The full form of USB is “Universal Serial Bus“. USB is an industry-standard used for connection, data transfer and power supply between computers, laptops and electronic devices. It is used to define the connectors, cables, and communication protocols used in the bus. The main idea behind its creation was to support file transfer and transmit electric power between devices. Keyboards, mouse, printer, media players, disc drives, power banks are some of the devices that use the Universal Serial Bus (USB). It device can be used across multiple platforms such as Windows, Mac, Android and Linux.
Types of USB
- USB Type-A:- This is the most commonly found one. Used primarily for smartphones, computers, keyboards, mouse, cameras.
- USB Type-B:- These types of usb, have very specific usage and are rare to find. Mainly printers and scanners use it for connecting to an input device.
- Mini USB:- This is an obsolete version of USB. Older models of various gadgets used this type of USB before the next one replaced it.
- Micro USB:- They have a sleek design. They are being used globally for almost all the devices that need a USB connectivity.
- USB Type-C:- More modern in technology, you will find in the new age renewed models of gadgets.
Brief History
- 1994:- USB was developed by a group of seven companies. Compaq, DEC, IBM, Microsoft, Intel, NEC and Nortel. It was developed to make it easier to connect external devices to the PC.
- 1996:- USB 1.0 was released with the speed of 1.5 Mbit/s (Low Bandwidth or Low Speed) and 12 Mbit/s (Full Speed).
- 1998:- USB 1.1 was released, it was the earliest revision that was widely adopted.
- 2000:- USB 2.0 was released, with the speed of 480 Mbit/s named High Speed or High Bandwidth.
- 2008:- USB 3.0 was released with the speed of 5.0 Gbit/s named SuperSpeed.
- 2013:- USB 3.1 was released with the speed of 10 Gbit/s named SuperSpeed+.
- 2017:- USB 3.2 was released with the speed of 20 Gbit/s over the USB-C connector.
- 2019:- USB 4.0 was released with the speed of 40 Gbit/s.Thunderbolt 3 forms the basis of the USB4 standard.