Malling U3A Computer Group Cables, Cards & Connectors Chris Daly 5 th February 2018
Cables, Cards & Connectors How many of you have a box or drawer of cables? How many of you are unsure which cable or connector to use with your PC, Laptop, Tablet or Phone? How many know the different type of memory cards and which one to use in your camera, tablet or phone?
Cables, Cards & Connectors Take a look at any piece of equipment related to computers and you ll soon find yourself in a maelstrom of acronyms and foreign jargon. Do you really need to know the differences between USB 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0? Is FireWire related to Firewall? We will only look at the cables and connector types commonly used on equipment sold in the last few years. The memory cards we will look at are also those now used in 99% of all devices sold to consumers SD cards
Cables Cables are used for a number of reasons Connect to the mains supply (power cables) Connection to charge the device Connect to a network (data or network cables) Connect two devices together PC or Laptop Tablet Phone TV Monitor etc
Power Cables Sometimes the power cables are built into the device, but often are separate to be plugged in as required. On PC s and monitors the power cable is called an IEC C13/C14 coupler & usually looks like this with a normal mains plug the other end.
Power Cables With laptops the power supply is from a transformer to reduce from 240v to a suitable low voltage for the battery to be charged. The transformer can be part of the mains plug but is usually a separate unit with two cables.
Power Cables Apple laptops, as with all Apple devices, have their own standard. Often the transformer is part of the plug and the laptop connector is Apple Magsafe.
Power Cables Apple devices (tablets & phones) have their own standard. Often the transformer is part of the plug and the connector is Lightning & is reversible. Pre 2012 it was a 30pin connector.
Power Cables As devices became smaller so did the power requirements, with many being portable battery powered devices tablets and mobile phones. Because of this a smaller lead could be used and now it is a USB cable, which can also carry data.
Connectors
USB (Universal Serial Bus) Connectors - USB Nearly every form of computer peripheral device keyboards, mice, headsets, flash drives, etc. can be connected to your computer through a USB port. The design has evolved over the years, which means there are multiple versions of USB available: USB 1.0/1.1 can transmit data at speeds up to 12 Mbps. USB 2.0 can transmit data at speeds up to 480 Mbps and is compatible with older versions of USB. Currently USB 2.0 is the most common type found in the market. USB 3.0 up to 5 Gbps. Compatible with USB 2.0 & 3.0 USB 3.1 up to 10 Gbps. Compatible with USB 2.0 & 3.0 USB 3.2 up to 20 Gbps. Compatible with USB 2.0 & 3.0 All look the same.
Connectors - USB The mini and micro USB variants are most often used with smaller, portable devices like PDAs, phones, and digital cameras. The standard USB connectors are more often used on devices that tend to remain plugged in, like external hard drives, memory sticks, keyboards, and mice.
Connectors - USB micro B USB mini B USB type B std USB, type A std USB female, type A std USB male
Connectors - USB Type A/A USB cables, in spite of having two standard USB connectors at each end, don t have a bridge chip and cannot be used to connect two PCs. If you use an A/A USB cable, you can burn the USB ports of your computers or even their power supplies. A/B USB cables are used to connect your computer to peripherals such as printers and scanners, so they also won t meet your needs.
Connectors - USB To connect two computers together with USB- USB, a special cable has to be used called bridged (or USB networking cable )
USB type C Connectors - USB This is a new standard announced in 2014. The USB-C connectors connect to both hosts and devices, replacing various USB-B and USB-A connectors and cables with a standard meant to be future-proof. Not compatible with other USB types.
Connectors - VGA VGA (Video Graphics Array)
Connectors - VGA Created in the 1980 s, the VGA connection cable was the standard cable used to connect a computer to a monitor. It s popularity has reduced due to the shift towards digital connections over analog. On any video card or display apparatus, there is a good chance you ll see a VGA port. VGA connections can be identified by 15 pins in 3 rows with 5 on each row. Each row matches the 3 different colour channels used in display: red, green, and blue.
Connectors - VGA Used on our projector for connection to the laptop. Still used on many computer monitors. Only carries video signal, not sound for which a separate cable is required. Make sure the cable is connected to the correct port (i.e. IN or OUT)
Connectors - DVI DVI (Digital Visual Interface)
Connectors - DVI The DVI connection became the successor to VGA as technology moved away from analog towards digital. Digital displays, like LCD and LED, proved to be higher quality, which soon became the market standard for home pictures.
