USB -
The Universal Serial Bus is probably going to replace the serial and parallel interfaces. USB enables the effortless connection of peripheral devices without the need to install cards into the computer or reconfigure parts of the operating system. The most important advantages are: the support of Plug and Play, hot plugging, automatic configuration of external devices upon connection (no re-start necessary), faster data transfer and the possible operation of up to 127 devices from a single port. USB 2.0 uses a much higher bandwidth and is up to 40 times faster than the original standard. It further benefits from being backwards compatible with existing USB technology, so older devices will still work with USB 2.0 at a so called "Normal Speed" which is equivilant to the USB 1.1 specification while newer devices which are USB Hi-Speed 2.0compliant will profit from the much faster data transfer speed of USB Hi-Speed 2.0.
