PORTS

Even though the pinout of both mouse and keyboard

PS/2 ports are same, computers do not recognize the
devise when connected to wrong port.
PS/2 port is now considered a legacy port as USB port
has superseded it and very few of the modern
motherboards include it as a legacy port.

Serial Port
Even though the communication in PS/2 and USB is
serial, technically, the term Serial Port is used to refer
the interface that is compliant to RS-232 standard.
There are two types of serial ports that are commonly
found on a computer: DB-25 and DE-9.
PS/2
PS/2 connector is developed by IBM for connecting DB-25
mouse and keyboard. It was introduced with IBM’s DB-25 is a variant of D-sub connector and is the
Personal Systems/2 series of computers and hence the original port for RS-232 serial communication. They
name PS/2 connector. PS/2 connectors are color coded were developed as the main port for serial connections
as purple for keyboard and green for mouse. using RS-232 protocol but most of the applications did
not require all the pins.
Hence, DE-9 was developed for RS-232 based serial
communication while DB-25 was rarely used as a serial
PARIKSHA PLUS port and often used as a parallel printer port as a
replacement of the Centronics Parallel 36 pin
connector.

PS/2 is a 6-pin DIN connector. The pin out diagram of

a PS/2 female connector is shown below.

DE-9 or RS-232 or COM Port

DE-9 is the main port for RS-232 serial
communication. It is a D-sub connector with E shell
 PORTS

and is often miscalled as DB-9. A DE-9 port is also Audio ports are used to connect speakers or other audio
called as a COM port and allows full duplex serial output devices with the computer. The audio signals
communication between the computer and it’s can be either analogue or digital and depending on that
peripheral. the port and its corresponding connector differ.
Some of the applications of DE-9 port are serial Surround Sound Connectors or 3.5 mm TRS
interface with mouse, keyboard, modem, Connector
uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and other external It is the most commonly found audio port that can be
RS-232 compatible devices. 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 pinout diagram of DE-9 port is shown below. 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.

The use of DB-25 and DE-9 ports for communication is

in decline and are replaced by USBs or other ports.

Parallel Port or Centronics 36 Pin Port

Parallel port is an interface between computer and
peripheral devices like printers with parallel
communication. The Centronics port is a 36 pin port
that was developed as an interface for printers and S/PDIF / TOSLINK
The Sony/Phillips Digital Interface Format (S/PDIF) is
Centronics port.
PARIKSHA PLUS
scanners and hence a parallel port is also called as a
an audio interconnect used in home media. It supports
Before the wide use of USB ports, parallel ports are digital audio and can be transmitted using a coaxial
very common in printers. The Centronics port was later RCA Audio cable or an optical fiber TOSLINK
replaced by DB-25 port with parallel interface. 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
Audio Ports right is an S/PDIF port.
 PORTS
Digital Video Interface (DVI)
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.
Video Ports
VGA Port
VGA port is found in many computers, projectors,
video cards and High Definition TVs. It is a D-sub There are three types of DVI connectors based on the
connector consisting of 15 pins in 3 rows. The signals it can carry: DVI-I, DVI-D and DVI-A. DVI-I is
connector is called as DE-15. a DVI port with integrated analogue and digital signals.
VGA port is the main interface between computers and DVI-D supports only digital signals and DVI-A
older CRT monitors. Even the modern LCD and LED supports only analogue signals.
monitors support VGA ports but the picture quality is The digital signals can be either single link or dual link
reduced. VGA carries analogue video signals up to a where a single link supports a digital signal up to
resolution of 648X480. 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.

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
pinout of a VGA port is shown below.

PARIKSHA PLUS

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
 PORTS

adapters. The following image shows a Mini-DVI port offers better resolution. The pin out diagram of a
and its compatible cable. Display Port is shown below.

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 Update: DisplayPort 1.4a is the latest (in production)
be seen adjacent to headphone and USB ports. version of DisplayPort Specification with support for
4K (3840 x 2160) at 120 Hz or 8K (7680 x 4320) at 60
Hz. An improved DisplayPort version 2.0 specification
is released in June of 2019 with an increased bandwidth
of 77.37 Gbps (approximately).
Display Port
Mini DisplayPort
Display Port is a digital display interface with optional
Apple introduced a miniature version of DisplayPort
multiple channel audio and other forms of data. Display
and called it Mini DisplayPort (mDP or Mini DP). Even
Port is developed with an aim of replacing VGA and
though Mini DisplayPort has 20 pins, the physical size
and monitor.
PARIKSHA PLUS
DVI ports as the main interface between a computer
of the connector is smaller than a regular DisplayPort
and the pin out is also different.
The latest version DisplayPort 1.3 can handle a
resolution up to 7680 X 4320.

