PORTS WORLD
A Computer Port is an interface or a point of connection
between the computer and its peripheral devices. Some of the common peripherals
are mouse, keyboard, monitor or display unit, printer, speaker, flash drive
etc.
The main function of a
computer port is to act as a point of attachment, where the cable from the
peripheral can be plugged in and allows data to flow from and to the device.
In Computers, communication ports can be divided into two types based on the type or protocol used for communication. They are Serial Ports and Parallel Ports.
👉A serial port is an
interface through which peripherals can be connected using a serial protocol
which involves the transmission of data one bit at a time over a single
communication line. The most common type of serial port is a D-Subminiature or
a D-sub connector that carry RS-232 signals.
👉A parallel port, on the
other hand, is an interface through which the communication between a computer
and its peripheral device is in a parallel manner i.e. data is transferred in
or out in parallel using more than one communication line or wire. Printer port
is an example of parallel port.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF PORTS WITH THEIR APPLICATION
👉PS/2
👉Serial Port
DB-25
DE-9 or RS-232 or COM
Port
👉Parallel Port or
Centronics 36 Pin Port
👉Audio Ports
Surround Sound
Connectors or 3.5 mm TRS Connector
👉S/PDIF / TOSLINK
👉Video Ports
VGA Port
👉Digital Video Interface
(DVI)
Mini-DVI
Micro-DVI
👉Display Port
👉RCA Connector
👉Component Video
👉S-Video
👉HDMI
👉USB
USB Type A
USB Type C
👉RJ-45
👉RJ-11
👉e-SATA
@@@Serial port & Parallel ports are discussed above here we started from Centronics 36 Pin Port#####
Centronics 36 Pin Port
The Centronics port is a 36 pin port that was developed as an
interface for printers and scanners and hence a parallel port is also called as
a Centronics port.
Before the wide use of
USB ports, parallel ports are very common in printers. The Centronics port was
later replaced by DB-25 port with parallel interface.
PS/2 Port
PS/2 connector is developed by IBM for connecting mouse and keyboard. It was introduced with IBM’s Personal Systems/2 series of computers and hence the name PS/2 connector. PS/2 connectors are color coded as purple for keyboard and green for mouse.
PS/2 is a 6-pin DIN
connector. The pin out diagram of a PS/2 female connector is shown below.
Audio Ports
Audio ports are used to
connect speakers or other audio output devices with the computer. The audio
signals can be either analogue or digital and depending on that the port and
its corresponding connector differ.
Surround Sound Connectors or 3.5 mm TRS Connector
It is the most commonly
found audio port that can be used to connect stereo headphones or surround
sound channels. A 6 connector system is included on majority of computers for
audio out as well as a microphone connection.
The 6 connectors are color coded as Blue, Lime, Pink, Orange, Black and Grey. These 6 connectors can be used for a surround sound configuration of up to 8 channels.
S/PDIF / TOSLINK
The Sony/Phillips
Digital Interface Format (S/PDIF) is an audio interconnect used in home media.
It supports digital audio and can be transmitted using a coaxial RCA Audio
cable or an optical fiber TOSLINK connector.
Most computers home
entertainment systems are equipped with S/PDIF over TOSLINK. TOSLINK (Toshiba
Link) is most frequently used digital audio port that can support 7.1 channel
surround sound with just one cable. In the following image, the port on the right
is an S/PDIF port.
Video Ports
VGA Port
VGA port is found in
many computers, projectors, video cards and High Definition TVs. It is a D-sub
connector consisting of 15 pins in 3 rows. The connector is called as DE-15.
VGA port is the main
interface between computers and older CRT monitors. Even the modern LCD and LED
monitors support VGA ports but the picture quality is reduced. VGA carries
analogue video signals up to a resolution of 648X480.
With the increase in use of digital video, VGA ports are gradually being replaced by HDMI and Display Ports. Some laptops are equipped with on-board VGA ports in order to connect to external monitors or projectors. The pin out of a VGA port is shown below.
DVI is a high speed
digital interface between a display controller like a computer and a display
device like a monitor. It was developed with an aim of transmitting lossless
digital video signals and replace the analogue VGA technology.
There are three types
of DVI connectors based on the signals it can carry: DVI-I, DVI-D and DVI-A.
DVI-I is a DVI port with integrated analogue and digital signals. DVI-D
supports only digital signals and DVI-A supports only analogue signals.
The digital signals can
be either single link or dual link where a single link supports a digital
signal up to 1920X1080 resolution and a dual link supports a digital signal up
to 2560X1600 resolution. The following image compares the structures of DVI-I,
DVI-D and DVI-A types along with the pinouts.
Mini-DVI
Mini-DVI port is
developed by Apple as an alternative to Mini-VGA port and is physically similar
to one. It is smaller than a regular DVI port.
It is a 32 pin port and
is capable of transmitting DVI, composite, S-Video and VGA signals with
respective adapters. The following image shows a Mini-DVI port and its
compatible cable.
Micro-DVI
Micro-DVI port, as the
name suggests is physically smaller than Mini-DVI and is capable of transmitting
only digital signals.
This port can be
connected to external devices with DVI and VGA interfaces and respective
adapters are required. In the following image, a Micro-DVI port can be seen
adjacent to headphone and USB ports.
