Hardware Connections
The Types of Hardware Connection
Optical
An optical fiber is a flexible, transparent fiber made of glass (silica) or plastic, slightly thicker than a human hair. It functions as a waveguide, to transmit light between the two ends of the fiber. The field of applied science and engineering concerned with the design and application of optical fibers is known as fiber optics. Optical fibers are widely used in fiber-optic communications, which permits transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths (data rates) than other forms of communication. Fibers are used instead of metal wires because signals travel along them with less loss and are also immune to electromagnetic interference.
SCART
VGA
USB
Firewire
HDMI
Line In
This is where you plug in equipment such as tape-decks, turntables, etc, to feed music into your computer from an outside source. A line in is a socket that enable you to add a sound source from another instrument into your organ, keyboard or digital piano. It is rare for them to have enough gain for a microphone, however, unless a preamp is used.
Line Out
A jack (usually) on a mixer, tape recorder, or amplifier which sends output to another electronic device.
SD/ Media Card Slot
Secure Digital or SD is a non-volatile memory card format for use in portable devices, such as mobile phones, digital cameras, GPS navigation devices and tablet computers.
The secure digital standard is maintained by the SD Card Association (SDA). SD technologies have been implemented in more than 400 brands across dozens of product categories and more than 8,000 models.
Infrared
The traditional remote control, it transmits infra-red, like a television remote. Typical range is limited to 30 or 35 feet. Infra-red requires line of site or a bounce off of a hard surface.
Bluetooth
Advantages of Bluetooth technology
- Contrasting LAN (Local Area Network) wireless technology, Bluetooth doesn't require any configuration to be set for starting a connection and transfer data between devices. It eliminates the need of using any wires or cables.
- Bluetooth technology uses a secure connection between devices having a password lock when sharing data between devices. A user will have to enter the password first for sharing files and the other user who will receive files will also have to enter the same password.
- Bluetooth technology functions under 100 meters of distance, that makes the process of data sharing easy and fast.
Disadvantages of Bluetooth technology
- Bluetooth technology cannot be used for Internet connections due to its restricted transfer rate.
- Since Bluetooth technology releases larger range and data lines frequency, it gets more exposed to attacks for example interceptions and tapping. As long as new versions are coming, you don’t need to worry about this point.
- Bluetooth technology drains battery life, and this mostly happens when you use it on your mobile phones. It consumes large amount of battery life in short period of time and if anyone leaves it switched ON for a good amount of time, the battery life will be dead in no time. So you can’t keep it switched On forever.
Wireless
Wireless networking - which is often just known as Wi-Fi - is a way of getting broadband internet without wires. Wi-Fi allows you to connect several computers at once, anywhere in the house - or if you have a laptop, to even use your computer in the garden. You don’t need to install extra phone lines or cables.
Wi-Fi creates a network in your home or office – a little zone where computers can get broadband internet. It uses radio waves, just like TV or mobile phones. You may sometimes hear this zone referred to as a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network). A device called a wireless transmitter receives information from the internet via your broadband connection. The transmitter converts the information into a radio signal and sends it. The whole process, meanwhile, works in reverse, with the computer sending information to the wireless transmitter. It then converts them and sends them via your broadband connection.
Advantages:
- -Flexible if there is ad-hoc situation when additional workstation was required.
- -Implementation cost is cheaper than wired network.
- -Ideal for the non-reachable places such as across river or mountain or rural area.
- -Ideal for temporary network setups.
Disadvantages:
- -Lower speed compared to wired network.
- -Less secure because hacker's laptop can act as Access Point. If you connected to their laptop, they'll read all your information (username, password.. etc).
- -More complex to configure than wired network.
- -Affected by surrounding. E.g: walls (blocking), microwave oven (interference), far distance (attenuation).