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3-6 Understanding System Features
Multimode bidirectional parallel port with
Standard mode compatibility
Enhanced Parallel Port (EPP) mode with BIOS and
driver support
High-speed Extended Capabilities Port (ECP) mode
Floppy disk controller
Keyboard and mouse controller.
USB Ports
The two Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports allow you to add
serial devices without opening up the system; simply plug
them into the port.
The ports are hot-pluggable: You can plug in a
peripheral without shutting down the computer; the USB
determines system resources for each peripheral and
assigns them automatically.
If you attach an external USB hub, up to 127 devices
can be connected to a single PC.
Dual IDE Channels
The system board provides two independent bus-mastering
PCI IDE interfaces. They support such ATAPI devices as a
CD-ROM reader and Ultra DMA/33 hard drives. Up to
four IDE devices
may be connected at a time.
Power-Saving Feature
An Advanced Power Management (APM) feature in the
BIOS can put the system into a power reduction mode of
operation. This feature reduces energy consumption, but
still allows the system to respond to requests from external
devices, such as modems or a network.