ribbon cable
A thin, flat, multiconductor cable that is widely used for internal peripheral connections in electronic systems. In a PC, a 34-wire ribbon connects the floppy drive (if present) to the motherboard. A 40-wire cable connects the IDE (ATA) CD drive, and an 80-wire cable is used for the IDE (ATA) hard disks. |
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| Ribbon Cables |
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| These are the common ribbon cables used internally in a PC to connect hard disk, CD and floppy. For external connections, round-shaped cables are preferred over ribbon ones. |
ribbon cable [′rib·ən ‚kā·bəl]
(electricity)
A cable made of normal, round, insulated wires arranged side by side and fastened together by a cohesion process to form a flexible ribbon.
| (hardware) | ribbon cable - A type of flat multicore cable with cores
positioned side-by-side, making it quick and relatively easy
to clamp an Insulation Displacement Connector (IDC) across
all cores. Ribbon cables typically have grey insulation with cores on a 0.050" pitch and a red stripe marking Pin 1. They are less resilient than screened, multicore cable and are usually used inside equipment where little movement or plugging and unplugging are expected. A common use is connecting a disk drive to the motherboard in a PC. |
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