Connect Hardware Parts To The Computer

To connect all the Hardware devices such as mouse, keyboard , Ethernet And so on the their respective ports. Computer ports are connecting points or interfaces with peripheral devices that work to communicate with peripheral devices that works to communicate with the computer. For making the connection, correct identification of these ports is necessary. These ports are usually located at the back side of the CPU( in case of desktop Computer).The following image shows the different connection ports for connecting mouse, keyboard, USB and so on.

                                            

Characteristics of Ports

A port has the following characteristics −

• External devices are connected to a computer using cables and ports.
• Ports are slots on the motherboard into which a cable of external device is plugged in.
• Examples of external devices attached via ports are the mouse, keyboard, monitor, microphone, speakers, etc.
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Serial Port

• Used for external modems and older computer mouse
• Two versions: 9 pin, 25 pin model
• Data travels at 115 kilobits per second

Parallel Port

• Used for scanners and printers
• Also called printer port
• 25 pin model
• IEEE 1284-compliant Centronics port

PS/2 Port

• Used for old computer keyboard and mouse
• Also called mouse port
• Most of the old computers provide two PS/2 port, each for the mouse and keyboard
• IEEE 1284-compliant Centronics port

USB Port

• It can connect all kinds of external USB devices such as external hard disk, printer, scanner, mouse, keyboard, etc.
• It was introduced in 1997.
• Most of the computers provide two USB ports as minimum.
• Data travels at 12 megabits per seconds.
• USB compliant devices can get power from a USB port.

VGA Port

• Connects monitor to a computer's video card.
• It has 15 holes.
• Similar to the serial port connector. However, serial port connector has pins, VGA port has holes.

Ethernet Port

• Connects to a network and high speed Internet.
• Connects the network cable to a computer.
• This port resides on an Ethernet Card.
• Data travels at 10 megabits to 1000 megabits per seconds depending upon the network bandwidth.

Game Port

• Connect a joystick to a PC.

In case of laptop computers, the keyboard is attached to the Moniter and other connection ports are located on the side of the laptop as shown in the following image.

                  

Connecting And Installing The Peripherals

The next step is to connect peripherals with the computer. Most printers, scanners, speakers and other peripheral devices are connected to the system via ports. The following figure show how to connect various peripheral devices to the system.