Connection ports on the MAC

Jan 1, 2000 - by Richard de Conector

Connection ports

Connection ports


	ADB Port	For keyboard, mouse, trackball, drawing tablet, or joystick. Do not plug or unplug one of these attachments when your Mac is turned on.

	Modem or printer serial port	For printer, modem, midi, or other devices ...

	USB port	Replaces the old modem and printer ports and ADBs on the newer MACs (since the iMAC). Plug and play (computer does not have to be turned off to plug or unplug devices).

	Apple Screen Plug	To plug in your Apple monitor. A VGA adapter is needed to plug in a PC monitor to this jack.

	External SCSI port	For hard drives, removable storage devices, digital cameras, jaz, syquest, scanners, .... NEVER plug or unplug when the MACis turned on. Each peripheral must have a unique SCSI number: 1,2,4, 5 or 6 (the MAC is pre-assigned number 7, the internal disk the number 0 and the CD-ROM the number 3). If you have an internal SCSI drive separate from the external one or if your internal devices are configured with IDE you will have access to 0 and 3 for your external SCSI devices. The last device in your SCSI chain must be terminated (devices/peripherals are either self-terminating or have a switch that can be set to on or off).

	External SCSI port on Powerbook	for hard drives, removable storage devices, digital cameras, jaz, syquest, scanners, ... and to connect to another MAC. Same comments as above.

	SCSI Port on hard drives	Most hard drives come with a 50 pin SCSI plug. You must therefore always use a "25/50" cable to connect to a MAC. Other peripherals are added to the SCSI chain using "50/50" cables. The quality of the these cables is the most important factor in the proper functioning of the peripherals, particularly when there are several of them.

	Firewire Port	For hard drives, removable storage devices, digital cameras,jaz, scanners, .... and for connecting to another MAC. The main difference between firewire and SCSI connection ports are that firewire are "hot" connectable (computer can be turned on), there are no device numbers used, and they don't need to be terminated.

	Power cord plug	For main power plug.

	Secondary monitor	Power plug for a monitor. Allows monitor to turn on as soon as your MAC boots up.

	AAUI for Network	Used in conjunction with an adapter to allow connections with a network using RJ45 or BNC base.

	BNC for 10base2 networks	To connect to a 10base2 network. All the connections are made in series with the use of a BNC adapter in a 'T' formation on a long coaxial cable with BNC terminators on both ends.

	RJ45 for 10base-T 100base-T networks	Network Plug to connect to a 10baseT or 100baseT network. All of the connections are made in a star shape out of a main hub.

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