INTRODUCTION AND IDENTIFICATION OF VARIOUS

CABLE, PORTS AND CONNECTORS

• There are various type of connectors and interfaces which are used to connect the outer peripheral as well as internal hardware components of a computer.

USB Ports • Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a serial bus standard

to interface devices to a host computer.

• USB allows many peripherals to be connected using a single standardized interface socket and to improve plug 'n' play capabilities by allowing hot swapping, that is, by allowing devices to be connected and disconnected without rebooting the computer or turning off the device.

USB Ports• Other convenient features include providing power

to low-consumption devices without the need for an external power supply and allowing many devices to be used without requiring manufacturer specific, individual device drivers to be installed.

• USB interface allows 127 devices to be connected per host controller and maximum transfer speed is 480 Mbit/s.

Different types of USB connectors from left to right• 8-pin AGOX connector

• Mini-B plug• B-type plug

• A-type receptacle• A-type plug

IEEE 1394• The IEEE 1394 interface is a serial bus

interface standard for high-speed communications

• Isochronous real-time data transfer, frequently used by personal computers, as well as in digital audio, digital video applications.

• The interface is also known by the brand name of FireWire (Apple Inc.).

circuit and 6-circuit FireWire 400 alpha connectors and a pair of 6-circuit alpha

connectors on the edge of an expansion card

• IEEE 1394 has been adopted as the High Definition Audio-Video Network Alliance (HANA) standard connection interface for A/V (audio/visual) component communication and control.

• It is the primary transfer mechanism for almost all high end professional audio and video equipment.

• It allows 63 devices to be connected with transfer speed 400-3200 Mbit/s and are hot pluggable.

RS-232

• RS-232 (Recommended Standard 232) is a standard for serial binary data signals connecting between a DTE (Data Terminal Equipment) and a DCE (Data Circuit-terminating Equipment).

• It is commonly used in computer serial ports.

Interface cable used between DTE and DCE

• RS 232 interface permits maximum cable length of 15 mtrs.

• Most standard serial ports have a maximum transfer rate of 115 Kbps , high speed serial ports, such as Enhanced Serial Port (ESP) and Super Enhanced Serial Port (Super ESP)

• Can reach data transfer rates of 460 Kbps. • The standard recommended but did not make

mandatory the D-subminiature 25 pin connector. • The voltage swing is -12V to +12 volts for

Mark/Space (or Logic ‘1’ and logic ‘0’).

the pin specification for DBD 25 and DB 9 connector

S/PDIF

• The name stands for Sony/Philips Digital Interconnect Format (more commonly known as Sony Philips Digital Interface).

• S/PDIF is a standard audio transfer file format.

• It allows the transfer of audio from one file to another without the conversion to and from an analog format, which could degrade the signal quality.

• The most common connector used with an S/PDIF interface is the RCA connector or TOSLINK with 75Ω coaxial cable.

• An optical connector is also sometimes used.

• A common use for the S/PDIF interface is to carry compressed digital audio from the output of a DVD player to a home theater receiver that supports Dolby Digital or DTS surround sound.

• Another common use is to carry uncompressed digital audio from a CD player to a receiver.

TOSLINK connector

RCA connectors

Digital Visual Interface (DVI)• The Digital Visual Interface (DVI) is a video

interface standard designed to maximize the visual quality of digital display devices such as flat panel LCD computer displays and digital projectors.

• It is a 29 pin interface for video which supports the resolution WUXGA 1920×1200, WQXGA (2560 × 1600) and Analog RGB video.

DVI connector

Assignment of 29 pins of DVI

S-Video• Separate Video,• More commonly known as S-Video, • Also known as Y/C, • Analog video signal(NTSC, PAL or SECAM)• Carries the video data as two separate signals, lumen

(luminance) and chroma (colour). • This differs from composite video which carries

picture information as a single lower-quality signal, and component video which carries picture information as three separate higher-quality signals.

• S-Video carries standard definition video, but does not carry audio on the same cable.

• The 4-pin mini-DIN connector is the most common of several S-Video connector types.

• Other S-Video connector variants

include 7-pin locking (shown on left) connectors used on many professional S-VHS machines, and dual "Y" and "C" BNC connectors, often used for S-Video patch bays.

7 pin S-video female socket

4 pin S-video male-female connectors

BNC

• The BNC (Bayonet Neill Concelman) connector is a very common type of RF connector used for terminating coaxial cable.

• The BNC connector is used for RF signal connections, for analog and Serial Digital Interface video signals, amateur radio antenna connections, aviation electronics (avionics) and many other types of electronic test equipment.

• It is an alternative to the RCA connector when used for composite video on commercial video devices.

• BNC connectors were commonly used on 10base2 thin Ethernet networks, both on cable interconnections and network cards, though these have largely been replaced by newer Ethernet devices whose wiring does not use coaxial cable.

BNC plug

RJ 11 & 45 RJ-11 is a physical interface of 2 pair (4

wire) ,often used for terminating telephone wires. It is probably the most familiar of the

registered jacks, being used for single line POTS telephone jacks in most homes across the world..