Connectors - DVI DVI connectors come in 3 varieties. DVI-A can transmit analog signals, allowing it to be backwards compatible with VGA (useful for CRT monitors and LCDs of lower quality). DVI-D can transmit the newer digital signals. DVI-I is capable of both analog and digital.
Connectors - DVI In certain cases, you may need a VGA-to-DVI or DVI-to-VGA converter cable or connector.
Connectors HDMI HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface)
Connectors HDMI In the last 10 yrs high-definition broadcasts became the new standard. Unlike VGA and DVI, HDMI sends both video and audio signals together. The signals are digital only; thus, HDMI is only compatible with newer devices. HDMI connectors come in 4 main types: Type A (Standard) is the most popular. This connector can be identified by its 19 pins on the male head. Type A is compatible with single-link DVI-D connections. Type B Not used so far in any devices. Type C (Mini) is a 19-pin connector that s most often used with portable devices, like camcorders and digital cameras. Type D (Micro) looks similar to a micro-usb cord. It also has 19 pins.
Connectors HDMI
Connectors HDMI HDMI is backward compatible with singlelink Digital Visual Interface digital video (DVI-D or DVI-I, but not DVI-A). No signal conversion is required when an adapter or asymmetric cable is used, so there is no loss of video quality
Connectors HDMI Cables As of the HDMI 1.4 specification, the following cable types are defined for HDMI in general: Standard HDMI Cable up to 1080i and 720p Standard HDMI Cable with Ethernet Standard Automotive HDMI Cable High Speed HDMI Cable 1080p, 4K@30 Hz, 3D and deep colour High Speed HDMI Cable with Ethernet
FireWire Connectors - Firewire
Connectors - Firewire The purpose of FireWire is similar to that of USB: high speed data transfer for computer peripherals. High bandwidth devices, like printers and scanners, will benefit from FireWire. FireWire is not as widespread as USB. FireWire cables come in two forms: 1394a (which has a transfer speed of 400 Mbps) and 1394b (which has a transfer speed of 800 Mbps).
Connectors - esata esata (External Serial Advanced Technology Attachment)
Connectors - esata esata technology is an extension of, or improvement on, the SATA cable it makes SATA technology available in an external form. In reality, esata is not much different from SATA, but it allows connections to devices like external hard drives and optical drives. This is useful because esata offers speeds much faster than most FireWire and USB alternatives.
Ethernet Connectors - Network
Connectors - Network Ethernet cables are used to set up local area networks, usually to connect routers to modems and computers. If you ve ever tried to install or fix a home router, you ve likely dealt with an Ethernet computer cable. Nowadays, they come in three varieties: Cat 5 cables are the most basic type and provide speeds of either 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps. Cat 5e, It caps at 1,000 Mbps. Cat 6 is the latest & supports 10 Gbps speeds.
Connectors - Network Ethernet connections are known as RJ45 Telephone modem/router connections are know as RJ11
Connectors - Apple Apple has its own standards designed to minimise the number of types required.
Connectors - Apple Lightning Port see before Firewire see before Magsafe see before 30 pin connector This was fitted to older devices such as ipods for charging and data connections. USB type C This is the only port (apart from headphones) fitted to the latest versions of MacBook.
Connectors - Apple Thunderbolt Port Extremely fast and versatile technology that allows you to attach super-fast storage and high definition displays. The port can also be used, via Apple s adaptors, to act as connections for Ethernet or Firewire.
Cards - SD SD (Secure Digital) cards are now used as the non volatile storage medium in 99% of mobile devices. There are 4 groups of cards SDSC Standard Capacity SDHC High Capacity upto 32 GB SDXC extended Capacity upto 2TB SDIO Input/Output functions combined with storage.
Cards - SD There are 3 sizes available. Standard, mini and Micro. Adaptors allow each to fit into the larger size socket.
Cards - SD Standard cards/holders can be locked to inhibit data transfer.
Cards - SD If you want to increase storage capacity on a phone or tablet then usually a micro SD card is used. Not to be confused with the SIM card Cameras normally use Standard size. The device will have a limit on storage capacity of card it can support e.g. 32GB It must also be compatible with the speed rating of the card for types SDHC & SDXC.
Cards - SD
Cards SD Bus Rating
Cards SD Speed Class
Cards - SD SanDisk micro SDXC card with UHS-I and UHS speed class U1 markings 32GB Lexar 1000x Micro SDHC UHS-II and UHS speed class U3 markings