Computer Ports and Cables
Port Power 3-pronged connector Cable
Port PS2 Cable Small, round, 6-pronged connector Connects some keyboards and mice Color Coded Purple-keyboard Green-mouse Not hot swappable Legacy port Cable
Port Serial Cable 9-pronged connector Used for mice and scanner Color coded Light blue Not hot swappable Legacy port Transfer speed 8 kilobits per second Cable
Port Parallel Cable 25-pronged connector Used for printers Not hot swappable Color coded Pink Legacy port Transfer speed 8 Kbps Cable
Port VGA Cable 15-pronged connector Used solely for connecting monitor Color coded Dark blue Not hot swappable Cable
Port Game Cable 15-pronged connector Used for joystick or game console Color coded Yellow Not hot swappable Cable
Port Audio Cable Small round connector Used for speaker, headset, microphones Color coded Green-speaker Pink-microphone Blue-stereo system Cable
Port Modem/Phone Cable RJ-11 connector Same jack on the back of your telephone Cable
Port Ethernet Cable Used to connect to the Internet or network Larger than phone cable Cable
Port USB Cable Small rectangular connector Used for variety of peripherals Standard connection method Plug-n-play/hot swappable 127 devices per connection host Transfer speed 1.0 port-12Mbps 2.0 port-480Mbps Cable
Port Firewire/IEEE 1394 Cable Not often found on PCs Common on new Macs Used for variety of peripherals Plug-n-play/hot swappable Transfer speed 400Mbps Cable