Before USB, we had THIS

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  • Опубликовано: 23 дек 2024

Комментарии • 1,2 тыс.

  • @TrowGundam
    @TrowGundam 11 месяцев назад +852

    Another advantage (at least for Keyboards, not sure about mice) of the PS/2 port was they were interrupt based, while USB keyboards use polling. The polling on modern devices is so fast it probably doesn't matter, but theoretically there is a latency advantage for PS/2 keyboards.

    • @Raven-fu1zz
      @Raven-fu1zz 11 месяцев назад +113

      Don't forget the n-key roll over so you can press multiple keys at a time, you get the interrupts for mice as well

    • @Durkhead
      @Durkhead 11 месяцев назад +37

      I still use a ps2 keyboard from my dad's 1990s dell

    • @tro_b0t
      @tro_b0t 11 месяцев назад +26

      Nope, don't notice a difference in latency from my PS/2 Keyboard and modern USB-C one. N-key roll over is no problem on either, other than my PS/2 not liking me pressing Shift+W+D at once (because fuck me)

    • @galakstiv
      @galakstiv 11 месяцев назад +78

      @@tro_b0t input lag from the worst PS/2 keyboard is generally the same as the best USB keyboard (those with 1000Hz polling rate, etc). But we're talking about such low latency anyway that it doesn't really matter.
      The real interest of being "interrupt based" (with a direct access to one or more CPU pins) was that the keyboard could still do something when the OS froze, but the CPU command that still worked were obviously limited, like rebooting ... which is also achievable with a button on the computer itself XD

    • @BleuSquid
      @BleuSquid 11 месяцев назад +36

      There used to be a recurring issue in the WinXP/Win7 era, where the USB interface would just stop working. Of course, this always happened when I was buried deep in the middle of some work. I kept a PS/2 keyboard around so I could reset the USB subsystem and keep working.

  • @TheDarkFalcon
    @TheDarkFalcon 11 месяцев назад +217

    SCSI was something we used in the 90s and early 2000s when I was younger. I'm pretty sure the main advantage over standard parallel was that it allowed chaining devices together. SCSI from our computer to our scanner, which then had another SCSI input which was chained to our printer, to which again we could chain to something else, which I think.. Was another printer (laser printer for black, ink jet for colour).

    • @Carhill
      @Carhill 11 месяцев назад +17

      It surprised me that scussy wasn't mentioned.

    • @gljames24
      @gljames24 11 месяцев назад +16

      Fun Fact: The SCSI commands are alive and well in USB and Sata connector protocols.

    • @baleavitt
      @baleavitt 11 месяцев назад +7

      SCSI was faster too. But it never had enough adoption on PCs. It was standard on Macs but for most people if they wanted to use SCSI peripherals, they had to buy an expansion card. Pretty much killed it because Apple was almost dead before they debuted the iMac and converted entirely to USB

    • @sirusfox
      @sirusfox 11 месяцев назад +7

      @@baleavitt Thing is, SCSI never actually died. It never made in roads on the home market as an interface but it was the standard of choice in the corporate world. Although the physical interface is no more, the protocol set lives on in USB as it is how USB attached drives are seen (UASP). Its largely become the drive interface standard for physical interfaces that were not designed specifically for drives and in many ways is why USB has the footing it has.

    • @kas9402
      @kas9402 11 месяцев назад +2

      Came here to complain that the SCSI port was overlooked! My first wacom! Super awesome! Still works, crazily enough

  • @JanghanHong
    @JanghanHong 11 месяцев назад +217

    PS/2 keyboard (especially) is super useful for some issues where the motherboard forgets what a USB is due to BIOS corruption, it connects deep into their neural nerves like some primordial nails on chalkboard telling them to respond to it as opposed to just flat-out ignoring USB inputs.

    • @JohnADoe-pg1qk
      @JohnADoe-pg1qk 11 месяцев назад +5

      🤣

    • @techno1561
      @techno1561 11 месяцев назад +17

      Only if the PS/2 port on the motherboard is a traditional PS/2 port, and not an onboard PS/2-USB adaptor.

    • @justaguycalledjosh
      @justaguycalledjosh 11 месяцев назад +10

      @@techno1561 That sounds incredibly cursed.

    • @jec_ecart
      @jec_ecart 11 месяцев назад +1

      Ps2 is how you can install windows 7 on Ryzen.

