Connectors & Cables in Computer System
Connectors & Cables in Computer System
Connectors & Cables in Computer System – There are different types of cables and connectors incorporated inside the computer or personal computers. Each of the Connectors and cables exhibits unique properties to be used inside the computer. There are two types of Connectors – Internal and External Connectors.
What are Internal Connectors?
Internal Connectors: The physical components which are used to connect devices together inside the computer for providing power and a path for data. There are many internal components we see inside the computer, these are – Motherboard Power Connectors, 40 and 80 pin IDE cables, SATA (Serial ATA) cables, Power connectors for Drives, 34 pin Floppy Cables and others. We will discuss each of these connectors below.
- Motherboard Power Connector – This connector is designed to supply electricity from power supply units to motherboard of the computer.
- 40 and 80 pin IDE Cables – This cable is designed and used by hard drive and Optical drive to transfer data to and from the motherboard of the computer. This is also known as parallel ATA (PATA).
- SATA (Serial ATA) Cables – This cable is used by most hard drives and optical drives to transfer data to and from the motherboard. They are smaller and thinner than SATA ribbon cables.
- Power Connectors for Drives – This connector is a four wire power connections used by hard drives, Optical drives, high end video cards etc.
- 34 pin floppy Cables – This is used to connect floppy drives to floppy disk connectors on the motherboard/ main board.
Connectors & Cables in Computer System is continued…
What are External Connectors?
External Connectors:
- AT keyboard connector
This connector is used to connect keyboard to PCs. It consists of 5 pin inside the connector which acts as connection line for keyboard signal and power. The 5-pin connector was used first on IBM PC in 1981 and second-generation IBM PC on 1984.
- PS/2 Connectors
The PS/2 Connector is a 6-pin mini-DIN connector used for connecting keyboard and mouse to a computer system. The six pins exhibits different work like pin 1 is responsible for data, Pin 3 is ground, Pin 4 for VCC (Voltage), Pin 5 – clock and Pin 2 & 6 – Not Connected.
- Parallel Port (DB 25)
Parallel Port
A parallel port is a type of interface embedded on computer for connecting peripherals like Printers. There are 25 pins in this parallel port. The parallel port is useful while sending multiple data at a time.
- Serial Port (DB-9)
DB9 connector is a common connector used on PCs and servers. DB9 connectors are designed to work with the EIA/TIA 232 serial interface standard. DB9 connectors are commonly used in serial peripheral devices like keyboards, mice, joysticks and others.
- Universal Serial Bus (USB)
USB Connector
USB is a common type of Connector which is helpful for connecting various types of devices like printers, scanners, keyboards, mice, flash drives, external hard drives, joysticks, cameras and others. It is used for short distance digital data communications between devices. There are four pins available in USB connectors like Pin 1 – Voltage (5 volt), Pin 2 – Data (-), Pin 3 – Data (+) and Pin 4 – Ground.
- Fire Wire (IEEE 1394) Port
IEEE 1394 Port is an interface standard of type serial bus for high-speed communications and real-time data transfer between devices. It was developed by Apple in 1990s. It is also called as Fire Wire.
- RJ-11 Connectors
The RJ-11 Connector is also called as Registered Jack-11. The connector is commonly used in telephones and Modems. It is also known as Modem Port, Phone Connector, Phone Jack or Phone line connector. It consists of four or six wire connections used with our Network Cards.
- RJ 45 Connectors
This connector is abbreviated as Registered Jack 45 with 8 pin connections used for Ethernet network adapters, resembling RJ 11 connector generally used in telephone lines. This connector is generally connected to the end of Cat5 Cable which is connected b/w a computer network card and router.
This is a short passage regarding Connectors & Cables in Computer System, in our next chapter we will discuss other topics.