COMPUTER CONNECTOR TYPES - Transfers data one bot at a time over a single

wire
• As personal computer have evolved many
connection technologies have been
implemented to provide communication
among computer components
PORTS
- Used to connect devices to a computer
- Transport electric signals
- Can be wired socket plug or wireless Parallel Ports and connectors
- Vary in shape, color no. of pins, what is
- Transfers data eight or more bits at a time
carries, port’s location
over eight or more wires

Power Connections and Connectors

1. Main power connector – 20 pin or 24 pin;
GENDERS used to supply power to a motherboard

- Computer jacks are most often the female

connectors and the cable plug is usually
male
PORT SHAPES 2. Berg – Supply power to a floppy disk-
drives.
- Can be round, rectangular, square and
oblong
3. Molex – Used to power PATA drives ,optical
drives and SCSI drives

4. SATA Power Connector – power SATA

drives

USB Ports and Connectors

CONNECTIONS 1. USB Standards
- Physical access points that enable a • USB 2.0
computer to communicate • USB 3.0
• USB cables have maximum distance before
PS/2 Ports and connectors
performance suffers
- Round 6 – pin connector
Firewire ports and connectors
- Older mouse and keyboards
- Provides high speed interface for peripheral
device
- Can support up to 63 devices on one firewire
port

Serial Ports and connectors

 Other cables:
1. Video Array Graphics (VGA)
- Common in LCD monitors
- Mini VGA on smaller devices such as laptop

Firewire terminology
- Implemented on Mac Systems 2. Digital Video Interface (DVI)
- Keep data in digital form from computer to
Firewire vs USB display
- Firewire predated USB and was faster than • DVI – analog (DVI-A) – analog-
the original USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 only format
- Firewire uses much less CPU power and • DVI – digital (DVI-D) – digital-only
provides more power over a single cable format
connection
- Firewire’s distance are greater than USB’s
Thunderbolt ports and connectors
3. High-Definition Multimedia Interface
- Input and output connections developed by
(HDMI)
apple and intel
- First industry-supported uncompressed, all
Audio ports and connectors digital audio/video interface
- Can play 4k video
1. Single core/ shielded cable
- single core is positive and shield is the
negative
- used for unbalanced audio signals
4. Mini High-Definition Multimedia
Interface (Mini HDMI)
- Used with portable devices
2. One pair/Shielded cable
- One wire positive and other is negative
- Used to balance audio signals
5. Separate Video (S-Video)
- Analog video signal that carries the video
data as two separate signals (brightness and
3. TS and TRS Connections color)
- Most common connector in unbalance audio
cable
- Typically used with high-end audio
6. Component/RGB
equipment
- Analog video signal that is transmitted or
stored as two or more separate signals

4. 3-pin XLR Connector

- Standard connector for balanced audio
• Pin 1: Shield (ground)
7. Composite Video
• Pin 2: Positive (hot)
- Format of an analog (picture only) signal
• Pin 3: Negative (cold)
before it is combined with a sound signal

8. Coaxial
- Copper cable that features a central
conducting copper one surrounded by an
insulator or braided foil shielding
9. Display Port
- Digital display standard that aims to replace
DVI and VGA standards
- Supports high quality gaming and other
applications that use high-end graphics

10. Radio Corporation of America (RCA)

- Used to carry audio and video transmission
to and from a variety of devices
• Yellow for various composite
connections
• Red for the right channel of the audio
transmission
• White or black for the left channel of
audio transmission

ESATA Connections
- External interface for SATA connections
- Provides a connections for external storage
devices

RJ-45 Ports and Connectors

- Used on a twisted pair cable