Expansion Bus

The Expansion Bus is the favorite component of upgraders worldwide. It allows the computer user to add devices and components directly into the circuit board of the computer (into expansion slots), which allows the devices to have direct communication with CPU. 

Before we venture into the various expansion slot types, we need to discuss the multiple aspects used by expansion slots and the definition of an expansion slot itself. Here is a brief outline of this section.

Expansion Bus

Expansion Slot
Interrupt Lines
DMA channels
I/O addresses
Clock signals
Bus Mastering

Expansion Slot

The Expansion Slot is the connector between the motherboard and expansion cards. It is composed of several copper "fingers" which grip the sides of the cards, which create an electronic circuit between the card and the motherboard. The pathways created by the copper strips are used for the data bus, address bus, electrical ground, interrupts, DMA channels, and clock signals.

Continue the tutorial with the next feature of expansion bus, Interrupt Lines.

All material and images on these pages are copyright Joseph,Ed. This page was developed for the Thinkquest1999 competition.