There is a great new way to connect peripherals (mice, keyboards, scanners, cameras, etc.) to your PC called USB (Universal Serial Bus). I have been waiting for a chance to explain all about it, so here goes!
The first IBM PC had connectors in the back to allow you to plug in your peripherals. In those days, each type of peripheral had its own type of interface - meaning the electrical connector and software characteristics of the device. In order to keep you from plugging the wrong type of device into an interface socket, they were all made physically different - the keyboard connector was different from the printer, was different from the modem, etc. As devices proliferated, this resulted in the nightmare of wires and cables in the back of our PCs today.
There were other problems associated with older (the "in" term is now "Legacy") devices. The cables were often thick and stiff, and couldn't run too far. You sometimes needed a screwdriver to put them on. You could not plug in a peripheral after the PC had been booted - you had to reboot after plugging something in. But most significant was that you could not plug more than one device into an interface. Yes, I know there are some devices that claim to share the parallel printer port, but I have seldom seen them work 100%.
USB is the answer to all these problems, and more. USB connectors are very simple to plug in - no screws. The cables are light and flexible. But most important is that you can plug up to 127 devices into your PC, and you can plug and unplug them to your heart's content without rebooting.
If you have USB on your PC (and all PCs manufactured within the past two years or so have it), you will see one or two flat looking connectors on the back. Well then, you may ask, how do you hook up 127 devices? Simple. USB supports devices called "hubs". Each hub plugs into a single USB connector, and then provides four or more new connectors for you to plug devices into. You can also plug more hubs into these connectors, and hence more devices, up to a total length of five hubs deep or 127 total devices. Not only do hubs enable you to attach more devices, but they also mean less cables coming into the PC.
For example: If you have your scanner and printer on a different table from your PC, you can put a USB hub on the table, plug the scanner and printer into that, and then just run a single USB cable from that hub to your PC.
The USB interface can also provide a limited amount of power, so that some devices don't require a power cord or wall transformer. USB is also much faster than older serial interfaces - practical data rates are around 3 Mb/sec.
USB is here to stay, and you can now get any kind of device in USB form. There are already PCs being manufactured that have no legacy ports at all. But don't fear - if you want to run an older printer or serial device on a non-legacy PC, you can get adapters that derive the older interfaces from the USB connection.
(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport / Oak Island area. You can visit his website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail him at bsc@bobseidel.com).