Most laptops provide Mini DisplayPort as an additional

The Display Port has a 20 pin connector, which is a video out option in addition to HDMI.
very less number when compared to DVI port and
 PORTS
RCA Connector better than that of Composite video but has a lesser
RCA Connector can carry composite video and stereo resolution than Component video.
audio signals over three cables. Composite video The S-Video port is generally black in color and is
transmits analogue video signals and the connector is as present on all TVs and most computers. S-Video port
yellow colored RCA connector. looks like a PS/2 port but consists of only 4 pins.
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).

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.
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
PARIKSHA PLUS
uses 3 connectors and are color coded as Green, Blue
and Red.

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
S-Video consoles, High Definition Cameras etc.
S-Video or Separate Video connector is used for
transmitting only video signals. The picture quality is
 PORTS

HDMI can be used to carry uncompressed video and Mini HDMI

compressed or uncompressed audio signals. The HDMI With HDMI 1.3 Version, a new HDMI Port and
port of type A is shown below. Connector combination is released called the Mini
HDMI. Physically, it is smaller than a regular HDMI
Port but has same 19 Pin. Intended for portable devices
like laptops, cameras, camcorders, the Mini HDMI Port
isn’t that popular.

Micro HDMI
The HDMI connector consists of 19 pins and the latest HDMI developers introduced a new HDMI Connector
version of HDMI i.e. HDMI 2.0 can carry digital video and Port called Micro HDMI with HDMI Version 1.4.
signal up to a resolution of 4096×2160 and 32 audio Micro HDMI also has 19 pins (just like regular HDMI
channels. The pinout diagram of an HDMI port is as and Mini HDMI) but the pinout is different.
follows. Micro HDMI is often used in cameras, single board
computers (like Raspberry Pi 4), etc. where physically
it is difficult to include a regular HDMI port.

The size of Micro HDMI is significantly smaller than

regular HDMI and has some resemblance to a micro–
USB Port (sometimes people confuse among the
two). The port on the left is a micro USB port and the
one on the right is a micro HDMI Port.

PARIKSHA PLUS
Update: The latest version of HDMI is 2.1 with much
improved bandwidth, resolution and support from video
card manufacturers. While HDMI 2.0 has a data USB
bandwidth of 18 Gbps, the HDMI 2.1 has a staggering Universal Serial Bus (USB) replaced serial ports,
48 Gbps of bandwidth. Coming to the display parallel ports, PS/2 connectors, game ports and power
resolution, HDMI 2.1 supports 4K and 8K at 120 Hz chargers for portable devices.
refresh rate. Most modern (at least high end) graphics USB port can be used to transfer data, act as an
cards like Nvidia RTX 3090 provide at least a couple of interface for peripherals and even act as power supply
HDMI 2.1 Ports to connect with monitors and TVs. for devices connected to it. There are three kinds of
 PORTS

USB ports: Type A, Type B or mini USB and Micro latest USB Specifications (USB4) is an USB-C only
USB. specification i.e., only USB type C devices can be used
with USB4 specifications.
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. Usually, but not all the times, 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. In the latest USB4 specification, USB Type C Devices
can support speeds up to 40 Gbps.
USB Power Delivery specifications allow USB devices
to supply power to devices connected to the USB Port.
USB Type – C can handle a current of 5A at 20V (only
The pinout diagram of USB Type – A port is shown Power Delivery certified USB Type-C Ports).
below. The pinout is common to all standards of Type – This feature of handling high current is used in the
A. latest Fast Charging Technology where a Smart
Phone’s battery will reach its full charge is very less
time. So, USB Type C Ports can provide up to 100W of
power (which can be used for charging mobile phones
and laptops).
In fact, the latest Apple M1 Mac Books use 61W USB
C Power Adapter.

RJ-45
Ethernet is a networking technology that is used to
USB Type C PARIKSHA PLUS connect your computer to Internet and communicate
with other computers or networking devices.
USB Type – C is the latest specification of the USB and
The interface that is used for computer networking and
is a reversible connector. USB Type – C is supposed to
telecommunications is known as Registered Jack (RJ)
replace Types A and B and is considered future proof.
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
The port of USB Type – C consists of 24 pins. The with 8P – 8C type connector along with the male RJ-45
pinout diagram of USB Type – C is shown below. The cable is shown below.
 PORTS

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.

The following image can be used to compare RJ-45 and

RJ-11 ports.
As mentioned earlier, an Ethernet RJ-45 port has 8 pins
and the following picture depicts the pinout of one.

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-SATAp 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-
SATAp port and must be used at user’s risk.
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
PARIKSHA PLUS
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 The above image is of an e-SATAp port. It shows that
even though a 6 point – 2 contact (6P – 2C) is both e-SATA and USB devices can be connected.
sufficient. The following is a picture of an RJ-11 port
and its compatible connector.