USB

The Universal Serial Bus (USB) is technology that allows a person to connect an electronic device to a computer. It is a fast serial bus type.

It is mostly used on personal computers. USB is also used on other devices, such as smartphones and video game consoles. USB connects different devices using a standard interface.

Most people use USB for computer mice, keyboards, scanners, printers, digital cameras, and USB flash drives. There are over six billion USB devices around the world.

The standard was made to improve plug and play devices. This means that a device can be plugged into a free socket, and simply work. The computer will notice the device. The computer sometimes installs special software to use the device. The device can be removed after it stops being used. This technology is called "hot swapping". "Hot swapping" means it can be plugged and unplugged while the power is on. The computer does not need to be turned off for people to change the devices.

USB can provide a small amount of power to the attached device through the USB cord. Devices that only need a little power can get it from the bus, and do not need a separate electric power plug. That allows gadgets like USB battery chargers, lights, and fans. They can also power external hard drives and SSD.

As of 2022, almost all computers have USB and have replaced older standards. Those include the parallel port, serial port and SCSI. These old standards are rare nowadays, but very few computers in the world still use these old connectors for a few jobs where USB cannot replace them.