DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN CYBER SECURITY

MEHRAN UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY, JAMSHORO
INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES
(1st SEMESTER, 1st Year) LAB EXPERIMENT # 2
Name: BUSHRA LARAIB Roll number: 23 BSCYS 045

Score: Date: Instructor’s Signature:

Lab # 02
To get familiar with system unit rear panel: ports and connectors

Objectives
• To be able to identify and get familiar with different ports and connectors.
• To get familiar with pin functionality of different ports and connectors.

Tools
• System unit with motherboard.

Keywords: System unit, Rare panel, Port, Connector, Pin. Duration: 03 hours

2 Introduction

System Unit

System Unit is one of the important components of the computer system which houses all the main
components. At the back of the system unit there is a panel containing different types of ports.
Computer Fundamentals
Computer Port

A computer port is a connection point or interface between a computer and an external or internal
device. Internal ports may connect such devices as hard drives and CD ROM or DVD drives; external
ports may connect modems, printers, mouse, and other devices.

A port serves as an interface between the computer and other computers or peripheral devices.
Physically, a port is a specialized outlet on a piece of equipment to which a plug or cable connects.
Electronically, the several conductors making up the outlet provide a signal transfer between devices.

There are many types of ports available which connect different types of input and output devices to
the system unit. Some of them are listed below:
• DIN5 • USB Micro B
• PS/2 • Firewire
• Serial • RJ 45
• Parallel • RJ 11
• VGA • Audio (Mic, Line-out, Line-In)
• USB A ,USB B • S/PDIF
• USB Mini A • DVI
• USB Mini B • HDMI
• S-Video

DIN5 Port and Connector

A DIN connector is a connector that was originally standardized by the Deutsches Institut für
Normung (DIN), the German national standards organization.

The 5-pin DIN (DIN5) cable interface is commonly known as a PC/AT connection and is utilized for
serial data transfer between computers and peripherals such as PC keyboards, MIDI keyboards, and
electronic instruments. Amphenol Tuchel 5-pin DIN Cables are perfect for connecting or extending
any DIN5 enabled device.
DIN5 connector has 5 pins, every pin has a different task to do:

• PIN1 is keyboard clock signal, which synchronizes the keyboard with system unit.
• PIN2 is keyboard data, it carries data signals from keyboard to system unit (either 0 or 1).
• PIN3 is keyboard reset, which resets the state of the keyboard.
• PIN4 provides ground (0V).
• PIN5 provides power to the keyboard (+5V).

PS/2 Port and Connector

The PS/2 connector is a 6-pin Mini-DIN connector used for connecting some keyboards and mouse to
a PC compatible computer system. Its name comes from the IBM Personal System/2 series of personal
computers, with which it was introduced in 1987.

It is also called Mini-DIN 6 port.

PS/2 connectors are color coded. The purple colored port is used for connecting keyboard and green
colored port is used to connect a mouse.
PS/2 connector has 6 pins, every pin has a different task to do:

• PIN1 is keyboard data, it carries data signals from keyboard to system unit (either 0 or 1).
• PIN2 is not used.
• PIN3 provides ground (0V).
• PIN4 provides power to the keyboard (+5V).
• PIN5 is keyboard clock signal, which synchronizes the keyboard with system unit.
• PIN6 is not used.

Serial Port and Connector

A port that can be used for serial communication, in which only 1bit is transmitted at a time. Most
serial ports on personal computers conform to the RS-232C or RS-422 standards. A serial port is a
general-purpose interface that can be used for almost any type of device, including modems, mouse,
and printers (although most printers are connected to a parallel port).

It has the following characteristics:

• Sends the data serially bit by bit.

• It has 9 pins/connectors.
• It is also called DB9 because it is D in shape and has 9 pins.
• Also called COM ports (Communication).
• It is bi-directional (it transmit and receive the bits).
• Mostly used to connect serial mouse, modem, GPS Receivers and Bar code scanners.
 Parallel Port and Connector

Less commonly referred to as the Centronics interface or Centronics connector after the company that
originally designed it, the port was later developed by Epson. The parallel port is found on the back
of IBM compatible computers and is a 25-pin (type DB-25) computer interface commonly used to
connect printers to the computer.

• Sends 8 bits at a time.

• Also called DB25 or Centronics port.
• It has 25 pins/connectors.
• Also called Printer Port or LPT (Line Printer Terminal).
• Mostly used to connect printers, scanners and external drives.
• A newer type of parallel port, which supports the same connectors as the Centronics interface,
is the EPP (Enhanced Parallel Port) or ECP (Extended Capabilities Port).
 VGA Port and Connector

A Video Graphics Array (VGA) connector is a three-row 15-pin

DE-15 connector. The 15-pin VGA connector is found on many
video cards, computer monitors, and high definition television
sets. On laptop computers, or other small devices, a mini-VGA
port is sometimes used in place of the full-sized VGA connector.

• VGA stands for Video Graphics Array.

• It is also called DE15 or DB15.
• Sometimes it is also referred to as RGB Connector.
• Used to connect Monitor, TV and Projector.

VGA can represent any color by the combination of Red, Green and Blue colors.

USB Port and Connector

A USB port is a standard cable connection interface on personal computers and consumer electronics.
USB ports allow stand-alone electronic devices to be connected via cables to a computer (or to each
other).

USB stands for Universal Serial Bus, an industry standard for short-distance digital data
communications. USB allows data to be transferred between devices. USB ports can also supply
electric power across the cable to devices without their own power source.

• USB stands for Universal Serial Bus.

