Ports and Connectors

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Ports and Connectors

• By Karina Hackett

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Overview

• Ports are also known as sockets, and are located
  at the back of a system unit. Connectors are the
  parts found at the end of a cable, and are
  affixed to a port. Ports and connectors allow
  computers to connect to one another or to other
  devices, such as printers, scanners, CD-writers,
  etc.

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This is the connector (note the pins)

This is a port the connector attaches to it
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Types of Ports
The connectors for serial ports

• Having been around for decades, SERIAL PORTS are
  one of the most basic external connections to a
  computer. These ports accept data one bit at a
  time, and are slower than other types of ports
  (parallel ports, for example). Serial ports are
  used to connect to an external modem or directly
  to a network.

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Types of Ports

• A telephone jack is a type of port. Telephone
  jacks accept a telephone plug at one end, and
  attach to an electric circuitry at the other end.
  

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Types of ports

• Parallel ports are the most used interface (point
  of communication) for printers. This port needs
  8 wires, compared to serial ports, which only
  need one. Because of this, a parallel port can
  send 8 bits (1 byte) at a time. The 8 bits are
  transmitted parallel to (beside) each other, as
  opposed to serially, or all in a single row. A
  standard parallel port sends 50 to 100 kilobytes
  of data per second.

Parallel ports connect to scanners, external
hard drives, CD-writers, etc.
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The Connector for the Parallel Port

• Each pin in the connector that attaches to a
  parallel port has a job. For example, pin 11
  is charged if the printer is busy, then it drops
  the voltage below 0.5 volts to let the computer
  know its ready to receive more data. The
  printer lets the computer know its out of paper
  by sending a charge on pin 12.

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Connectors
Male
Female

• Connectors have genders. A male connector has
  pins, and fits inside the female, which has
  holes.

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Types of Connectors
(Most of which are found near Karina and a
digital video camera!)
Mini USB 2.0
Used on many USB digital cameras
Toslink
Used for digital audio
Firewire
Used to connect a digital video camera to a
computer
S-video
i.Link
RCA
Has 4 pins, a.k.a. S-VHS
Serial
A 4-pin Firewire connector
Standard audio connector
On the computer there should be a "male"
connector the mouse or other serial device
(modem, digital camera) should have a female.