Description of the ports and sockets on your computer
USB
These pictures show the USB connectors that attach to the computer.
USB stands for 'Universal Serial Bus' and is an increasingly popular method for attaching external devices to your computer.
This type of connection has been designed to be extremely flexible, allowing it to be used by almost any device that you want to connect to your computer. This includes (but is not limited to) keyboards, mice, modems, external Hard Disk drives, floppy disk drives, network adaptors, printers, scanners, digital cameras, music players etc.
There are three versions of USB: 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0, which is due to the developing technology.
USB 1.0 is the original and is the slowest of the three - USB 1.0 is very rare these days and is only found in fairly old computers. USB 1.1 is more common, but again is becoming fairly rare. All new computers come with USB 2.0 technology.
You can plug USB 1.1 devices into a USB 2.0 socket. Most of the time you will be OK plugging USB 2.0 devices into USB 1.1 sockets, although the device will not run at it's fastest speed and you may receive warnings telling you that it could perform faster.
The only slight drawback to USB is in fact its popularity. Most computers come with between 2 and 6 USB ports. However, it is easy to use all these! In this case there are cheap expansion units available that plug into one of your existing USB ports and provide a number (usually 4) of extra ones.
Top
Keyboard/Mouse
This type of connector is often referred to as a PS/2 connector (named after the model of IBM computer that first used it).
It is worth noting that both keyboards and mice are increasingly being manufactured with USB connectors so you may find that you do not have this connecting into your computer. Your computer may not even have sockets fo this type, relying solely on USB - this is especially true of modern laptop computers.
Also note that as both your keyboard and mouse may have an identical connector, you should be careful when plugging/unplugging and ensure that you connect the correct device to the correct socket. These are usually either colour coded or have small diagrams of a mouse and keyboard etched or painted into the case, next to the appropriate socket.
You will not cause any damage if you connect the keyboard into the mouse port (or the mouse into the keyboard port) - it just won't work!
Monitor (VGA)
This connector is specific to display devices and you will be unable to plug anything else into the monitor port. Neither will you be able to plug the monitor cable into the wrong port on your computer.
If you were to use other display equipment such as a projector this would use the same port. However, this is rarely relevant to PCs and usually applies more to laptop computers.
Parallel (LPT)
These 3 pictures show the connector at the end of the parallel cable and the port in the PC that this connects to.
In the past this was the only way you could connect a printer (and some other external devices such as scanners) to your computer. This is no longer the case as most new printers, scanners etc. are built to use USB.
Therefore, you may not have anything utilising this connection type.
These 3 pictures show the connector at the equipment end of a parallel cable, and the port in the printer/scanner etc. that this connects to.
Serial (COM)
Similar to LPT, this type of connection was the only way to connect external modems and other communication devices to a computer. However, most now utilise USB.
Nowadays, if you use a standard dialup modem to connect to a phone line it is probably internal i.e. it is built into the computer case, and so does not require a cable to connect it to your PC.
There is a good chance that you don't have any equipment using this connection type.
Modem (dialup)
This is how a dialup modem connects to your phone line.
The small connector at one end of the cable connects into the modem (which is probably at the back of your computer - pictures above). The larger connector plugs into a standard phone socket.
Network (RJ45)
The technical term for this type of connection is RJ45 (although you are unlikely to come across this term!).
It is also referred to as ethernet which is a term you are much more likely to hear.
Although you may not have a network set up, your PC may have a network card (a piece of hardware which allows your computer to communicate with other computers and network equipment).
You won't be using this connector if you don't have a network, or if your network is wireless and your computer connects to it wirelessly.
