Glossary » U

Universal Serial Bus. A high-speed synchronous serial data interface allowing up to 127 peripherals to be simultaneously connected to a personal computer. USB allows for devices to be added or removed without powering the system down. USB 1.1 runs at up to 12Mbit/s and USB 2.0 at up to 480Mbit/s.

This is either built into a device or is a separate unit, which carries a number of downstream USB ports available for peripherals. A hub can also be bus-powered (voltage is drawn from the PC’s bus) or self-powered (voltage is drawn from the mains). In each case an upstream port is linked to the PC.

A setting that can be modified and saved by the user. For example, the colour temperature and/or the RGB levels maybe adjusted in a monitor to suit the user’s preferences.