The Universal Serial Bus (USB) has been around for a number of years, and its creation has solved the problem of a lack of or incompatible connections available to link personal peripherals to a computer. Before USB was available, most devices were required to connect to a personal by using parallel and serial ports. These 2 ports have been around for 2 decades, serving effectively in linking personal peripherals to a computer. Unfortunately there was a problem: a standard personal has only 1 or 2 serial ports and 1 parallel port. This severely restricted the number of personal peripherals that could be attached to a single computer. Thus, if a user needed to connect a joystick, printer, and scanner, they might need the use of all port installed on their computer. Since these ports also need the personal to be powered off before any connections can be made or broken, switching peripherals was inconvenient. Even more problematic was that the data transmission rate between these devices and the personal was prohibitively slow for any but the oldest devices.
The 1st USB variation released is called USB 1.1, and transmits data at the rate of twelve Mbps. Later USB 2.0 was released, a product of the joint effort of leading personal and electronic companies like Microsoft, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Apple Computer, and Lucent. It lets data transfer speeds of up to 480 Mbps, 40 times faster its predecessor, while maintaining backward compatibility with USB 1.1 devices. This has generated significantly increased efficiency in terms of data uploading and downloading.
Modern personal peripherals use USB connectivity as the industry standard. Almost all newer device is built for USB 2.0, though devices with 1.1 USB are still widely in use. Rather than increase the complexity of connecting devices to a computer, both versions utilize the same type of USB cable. When a customer purchases a regular USB device the USB cable is normally included. The USB cable is the tool that links the device to the personal in order for it to function.
A regular USB cable has different plugs on all end, known as the A plug and the B plug. It is simple to differentiate between these plugs: the A plug is flat overall, and rectangular in shape, while the B plug is normally square shaped. The A plug is the end that is inserted to the USB port of the computer, while the B plug is the end reserved to connect to the various devices. There are some devices which use and need specialized B plugs, usually due to size constraints that prevent them from accommodating the more massive standard plug. Plugging in a USB cable is simple, as the plugs will not fit in the wrong slots.
USB cable receives and transmits data, which needs the conduction of electricity. Since numerous devices rely upon this cable for their power source as well, 2 extra wires are involved to supply this power. There are 2 wires (twisted) inside the USB cable for data lines, and 2 more wires (untwisted) for power. The 1st wire (red) carries five volts, while the other wire (black) is for the ground.
It is also possible purchase an individual USB cable. While they can be used to connect 2 computers, a special adapter is required to do this in order to prevent damage from occurring. The USB standard prohibits using A/A USB cable since if it is used to connect 2 personal both machines will attempt to supply the five volt power, causing an array of problems within their power supplies.
The USB and USB cable work hand in hand to make modern devices fact and functional. Each personal user ought take the essential steps to ensure this system is properly safeguarded and maintained so that it will provide a long life of convenience and speed.
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