Perhaps, we all started learning in school that the three major components of a computer is the monitor, the CPU and the keyboard. It all came complete with figurative illustrations of the three components, along with their most important functions.
Through time, these three components have developed into much more complex digital instruments that came in various shapes, sizes, colors and additional functionalities. And nowadays, it is no longer confined to just the three major components, as there are so much more peripherals that have been added to the overall computer set. A computer wouldn’t be complete nowadays without a mouse, a speaker or a headset, a printer, a scanner, a webcam or a card reader. Simply put, technology has paved the way for the computer, our most important telecommunications and task workstation, to grow. The best thing is that it keeps on growing to cope up with the ever growing demands of today.
Before, most of these peripherals came in serial or parallel connectivity. The mouse and keyboard came with a PS2 Connector, the printer came with a parallel connector, and so on and so forth. But as people have found ways to make our workstation as efficient and convenient, there was a need for a single port format that could accommodate all of these devices. This is why the Universal Serial Bus or USB was invented.
The USB has made data transfer and peripheral connection possible and as easy as a plug-and-play. And this port is always of the same format, or what we usually call the Type-A connection, which refers to the small, rectangular port at the back, side, or front of your desktop computer or laptop.
This has made way for all the devices to be modified to fit into the port, too. USB keyboards, USB mice, USB speaker and USB printers have been made to adapt to this universal port. Of course, because of the growing number of devices ideally set for connectivity on a single computer, multiple USB ports have been made available in one workstation, as well as, USB hubs have been made to accommodate more than the computer’s built-in ports.
