Week 5

Connections

A term used describe the physical location of where another peripheral is connected to the computer. For example, your monitor, mouse, and keyboard all must connect to a computer before they will be able to work. Below is a picture of the back of a standard desktop computer and each of its connections. Although your desktop computer's layout may be different, this diagram will give you a better understanding of where everything connects.

Below are related dictionary definitions for each of the connections shown above and some related terms. Clicking on each of the below links will allow you to get more information about these connections as well as related information.

Types of external connections

• AT
• Composite
• DVI
• eSATA
• Firewire (IEEE-1394)
• HDMI
• MIDI
• Modem (RJ-11 aka telephone)
• Network (RJ-45)
• PS/2 port
• RCA
• S-Video
• S/PDIF
• SCSI
• Serial port (RS-232)
• Sound Card (sound out or line out, sound in or line in, Microphone, and MIDI(Joystick))
• Parallel port
• USB
• VGA/SVGA

Internal connections

• ATA
• Expansion slots
• IDE/EIDE
• SATA
• SCSI

Other uses of this term

Connecting - Term used to describe the process of connecting a wire or other device to the computer.

Connections - Term used to describe the available connections on the computer.

Connector - Description of the end of the cable that connects to the computer. Centronics, DB, and DIN are good examples of types of connectors.

Connect, connected, and connecting - This term can also be used in software, for example, when a user gets onto the Internet they are connecting to another computer to establish a connection.