Plug and play: Difference between revisions

Expansion devices are controlled and exchange data with the host system through defined memory or [[Input/output|I/O]] space port addresses, [[direct memory access]] channels, [[interrupt request]] lines and other mechanisms, which must be uniquely associated with a particular device to operate. Some computers provided unique combinations of these resources to each slot of a [[CPU cacheMotherboard|motherboard]] or [[backplane]]. Other designs provided all resources to all slots, and each peripheral device had its own address decoding for the registers or memory blocks it needed to communicate with the host system. Since fixed assignments made expansion of a system difficult, devices used several manual methods for assigning addresses and other resources, such as hard-wired jumpers, pins that could be connected with wire or removable straps, or switches that could be set for particular addresses.<ref>{{cite web