Tech, Tools, and Tips! #6 - Computer ports

May 20, 2025 Computer Ports

Computer ports are connection points on a computer for linking external hardware to the motherboard, enabling communication, data transfer, and power delivery. They are essential for connecting devices like monitors, keyboards, mice, and printers, and come in two main types: physical and virtual. Physical ports are the physical connectors you can see and touch, while virtual ports are software-based and are used for networking to identify different types of data traffic, like a webpage versus an email, on the same connection.

Here is a reference of just about every physical computer/communication port that you will come across.

Optical Audio "Toslink" -

USB A (1.0, 1.1, 2.0) -

Firewire (4 pin) iLink -

Firewire 400 1394a -

Firewire 800/3200 1394b/c -

Ethernet 8p8C (common: RJ-45) -

Modem (RJ-11)

Apple Desktop Bus - ADB -

Mac Serial -

PS/2 -

USB A 3.0 -

DE - 15/ HD - 15 VGA/ SVGA

Yeah yeah. There are new versions of the USB ports like 3.0. A blue USB port is a 3.0 port with speeds up to 5 Gbps. And they also have 3.2 Gen 1/ Gen 2 ports. Then there is USB - C with speeds up to 40 Gbps and 240 watts of power. Anyways, I just wanted to show you some ports.

*There are countless variations of adapters that can go to and from a computer to devices and back. I wonder if anyone noticed DE - 15 Vs DB - 15.