    • @christophers5949
      @christophers5949 11 месяцев назад +1

      great analogy 😂

  • @renevanhove1066
    @renevanhove1066 11 месяцев назад +297

    It took a few years before PS/2 was colorcoded. I remember a lot of trial and error…
    Combined with not always working master/slave setups for IDE harddrives and booting from floppy disk and searching for drivers, building a computer was an adventure on itself

    • @Acorn_Anomaly
      @Acorn_Anomaly 11 месяцев назад +11

      Don't forget setting IRQs, both on the device and in driver configs.
      And sucks to be you if you have devices that conflict, and have no resolution for it.

    • @fixer1140
      @fixer1140 11 месяцев назад +5

      "I was there Gandalf. I was there 3000 years ago..."

    • @YoctoYotta
      @YoctoYotta 11 месяцев назад +8

      I vividly remember the first time I saw purple and green PS/2 connectors. My friend's mom bought him a Gateway 2000 system somewhere around 1997 (still had the cow print boxes). For something that in hindsight is so boringly simple, my mind was utterly blown seeing those connectors and the glossy color setup instructions showing how to plug them in.

    • @Ryarios
      @Ryarios 11 месяцев назад +1

      And interrupt conflicts…

    • @ryhanzfx1641
      @ryhanzfx1641 11 месяцев назад

      ooof that takes me back, i remember that during computer lesson school when i was 9

  • @jsncrso
    @jsncrso 11 месяцев назад +42

    Industrial equipment still uses RS232 serial ports very commonly. It's big advantage is being able to let software (your PC) and a piece of hardware without any drivers, and control signaling down to the bit level. All USB requires a driver to communicate

    • @mitchellmnr
      @mitchellmnr 11 месяцев назад +2

      Also because USB has a tendency to sleep or forget what it is doing - serial is more stable.
      In the security industry there is zero USB radio receivers - all serial.
      Even the companies that sell them state to not use USB to serial converters due to the aforementioned issues.

    • @profklyzlr
      @profklyzlr 11 месяцев назад

      Also a reason why Proliffic, Agere, and in-rare-cases FTDI RS232USB chips are some of the most "OEM'd" around...
      ...an Arduino with a dubious USB232 adaptor chip is one of the most frustrating debug-missions going-round...

    • @1anwrang13r
      @1anwrang13r 11 месяцев назад +2

      Nearly all enterprise-grade networking kit still comes with RS232 serial ports for console access. They're often needed for initial setup and for troubleshooting. More and more of those switches and routers are also coming with USB console ports as well, but even those they're just pretending to be RS232 and typically sit alongside the conventional RS232 port.

    • @jsncrso
      @jsncrso 11 месяцев назад

      Yup, lots of equipment with USB connectors simply have a USB-RS232 chip in them @@profklyzlr

    • @eirythma9404
      @eirythma9404 11 месяцев назад

      Agreed, I work on a software company for retail stores and POS is connected via RS232 to receipt printer and barcode readers.
      USB works but can stop working for w/e reason and need to be reconnected.

  • @GTXDash
    @GTXDash 11 месяцев назад +75

    Back in the day, we used the parallel port for network play in games like Doom 2. Did not need a network card and was surprisingly easy to set up because no need to set up for IP addresses and other technical stuff.

    • @AzrethK9
      @AzrethK9 11 месяцев назад +4

      Using the laplink cable was also a easy way too get data between notebook and PC.

    • @AsianElijahWood
      @AsianElijahWood 11 месяцев назад +8

      i remember playing offline diablo2 with my brother in different rooms with a long lpt cable that we tested data transfer at about 300kb a second. good times.

    • @JohnSmith-xq1pz
      @JohnSmith-xq1pz 11 месяцев назад +4

      Old enough to have been there but never have seen or used one of those. We had 28.8kbps dailup thanks to old phonelines that liked to make the phone buzz on rainy days lol

    • @GTXDash
      @GTXDash 11 месяцев назад +5

      @ShenBabibo Yeah. The LTP Parallel protocol was faster and extremly stable than most modems and network cards back then. Connection issues and rubberbanding in FPSs started when we switched to Ethernet.

    • @HelenaOfDetroit
      @HelenaOfDetroit 11 месяцев назад +4

      My brother and I played a ton of Duke Nukem 3D against each other using two computers connected via parallel port. It was ridiculously lag free and super fast.

  • @notenoughmonkeys
    @notenoughmonkeys 11 месяцев назад +24

    One I wouldn't mind seeing (if you've not covered it aleady), as it's one of those time is a flat circle concepts is a TechQuickie on PC Cards. For those who don't know, long before Frame Work offered user changable ports etc., there was an industry standard in laptops for expansion bays, being able to provide upgradable storage, add Wi-Fi, that sort of thing. It went through many iterations, PCMCIA, PC Card, Express Card and so on.
    It's one of those interesting technologies where consumers as a whole were happier to dedicate the space for more battery life / more USB ports rather than the option of upgrading/changing them over time, even if that meant living that dongle life.

