Be it because of their speed, or their ease of usage we just love the USB technology for how incredible it is. In any computer nowadays, one or more Universal Serial Bus connectors are usually present.

Simply the technologies prior to the USB (like parallel ports, serial ports and other cards to connect devices) are almost extinct. That is the impact USB technology has over the computer world.

In this article we take you through the features which are presented by the USB technology.

Connectivity:

The USB has the ability to connect keyboards, mice, joysticks, webcams, and printers, modems…… so on over a 100 devices in the USB version to your computer, as host. All you need to do is simply plug in the USB device into the rectangular USB connector on your system and the device is ready for you.

Automatically if the device is new, your operating system detects it and asks you for drivers. Once the drivers are loaded, that’s it!! Your device is activated and ready for use.

The Power Requirements:

The low power USB devices can satisfy their power requirements from the bus (Up to 500 milliamps at 5 volts). All the other high power devices have their own power supplies.

The USB hub:

Simply the number of devices you need to connect via USB have increased. So, USB hubs are available if you want to connect more devices over ranges up to 30 meters to your computer at a time.

If the devices require less power, the USB hub with the help of its transformer supplies this demand. The other high power consuming devices have to rely on external power supply.

USB Cables:

The USB cables have wires for supplying power and transferring information. Up to the USB 2.0 the data could be sent only in one direction for a time instant.

But the newer USB 3.0 helps transmit and receive data at the same time, thus increasing the rate of transmission tremendously.

Backward Compatibility:

The USB devices are backward compatible. It means the USB 3.0 devices can use the USB 2.0 ports and get connected to the computer. But the data speeds are not the same.

Bottom Line:

Also these devices are hot-swappable which makes it easy to plug them in or out easily. Though there is a little competition from the other technologies, the USB technology is by far the front runner.