You’ve probably faced problems when shifting your comp or getting a new peripheral as to which cable goes where and what the empty ports might be for. If you look closer you’ll realise that it’s not as complicated as it seems. The back panel has been built in such a way that each port/ socket is built to accommodate only one connection/ wire … the one that it’s meant to!
A piece of advice: Remember do not force any connectors into any of the given ports.They are designed to only go in one way. And if they do not fit easily, you are surely putting the wrong connector in the given slot or vice versa.
So what goes where?
The PS/2 ports for keyboard and mouse
If you look towards the top of the back panel, there are normally two PS/2 ports—one for the keyboard and one for the mouse. The two ports are colour coded, so you cannot mistake one for the other (blue for keyboard and green for the mouse). As a rule of thumb, the PS/2 keyboard port is the lower port while the PS/2 mouse port is above it.
Attaching the non-PS/2 Keyboard
If you don’t have a PS/2 mouse or keyboard, you won’t have any problem recognising the non-PS/2 port for the keyboard. The keyboard fits in properly into the round port provided for it. This port is located near the top of the back panel right below the power connector.
Attaching the mouse
The non-PS/2 mouse fits into what is known as the COM port. You can recognize the COM port by the fact that it has pins in it, so your mouse fits into it properly. You will normally have a 9-pin COM port and a 25-pin COM port. The mouse fits into the 9-pin port. Normally, the port will have an indicator, which will tell you which side to keep up when putting in the mouse cable. In case it doesn’t have an indicator, just check the port so that the five pins above and four pins below (or vice versa) .Match the holes in the mouse and attach the mouse accordingly.
Attaching the modem
The other COM port with the 25 pins is usually for an external modem. You attach the modem in a similar manner as you would the mouse. You just have to ensure that the 16 pins above and 9 pins below (or vice versa) match the holes in the modem.
Attaching the printer to the parallel port
The printer port or the parallel port as it’s usually called, is the one with 25 holes. You use it for connecting the printer cable (or Zip drive or scanner cable).
Connecting speakers, microphone and joystick
The ports at the bottom are for attaching the speaker connectors and microphone. These wires to the soundcard.
Normally, the soundcard has three small round ports (apart from a game port) to perform specific sound functions. The ports are usually marked as Line Out – To grab sound from the sound card, Line In – For external sound capture from an outside source, and Speakers Out – To connect speakers to the sound card for audio output
Most soundcards these days also have colour-coded ports so you cannot mistake them. Besides, the function of the port is written right next to it.
The game port, which is usually part of the soundcard, could be used to connect gaming peripherals like a ‘Joystick’.
Connecting monitor cable to display adaptor
The isolated port that looks like a narrower version of the parallel port and has three rows of pins, is where you connect the monitor’s cable. An indicator on the monitor cable should say which side is up, so you shouldn’t have any problems with this one either as the plug will only go in one way. This port is situated on the VGA card of the computer.
Universal Serial Bus
Best of all.The USB has changed the computers world. From webcams to mobile phones you can connect all peripherals with this bus.Simple to plug in.It can be used for any peripheral to be connected to a computer which has a USB port.
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