  • @kuhhnt
    @kuhhnt 11 месяцев назад +6

    BNC for networking, also the Parallel port via laplink cable for linking 2 PCs for PVP/co-op gaming and file transfer. Enter the CGA/EGA port also, pre-VGA port.

  • @SandorX2k
    @SandorX2k 11 месяцев назад +10

    Serial ports were not mostly limited to 9600 BPS before USB. In fact a major use of serial ports in the 90s was for external dial up modems up to 57.6 kbps.

    • @1anwrang13r
      @1anwrang13r 11 месяцев назад +8

      The original IBM PC/XT/AT and clones typically used the Intel 8250 UART chip to provide the serial ports. That could only buffer a single byte at a time which meant a practical limit of around 9600bps. Most of the PS/2s and later PCs had 16550 UARTs which could buffer up to 16 bytes and were usually good for up to 115.2Kbps.
      Now the important question is this - why can I easily remember that kind of technical trivia from 30 years ago, but I still can't reliably remember to take the trash out?

    • @zorkmid1083
      @zorkmid1083 9 месяцев назад

      ​@@1anwrang13rWhich is more pleasant to remember? 😅

  • @blazingdisciple4070
    @blazingdisciple4070 11 месяцев назад +23

    I love how you left out the mind bendingly frustrating process of manual driver installs for just about everything that used these ports.

  • @mre9593
    @mre9593 11 месяцев назад +76

    MIDI was another fun connection. they usually were available on a sound card

    • @EstebanGrasso
      @EstebanGrasso 11 месяцев назад +13

      The gameport was actually also a midi port, that why it was usually with the soundcards

    • @KesorodaBlk
      @KesorodaBlk 11 месяцев назад +1

      I only ever knew about the [.midi] format. The music plays very well (and loud) on mobile phone speakers!😊

    • @Ph34rNoB33r
      @Ph34rNoB33r 11 месяцев назад +5

      You could use the midi port to connect for example midi-capable keyboards (I know someone who turned their piano into a midi keyboard).

    • @_DRMR_
      @_DRMR_ 11 месяцев назад +1

      @@Ph34rNoB33r As a kid I had a computer with a MIDI port, and a Keyboard with a MIDI port, however these ports did not look alike and I had no idea how I could connect them at the time ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    • @absalomdraconis
      @absalomdraconis 11 месяцев назад

      ​@@_DRMR_ : Yep, needed a converter. I know they were available, but don't recall ever seeing them. Admittedly, it also needed software.

  • @MegamanXGold
    @MegamanXGold 11 месяцев назад +30

    Scanners used the Parallel Port and, using another Parallel port on the scanner, could pass through a connection to your printer, daisy-chaining like Thunderbolt. I was waiting for this to be mentioned and genuinely surprised that it was not.

    • @AzrethK9
      @AzrethK9 11 месяцев назад +1

      My scanners had all SCSI back than, but I had serval parallel port devices like CD and ZIP drives or some special things like a DCF77 clock Receiver, card readers or relay cards.

    • @randomgeocacher
      @randomgeocacher 11 месяцев назад +4

      That’s not a standard feature of parallel ports, vendor specific stuff. I’ve seen similar vendor specific solution for serial COM port as well, Kodak Ektapro P-COM allows you to control a daisy chained array of slide film projectors from a computer, creating big multi-media :-)

    • @MegamanXGold
      @MegamanXGold 11 месяцев назад

      @@randomgeocacher Really?? I was sure that every scanner I owned at the time was the same way. I loved my Primax Colorado scanner back in the day, used it to scan my N64 game manuals and drawings for my friends.

    • @daanwilmer
      @daanwilmer 11 месяцев назад +1

      There must've been some daisy chaining somewhere, I remember my dad owning some software that used a physical key in the printer port, that still allowed pass through for a printer. Somehow the printer driver could talk to the printer through that key, while the software could talk to that key and know it was present.

    • @enosunim
      @enosunim 11 месяцев назад

      Cool! I forgot about this! Yeah, I have such scanner and it still works. It is not really a 'daisy-chaining' however = ) As you could not scan and print simultaneously. But you could use devices one at a time without reconnecting plugs, which was really convenient at the time.

