Adding Serial Ports to a Computer with Only USB Ports by Preston Wily
So you bought a new computer but you don't have serial ports? It's surprisingly common these days - you find an awesome machine that does everything you want it to do, but then you get home and find out that amongst the lightning-fast processor and terabyte hard drive, you're missing something -... Add a true serial port with a USB adapter You can use a USB to Serial Adapter to easily and quickly add a serial port to your laptop. ... A lot of these devices are moving to newer standards, most notably USB, but many still operate on legacy technologies (serial or parallel) because of the...

PC Purchases: The Benefits of Adding Network Cards by Joshua Feinberg
Network cards are mandatory additions to PC purchases now that even the smallest offices now have broadband Internet access and peer-to-peer networking. Even if the cost of later purchasing Ethernet adapters a la carte were the same as the bundled prices, your clients still should get Ethernet... The Benefits of Adding Network Cards to PC Purchases When you add Ethernet adaptors to PC purchases, you and your clients won’t need to worry about compatibility between them and other hardware components in the PCs and their chosen operating system.

Bluetooth in the Home Office by R Heavner
Bluetooth is a wireless communication protocol that provides a method of wirelessly exchanging data between bluetooth enabled devices. Unlike Wi-Fi which requires more power to operate and a separate configuration for each device, Bluetooth requires low power consumption, is relatively simple to... They are similar to the computer adapter in that they plug into the printers USB port. ... This is a small device which plugs into the USB port of your computer and will allow your computer to communicate with Bluetooth components.

USB Connectors by Elizabeth Morgan
Today communication and technology have reached new heights. Various types of electrical devices can be connected to laptops, computers and mobile phones. A special port is installed in these devices from where a USB connector is attached. The other end of the port is connected to external... Among the various types of USB connectors available in the market, the most popular ones are serial to USB connectors, parallel to USB connectors, RJ11 USB connectors and USB Ethernet connectors. ... USB connectors are used to connect different types of USB cables with all standard compatible USB ports.

POS Printers by Steve Valentino
Fast-developing technology has come up with a variety of features of features in point of sale, or POS, printers that provide for the different uses at a point of sale. Remote printing is now the “in-thing” for restaurant owners—customer orders are directly printed in the kitchen with number and... Computers and printers can be connected directly through a parallel port in both the devices, or they can be connected directly through a serial interface. ... Laser and thermal printers are very quick, but it is the dot-matrix printer that is used by small scale retailers and restaurant owners,...

A Buyer's Guide to Flatbed Scanners by Jeffrey Lawrence
Flatbed scanners generally deliver the best combination of quality, flexibility, and usability in scanning. They can be used to scan different kinds of media, including photos and film (with the additional use of a transparency adapter); they can be used to scan text for OCR and document... When shopping for a flatbed, any scanner with a Hi-Speed USB port should be purchase-worthy, but consider getting a model with dual Hi-Speed USB and FireWire interfaces to expand your range of possible connections to many other devices and peripherals.

Motherboard Basics by Jason Kohrs
A recent Tech Tip covered the basics of selecting a computer case and made mention of the various sizes that correspond to motherboards of different form factors. A few people wrote in expressing interest in understanding more about the basics of motherboards, and that’s exactly what this Tech... In addition to these two sockets, many AMD processors, including Athlon XPs, Semprons, and Durons, share the Socket A format, also known as Socket 462 thanks to it having 462 pins for connecting to a motherboard.Socket adapters Intel’s latest offering for their Pentium 4 and Celeron processors,...