Bus

The Bus is a roadway, circuit, on which electronic impulses travel throughout the computer. It is called a bus because "loads" or "bits" of data from one component to the main board is transferred to another component. After the load is dropped off the bus picks up another load and drops it off. The bus carries data lines, signals that represent data, and address lines which tell the location of the data on the computer.

What are the myths?

Types of Buses

• ISA BUS (Industry Standard Architecture): It is the oldest and slowest bus. It is used mostly for slow devices such as printers, modems, and sound cards. It is also the least expensive. It has a bus width of 16 bits and a bus speed of 8 MHz.
• VL-BUS (VESA Local Bus): This bus is used for transferring data to the monitor. The graphical information needs to be displayed quickly. It has a bus width of 32 bits, 4 characters, and a bus speed of 33 MHz. It is faster than the ISA BUS. It has limited expansion to one or two slots or devices.
• PCI BUS (Peripheral Component Interconnect): The PCI is the most advanced of the buses. It runs at a speed of 33 and 66 MHz and a 32 and 64 bit width. This bus can connect more devices than the VL-BUS and is found in Pentium computers with "Plug and Play", automatic set-up of devices.

Bus facts The larger the bus width the more information that can flow. It is measured in bits. (8 bits = 1 character). The higher the bus speed the faster the data goes. Bus speed is measured in megahertz (MHz), millions of cycles per second.

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