Display Port
Display Port is a
digital display interface with optional multiple channel audio and other forms
of data. Display Port is developed with an aim of replacing VGA and DVI ports
as the main interface between a computer and monitor.
The latest version
DisplayPort 1.3 can handle a resolution up to 7680 X 4320.
The Display Port has a 20 pin connector, which is a very less number when compared to DVI port and offers better resolution. The pin out diagram of a Display Port is shown below.
RCA Connector
RCA Connector can carry
composite video and stereo audio signals over three cables. Composite video
transmits analogue video signals and the connector is as yellow colored RCA
connector.
The video signals are
transmitted over a single channel along with the line and frame synchronization
pulses at a maximum resolution of 576i (standard resolution).
The red and white
connectors are used for stereo audio signals (red for right channel and white
for left channel).
Component Video
Component Video is an
interface where the video signals are split into more than two channels and the
quality of the video signal is better that Composite video.
Like composite video,
component video transmits only video signals and two separate connectors must
be used for stereo audio. Component video port can transmit both analogue and
digital video signals.
The ports of the
commonly found Component video uses 3 connectors and are color coded as Green,
Blue and Red.
S-Video
S-Video or Separate
Video connector is used for transmitting only video signals. The picture
quality is better than that of Composite video but has a lesser resolution than
Component video.
The S-Video port is
generally black in color and is present on all TVs and most computers. S-Video
port looks like a PS/2 port but consists of only 4 pins.
Out of the 4 pins, one
pin is used to carry the intensity signals (black and white) and other pin is
used to carry color signals. Both these pins have their respective ground pins.
The pinout diagram of an S-Video port is shown below.
HDMI
HDMI is an abbreviation
of High Definition Media Interface. HDMI is a digital interface to connect High
Definition and Ultra High Definition devices like Computer monitors, HDTVs,
Blu-Ray players, gaming consoles, High Definition Cameras etc.
HDMI can be used to
carry uncompressed video and compressed or uncompressed audio signals. The HDMI
port of type A is shown below.
The HDMI connector
consists of 19 pins and the latest version of HDMI i.e. HDMI 2.0 can carry
digital video signal up to a resolution of 4096×2160 and 32 audio channels. The
pinout diagram of an HDMI port is as follows.
USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) replaced
serial ports, parallel ports, PS/2 connectors, game ports and power chargers
for portable devices.
USB port can be used to transfer data,
act as an interface for peripherals and even act as power supply for devices
connected to it. There are three kinds of USB ports: Type A, Type B or mini USB
and Micro USB.
USB Type A
USB Type-A port is a 4 pin connector.
There are different versions of Type – A USB ports: USB 1.1, USB 2.0 and USB
3.0. USB 3.0 is the common standard and supports a data rate of 400MBps.
USB 3.1 is also released and supports a
data rate up to 10Gbps. The USB 2.0 is Black color coded and USB 3.0 is Blue.
The following image shows USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports.
The pinout diagram of
USB Type – A port is shown below. The pinout is common to all standards of Type
– A.
USB Type C
USB Type – C is the
latest specification of the USB and is a reversible connector. USB Type – C is
supposed to replace Types A and B and is considered future proof.
The port of USB Type –
C consists of 24 pins. The pinout diagram of USB Type – C is shown below. USB
Type – C can handle a current of 3A.
This feature of
handling high current is used in the latest Fast Charging Technology where a
Smart Phone’s battery will reach its full charge is very less time.
RJ-45
Ethernet is a
networking technology that is used to connect your computer to Internet and
communicate with other computers or networking devices.
The interface that is
used for computer networking and telecommunications is known as Registered Jack
(RJ) and RJ – 45 port in particular is used for Ethernet over cable. RJ-45
connector is an 8 pin – 8 contact (8P – 8C) type modular connector.
The latest Ethernet
technology is called Gigabit Ethernet and supports a data transfer rate of over
10Gigabits per second. The Ethernet or a LAN port with 8P – 8C type connector
along with the male RJ-45 cable is shown below.
The un-keyed 8P – 8C
modular connector is generally referred to the Ethernet RJ-45. Often, RJ-45
ports are equipped with two LEDs for indicating transmission and packet
detection.
As mentioned earlier,
an Ethernet RJ-45 port has 8 pins and the following picture depicts the pinout
of one.
RJ-11
RJ-11 is another type
of Registered Jack that is used as an interface for telephone, modem or ADSL
connections. Even though computers are almost never equipped with an RJ-11
port, they are the main interface in all telecommunication networks.
RJ-45 and RJ11 ports
look alike but RJ-11 is a smaller port and uses a 6 point – 4 contact (6P – 4C)
connector even though a 6 point – 2 contact (6P – 2C) is sufficient. The
following is a picture of an RJ-11 port and its compatible connector.
The following image can
be used to compare RJ-45 and RJ-11 ports.
e-SATA
e-SATA is an external
Serial AT Attachment connector that is used as an interface for connecting
external mass storage devices. Modern e-SATA connector are called e-SATA and
stands for Power e-SATA ports.
They are hybrid ports
capable of supporting both e-SATA and USB. Neither the SATA organization nor
the USB organization has officially approved the e-SATA port and must be used
at user’s risk.
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