RJ-45 is the standard connector utilized on 4-pair (8-wire) UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) cable.

The RJ-45 connector is the standard connector for Ethernet, ISDN, T1, and modern digital telephone systems. RJ stands for "Registered Jack".

RJ-45 connectors RJ-11 connectors

COMPOSITE VIDEO• Composite video is the most common type of video

interface for sending or receiving an analog video signal to or from a television set.

• A Composite video interface might connect a VHS tape player, DVD player or game console to a television.

• Composite video is a yellow, female RCA jack, normally found next to two audio jacks, one red, the other white.

• The three jacks together provide an interface for audiovisual connections.

• The red RCA jack connects the right channel of a stereo system, while the white RCA jack connects the left.

• The yellow Composite video jack rounds out the set.

RCA connector

MIDI

• MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)• An industry-standard protocol defined in 1982 • Enables electronic musical instruments such as

keyboard controllers, computers, and other electronic equipment to communicate, control, and synchronize with each other.

• MIDI allows computers, synthesizers, MIDI controllers, sound cards, samplers and drum machines to control one another, and to exchange system data.

• MIDI uses the 15 pin DB 15 connector provided on the motherboard.

VGA

• A VGA connector is a three-row 15 pin DE-15. • The common 15-pin VGA connector found on most

video cards, computer monitors, high definition televisions which support VGA connections, and other devices, is almost universally called "HD-15".

• HD stands for "high-density", which distinguishes it from connectors having the same form factor but only 2 rows of pins.

• "VGA connectors" and their associated cabling are always used solely to carry analog component RGBHV (red - green - blue - horizontal sync - vertical sync) video signals along with digital clock and data.

VGA Connector

LINE IN

• Line in is the jack provided at rear panel of the motherboard for audio in from auxiliary device to be recorded in the computer.

Line in and MIDI port

3.5 mm JACK AND CONNECTOR• It is the most common jack used for connection of

audio devices headphone or the speakers to a computer.

• It may either be mono or stereo having two and three pins respectively.

• It is the miniaturized version of original 6.3 mm TRS (tip, ring, sleeve) connector.

• Widely used for audio and known as audio jack, phone plug, jack plug, stereo plug, mini-jack, or mini-stereo.

•

ATX POWER CONNECTOR• A special type of connector that allows the

motherboard to be connected to the power supply to receive power is known as power connectors.

• Typically, there are either one or two plugs that connect into this motherboard connector.

• If there are two 6-pins connectors, they are usually labeled P8 and P9 (AT) and the other type is 20-pins ATX connector.

ATX power connectors on the motherboard

IDE CONNECTORS• IDE connectors are 40 pin connector found on

motherboard for connection of IDE drives such as CD-ROM and Hard disk drive.

• Generally there are 2 IDE connectors marked as IDE 1 and IDE 2

• Each one of them can connect two devices one as master asand another as slave.

• A standard IDE cable is a flat ribbon cable, normally gray in color, with a (usually red) stripe running down the edge.

• The cable has 40 wire connectors in it, and usually has three identical female connectors: one is intended for the IDE controller (or motherboard header for PCs) and the other two are for the master and slave devices on the interface.

the 40 pin IDE cable with three connectors

IDE 1 and IDE 2 sockets on the motherboard.

ADH Connector

• ADH stands for Azalia Digital Header, those connectors are used in the motherboard for high definition audio output.

ADH Connector

FDD Connector

• It is a 34 pin socket provided on the motherboard for interfacing Floppy Disk Drive

• The ribbon cable running from motherboard to the FDD has a twist in it towards the FDD side to distinguish it easily from an IDE connector.

: FDD ribbon cable

COM PORT• It is the serial port • They are easily identified because they have either

a DB-9 male or DB-25 male port. • Standard serial ports have a maximum data

transmission speed of 115 Kbps • Maximum cable length of 50 feet.• Some PC may also have two COM ports marked as

COM 1 and COM 2. • This port is used to connect any serial devices such

as MODEM, serial mouse or game consoles etc.

DB9 connector of a COM port.

Keyboard and Mouse Connectors

• The most important input device for a PC is the keyboard.

• All the PC motherboards contain a connector that allows a keyboard to be connected directly to the motherboard through the case.

• There are two main types of keyboard connector: AT and PS/2.

• The AT connector is round, about ½” in diameter, and has a 5 sockets in the DIN-5 configuration.

• AT connectors were found in older version and not used in new versions.

Keyboard and Mouse Connectors

• The second style, the PS/2 connector, is smaller and is more ubiquitous than the AT connector.

• Most new PCs today contain a PS/2 keyboard connector on the motherboard.

• Another input device mouse is also connected in PS/2 interface.

• The difference between the PS/2 connectors of KB and Mouse is in their colour, the KB connector comes in purple colour whereas that of mouse is green in colour.