  • @FlorianFahrenberger
    @FlorianFahrenberger 11 месяцев назад +30

    SCSI was used for the scanner we operated to create the yearbook after my school finals. I think that's the one I am missing in here. And maybe give a shout-out to the graphics connections of back then, like (but not exclusively) VGA and DVI.

    • @IRMacGuyver
      @IRMacGuyver 11 месяцев назад +1

      SCSI is basically just a type of parallel port.

    • @mattzukowski1207
      @mattzukowski1207 11 месяцев назад

      My first scanner was available in SCSI but the Microtek MRS-600Z was also available in it's own proprietary interface which had a performance edge.

  • @boblangill6209
    @boblangill6209 11 месяцев назад +19

    Another big difference: to provide additional ports on older PC's, you had to use a expansion card, and you had to configure the hardware using dip switches (little connectors between two pins). To configure the card correctly, you needed to know which interrupts were going to be used. I still recall having trouble getting a parallel port card working. I finally figured it out that the biggest, most obvious drawing in the documentation showed the dip switch in the wrong position.

    • @daanwilmer
      @daanwilmer 11 месяцев назад +2

      I think you're confusing dip switches with jumpers? But yeah, I remember getting needle-nose pliers to switch a hard disk's configuration or making some changes on the motherboard.

    • @drewzero1
      @drewzero1 11 месяцев назад +5

      ​@@daanwilmer I'm pretty sure I remember seeing both on different motherboards back in the day. Dip switches and jumpers are electrically identical.

    • @absalomdraconis
      @absalomdraconis 11 месяцев назад +6

      ​@@drewzero1 : Yep, some manufacturers used dip switches, some used pin headers with jumpers, some switched back and forth based on time of the year, phase of the Moon, whether Mercury is retrograde, their horoscope, etc.

    • @legojenn
      @legojenn 11 месяцев назад +2

      I don't miss those days. I also remember AGP video, PCI and ISA expansion cards and having to be selective on which type we bought so they'd all fit in. Good times.

    • @drewzero1
      @drewzero1 11 месяцев назад +1

      @@legojenn I feel like you still need to be careful about what will fit... Built a mATX PC recently and was surprised to find that the graphics card won't fit in the bottom x16 slot because it blocks the case headers, and it won't fit in the top x16 slot unless I leave one SATA port unplugged. It was reminding me of the way the ISA and PCI slots aligned so you had to choose which to use for a given expansion slot. I really don't miss trying to figure out IRQ settings for them though.

  • @dj4aces
    @dj4aces 11 месяцев назад +20

    In the 80s and early 90s, mice also connected via serial port. I had one as a kid. Speaking of things I had in my younger days, I also owned a Diamond Rio and a ZIP drive. Those were the days.

    • @tournamentmaster2000
      @tournamentmaster2000 11 месяцев назад +1

      I have a serial port mouse lying around somewhere. I found it while I was looking for a ps/2 mouse for an industrial computer

    • @dscrye
      @dscrye 11 месяцев назад

      Reminds me to get an expansion card to add a serial port so I can see if my ZIP drive still works.

    • @kg4wwn
      @kg4wwn 11 месяцев назад +1

      And now to trigger some ancient trauma: Click Click Click :(

  • @Ryarios
    @Ryarios 11 месяцев назад +22

    I actually preferred the PS/2 ports over the early USB ports. First there was never enough USB ports, especially since back then, you still got all the other ports too, so you had to use a hub and a lot of those blew chunks. And, frankly I had fewer times where the keyboard or mouse seemed to freeze for a second or so like using USB. I liked the idea of taking any load I could off of the USB bus.

    • @JJVernig
      @JJVernig 11 месяцев назад +4

      Yep, PS/2 was IRQ-interrupt based, so the processor had to act.

    • @avicohen2k
      @avicohen2k 11 месяцев назад +2

      Used the ps2 for keyboard up untill the 2010s

  • @NicosLeben
    @NicosLeben 11 месяцев назад +12

    The Game port was also used for MIDI devices. In fact that was the only thing I used it for. To connect my keyboard to my soundcard.

  • @Jason-mk3nn
    @Jason-mk3nn 11 месяцев назад +76

    SCSI (and all of its iterations) was also really important back in those eras.

    • @allenwand2818
      @allenwand2818 11 месяцев назад

      Yep for Scanners and High speed CD drives

    • @pcfan1986
      @pcfan1986 11 месяцев назад +2

      Yes, but more as an internal connector.
      Of course it had external connectors for scanners and external drives, but most remember it as interanl like IDE.

  • @DavidHilbig
    @DavidHilbig 11 месяцев назад +9

    There was also GPIB, General Purpose Interface Bus, used predominantly for connecting technical equipment.

