It’s disturbing that I kinda miss the pre-USB days when, if the cable matched the port physically, it also matched the port in terms of capabilities (unless someone was doing something deliberately stupid). At least that meant you knew right away whether you had the right cable or not.
USB-C has been a blessing and curse. One port that does everything, except when it doesn’t. Even charging is now complicated by the “guess the cable that supports the right PD type” game.
Not that the old days were much better. I don’t miss faffing around with the myriad of serial and parallel port modes and settings.
Although serial and parallel shared the same overall pin count and connector style, they used opposite genders and the two were incompatible.
Generally, If the port on the PC was male it was serial if the port was female it was parallel. But realistically you’d never see a 25-pin serial on a computer unless you were looking at something very ancient and strange. Even back into the '80s, The PCs used DB9 connectors for serial and adapters or the cable itself would have to convert it over the standard 25 pin connector on the modems.
It’s disturbing that I kinda miss the pre-USB days when, if the cable matched the port physically, it also matched the port in terms of capabilities (unless someone was doing something deliberately stupid). At least that meant you knew right away whether you had the right cable or not.
USB-C has been a blessing and curse. One port that does everything, except when it doesn’t. Even charging is now complicated by the “guess the cable that supports the right PD type” game.
Not that the old days were much better. I don’t miss faffing around with the myriad of serial and parallel port modes and settings.
Wasnt the parallel port also used for serial for awhile? Not quite perfect but better than now I suppose.
Although serial and parallel shared the same overall pin count and connector style, they used opposite genders and the two were incompatible.
Generally, If the port on the PC was male it was serial if the port was female it was parallel. But realistically you’d never see a 25-pin serial on a computer unless you were looking at something very ancient and strange. Even back into the '80s, The PCs used DB9 connectors for serial and adapters or the cable itself would have to convert it over the standard 25 pin connector on the modems.