PC 99

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PC 99 was a specification for PCs jointly developed by Microsoft and Intel in 1998. Its aim was to encourage the standardization of PC hardware to aid Windows compatibility. It set out minimum hardware specifications for various types of PC (e.g. Office, Entertainment) which were typical for the time (e.g. 300 MHz CPU with 64Mb RAM on the Entertainment PC). It strongly discouraged the use of non plug and play hardware (in particular ISA slots) and mandated the use of USB.

[edit] Color Codes

The most lasting impact of PC 99 was that it set out the color code for the various standard types of plugs and connectors used on PCs. As many of the connectors look very similar, particularly to a novice PC user, this made it far easier for people to connect peripherals to the correct ports on a PC. This color code was gradually adopted by almost all PC, motherboard and peripheral manufacturers.

	Function	Connector
Green	PS/2 Mouse / pointing device	6 pin mini-DIN
Purple	PS/2 Keyboard	6 pin mini-DIN
Black	USB port	USB Type A
Grey	Firewire / IEEE 1394	6 pin FireWire 400
Burgundy	Parallel port	25 pin D
Teal or turquoise	Serial port	9 pin D
Blue	Analog VGA	15 pin VGA
White	Digital monitor	DVI
Yellow	S-Video	4 pin mini-DIN
Yellow	Composite video	RCA jack
Pink	Analog microphone audio input.	3.5 mm jack
Light blue	Analog line level audio input.	3.5 mm jack
Lime green	Analog line level audio output for the main stereo signal (front speakers or headphones).	3.5 mm jack
Black *	Analog line level audio output for rear speakers.	3.5 mm jack
Brown	Analog line level audio output for 'Right-to-left speaker'.	3.5 mm jack
Orange	S/PDIF digital audio output (sometimes used as an analog line output for a center speaker instead)	3.5 mm jack
Gold	Game port / MIDI	15 pin D