    • @vartikcsaba
      @vartikcsaba 11 месяцев назад

      I'm still using GPIB on Agilent3070 equipment.

  • @NuminorTheFool
    @NuminorTheFool 11 месяцев назад +20

    It's worth noting that the Serial Port, Parallel Port and the Game Port are all more common names for what is essentially the same style of connector. Which is known as the 'D-type' or to put it's full name the D-subminiature. With the Serial Port known as a DE-9, Parallel Port as DB-25 and the Game port shown on the episode, which was made for joysticks being a DA-15 but not all game ports were DA-15s, in fact many of the original home consoles and early game systems actually used DE-9 for their Game ports.
    So yeah, Techquickie. How about a deep dive video on all the different styles of D-subminiature? Though, I suspect that if you did it wouldn't really fit the 'quickie' part of the channel.

    • @1anwrang13r
      @1anwrang13r 11 месяцев назад +1

      Don't forget that CGA and EGA displays also used 9-pin serial connectors as did IBM's Token Ring network cards.

    • @zorkmid1083
      @zorkmid1083 9 месяцев назад

      ​@@1anwrang13r I don't think EGA and CGA were "serial" connectors, they just used the DB-9 form factor. The different connector types (DB-9, DB-25, etc.) could be serial, parallel, or whatever - the connector type had nothing to do with the function.

    • @1anwrang13r
      @1anwrang13r 9 месяцев назад +1

      @@zorkmid1083 You're right. What I should have said was "CGA and EGA displays also used the same connectors as 9-pin serial ports etc"

  • @v2joecr
    @v2joecr 11 месяцев назад +5

    You forgot that the joystick port on soundcards was also a MIDI port for a MIDI device to connect to including MIDI keyboards. There was also a bus mouse connector. The parallel port was also used for some scanners with a passthrough for a printer. SCSI was available for hard drives, optical drives, Iomega JAZ drives & scanners. (The drives could be used internally or in an external enclosure & the Jaz drive had both external & external versions.)

  • @4RILDIGITAL
    @4RILDIGITAL 11 месяцев назад

    Really brought back some tech nostalgia about the various connector ports and the evolution to USB. Amazing to remember how each device had its own distinct port, and now it's mostly standardized.

    • @bradtowne2305
      @bradtowne2305 11 месяцев назад

      In a weird way, I kind of miss all of the various variety of ports and connections.
      I still think that for keyboards and other interface peripherals, the PS/2 ports were perfectly fine, and would honestly prefer they still used those.

  • @Jason-mk3nn
    @Jason-mk3nn 11 месяцев назад +21

    Another wonderful explainer video. Nice to see a good reference that relates to modern connection types. Great work.

  • @Pandamad
    @Pandamad 8 месяцев назад +1

    I had a scanner, video capture card and Iomega Zip drive that all used external SCSI connections. Also the earliest CD burners used SCSI.
    IEEE 1394 commonly known as Firewire.
    The game port/joystick port was also capable of supporting MIDI devices.
    The 5-pin DIN connector for older keyboards was often call an AT connector.
    While 9600 baud was a common standard for serial communication, UART designs evolved to support higher baud rates.

  • @veenmikki27
    @veenmikki27 11 месяцев назад +980

    It is nice to see that the world is moving towards usb c for everything

    • @illustriouschin
      @illustriouschin 11 месяцев назад +60

      It's not best for everything and is quickly becoming obsolete.

    • @knedl1k_
      @knedl1k_ 11 месяцев назад +226

      @@illustriouschin??? said some random indian from a cave.

    • @OtakuboyT
      @OtakuboyT 11 месяцев назад +40

      ​@illustriouschin Dang right I have a ton of Type A stuff that works and I don't want to have to replace.

    • @Mr0901
      @Mr0901 11 месяцев назад +114

      ​@@illustriouschin it has better power and data transfer than everything else (at least consumer)
      The bad thing is just that weird ass "different types of type c" issue

    • @dogs-and-destruction-channel
      @dogs-and-destruction-channel 11 месяцев назад +35

      ​@illustriouschin
      Actually all devices are switching to C ports including Samsung, Hawaii, Desktops, laptops and even Apple devices are now C ports. Looks like your theory is out numbered by C ports bro.

