Chapter 3: Peripherals and Expansion

1. D. A PS/2 port is also known as a mini-DIN 6 connector.

2. D. The USB 2.0 spec provides for a maximum speed of 480 megabits per second (Mbps—not megabytes per second, or MBps).

3. C, D. Bidirectional parallel ports can both transmit and receive data. EPP and ECP are IEEE 1284 standards that were designed to transfer data at higher speeds in both directions so that devices could return status information to the system. The standard parallel port only transmits data out of the computer. It cannot receive data. FireWire is specified by IEEE 1394. IEEE 1284 does not specify serial protocols, such as RS-232 and USB.

4. C. The IEEE 1394 standard provides for greater data transfer speeds, increased power, and the ability to send memory addresses as well as data through a serial port. USB 3.0 proves to threaten more competition in these areas, but USB 2.0 could not compare to the overall performance of IEEE 1394.

5. B. USB hubs are used to connect multiple peripherals to one computer through a single port. They support data transfer rates as high as 12Mbps, or 1.5MBps (for USB 1.1, which is the option listed here).

6. D. The IEEE 1284 standard specifies that the ECP parallel port use a DMA channel and the buffer be able to transfer data at higher speeds to printers.

7. C. The description 5.1 refers to six channels of audio. The 5 in the name refers collectively to the single center channel, the right and left front channels, and the right and left rear channels. The 1 in the name refers to the single LFE channel connected to the subwoofer.

8. A. Intel and Apple collaborated on Thunderbolt to add PCIe to VESA’s DisplayPort and to make the resulting interface smaller and less expensive to connect.

9. C. HDMI is a digital interface and cabling specification that allows digital audio to be carried over the same cable as video.

10. C. Such a connection should not be made. DVI-I cables act like universal cables; they can connect two DVI-A interfaces or two DVI-D interfaces with adapters. Natively, they are used to connect two DVI-I interfaces, both of which are configured as either analog or digital. They are unable to convert the analog signal to a digital one, however. Analog and digital DVI interfaces are too disparate to interconnect.

11. B. Biometric input devices scan a physical trait of the user, such as voice, fingerprint, and retina, for authentication purposes when the user attempts to access computer systems and other property.

12. D. KVM switches are ideal when you have multiple computers situated near one another and do not want to commit the extra desk space to each computer having its own keyboard, mouse, and monitor.

13. C. MIDI devices use a 5-pin DIN connector similar to the one used with the original AT keyboard.

14. B. A video capture card is used to convert raw video input to a format that can be shared electronically. Although many TV tuner cards provide this functionality, it is their video-capture component that gives them this capability. Any adapter that is strictly a TV tuner cannot capture video.

15. A. Multimedia input devices, not standard input devices, use 1/8″ jacks. Standard input devices include human interface devices, such as keyboards and mice. The other three options can be used for such devices.

16. C. Network interface cards are considered to be a form of communications adapter.

17. B. Interfaces, such as USB ports, are considered input/output ports. If you have to add USB capability to a computer, an I/O adapter with USB ports on it would meet the need.

18. A. Modems have RJ-11 jacks for interface to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). The modular jacks that Ethernet NICs have are known as RJ-45 jacks.

19. C. A trackball is a sort of stationary mouse that has the ball for movement detection on the top of the device along with the keys. The ball is actuated by the thumb or fingers, not by moving the device along a flat surface or mouse pad. Trackballs are ideal where desk space is limited. There is no such thing as a trackpad.

20. B. VGA signals are analog, uncompressed, component signals that carry all the video information for all three components of the original RGB signal.