• Used to connect many different types of devices to the system unit.
• It is Plug and Play.
• Maximum of 127 devices can be connected to one USB port at a time.
• Used to connect Monitor, TV and Projector.
Versions of USB

1. USB 1.0 (Full Speed)

• Released in the year 1996
• Maximum transfer speed of 12 Mbits/s
2. USB 2.0 (High Speed)
• Released in the year 2000
• Maximum transfer speed of 480 Mbits/s
3. USB 3.0 (Super Speed)
• Released in the year 2008
• Maximum transfer speed of 5 Gbits/s

Types of USB Connectors and ports

1. USB A 4. USB Micro AB

2. USB Mini B 5. USB Mini A
3. USB B 6. USB Micro B
 Audio Ports

Connectors built into an expansion card or the

motherboard itself that allow audio input and
output. Generally speaking, any computer will
have three audio connectors, audio-in, audio
out and mic-in. These use the same 3.5mm
stereo plugs that most home audio devices use.
Depending on the device, there may be more
than one audio-out connector for multiple
channel sound. Though the color coding can vary, it is generally accepted that audio-out
connectors are green or black, mic-in ones are pink, and audio-in blue. All audio cables can be
plugged and unplugged without damage to a running computer.

RJ 11

More commonly known as a modem port, phone connector,

phone jack or phone line, the RJ-11 is short for Registered Jack-
11 and is a four or six wire connection primarily used for
telephones and computer modem connectors in the United
States. The picture is an example image of what the RJ-11
phone cable and connection looks like.

Note: Although this cable can be used to connect your modem to

the Internet it should not be confused with the RJ-45 connector,
which is used with your network card.

RJ 45

Short for Registered Jack-45, a RJ-45 is

an 8-pin connection used for Ethernet
network adapters. This connector
resembles the RJ-11 or 6pin connector
used with telephones in the United
States, but they're completely
different. The picture is of a RJ-45
connector separated from the cable.

This connector is most commonly

connected to the end of Cat5 cable, which is connected between a computer network card and a
network device such as a network router.
 HDMI

Short for High-Definition Multimedia Interface, it is the

first industry-supported uncompressed, all-digital
audio/video interface. It's a single cable and user-
friendly connector that replaces the maze of cabling
behind the home entertainment center. HDMI provides
an interface between any audio/video source, such as a
set-top box, DVD player, or A/V receiver and an audio
and/or video monitor, such as a digital television (DTV), over a
single cable. HDMI supports standard, enhanced, or high-
definition video, plus multi-channel digital audio on a single
cable. It transmits all ATSC HDTV standards and supports 8-
channel digital audio with bandwidth to spare to accommodate
future enhancements and requirements.

HDMI was defined to carry 8 channels, of 192kHz, 24-bit

uncompressed audio, which exceeds all current consumer
media formats. In addition, HDMI can carry any flavor of
compressed audio formats such as Dolby or DTS. HDMI has
the capacity to support existing high-definition video formats
such as 720p, 1080i, and 1080p, along with support of
enhanced definition formats like 480p, as well as standard
definition
formats such as NTSC or PAL. HDMI was developed by Developed by Sony,
Hitachi, Thomson (RCA), Philips, Matsushita (Panasonic), Toshiba and Silicon
Image.

EXERCISE
1. What different ports and connectors do you found in the lab? For each, fill in the following:

Port/Connector name Number of pins Device attached to

Serial Port 9-Pins Modem mouse,scanners,Plotters

HDMI 19Pins Tv,projector,GPU

VGA port 14-15 Pins Computer & laptops with screens

Ethernet 8-Pins Wifi Routers or modem

USB port 4-Pins Electronic devices,Mobiles Etc

Audio ports 4-pins Headphones , Speakers

DVI 23(18+5) or Projectors, Computers etc

29(24+5)
USB-C 24-Pins PCs, Phones & tablets

RJ-11 6-pins Telephones,networking applications

USB-A 4-Pins Computers,laptops & mobiles

RJ-45 8-Pins Etherent,wifi routers

 2. Identify and label the ports in the motherboard shown below.

3. Describe the function of each of the pin for the following ports:

USB Port

Pin Number Function

Pin 1 Supplies power voltage of 5 volts

Pin 2 Transmit negative voltage

Pin 3 Transmit Positive voltage

Pin 4 GND provides common reference point for electrical signals

PS/2 Port

Pin Number Function

Pin 1 It is a data pin which transmit data to computer

Pin 2 Pin 2 is not used (RESERVED)

Pin 3 Grounding 0V

Pin 4 Supplies voltage of +5

Pin 5 +2 to +5.5V Keyboard Clock

Pin 6 Pin 6 is Extra which is typically not used

Serial Port

Pin Number Function

Pin 1 Carrier Detect It detects signals from a remote device

Pin 2 Recieves data

Pin 3 Transmits data

Pin 4 Data Terminal Ready

Pin 5 Signal ground

Pin 6 Data set ready

Pin 7 Request to send

Pin 8 Clear to send

Pin 9 Ring indicator

RJ-11 Port

Pin Number Function

Pin 1 Carries the tip wire of telephone wire

Pin 2 Carries the ring wire of telephone line

Pin 3 Typically not used (Data transmition)

Pin 4 Typically not used (Data transmition)

Pin 5 Used for specific purpose beyond basic telecommunications

Pin 6 Used for specific purpose beyond basic telecommunications

RJ-45 Port

Pin Number Function

Pin 1 Transmits data +(TD)+ in Ethernet & other data communication standards

Pin 2 Transmits negative data (TD)- in Ethernet & other data communication standards

Pin 3 Recieves data

Pin 4 It is mostly not in used

Pin 5 Unused or not concerned function

Pin 6 Recieves negative data (RD)- signals

Pin 7 Pin 7 is also unused

Pin 8 Not in usage