Hardware Interfaces

A hardware interface/port is a socket on the outside of the system unit that is connected to an expansion board on the inside of the system unit. A port allows connecting a peripheral device such as a monitor, printer, or modem, so that it can communicate with the computer system.

Function of Hardware Interface

Connecting peripheral devices.
Transmitting data to and from peripheral devices.
Providing electrical power to those devices having low power requirement such as mouse, keyboard, pen drive.

Some of the popular hardware interfaces are:

HDMI (High Definitation Multimedia Interface)
It is an all-digital-audio-video interface which transmits signals in umcompressed format .

Parallel Port
Parallel port is a type of interface which is used for connecting peripherals in computer. Parallel ports send multiple bits of data at once (parallel communication), as opposed to serial communication, in which bits are sent one at a time.

Serial Port
A serial port, enables a line to be connected that will send bits one after the other on a single line. Serial ports are used principally for communications lines, modems, and mice.

Universal Serial Bus(USB)
USB is a serial bus standrad to connect devices to a host computer. It was designed to allow many peripherals to be conneccted to the computer.

Expansion Slot
An expansion slot is a connection or port inside a computer on the motherboard. It provides an installation point for a hardware expansion card to be connected.