Summary

In this chapter, you learned about various types of expansion cards, the interfaces they are known for, and the peripherals they connect to. The fact that some interfaces have gone through an evolution, changing appearance and capabilities at times, was also presented. No discussion of expansion cards and interfaces would be complete without adding in details of the cables needed, if any, to connect the cards to the peripherals; the discussion in this chapter is no exception.

This chapter also surveyed the details of peripherals from an output vs. input perspective, including specifics on the connections for display devices. Well-known input devices, such as the mouse and keyboard, and less conventional yet popular input devices were also examined in this chapter. You also learned about the KVM switch, a device that allows you to share input devices among computers. The adapter cards highlighted in this chapter fall into four broad categories: video, multimedia, I/O, and communications.

Other output devices were presented, with substantial detail of some and a topical look at others that are covered in more detail elsewhere in this book.