Connecting the Keyboard and Mouse
Traditionally, both keyboard and mouse were connected to the PC using a PS/2 connector; with
keyboards using a purple colored connector, and the mouse using a green colored connector.
Today however, the majority of mice use a more modern USB 2.0 connector, although some
keyboards sold today still use the traditional PS/2 variety.
USB 2.0 keyboards can also be connected to one of the motherboard’s many USB ports,
although it recommended that you don’t use the blue USB 3.0 ports for keyboards, as these
ports are designed to be used with storage devices that can take
advantage of the higher bandwidth provided by USB 3.0
technology. Also, it is possible that the USB 3.0 ports will not
function during operating system installation, i.e. they can only
be used within the OS, after the correct drivers have been
installed.
Connecting the Monitor
Your graphics card or onboard graphics (depending on whether or not you chose to use a
discrete or onboard graphics adapter) may well be equipped with a variety of display connectivity. The four main types of monitor / display connectivity are D-Sub, DVI, DisplayPort and HDMI.
DVI, DisplayPort and HDMI are natively digital connection types and are better suited to most of
today’s LCD and LED displays, although many still use the older, analog D-Sub connector.
DisplayPort and HDMI are more commonly suited to high definition flat-screen displays and TVs,
and are designed to also carry an integrated audio signal. Today, many high-end PC monitors
support these standards.
There is also the possibility that your monitor uses a D-Sub (VGA) connector, but your graphics
card or motherboard connector is DVI-I. If this is the case, you can attach a simple D-Sub to
DVI-I converter to the monitor cable which will negate the issue. If connecting multiple monitors, it is recommended that the second additional monitor be added after the OS installation.
Also note that DVI-D does not support digital to analog conversion via an adapter.
How to Build Your Own PC
18