What is a SMART Board, what is a projector — how are they related, and how are they different?
• SMART Boards are interactive, pressure sensitive, surfaces (boards or screens) that aid in presentations or collaborations. They are made by SMART Technologies Inc. which is located in Calgary Alberta. They consist of the active surface (either a whiteboard style, or a rear projection display screen) that includes a processor which “reads” the X-Y coordinates where the surface is touched, and reformats these into a protocol over a serial port – similar to a mouse or tablet. The “screen” style SMART Boards are incorporated into the display screen of a rear projection unit that contains a built in projector and a computer. The other SMART Boards resemble whiteboards and are mounted on the wall similar to whiteboards. • A projector is a unit that plugs into the “monitor” port of a PC and shows everything that is on the display. • A SMART Board requires that a projector be used if you wish to display computer generated images on the SMART Board. A SMART Board can be used as an extra “mou
