A USB interface? I'm targeting a specific keywords here, if that means anything to you. I intend to explain in this article what a USB is.

USB stands for Universal Serial Bus. Here are some of the definitions that you will find on the Internet:

• A way of setting up communication between a computer and peripheral devices
• A serial bus standard to connect devices to a host computer
• A computer interface with a maximum bandwidth of 1.5 Megabytes per second used for connecting computer peripherals such as printers
• A bidirectional, isochronous, dynamically attachable serial interface for adding peripheral devices such as game
• A very common port for attaching peripherals such as scanners, digital cameras and printers
• Hardware interface for low-speed peripherals such as the keyboard, mouse, joystick, scanner, printer and telephony devices
• A protocol for transferring data to and from digital devices

•  A hardware interface that connects computers to peripherals
• A plug-and-play interface between a computer and add-on devices

If reading the above definitions makes you more confused than before, don't worry, you're not alone.

USB is a standard, a port, a protocol, an interface. And so, what is a USB drive, a USB camera, a USB printer, a USB flash drive, a USB mouse, a USB keyboard, etc.?

For many of us, it simply means the connectors, the cable, and the port (where you plug the cable with a USB connector). USB means you will be using a 4-wire cable with two connectors on both ends, one end plugs into the computer port and the other end plugs into device port. This is true for such devices as USB digital cameras, USB videocams, and USB cellphones.

In some cases, one end of the cable is already soldered to the device and only one end of the cable has a connector that plugs into the computer. Examples of these are USB keyboards, USB mouse, USB hard drives, and others.

It is also possible that a USB device has no USB cable at all. All there is, is a USB connector protruding from the device and the device plugs directly to the computer. A good example of this are USB flash drives.

• Firewire Interface
• SATA Interface
• IDE Interface