Connecting Peripherals
An expansion slot is a slit-like socket on the motherboard into which a circuit board can be inserted. The circuit board is called the expansion card; it is used to extend the capability of a computer. Examples of an expansion card include the sound card and the video card. An expansion card also provides port(s), which are connector(s) between the expansion card and the peripheral device. A port can also be built into the system unit case of a computer, such as a mouse port. A number of different ports were needed to connect different peripheral devices, until the advent of standardized universal ports, such as Universal Serial Bus (USB) port and FireWire port. Because these universal ports are being widely used, they are replacing the need for other ports. See the diagram below for how peripheral devices and their connectors attach to other components in a computer.
Figure 1 Peripheral devices and their connectors
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