  • @craigmurray4746
    @craigmurray4746 11 месяцев назад +2

    Many network switches still use serial ports for console access, but thankfully they have mostly used to using a USB-C or micro USB connector for that vs a full fat serial port or serial to RJ45 cable. Serial will never die, but as long as the connector morphs and keeps up, then it's good

  • @aah_einstein
    @aah_einstein 11 месяцев назад +4

    Recently, I've been using the serial port a lot since I've been working in fuel pumping company, as we have a lot of industrial automation devices that use both modus and profibus. Most of them are old, though, and the new ones have moved to usb and ethernet.

  • @robertlinke2666
    @robertlinke2666 11 месяцев назад +5

    firewire and optical ports,
    you also had VGA and DVI for monitor connections, still used today in business settings, or at leat the stingy ones
    IR receivers were also not uncommon to find on pc's back then

    • @stephensnell5707
      @stephensnell5707 3 месяца назад

      You prune,VGA is long gone and not even used at all

  • @BalancedSpirit79
    @BalancedSpirit79 11 месяцев назад +7

    Back before I had a home LAN, I used Direct Cable Connection in Windows 95 to send data from my laptop to my desktop with a parallel cable. Took a little while but it wasn't bad for the time.

    • @chriswathen9612
      @chriswathen9612 11 месяцев назад +1

      Although they pushed Direct Cable Connection in Windows 9x as a replacement file transfer tool for the old Interlink tool that came with DOS, it was actually a lot more than just file transfer; it essentially implemented a software based NIC on the two computers - once the connection is up you can run any protocol and any network traffic you want over the connection as if you had two computers connected by a crossover cable (albeit much more slowly). If one of the computers has an actual NIC and an internet connection, you can bridge it over to the DCC and get the internet coming through the parallel port on the other computer! I actually do this in one of my retro setups to simulate sort of 56K modem-ish data transfer speeds whilst accessing theoldnet to get a more authentic experience.

  • @dangingerich2559
    @dangingerich2559 11 месяцев назад +3

    My first computer was a 486SX with the old XT keyboard port and a serial mouse. So, I've seen a great many changes over the years.
    As a sysadmin, I still use serial ports for programming switches and other IT devices.

    • @terminaljunk
      @terminaljunk 11 месяцев назад

      Fun fact, despite using the same connector the XT and AT (286) had different keyboard controllers so one would not work on the other - I still have a keyboard from the mid 1980's that has a switch to select between the two.

  • @jonaslinter
    @jonaslinter 11 месяцев назад +5

    I find it quite funny how the names of National Standard organisations can occasionally just be used for specific concepts. Like the Iso setting in cameras or in this video the Din Port

    • @EdKolis
      @EdKolis 11 месяцев назад +2

      ASCII characters too!

    • @BleuSquid
      @BleuSquid 11 месяцев назад +3

      As long as you're in the right context. If I'm talking about data, ISO usually refers to the date format ISO-8601. If I'm talking about physical media, ISO refers to the CD-ROM format ISO-9660 (this is why rips of CDs and DVDs have a .iso file extension)
      The old keyboard DIN port was just one specific DIN standard, but it's the only one relevant to keyboards - 5-pin DIN (DIN 41524).
      The PS/2 port is actually a DIN port as well - 6-pin mini-DIN (DIN 45322). This led to the occasional bit of confusion during the transition period.

  • @brekmister
    @brekmister 11 месяцев назад +1

    Special application for serial port: Network equipment and some edge devices.
    Because most network equipment today (even bleeding edge) uses a text based interface to configure, an RJ45 port using the RS-232 protocol is built in so you can use your USB to RS-232 dongle to log in and manage the switch without having a default IP.

  • @coolsnake1134
    @coolsnake1134 11 месяцев назад +5

    Also firewire. It was common on Mac but it was also found on some multimedia focused PCs from brands like Sony and HP. And it was used for things like mp3 players, external DVD drives, external hard drives and video cameras.

    • @fungo6631
      @fungo6631 11 месяцев назад

      It was found on any custom built PC that was used for multimedia. All you needed was a PCI or PCI-e x1 card.

    • @Carewolf
      @Carewolf 11 месяцев назад

      Also known as the insta-pwn port.

  • @brmolnar
    @brmolnar 10 месяцев назад +1

    External SCSI. My 1999 Power Book had an external port for SCSI. A good way to have faster speeds and larger drives back at the time.
    PCMCIA - the old laptop expansion port.
    Old Macs had a networking protocol that would let you chain from computer to computer over what was basically phone wire. It was extended and would work over tcp. Can't remember the name anymore. But the connector to the computer was anything from a basic proprietary connector to a CAT-5.

  • @Nikioko
    @Nikioko 11 месяцев назад +5

    Before PS/2, you had the COM port. And LPT port. And DIN ports. And D-sub etc.
    My first USB device was a scanner back in 2000.

