USB ports, cables and colours explained

 This time all about USB ports to help you purchase the correct cable for the job and also plug it into the correct port. So we're gonna discuss the different types, speeds, colors, with a little bit of history and the future of USB.

So first off it helps to understand the different connection types. You have different types of cables that would plugin for different types of devices. The first one we have is a type A, where it would plug into the computer. The rest of them are for specific devices,   such as the type B we have is typically for printers. Then you've got the Mini series, which was used a lot for the old phones; and we had the Mini A and B. We can see over here the Mini A versus B and the B was the more commonly used one on the old phones. Then we also have the Micro-A which was used on some newer but still fairly old phones. Then the newest phones use C which is being used for many other devices as well. So they're interchangeable between so many different devices, and you can see by the shape of it that it doesn't matter which way you plug it in. It's impossible to put that upside down. You also have the micro B which is typically found on USB backup drives, like external backup devices.

So looking at the series of USBs we started with the USB 1.0 which quickly emerged into 1.1 and again you can see that the picture is got the USB side but then on the other end we have a type A for the printer. It could be any type on the other end but the thing is, it's a USB with a white port typically found for the 1.0 or 1.1 series USB. This was originally developed in January 1996 and had a speed of anywhere from   1.5 megabits per second up to 12 megabits per second, depending on a few different factors. It would have a maximum length of anywhere from three to five meters. 

 The next one up we had the USB 2.0 and I've got a picture of one showing here using the   Mini B connector this time, and typically you'll find on the computer the port will be black. So if you see on the back of your computer or laptop a USB port that's black, then that probably means it's a USB 2.0.  These came out in around April 2000 and the speeds are up to as much as 480 megabits per second. So that's a massive increase from what we had in the 1.0 series   They can go up to 5 meters maximum length and this is when they started introducing the Mini A   and B series. Also, they allow the ability for you to charge batteries through USB since 2.0.

 Looking at the USB 3.0, that's when things started to take off. I got a picture showing that using the Micro B for the external drives and that's typical because they need more speed to transfer a lot of data a lot faster and you'll find that these may have a   connection port that's blue in color. They came out in November 2008 and the speeds go up to as much as five Gigabit per second. So again we're going in leaps and bounds here for the speed. Three meters length maximum. So they're not getting much longer at all and they never really will. So much because when you want to stay on top of the fast speed you gotta have the shorter length. The longer you go and you can add extensions to make things work but if you extend it's going to lose speed. This introduced some physical symbol encoding and link-level overhead which is all great except it reduces the speed by having this overhead. So your 5 Gigabits then drops down to about 3.2.

Then we get into the USB 3.1.  Now it looks blue but it's more of a teal blue color. I've got a cable here with the type C connection. This came out in July 2013 and now we're doubling speed up to 10 gigabits per second and the length wasn't quite as much. It could only go up to 3 meters. They couldn't quite hit the 5-meter max. But it seemed to be typically more closer to the 1 meter. 3 meters is kind of pushing it. But they did reduce the line encoding which allowed us to keep closer to that 10 gigabits per second.

 Now we're going into 3.2 which we're getting into some more speeds here. I'm showing this again with this type C. They don't look any different from the cables, but you may find a red port on the computer to identify it as a 3.2 This came out around September 2017 but we're doubling speed now from the 3.1   having 10 Gigabits we're up to 20 Gigabit now per second. Still 3-meter maximum length and then the future of USB.

It's been introduced in August 2019 but we're just really seeing this start showing up on all the computers now. This is typical with the type C connectors on both sides. So from the end that plugs in the device to the end that plugs into the computer, it's the same on both sides. However, you can still get different types of connectors and you can have adapters that'll convert the connections as well. These speeds double again from the 3.2 having 20 Gigabit, we're at 40 Gigabit per second now. These are insane speeds for doing massive video file transfers. We're still limited to a maximum of 5 meters.  So we're not going to get any further ahead than that. and this is as far as we've gone with the USB technology as of today. 

Look at other colors that you might find. You may see a yellow port that looks like a USB port, but if it's yellow that means it's always on. So that you can charge your phone or any other device through the   USB port, even if the computer is turned off. It's still going to have power going through that. So typically yellow it could be orange and sometimes even red may identify that it's always on. 

Thanks for reading