Meaning – The word bus refers to a subsystem that allows computer components to be connected to each other, and also transfer data between each other, with one component allowed to transmit at a time.
A bus system can also be used to describe digital connections. A Bus can babe serial or parallel, where the former transmits data in a bit serial format and the latter transmits data across multiple wires.
Computer bus types are as follows:
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System Bus: A parallel bus that simultaneously transfers data in 8-bit, 16-bit, or 32-bit channels and is the primary pathway between the CPU and memory.
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Internal Bus: Connects a local device, like internal CPU memory.
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External Bus: Connects peripheral devices to the motherboard, such as scanners or disk drives.
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Expansion Bus: Allows expansion boards to access the CPU and RAM.
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Frontside Bus: Main computer bus that determines data transfer rate speed and is the primary data transfer path between the CPU, RAM and other motherboard devices.
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Backside Bus: Transfers secondary cache (L2 cache) data at faster speeds, allowing more efficient CPU operations.
Example of Usage – “System buses transfer data in parallel. In a 32-bit bus, data are sent over 32 wires simultaneously.”
