Chapter 1 Computer ports

Modem Port/ RJ-11 port

is used to connect dialup phone lines to computers. A modem port looks like a network port(RJ-45) but is not as wide.

HDMI

transmits digital video and audio

DisplayPort

transmits digital video and audio(not analog transmissions) and is slowly replacing VGA and DVI ports on personal computers

Thunderbolt Port

transmits video, data, and power on the same port and cable and is popular with apple computers. The port is shaped the same as the displayport and is compatible with displayport devices. up to six peripherals can use the same thunderbolt port

Audio Ports

A system usually has three or more round audio ports also called sound ports, for a microphone, audio in, audio out, and stereo audio out, these types of audio ports can transmit analog or digital data. if you have one audio cable to connect to a speaker or earbuds, plug it into the lime green sound port in the middle of three ports. Pink port is usually the microphone.

S/PDIF(Sony/Philips digital interface) sound port

Connects to an external home theater audio system, providing digital audio output and the best signal quality. S/PDIF ports always carry digital audio and can work with electrical or optical cable. when connected to a fiber optic cable the port is called an optical connector

VGA/DB-15/DE-15/HD-15

Is a 1 pin, D- shaped female port that transmits analog video. All monitors use vga ports.

DVI

Transmits digital or analog video. Three types of DVI Ports exist. *DVI-I dual link shown in the image*

PS/2 Port

also called mini-din port is a round 6 pin port use by a keyboard or mouse. The ports look alike but are not interchangeable. On a desktop, the purple port is for the keyboard and the green port is for the mouse. Newer computers usually use USB ports nowadays

Parallel Port/ LPT port

is a 25pin female port used by older printers. this older port has been replaced by USB ports

S- Video Port

is a 4 pin or 7 pin(shown in our text book) round video port sometimes used to connect to a television. the 4 pin port is missing the extra pins in the middle and is the more common type

Serial port (DB9 port)

is a 9 pin male port used on older computers it has been mostly replaced by USB. Occasionally you'll see a serial port on a router where the port is used to connect the router to a device a technician can use to monitor and manage the router

USB(universal Serial Bus)

is a multipurpose I/O(input/output) port that comes in several sizes and is used by many different devices, including printers, mice, keyboards, scanners, external hard drivers and flash drives. Some USB ports are faster than others. Hi=speed usb 2.o is faster than regular USB, and super speed USB 3.0 is faster than USB 2.0.

Network port/ Ethernet port/ RJ-45

is used by a network cable to connect to the wired network. Fast ethernet ports run at 100 mbps (mega bits per second), and gigabit ethernet runs at 1000 mbps or 1 Gps ( gigabits per second)

External SATA (eSATA) port

is used by an external hard drive or other device using the eSATA interface. eSATA is faster than FireWire.

FireWire Port (IEEE 1394 port)

is used for high speed multimedia devices such as digital camcorders