COMPUTER PORTS

The Motherboard of a computer has many I/O sockets that are connected to the ports and interfaces found on the rear side of a computer. The external devices can be connected to the ports and interfaces. The various types of ports are given below :


  1. Parallel Port
    • A parallel port transmits 8 bits of a byte of data in parallel as it contains eight or more data lines for control of I/O devices.
    • This consists of 25 holes.
    • It is used for transmitting fast data over short distances because interference among multiple signals limits the cable to relatively short distances.
    • It is commonly used to connect the printer to a computer.
    • However, USB port is mostly used today to connect printers to computer systems.

    2. Parallel Port

  2. Serial Port
    • A serial port transmits one bit of a byte at a time as a single stream of bits.
    • It is meant for transmitting slow data over long distances.
    • Communication over a phone system is an example of serial communication.
    • A serial port connects a variety of devices such as modems, scanners, barcode readers and device control circuits.
    • Today, USB port is used instead of the serial port.

    3. Serial Port

  3. PS/2 Port
    • It consists of six pins in a small and round shaped socket.
    • It is one of the serial port connectors used to plug mouse and keyboards into a personal computer.
    • The purple port is for the keyboard and the green port is for the mouse
    • However, USB port is mostly used today to connect the keyboard and the mouse to the computer system.

    4. PS/2

  4. Universal Serial Bus [USB] Port
    • USB port is the most popular port used to connect up to 127 peripheral devices such as digital camera, speaker, scanner, printer, plotter, modem, joystick, pen drive, etc.
    • USB 3.0 is the third major version of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard to connect computers with other electronic gadgets
    • USB 3.0 can transfer data up to 5 Giga byte/second.
    • USB3.1 and USB 3.2 are also released.
    • USB permits Plug and Play – i.e. it allows us to install device drivers as and when the devices are plugged on.

    5. USB

  5. Small Computer System Interface [SCSI] Port
    • SCSI port allows data transmission in a 'daisy chain' to up to 7 devices at a speed (32 bits at a time) much higher than serial and parallel ports.
    • The devices that may be connected to SCSI ports are hard-disk drives, CD-ROM drives, scanners, backup units, network adapters etc.
    • In daisy chain several devices are connected in series.
    • If data has to reach the seventh device then it needs to go through, all the six devices first.

    6. SCSI

  6. Fire Wire [IEEE 1394] Port
    • Fire Wire port is a relatively a new technology for high speed data communication. It is extremely fast with Data Transfer Rate up to 400 Mb/sec.
    • The need of this arose due to large audio and video data movement from multimedia devices.
    • The devices connected via Fire Wire Port are Video Camera, External Hard Disk Drives, External CD/DVD Drives.
    • Microsoft has developed device drivers to support IEEE1394 in all the versions after Windows 95. Linux also supports this port.

    7. IEEE 1394

  7. High Definition Multimedia Interface [HDMI]
    • This port can be seen especially in laptops.
    • HDMI is an audio/video interface which transfers the uncompressed video and audio data from a video controller, to a compatible computer monitor, LCD projector, digital television etc.

    8. HDMI

  8. Video port - VGA [Video Graphics Adaptor]
    • VGA is used to connect a monitor or any display device like LCD projector.
    • This is also called the Graphic Port.
    • The port consists of 15 holes.

    9. VGA

  9. Audio Ports/ Jacks
    • This is used to connect sound speakers, microphone and headphones.
      1. Blue – Line In
      2. Green – Line Out, Head Phone
      3. Pink – Microphone

    10. Audio Jacks

  10. RJ-45 Port
    • This port connects computer of a computer network to the network router, network switch.

    11. RJ-45


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