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What are all these plugs into my PC? USB, Parallel, Firewire, SD Memory cards, VGA, DVI, and more.
Devices of all sorts connect with an equally diverse set of cables, click her for our Photo Gallery or read on for their uses and limitations
USB cables are used to connect a wide variety of devices to your Desktop or Laptop PC. The older, slower, 1.1 standard is compatible with the new 2.0 standard. They use the same cables, but if the PC or device only supports the 1.1 standard you will notice the slower speed on more demanding devices (Digital Video Recorders, External Hard Drives, Memory Sticks). Some of the more common devices plugged into USB include:
Firewire fills a similar role to USB, however far fewer PCs and devices support it. It's speeds are comparable to USB 2.0.
Parallel cables were the standard for Printers, and some scanners. Their day is long gone by now, and few PCs or printers carry a connection for them.
Serial cables were the standard for all manner of devices, in about the same era as
Parallel cables. Everything from modems, to organizers, to scanners operated from them.
Video Cables come in two common varieties:
DVI (Digital Video Interface) is the new, up and coming, standard. Despite dramatic
technical differences in the two the average user sitting in front of their display will have a tough time
telling the difference.
SD Cards are used in a wide variety of cameras and portable voice recorders. They
offer very compact storage, even more so than is available with USB Memory sticks.
Network Cables come in a variety of names and types from Ethernet Cable, Patch Cable, Cat 5, Cat 5e, Cat 6, Cat 6e. These are not all the same, but unless you want to setup a gigabit network, which greatly increases the cost of all network devices, and does very little to improve practical speed, you do not need to worry which you get. The exception is cross-over cables, these appear the same, but will be labeled differently when purchased. They are used exclusively for router/hub to hub connections. For true geekiness you can also learn that the plug at the end of these is called RJ45. It is very easy to confuse these with phone cables, while larger they have the same retaining clip and general layout.
Residential Phone Cable gets used in almost every home phone. Even the new internet based phones frequently use this type of cable to support standard phones in their operation. Be wary though, modern PCs rarely have the old analog modems that support these, but do come with Network connections which will, albeit loosely allow you to plug these in. They will not work so be very carefull not to confuse these.
Need help? Contact us any time.
Our technical staff is available to assist you with all your hardware and software needs.
Tips and suggestions provided to you by Computer And Network Support, LLC
Last updated: 2/6/2012
Web page unique ID: 1006910
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