Exercise 6

Universal Serial Bus (USB) became a phenomenon in the late 1990s and is still the platform of communication of choice for most hardware manufacturers. Explain in brief the history of USB, the versions of USB, and how can we use USB for input/output.

                In the past, connecting peripheral devices to computers often caused a dilemma. This is because there were too many different port types, such as serial, parallel, and PS/2. Also, peripheral devices did not support hot-plugging and automatic configuration. The introduction of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) in 1995 solved all those problems, introducing fast, low-cost, hot-pluggable Plug and Play hardware. USB allows the user to connect a wide range or peripheral devices, including keyboards, mice, printers, scanners, mass storage devices, cameras, and audio devices. The USB used only memory buffers in the USB system software. This user-friendly device was very popular among consumers. It soon became the default in the tech industry for connecting PCs and laptops.

            The USB was developed by companies such as Compaq, IBM, Intel, and Microsoft, and DEC, joined later on by Hewlett-Packard, Lucent, and Phillps. These companies together formed USB Implementers Forum, Inc. (USB-IF) as a non-profit corporation to publish specifications, provide support, and maintain a forum for the advancement of USB technology.

            USB 1.0 was released on January 15, 1996, featuring a low-speed transfer rate of 1.5MB/s and full-speed transfer rate of 12MB/s. Shortly after, a revision 1.1 was released on September 23, 1998. This was the first widely used version of USB. In April 2000, USB 2.0 was released.  It wowed users with a high-speed transfer rate of 480MB/s. Then in November 2008, the USB was vastly improved, with data transfer rates of up to 5GB/s. Recently, a SuperSpeed USB has been rumored to be in development.

            USB devices can be used as input devices in the form of keyboards and mice. A leader in such technology is Logitech, being the user favorite for these input devices. Most of these devices use USB connections. Another USB input device is printers and scanners. On the other hand, USB devices are also commonly used for output devices. This is in the case of speakers, monitors, and projector screens.

            It is obvious that USB is one of the most used hardware devices in the computer world, and it does not look like it is going to be replaced anytime soon.