The beige cord has one end in the camera and the other end in the USB port on the front of the CPU. The camera is on and so are the CPU and the monitor. The camera display screen has so many little symbols. In the box there is a basic instruction booklet, a detailed instruction booklet, and also one in Spanish. I will have to read them both more carefully. I'm a techno-flop! (the high school in the district where I live has a "basics of digital photography" class every semester. I couldn't take it in the spring because we couldn't get the camera to power up. I'll take it this fall.) I'm bummed because I wanted you all to see a picture of my cat already.