We have had so many requests for our cabling guide, we decided to replicate it on our website. Please feel free to review and copy as needed. Parallel Cabling Guide When IBM introduced the PC, in 1981, the parallel printer port was included as an alternative to the slower serial port as a means for driving the latest high performance dot matrix printers. The parallel port had the capability to transfer 8 bits of data at time whereas the serial port transmitted one bit at a time. IEEE 1284 Cabling Guide The "IEEE Std.1284-1994 Standard Signalling Method for a Bi-directional Parallel Peripheral Interface for Personal Computers", is for the parallel port what the Pentium processor was to the 286. The standard provides for high speed bi-directional communication between the PC and an external peripheral that can communicate 50 to 100 times faster that the original parallel port. Serial Cabling Guide Serial means one event at a time. It is usually contrasted with parallel, meaning more than one event happening at a time. In data transmission, the techniques of time division and space division are used, where time separates the transmission of individual bits of information sent serially and space (on multiple lines or paths) can be used to have multiple bits sent in parallel. SCSI Cabling Guide SCSI was created to satisfy the need for a more flexible, faster, command-controlled interface for hard disk drives and other computer peripherals. Despite the term "small" in its name, SCSI is large. It is large in use, in market impact, influence, and unfortunately in documentation. Monitor Cabling Guide / Video Display Standards Since there are many different ways to specify a video card's capabilities, and so many potential resolutions, color modes, etc., video standards were established in the early years of the PC, primarily by IBM. The intention of these video standards is to define agreed upon resolutions, colors, refresh modes, etc., to make it easier for the manufacturers of PCs, monitors, and software to ensure that their products work together. USB Cabling Guide USB (Universal Serial Bus) is designed to be a "plug & play" interface between a computer and add-on devices such as audio players, joysticks, keyboards, telephones, scanners, and printers. USB allows new devices to be added to computers without having to turn the computer off. USB Supports a data speed of 12 megabits per second. Network Cabling Guide Local Area Networks (LAN) have become the prevalent way of sharing information. As this is probably the fastest moving of cabling media, by the time you have finished reading this, another new product will be on the market !