Define USB

USB which stands for Universal Serial Bus is a standard for communications between computers and other devices. It was promoted by Intel, Phillips, US Microsoft and Robotics and was introduced in 1996. USB was designed so that different types of devices can be accommodated under a common interface. Because of this capability, now USB devices would be the kind of play and plug apparatus. In short, a plug and play device is an external apparatus which we connect to the computer either for information transport or to provide extra capabilities to the computer. Normally plug and play apparatus are used together with additional applications which acts as a link between the apparatus and the CPU of the computer. This program is called the driver.

A number of different standards exist for these connections like PS2, but USB devices offer a distinct advantage along with other standards mainly because of two significant reasons.
To begin with , the USB standard enables devices to be linked to the computer without needing to restart the computer. For many standards, before the apparatus might be used, the computer required to be restarted. Secondly, its power source is taken by the device that is USB from the CPU eliminating the need for an external power supply cord. This is possible because of the fact that USB devices consume very little power.

USB devices are employed for any number of purposes. The most popular adaptation of these USB devices is in the kind of USB drives (also called pen-drives). These are devices which provide portable data storage facilities. These devices are just as little as a keychain. With the introduction of technology drives seem very small and can now store up to 200GB of information.
Another important use of USB is for webcams which allow us to transmit and store videos and photos right. Aside from such uses, USB also makes it possible for us to connect devices like iPods, microphones and speakers, network involving computers with USB routers and gives an interface to link our other gadgets. Together with Windows becoming more prevalent it’s now simpler to re install our gadgets since windows may automatically recognize and install our new devices. Another brand new technology which is making waves is USB 2.0, which provides data transfer speeds up to 480mbps (Megabytes per second).