Computer port (hardware)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
[hide]This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the
talk page.
This article's lead section may not adequately summarize key points of its contents.
(October 2011)
This article needs attention from an expert on the subject. (April 2008)
This article does not cite any references or sources. (June 2011)

Examples of computer connector sockets on various laptops

Ports on the back of an Apple Mac Mini

In computer hardware, a port serves as an interface between the computer and other computers or
peripheral devices. Physically, a port is a specialized outlet on a piece of equipment to which a
plug or cable connects. Electronically, the several conductors making up the outlet provide a
signal transfer between devices.

Contents
 1 Physical shape
 2 Electrical signal transfer
 3 Types of ports
o 3.1 Ethernet
o 3.2 IEEE 1394 interface
o 3.3 Parallel
o 3.4 PS/2
o 3.5 Serial
o 3.6 USB
 o 3.7 VGA
o 3.8 Digital Visual Interface
o 3.9 SCSI
o 3.10 HDMI
o 3.11 Audiojack
 4 See also
 5 References
 6 External links

Physical shape
Port connectors may be male or female, but female connectors are much more common. Bent
pins are easier to replace on a cable than on a connector attached to a computer, so it was
common to use female connectors for the fixed side of an interface.

Computer ports in common use cover a wide variety of shapes such as round (PS/2, etc.),
rectangular (FireWire, etc.), square (Telephone plug), trapezoidal (D-Sub — the old printer port
was a DB-25), etc. There is some standardization to physical properties and function. For
instance, most computers have a keyboard port (currently a Universal Serial Bus USB-like outlet
referred to as USB Port), into which the keyboard is connected.

Physically identical connectors may be used for widely different standards, especially on older
personal computer systems, or systems not generally designed according to the current Microsoft
Windows compatibility guides. For example, a female 9-pin D-subminiature connector on the
original IBM PC could have been used for monochrome video, color analog video (in two
incompatible standards), a joystick interface, or for a MIDI musical instrument digital control
interface. The original IBM PC also had two identical 5 pin DIN connectors, one used for the
keyboard, the second for a cassette recorder interface; the two were not interchangeable. The
smaller mini-DIN connector has been variously used for the keyboard and two different kinds of
mouse; older Macintosh family computers used the mini-DIN for a serial port or for a keyboard
connector with different standards than the IBM-descended systems.

Electrical signal transfer

Electronically, hardware ports can almost always be divided into two groups based on the signal
transfer:

 Serial ports send and receive one bit at a time via a single wire pair (Ground and +/-).
 Parallel ports send multiple bits at the same time over several sets of wires.

After ports are connected, they typically require handshaking, where transfer type, transfer rate,
and other necessary information is shared before data are sent.

Hot-swappable ports can be connected while equipment is running. Almost all ports on personal
computers are hot-swappable.
Plug-and-play ports are designed so that the connected devices automatically start handshaking
as soon as the hot-swapping is done. USB ports and FireWire ports are plug-and-play.

Auto-detect or auto-detection ports are usually plug-and-play, but they offer another type of
convenience. An auto-detect port may automatically determine what kind of device has been
attached, but it also determines what purpose the port itself should have. For example, some
sound cards allow plugging in several different types of audio speakers; then a dialogue box pops
up on the computer screen asking whether the speaker is left, right, front, or rear for surround
sound installations. The user's response determines the purpose of the port, which is physically a
1/8" tip-ring-sleeve minijack. Some auto-detect ports can even switch between input and output
based on context.

As of 2006, manufacturers have nearly standardized colors associated with ports on personal
computers, although there are no guarantees. The following is a short list:

Main article: PC System Design Guide

 Orange, purple, or grey: Keyboard PS/2

 Green: Mouse PS/2
 Blue or magenta: Parallel printer DB-25
 Amber: Serial DB-25 or DB-9
 Pastel pink: Microphone 1/8" stereo (TRS) minijack
 Pastel green: Speaker 1/8" stereo (TRS) minijack

FireWire ports used with video equipment (among other devices) can be either 4-pin or 6-pin.
The two extra conductors in the 6-pin connection carry electrical power. This is why a self-
powered device such as a camcorder often connects with a cable that is 4-pins on the camera side
and 6-pins on the computer side, the two power conductors simply being ignored. This is also
why laptop computers usually have only 4-pin FireWire ports, as they cannot provide enough
power to meet requirements for devices needing the power provided by 6-pin connections.

Optical (light) fiber, microwave, and other technologies (i.e., quantum) have different kinds of
connections, as metal wires are not effective for signal transfers with these technologies. Optical
connections are usually a polished glass or plastic interface, possibly with an oil that lessens
refraction between the two interface surfaces. Microwaves are conducted through a pipe, which
can be seen on a large scale by examining microwave towers with "funnels" on them leading to
pipes.

