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| USB Ports |
the USB port, cables, and connectors. Now USB stands for universal serial bus. The USB is the standard that is used to connect peripherals to a computer and it's by far the most commonly used port. And the reason why it's so commonly used is because just like its name says, it's universal. The USB port is used to connect many different kinds of devices such as keyboards, mice, cameras, printers, scanners, external hard drives, flash drives, and they can even do networking and so much more. And it's also used to charge devices such as cell phones. And desktops and laptops will have several USB ports. Now the goal of the development of the USB was to make connecting devices to a computer much easier and this is done by first making one standard connector, therefore eliminating all the other different kinds of connectors. And second, by making connected devices easier to configure. And third, to provide fast transfer rates. The USB port is also hot swappable so devices can be connected or disconnected without turning off the computer or the device. The USB also self-configures itself which eliminates the need for any extensive configuration or no configuration at all and in addition to connecting to a computer certain smaller devices can be powered by the USB port without the need for additional power cables. The first USB version was released in 1996 starting with USB 1.0 with later versions released throughout the years. Now USB 1.0 had a transfer speed of 1.5 megabits per
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| USB Ports |
second. Then two years later in 1998, USB 1.1 was released and this had a transfer speed of 12 megabits per second. Then in the year 2000 USB 2.0 which is also known as high speed USB was released and this had a significant speed upgrade from USB 1.1 with speeds of 480 megabits per second. And then in 2008 USB 3.0 was released and this was known as super speed USB. USB 3.0 boasts speeds of 5 gigabits per second. The high speed increase was meant for transferring large amounts of data, such as backing up to external hard drives. Now subsequent releases of USB 3.0 was later released such as USB 3.1 which was released in 2013 and this is also known as super speed plus USB 3.1 had a transfer rate of 10 gigabits per second which is double of USB 3.0. Then soon after USB 3.2 was released which had a transfer rate of 20 gigabits per second. And in 2019 USB 4 was announced and this has a transfer rate of 40 gigabits per second. Now in addition to the different speeds of USB there is also different types of USB cables, connectors, and ports that it uses. Now USB cables will typically have two different connectors on each end of a cable. They will have either type a type B or type C, with the type A connector on one end and B and C type connectors on the other end. Now the type A connector is the host connector. This is
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| USB Ports |
a standard rectangular plug that you would plug into a computer and computers will have several type A USB ports. And even though this is the oldest connector type, it is still being used today Now on the other end of the USB cable you might find different types of connectors, such as the type B connector. The type B connector is a square design with beveled corners on top. Now this is also an older connector but it's still being used today . This type of connector is what you would plug into most printers today, but it's also used on other devices, such as external hard drives, USB microphones, and so on. And another version of a type B connector is the mini B. And just like its name says it's smaller than a type B connector. The mini-B is used on smaller devices, such as older smartphones and digital cameras. But it's being phased out in favor of even smaller connectors. And that brings us to the micro B USB connector. The micro B is approximately the same width as the mini B but it's about half the thickness, which enables it to plug into even smaller and thinner devices. It's made to connect to modern smartphones, modern digital cameras, MP3 players, and so on. The micro B came out in the year 2007 and its intent was to replace the mini B. There is also the USB 3.0 type B connector. The type B 3.0 has nine pins, compared to four pins in the previous versions. And this allows for higher transfer speeds and to supply power to a peripheral. Now to make room for the pins the type B 3.0 is larger and has a different shape than the 1 and 2.0 versions.So the type B 3.0 connector will not fit into devices that are made for USB 1 and 2.0 because of its larger size. There is also the USB 3.0 micro B, and this connector is just as thin as the 2.0 version but it's wider. It's basically a USB 2.0 micro B connector but with five additional pins that are stacked on the side of the connector, which doubles the width of a 2.0 micro B. This connector is used to carry data and supply power to devices such as modern external hard drives. and in 2014 USB C was developed and it was developed with the USB 3.1 standard. Now this is a thin connector with rounded edges and it has 24 pins and it easily plugs into a port because it doesn't have an up and down orientation. Today the USB C can be found on modern smartphones, external hard drives, tablets, and modern desktop and laptop computers. In fact it's even used to charge larger devices such as modern laptops. Now as i stated earlier, typically USB cables will have different connectors on each end, with the type A at one end and a different type on the other. However a standard USB type C cable will have the same connector on each end because the type C can be connected to a host, meaning a computer at one end and connected to another device on the other end. So this makes a type C cable convenient because you don't have to figure out which end goes where, because it doesn't matter, both ends are the same. But even though that's the typical USB type (C)
cable, you will still find USB cables with type A at one end and type C on the other end Now USB ports are color coded which determines what version they are. Now as i mentioned earlier a computer will have several USB ports and will typically have different versions and that is determined by the computer's motherboard. So here is an example of the rear input output panel of a desktop motherboard and as you can see it has several USB ports with different colors. Now USB 1.0 and 1.1 ports will have a white color. Now these ports are old, slow, and outdated and you won't find them on modern motherboards anymore. USB 2.0 ports will have a black color and even though they came out in a year 2000, you will still find them on motherboards today. USB 3.0 ports will have a blue color. USB 3.1 will have a teal color. And USB 3.2 ports are red. Now there are also ports that are called sleep and charge ports and this means that they will still supply power even if the computer goes into sleep mode, which means you can continually charge a device, such as a cell phone, even if the computer goes to sleep, which is convenient. And these ports will either have a red, orange, or yellow color. So
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