  • @noelkelly4354
    @noelkelly4354 11 месяцев назад +2

    My FIRST USB device didn't replace an old cable. It replaced 3½-inch floppy discs. It was a 256MB memory stick. One of the two best vendor giveaways I ever got.

  • @nickcardwell
    @nickcardwell 11 месяцев назад +14

    I don't know how it worked, but I remember having a MIDI cable that connected to the "game port" on my sound card. Actually worked pretty good for the time.

    • @xnamkcor
      @xnamkcor 11 месяцев назад +3

      That's because the thing he called a "gameport" was actually a MIDI port, it just also eventually was used for gamepads.

    • @absalomdraconis
      @absalomdraconis 11 месяцев назад

      ​@@xnamkcor : Nope, it was the gameport first, MIDI was added later. In fact, MIDI was added by swapping an extra power and ground for the MIDI serial pins. If MIDI had been given a PC connector all it's own then nowhere near as many pins would have been needed (4 was actually enough, as opposed to 15 on the gameport).

    • @xnamkcor
      @xnamkcor 11 месяцев назад

      @@absalomdraconis That sounds true. but was the gameport on audio cards before it was midi?

  • @jpjokela1
    @jpjokela1 11 месяцев назад +1

    I used SCSI for my scanner with my Amiga.
    IIt's so much easier nowadays, when you can just have 3 USB cables that look the same. One can only transfer data, one can also be used for display, and only one can charge devices fast.
    Could have also mentioned that the "joystick port" was also used for MIDI. Yet another reason why it was such a good fit with sound cards.

  • @jpstanley0
    @jpstanley0 11 месяцев назад +4

    A lot of current 3D printers, like the Ender series, speak the protocol of the serial port (essentially they contain USB to serial adapters). You can connect to them with terminal programs from the 90s and send commands.

    • @cookies1702
      @cookies1702 11 месяцев назад

      Print 3D with 90s computer sound fun😅

  • @Tense
    @Tense 11 месяцев назад +1

    Thank you, Riley. I appreciate you not being patronizing in showing just how old some of us are.

  • @fragalot
    @fragalot 11 месяцев назад +6

    i'm so old school i had a BUS MOUSE which was a logitech mouse that had its own dedicated card that connected to the computer's ISA BUS (thus the name) that had a DIN-like connector on the back for my mouse to plug into.

  • @Staren01
    @Staren01 11 месяцев назад +2

    This brought back memories of swapping devices around and dealing with good old IRQ conflicts.

  • @ahadmrauf
    @ahadmrauf 11 месяцев назад +6

    Back when I did my first EE internship, I remember my company had purchased eight, very expensive motor controllers to control my system, but didn't want to spend the couple hundred dollars each the company was charging for their serial cables. So I spent a few days on the job learning how to order and solder my own D-Sub 9 connectors 😂. TBH, I probably could have convinced someone to spend the money, but it was also stubborn undergrad pride to not spend money on overpriced cables that kept me from protesting too hard.

    • @Anonymous-mf8ii
      @Anonymous-mf8ii 11 месяцев назад +2

      I still have a pin insertion/removal tool somewhere.

  • @disneyjay
    @disneyjay 11 месяцев назад +2

    Cannot forget about SCSI. My first 2x CD-ROM drive was an internal SCSI drive, with the connection coming on the sound blaster Pro clone card I had.

    • @AndyK.1
      @AndyK.1 11 месяцев назад +2

      Oh yeah. When sound cards had a header for CD-ROM

  • @ahmadnoral-awad9639
    @ahmadnoral-awad9639 11 месяцев назад +5

    I am a PS/2 keyboard user till today and I love it
    The vintage look just gives a good vibe 😁

  • @eldibs
    @eldibs 11 месяцев назад +2

    I actually used a USB-to-PS/2 converter for a long time because I often found myself running short on USB ports, and I didn't see any point in using one up when I had a dedicated port available specifically for mice and keyboards.

  • @Ripskin16
    @Ripskin16 11 месяцев назад +3

    I remember being excited to add in a Parallel port via expansion card.
    And the coiled AT 5 pin pre PS/2 keyboard and mouse port.

  • @Maverick842
    @Maverick842 11 месяцев назад +2

    I’ve used every single one of those ports, and all I can say is I do not miss having to deal with manually assigning IRQ channels

  • @casbot71
    @casbot71 11 месяцев назад +24

    How many of us still have boxes full of those cables....?

