USB

toc A Universal Serial Bus, a.k.a USB, is a connector that lets you attach hardware to your computer (things from printers, to mice, additional RAM etc…). It makes the installation of device drivers easy and quick to install because the operating system supports the USB. It is as fast as 12Mbps to support video transfers.
 * (Universal Serial Bus)
 * [[image:https://ccit205.wikispaces.com/space/showimage/usb.jpg width="261" height="180"]]

Although in 1996, when USB started being included into new machines, it was not until 1998, when the iMac was released, that USB became widespread. It has now taken over serial and parallel ports and computers usually have a standard four ports. There can also be additional hubs which allow even more connections to be made. Despite being used mainly with computer, USB can be used with video game consoles, televisions, PDAs, and home stereo equipment. So far, items like displays and monitors are a part of the few that cannot be connected through a USB because of its higher data rate that USB cannot provide. An added bonus though is the USB can be hot-swapped (a device can be connected or disconnected at anytime without the need for rebooting).

However, today a new wave of USBs have gained popularity: The USB Key. Quite simply put the USB key is a portable storage device that connects and tranfers files via the computer using a USB 2.0. The amazing thing about this is that because of its size-to-storage capacity and hot-swapped ability, it has gained more popularity than the CD-R and CD-RW. And now that the USB on MP3 players like iPods can also be used as storage USB keys, it is tremendously boosted the usability and integration ability of the USB.

=List of USB Devices=

The USB gives the ability to connect up to 127 devices such as:
 * Printers
 * Scanners
 * Mice
 * Joysticks
 * Digital cameras
 * Webcams
 * Modems
 * Speakers
 * Telephones
 * Video phones
 * Storage devices such as Zip drives
 * Network connections

The operating system will automatically detect new device and if the driver disc has already been installed, the computer will activate it and the devices can be (dis)connected at anytime.

=USB 2.0=

The USB 2.0, a.k.a High-speed USB, is an upgrade from the USB 1.1 and was released in April 2000. It can transmit data 40 times faster with a transfer rate of 480 Mbps and supplies extra bandwidth for multimedia and storage applications. In addition, there is forward and backward compatibility and supports low-bandwidth devices and high-bandwidth, and uses the same cable and connectors.

=Data Rates=

//Low Speed// - 1.5 Mbit/s; usually for devices such as keyboards and joysticks //Full Speed// – 12 Mbit/s; before USB 2.0 it was the fastest rate //Hi-Speed// – 480 Mbit/s; USB 2.0

=Works Cited= [|�75�http://computer.howstuffworks.com/usb.htm]

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/U/USB.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB