Is this a USB port? I'm in over my head...

[Draco]

As some of you may know, I'm not a hardware guy. The insides and rear areas of my computer are known to me as the Danger Zone; a misbegotten area full of plugs, ports, Evil Demon Spirits, and a guy named Herb*.

However, I've gotten a recent influx of money into my checking account... and naturally, I feel compelled to spend most of it immediately. The culprit is a relatively inexpensive mp3 player.

All of 'em use USB. "Fine!" I tell myself, in a noble pose as trumpets blare in the background**. "I'm pretty sure I have one of those!"

I don't buy it yet, though. I go home and slide my computer around. I relocate the Evil Demon Spirits and Herb for a bit, only to discover...

I have no idea what a USB port looks like.

So I google it, and find some pictures of USB ports.

I have some things like these (http://www.linksys.com/edu/images/USB-PORT.jpg) on the back of my computer, but I still wasn't sure.

Since I don't have a scanner, I did a mockup of that side of the back of my computer - its attached. Are the things labeled I and II USB ports? Normally I'd just say yes, but a few things keep me from thinking so:

1) There's other embossed icons (Square one, rectangle with little circles in it) near what I think is the standard USB icon (the trident-like thing)
2) I've seen {USB} embossed icons on google images, and I don't see any there
3) Howstuffworks says there's usually 1 or 2 USB ports on a computer, but I see 4 back connections... unless each entire square is one port


* I think he thinks the back of my computer is a futuristic game show. I don't have the heart to tell him.
** Technically, more like the loud thmp-thmp-thmp-thmp-thmp from the assmusic that plays from the suped up car audio systems at Fry's.

[Jeff]

Yep. Those black things would be USB ports. You've got four of them on your diagram. Not to be confused with firewire ports which are not rectangular, but more of a 5 or 6 sided connector.

[Rellik66]

each block contains two USB ports, so that means you would have a total of four, in fact the front of your PC might have two more, but not all PCs have that

those ports in the middle are Serial ports, and above them is probably a paralel port, both of which are legacy (old) ports.

the circles you desribe are probably for sound or the keyboard and mouse conections

BTW, seeing a USB cable might give you an idea of how it plugs in

[NutWrench]

You might have USB ports on the front of the computer, too.

[LeadBullet]

Also if you ever run out and have a free PCI slot, you can always buy an expansion card that will add more. I've seen cards that have 2 and 4 additional slots in them.

[scorpian007]

Or you can buy a USB hub and "split" your existing port into 4. But USB hubs are crap so I wouldn't recommend one

[Lain]

Speaking about usb ports.

What is the speed of a USB port v. 2.0 guys?

i think 1.1 is 12 mbs right?

[NutWrench]

Lain said:
Speaking about usb ports.

What is the speed of a USB port v. 2.0 guys?

i think 1.1 is 12 mbs right?



Yes. And 2.0 is 480 mbs. I have an old MP3 player/flash stick that uses the 1.x standard. It takes 4-5 minutes to fill up its 128 meg memory.

My newer, Zen Micro supports the 2.0 standard. In about the same amount of time, I can transfer over 2 gigabytes to that player. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Jeff]

You've got to set it in the BIOS in order to use the HiSpeed USB 2.0. It's either HiSpeed or FullSpeed. Can't remember.

[NutWrench]

jeffbthomson said:
You've got to set it in the BIOS in order to use the HiSpeed USB 2.0. It's either HiSpeed or FullSpeed. Can't remember.



HiSpeed. It's confusing. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Wamplet]

LeadBullet said:
Also if you ever run out and have a free PCI slot, you can always buy an expansion card that will add more. I've seen cards that have 2 and 4 additional slots in them.



Yeap. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif You can also buy a USB hub. Just plug it into one of yourexisting ports. They are commonly made in 4ports as well as others. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Dukefan]

Forgive my bluntness, but is there any reason you couldn't figure this out merely invoking childhood memories of Plug The Shape Into The Right Hole? (It would only really be a good idea to do this with the computer turned off.)

Computer plugs come in all sorts of shapes and sizes for a reason: So you won't plug in your speakers to your keyboard port or your monitor to your Network port. Engineers design these plugs to be pretty distinctive. USB, as you already discovered, is a rectangular port. It should be pretty easy to figure out that that means you shouldn't try to jam it into the circular port (PS/2), or the weird-parallelogram with 15 pins (VGA), or or the square (Ethernet), or any plug with rows of pins (Parallel, Serial, or MIDI/Game). Rectangle goes into rectangle.

(I just thought of trying to make a crack by comparing it to sex between man and animal--you wouldn't plug the organ of one thing into the organ of another, would you?--but I probably couldn't pull it off.)

Regarding your other questions:
(1) Yes, the trident (a circle with lines extending two more circles and a triangle) is the USB logo. I can't tell what those other icons mean, but they might be Serial or Parallel Ports. But they should be close enough to their own ports, and not ports designated by another symbol, for you to tell what icon goes with which.

(2) What do you mean {USB} embossed icon?

(3) HowStuffWorks pages tend to be a bit dated. It's common these days for computers to come with as many as 8 USB ports right out of the box (6 on the back, 2 on the front).

[Draco]

Thanks for the replies, all.



Forgive my bluntness, but is there any reason you couldn't figure this out merely invoking childhood memories of Plug The Shape Into The Right Hole?




Forgive my bluntness, but after I've spent over 100 bucks on electronics equipment, I'm smart enough to avoid jabbing Object X into Slots X Y and Z until something fits. That kinda nonsense breaks things. Expensive Things.

[Dukefan]

Draco said:
Thanks for the replies, all.



Forgive my bluntness, but is there any reason you couldn't figure this out merely invoking childhood memories of Plug The Shape Into The Right Hole?




Forgive my bluntness, but after I've spent over 100 bucks on electronics equipment, I'm smart enough to avoid jabbing Object X into Slots X Y and Z until something fits. That kinda nonsense breaks things. Expensive Things.


Only (1) if you do it with the computer on (which I advised against), and (2) if you jam instead of gently pushing. Computer plugs fit comfortably; there would be no reason for you to be forceful, but if you were gentle and didn't push hard, trial and error would absolutely get you to the right port without damaging anything.

[Kevin Wolff]

That reminds me of a story of this kid who got a PS/2 mouse to plug into a USB port, by biting the plug with his teeth.

[Tedski]

Kevin Wolff said:
That reminds me of a story of this kid who got a PS/2 mouse to plug into a USB port, by biting the plug with his teeth.



LMFAO http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Decker]

scorpian007 said:
USB hubs are crap



Explain.

[shiranui]

Initiative appears to have become extinct, but Google is alive and well...