USB in this scenario would be synonymous with PCI, in regards to the type of technology that interfaces with the cpu.
Yes.
3) Just because a device has two physical mediums of connectivity, dosent make it a ?converter?. My coworkers argue that a USB Ethernet adapter is an ?Ethernet to USB Converter?.
Perhaps they are being confused by the existence of things like USB/Serial and USB/Parallel "converters" (I have one of the former here, for when I need to plug my GPS receiver into my laptop), but in fact these are "adapters", just like the PCI/Serial and PCI/Parallel cards you might buy to fit in a PCI slot [although most PCs have this functionality on the motherboard, so extra cards are unnecessary]. Another way of telling that they are adapters (even the USB/Serial one) rather than converters, is that that they need Windows Drivers, which are added by the standard plug-n-pray system when you first attach that device to the PC. A genuine converter (like 9-25 pin serial) doesn't need a driver.
If this is true, then the following could be said: a. A PCI Ethernet Adapter is a ?converter? because it ?converts? Ethernet to PCI.
You are on the right track here - both the PCI and USB items are "adapters". Neither are "converters".
c. Lastly ( I love this one ), An integrated Ethernet adapter on a motherboard is a ?converter? because it ?converts? ethernet to uhh ?? processor? Riiiiight?
It's a few years since I designed a PC, but I think you'll find that motherboard adapters like are actually connected to the PCI bus, but internally across the PCB, rather than via a separable connector (and at early stages in their evolution using the exact same chip soldered to the motherboard as would have been on the plug-in card). -- Roland Perry