpoint, the microcontroller board is merely using the host computer as a power source until it is put to some practical use, hence need not be considered a peripheral device until then.