Hardware port trunking (HPT) is a technology that allows multiple hardware ports to be
combined into a single group, effectively creating a single connection with a higher bandwidth,
sometimes referred to as a double-barrel approach. This technology also provides a higher degree
of fault tolerance because a failure on one port may just mean a slow-down rather than a dropout.
By contrast, in software port trunking (SPT), two agents (websites, channels, etc.) are bonded
into one with the same effectiveness; i.e., ISDN B1 (64K) plus B2 (64K) equals data throughput
of 128K.
Types of ports
Ethernet

 Ethernet port

8P8C

IEEE 1394 interface

 IEEE 1394 interface

Parallel

 Parallel port
 

IEEE 1284 36 pin female on a circuitboard

DB-25 connector commonly used for a parallel port

PS/2

 PS/2 connector

Mini-DIN connector

Serial

 Serial port
 

DE-9

USB

 USB

VGA

 VGA connector
 

D-sub 15

Digital Visual Interface

 Digital Visual Interface

DVI

SCSI

 SCSI
 

HDMI

 HDMI

Audiojack

 Phone connector

A port expander is computer hardware that allows more than one device to connect to a single
port on a computer. The Commodore VIC-20 used a port expander to allow more than one
cartridge to be connected to the single ROM cartridge port.
A port expander can be any device to which one existing or onboard port becomes two or more.
E.G. a KVM switch or a USB hub. One advantage is the ability to allow more devices of a
particular port type to be utilized at the same time, a major down side is that for example, a
3Gbit/s port would have a hub or expander installed and now be able to accommodate 6 devices,
but at a max of 3Gbit/s throughput bandwidth divided by said 6 devices, or however many are
plugged in and being used. A port expander is a device that allows one port on a computer
system to connect to multiple devices. There are two basic forms of port expander: internal and
external. An internal expander has a connection inside the computer, typically on the
motherboard, and the only part the user sees is the expansion plate containing multiple ports. An
external device plugs into the existing port and then has multiple places to connect. When not
part of a computer system, these devices are commonly known as splitters.

In the non-computer world, splitters are very common. Extension cords and power strips are in
nearly every modern home. Both of these devices will split a single outlet to multiple devices.
Cable splitters are also in many homes, allowing a single coaxial cable to provide cable
television to multiple sets. Some systems may even use an A/B box, a device that connects
multiple sets of devices to the same system, but switches between them by flipping between the
A or B mode.

These devices are all doing the same basic job that a port expander does. The expander will
connect to a single spot, but have multiple connections for devices. They go by several names,
such as switch, hub or splitter, but they all do the same thing. Expanders are made for nearly
every type of port, but the most common household versions are for universal serial bus (USB)
and Ethernet ports

Audio and video connector

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

RCA connectors are commonly used for home stereo & video equipment.
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article
by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and
removed. (August 2013)
Audio connectors and video connectors are electrical connectors (or optical connectors) for
carrying audio signal and video signal, of either analog or digital format. Analog A/V connectors
often use shielded cables to inhibit radio frequency interference (RFI) and noise.

Contents
 1 Audio only
o 1.1 Color codes
 2 Video only
o 2.1 Color codes
 3 Multiple signals
 4 See also
 5 References

Audio only
Audio connectors are electrical connectors designed and used for audio frequencies. They can
be analog or digital. Common audio connectors include:

 Single-conductor connectors:
o Banana connectors
o Five-way binding posts and banana plugs for loudspeakers
o Fahnestock clips on early breadboard radio receivers.

 Multi-conductor connectors:
o DB25 is for multi-track recording and other multi-channel audio, analog or digital
o DIN connectors and mini-DIN connectors
o Euroblock "European-style terminal block" or "Phoenix connectors", screw
terminal connectors used for audio and control signals
o RCA connectors, also known as phono connectors or phono plugs, used for
analog or digital audio or analog video
o Speakon connectors by Neutrik for loudspeakers
o Phone connector also known as tip-ring-sleeve (TRS) or tip-sleeve plug, phone
plug, jack plug, mini-jack, and mini-stereo. This includes the original 6.35mm
(quarter inch) jack and the more recent and standard 3.5mm (miniature or
1/8 inch) and 2.5mm (subminiature) jacks, both mono and stereo (balanced)
versions.[1]
o XLR connectors, also known as Cannon plugs, used for analog or digital balanced
audio with a balanced line

 Digital audio interfaces and interconnects:

o ADAT interface (DB25)
o AES/EBU interface, normally with XLR connector
o S/PDIF, either over electrical coaxial cable (with RCA jacks) or optical fiber
(TOSLINK).
  Color codes

white RCA/TS analogue audio, left channel;

black RCA/TS/TRS also mono (RCA/TS), stereo (TRS only),
grey RCA/TS/TRS or undefined/other
red RCA/TS analogue audio, right channel
orange RCA SPDIF digital audio