What are the external ports on the Computer?

Posted on By Techuser

Overview

In this tutorial, we discuss the commonly used ports of computer. This tutorial is for the persons who want to know the basics. If you know it just skip this tutorial.

What is a Port in Computers?

A port is the connecting point where the external peripheral devices can connect to the Circuit Board. Ports are unique for each device like mouse, speaker, etc.

ports of computer
Fig1: Ports in a CPU
ports in laptop
Fig2: Ports in Laptop

In Fig1 and 2, you can see the basic and common ports in the Computer and Laptop.

List of ports in CPU

  1. USB Port
  2. Ethernet Port
  3. PS/2 ports
  4. Serial Port
  5. VGA Port
  6. Audio Ports
  7. LPT1 Port
  8. Game Port

The above-listed items are explained below.

USB Port

usb ports
Fig:3 USB Ports

USB stands for Universal Serial Bus. It is Standardised and maintaining by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF). The USB was first released in 1996 and it was designed by Compaq, DEC, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, and Nortel. The main functions of USB includes Power transmission, Data transmission.

Ethernet Port

ethernet port
Fig 4: Ethernet Port

Ethernet port is the special port for the Networking. Ethernet was commercially Introduced in 1980 and first Standardized in 1983 as IEEE 802.3. The name Internet starts from here. Through this port, 2 or more devices can connect as a network. An ethernet cable can connect to this port. Internet is our future and every devices like mobile phones, laptops, Computers and many other devices are connected with each other by using this internet. In future, we discussed about the working of an Internet. Read more….

PS/2 Port

ps/2 ports
Fig 5: PS/2 Ports

Fig.5 Shows the PS/2 Keyboard and PS/2 Mouse Ports and the colour is also the same in all computer because it was Standardized by IBM. These ports are only available only in IBM Personal System/2. This ports were first introduced in 1987. These two ports are Circular shaped and 6 Pin Ports.

Serial Port

serial port
Fig 6: Serial Port

Serial Ports are used for serial data transmission like one bit at a time. Nowadays it was rarely used because of the evolution of USB. Latest laptops are not availed with serial ports. Instead of that use USB to Serial converter. In olden days, Mice, Keyboards, Printers uses these ports but nowadays they are changed to USB and others.

VGA Port

vga port
Fig 7: VGA Port

VGA– Video Graphics Array is a three-row 15-pin DE-15 Connector. It is the output from the Graphics card. It is present in all Display devices like Monitors, Projectors and also present in CPU’s, Laptops.

Audio Ports

audio ports
Fig 8: Audio Ports

These are called as the Audio Ports in CPU. Here, there are 3 ports Pink colour called Microphone In, Green called Audio out and Blue called Line-In. Not all computers have an inbuilt Speakers and Microphones. These Jacks allows connecting the external Speakers, Microphone. Line-in port for both analog and digital voice recording.

LPT1 Port

lpt port
Fig 9: LPT 1 Port

LPT stands for Line Print Terminal and it is the parallel connection. It is present in PCs and the latest laptops do not have this port. It is mainly used for Printers. Generally, all computers contains only one Parallel Port. If want to connect two or more printers, the Port Splitters are available in the market.

Game Port

game port
Fig 10: Game Port

This Port is used to connect the Gamepads, Joysticks or other Gaming related connections are made. It is also called as Analog to Digital Port. This is present in olden computers and in some of the desktops. Laptops do not have this kind of ports.

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