PS/2 sockets for Keyboard and mouse

Various Types of Cables

• The most common form of HDD cable is 40 Pin ID E cable having 40 wires.

• A standard IDE cable is a flat ribbon cable, normally gray in color, with a (usually red) stripe running down the edge.

• The cable has 40 wire connectors in it, and usually has three identical female connectors: one is intended for the IDE controller (or motherboard header for PCs) and the other two are for the master and slave devices on the interface.

HDD AND FDD CAB L E

34 wire FDD cable, 80 wire 40 pin cable and 40 wire cable for HDD respectively from the top

• Another standard is 80 wire 40 pin ID E cable

• Compatible with 40 wire ID E cables

• The extra 40 wires are used to reduce the interference

• F or connection of FDD 34 wires FDD cable is used

• The FDD cable has a twist towards the FDD side

SCSI cable• This cable is used to connect the SCSI device to the

SCSI controller. • This cable is commonly a wide flat cable however

may also be a rounded cable. • SCSI cables often have multiple connections on a

single cable allowing multiple devices to connect to a single controller.

• SCSI has dozens of different types of cables. • Internal SCSI cables are usually ribbon cables that

have multiple 68 pin or 50 pin connectors.

SCSI cable

• External cables are shielded and only have connectors on the ends.

• SCSI is different from most PC interfaces in that it supports both internal and external devices.

• These use drastically different types of cabling, because the environment inside the PC is very different from that outside it.

• Both internal and external cables come in a variety of styles themselves. Some examples are: Twisted Pair Wiring, Shielding, and Layered Structure.

external SCSI cable.

Smart cable• Also known as an intelligent cable

• Contains built-in circuitry to detect the type of transmission

• Able to convert it to another type of

transmission.

• Smart cables may also be a type of cable that converts from one standard into another.

Smart cable

USB CABLE• These USB cables may be used for USB mouse or keyboard

cables, USB printers or any other standard USB devices. • The maximum speed of USB 2.0 standard is 480 Mbps.

RCA cable• The RCA jack uses 75 Ω coaxial cable which are used to

transfer Composite video along with stereo audio in three RCA cables.

• It is also used in S/PDIF interface, component video etc. • The name "RCA" derives from the Radio Corporation of

America, which introduced the design by the early 1940s to allow mono phonograph players to be connected to amplifiers.

SATA• SATA hard-drive technology is based on serial data processing• Which means that information traveling from the drive to the

data bus is clocked and sent in an orderly fashion. • The SATA cables have 6 pin connectors at both ends • There may be 2, 4 or even more SATA connectors provided on

the motherboard and each cable connects to a HDD. • Connecting more than one HDD by SATA does not require any

jumper setting for master and slave configuration. • SATA hard drives use thin ribbon cables which are a pleasure

to work with. • The slender cables have "clip on" connectors, which are

simple to work with, even in the most cramped corners of the PC case.

Position of SATA cable and power cable in SATA HDD

SATA cable (red) connected to a HDD

PATA

• AT Attachment (ATA) and AT Attachment Packet Interface (ATAPI) are interface standards for the connection of storage devices such as hard disks, solid-state drives, and CD- R O M drives in computers.

• The current ATA/ATAPI standard is the result

of a long history of incremental technical development.

PATA• ATA/ATAPI is an evolution of the AT Attachment

Interface, which was itself evolved in several stages from Western Digital's original Integrated Drive Electronics interface.

• As a result, many near-synonyms for ATA/ATAPI and its previous incarnations e x ist, including abbreviations such as IDE which are still in common informal use.

• With the market introduction of Serial ATA in 200 3, the original ATA was retroactively renamed Parallel ATA (PATA).

HD M I •High-Definition Multimedia

Interface • Compact audio/video interface for transmitting

uncompressed digital data. It represents a digital alternative to consumer analog standards such as Radio Frequency (RF) coaxial cable, composite video, S-Video, component video, and VGA.

• HDMI connects digital audio/video sources such as set-top boxes, Blu-ray Disc players, personal computers (PCs), video game consoles, and AV receivers to compatible digital audio devices, computer monitors, and digital televisions.

HD M I • HDMI supports, on a single cable, any T V or PC

video format, including standard, enhanced, and high-definition video, up to 8 channels of digital audio, and the Consumer Electronics Control signal.

• A Digital Visual Interface (D V I ) signal is electrically compatible with an HDMI video signal; no signal conversion needs to take place when an adapter is used, and consequently no loss in video quality occurs.

HDMI Female socket

HDMI Female socket

• HDMI devices are manufactured to adhere to various versions of the specification, where each version is given a number such as 1.0, 1.2, or 1.3a.

• Each subsequent version of the specification uses the same kind of cable but increases the bandwidth and/or capabilities of what can be transmitted over the cable.

• For example the previous maximum pixel clock rate of HDMI interface was 165 MHz which was sufficient for supporting WUXGA (1920x1200) at 60 Hz. HDMI 1.3 increased that to 340 MHz which allows for higher resolution, such as WQXGA (2560x1600), across a single digital link.

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