Port Expander Essay

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A port expander is a device that allows one port on a computer system to connect to multiple devices. There are two basic forms of port expander: internal and external. An internal expander has a connection inside the computer, typically on the motherboard, and the only part the user sees is the expansion plate containing multiple ports. An external device plugs into the existing port and then has multiple places to connect. . The most common versions are used for USB and Ethernet ports. When not part of a computer system, these devices are commonly known as splitters Below is a list of numerous types of ports that have available port expanders. * Ethernet port expander * Firewire port expander * DB-25 port expander * Serial port expander * USB port expander * VGA port expander * DVI port expander * SCSI port expander * Audio port expander * Video port expander * Microphone port expander * RS-422 port expander * Modbus serial port expander * SATA port expander * SAS port expander * SSD port expander Port expanders are generic devices that can be used with any computer as long as the computer has the port for which you are trying to use and expander for. Now every computer from PC to MAC has all the same ports on them. It used to be that MAC was the only one using Firewire, but then it became available on the PCs. Fire wire is pretty much phased out now days though. The main advantage to using a port expander is that you can get more available ports to use and plug things into. I would say that using an external port expander would have an advantage of being able to be unplugged from one computer and being plugged in on another computer. The disadvantages of using a port expander are that the original port can only handle so much bandwidth. Another

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