Hardware Ports in Computer
What is Hardware Port?
A Hardware Port is a physical interface or socket on a computer through which external devices are connected to transfer data, audio, video or power.
Or
A port is connecting point between the computer and external devices like printer, monitor, internet cable keyboard, mouse, etc
Main Hardware is CPU (Central Processing Unit).
Types of Port: –
1. Virtual Ports
2. Physical Ports
Virtual Port (Software Ports)
A virtual port is a logical port (software based) communication endpoint used by the operating system and applications to send and receive data over a network. Unlike hardware ports virtual ports are not physical connectors. They exist inside the computer for network communication.
Virtual Ports (Transmission Control Protocol) are mainly of two types: –
TCP ports (Transmission Control Protocol) -Reliable communication used for web, email, file transfer
UDP ports (User Datagram Protocol) -Fast but less reliable and used for streaming, gaming, video calls.
Total Virtual ports are 65535
Some important virtual ports and their no. of pins
| Name of port | Full form | No. of pins |
| FTP
|
File Transfer Protocol
|
20/21 Pins |
| TELNET | Teletype Network | 23 Pins |
| SMTP
|
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol | 25 Pins |
| DNS
|
Domain Name System | 53 Pins |
| DHCP (Server) | Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (Server) | 67 Pins |
| DHCP (Client) | Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (Client) | 68 Pins |
| HTTP
|
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol | 80 Pins |
| POP-3
|
Post Office Protocol | 110 Pins |
| IMAP
|
Internet Message Access Protocol | 143 Pins |
| HTTPS
|
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure | 443 Pins |
Physical Port
Physical ports are actual hardware connectors present on a computer or laptop used to connect external devices. They can be seen and touched. They allow transfer of data, audio, video or power.
Physical ports are classified according to their function: –
Input Device ports : –
| Name of Port | No. of Pins and shape | Connected device/ Usage |
| PS/2 port | 6 Pins
Shape round |
Keyboard (purple)and mouse (green) |
| USB | 4 Pins
9 Pins 24 Pins
|
Keyboard, mouse and scanner |
| Serial (COM Port/ DB-9) | 9 Pins
D shaped |
Old mouse/ Modem |
| Parallel Port (DB-25) | Pin 25
D shaped |
Old scanner and printer |
| USB Type A | (USB 2.0) 4 Pins
Shape rectangular (USB 3.0) 9 Pins Oval shape |
Keyboard, mouse, touchscreen, modern devices |
| USB Type C | 24 Pins
Oval Shape |
HDMI, display port, monitors |
| Gaming Port (DA-15) | 15 Pins
D shaped |
Joystick |
| Firewire (IEEE 1394) | 4/6 Pin
Flat Shape |
Digital Camera, Scanner |
| Bluetooth wireless
(No-Physical Port |
Wireless | Wireless keyboard, mouse |
Output Device ports : –
| Name of Port | No. of Ports/ connectors | Connected device/ Usage |
| VGA (DB-15) | 15 Pins
D Shape |
Monitor (only video, Analog) |
| HDMI | 19 Pins
Flat shape |
Monitor/TV, Projector (Audio- Video) |
| Display Port | 20 Pins
Rectangular shape |
Monitor (High quality audio video display |
| Parallel (DB-25) | 25 Pins
D shape |
Old printer |
| DVI | 24 Pins DVD-D
29 Pins DVD-I Rectangular shape |
Monitor (Digital video) |
| Mini Display Port | 20 Pins
Small rectangular shape |
Laptop to Monitor |
| Thunderbolt (1/2) | 20 Pins
Mini DP shape |
Display Data |
| Thunderbolt 3/4 (USB-C) | 24 Pins
Oval shape |
High speed display data |
| Audio Out (3.5mm Jack) | 3 conductors
Round shape |
Speakers and Headphones |
| S/PDIF Port | Optical and Coaxial
Square and round shape |
Digital Audio output |
Audio ports : –
| Name of Port | No. of Pins/Connectors | Connected Device/Usage | |
| 3.5mm Audio Jack (line out) | TRS/TRRS connector
|
Speaker and Headphones | |
| Microphone port | 3.5 mm | Mic input | |
| S/PDIF (Optical TOSLINK) | Optical | Digital audio output | |
| Line in port | 3.5 mm | ||
| Headset combo jack | 3.5mm TRRS | Headphone +mic (Laptop) | |
| HDMI | 19 Pins | Digital audio-video | |
| Display Port | 20 Pins | Digital audio-video | |
| USB Audio Port | USB | USB speaker, headsets | |
| Thunderbolt | USB-C type | High quality digital audio | |
| Color codes of audio ports
Green -Speaker/Line out Blue – Line in Pink- Microphone Orange – Center/Subwoofer Black – Rear speaker Grey – Side speaker |
|||
Network ports: –
| Name of Port | No. of Pins | Connected device/usage |
| Ethernet (RJ-45) | 8 Pins | LAN/Internet connection |
| RJ-11 | 4-6 Pins | Telephone Line/ Modem |
| Fiber Port (SFP) | Optical | High speed fiber network |
| USB (Wi-Fi) | USB | Wireless network adapter |
Power ports (external and internal): –
| Name of Port
External |
No. of Pins | Connected Device /Usage |
| AC Power Port | 3 Pins | Desktop to main electricity/ power supply |
| DC Power Jack | Laptop Charging port | |
| USB -C Charging port | Modern laptop and tablets charging | |
| MagSafe (Apple) | Magnetic laptop charger | |
| Internal | ||
| ATX Main Power Connector | 20-24 Pin | Supplies power to motherboard |
| CPU power connector (EPS) | 4-8 Pin | Power CPU |
| SATA Power connector | 15 Pins | Hard disk, SSD |
| Molex Connector | 4 Pins | Old HDD, DVD drive |
| PCIe Power Connector | 6 -8 Pins | Graphics card (GPU) |
| Berg Connector | 4 Pins | Floppy drive (old) |
Storage Ports: –
| Name of Port | No. of Pins | Connected Device or Usage |
| USB 2.0 | 4 Pins | Pen drive, External HDD |
| USB 3.0 | 9 Pins | High speed external storage |
| USB Type -C | 24 Pins | Modern storage devices |
| eSATA | 7 Pins | External SATA hard disk |
| Thunderbolt | 20-24 Pins | High speed external SSD |
| SD card slot | Memory card | |
| Micro SD slot | Small memory card | |
| SATA (Serial ATA) | 7 Pins (Data) | HDD, SSD |
| IDE (PATA) | 40 Pins | Old hard disk |
| M.2 slot | 67 Pins (Edge connector) | NVMe SSD |
| PCle Slot | Varies | High speed SSD |
| Floppy disk port | 34 Pins | Old floppy drive |