  • @aparsons81
    @aparsons81 11 месяцев назад +2

    No one mentioned SCSI which was often used as a faster alternative to a parallel port for connecting devices such as CD-ROM drives & ZIP drives.

  • @erjino
    @erjino 11 месяцев назад +6

    "I was there, Gandalf. Three thousand years ago..."

  • @LMacNeill
    @LMacNeill 11 месяцев назад +1

    The SCSI bus (used mostly for hard-drives and CD-ROMs, but also for some external devices like scanners) had an external 50-pin port, which could take two different forms. One with 50 individual pins that looked like a giant parallel port, and the other which had a very large "slot" which had 50 edge-connector-looking pins that made contact with the giant male end of the plug. SCSI wasn't *super* common on PCs back in the '80s and '90s, but it was definitely there on the higher-end PCs, because it was a faster interface than the IDE available at the time, and it could support 7 devices on a single bus instead of IDE's two devices (one master, one slave) per bus. Although most IDE hard-drive interfaces had two IDE busses on them, so you would usually wind up with the ability to connect four IDE devices on any given computer.

  • @kstarler
    @kstarler 11 месяцев назад +4

    I'd like to see a video on SCSI and whether it's an interface that is still around today. I remember SCSI drives being insanely expensive in the 90's/early 00's.

    • @arnezbridges93
      @arnezbridges93 11 месяцев назад

      SCSI still exists, but has a different name and an upgraded speed. It's almost only seen on a type of Data Center Server, though you can buy a card to use then for home PC,

    • @craigmurray4746
      @craigmurray4746 11 месяцев назад +1

      The original SCSI that used wide ribbon cables internally and chunky external cables for devices is long gone. However, the command set is used in USB3 for thing like flash and external hard drives. SAS stands for serial attached SCSI and is used pretty much exclusively in the server world for hard drives or tape drives, using a connector that is a half brother to a SATA connector.

  • @manofwill2468
    @manofwill2468 11 месяцев назад +1

    Fun fact! Com ports are still used quite a bit in the AV Industry! Specifically on professional displays to renotely turn them on/off using RS-232!

    • @_OS_
      @_OS_ 10 месяцев назад

      RS-232C is also used for maintance servers, network and other specific hardware. And not be replaced in nearly future.

  • @TitaniumFPV
    @TitaniumFPV 11 месяцев назад +6

    I’ve litterally spent the last two weeks hunting down a PC that still has a parallel port to run my CNC as the old laptop self combusted. Didn’t wanna spend over on a janky parallel to usb motion controller.

    • @nielsarensman
      @nielsarensman 11 месяцев назад

      Lots of business prebuilts still have options for them. Asus also still makes motherboards where you can put a parallel port on such as the Asus PRIME B760M-PLUS.

    • @TitaniumFPV
      @TitaniumFPV 11 месяцев назад

      @@nielsarensman yeah I looked into a pcie add on card. Unfortunately Mach 3 software doesnt really like it and all usb to parallel are actually only in serial. So moving forward it will be an external motion controller or make the switch to a new grbl machine without the need for a second computer to run it. Just load up the cut files onto a memory card from my design pc and put it straight on the machine much like most 3d printers. Gives a good excuse to upgrade and invest in a bigger machine at least.

    • @nielsarensman
      @nielsarensman 11 месяцев назад

      @@TitaniumFPV I actually did not mean adding a parallel port through the pcie connectors but on the LPT connector. There are pci brackets with a parallel port on a cable that connects to the LPT port. But replacing the CNC is also a solution.

  • @terminaljunk
    @terminaljunk 11 месяцев назад +1

    3:45 - serial ports were / are capable of more than 9600bps, ask anyone with a (then state of the art) 56.6k external modem.

  • @alhypo
    @alhypo 11 месяцев назад +6

    I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see if he would cover the game port. 😂
    I remember thinking it was pretty weird that I would connect my joystick to the sound card.

    • @destrierofdark_
      @destrierofdark_ 11 месяцев назад +1

      because the port's primary reason for being on those cards was for midi devices.

    • @alhypo
      @alhypo 11 месяцев назад

      @@destrierofdark_ hmm... Funny, it still seems weird to plug a joystick into a sound card even after reading an unsolicited answer to a question I didn't ask. 😛

    • @destrierofdark_
      @destrierofdark_ 11 месяцев назад +1

      @@alhypo sure, because the association is made by far more people that the port is for video game peripherals, when in truth its primary purpose in life was audio hardware. it's kinda icky when you grab a kettle plug to power your pc in a pinch, but it's the same cord. feels wrong, but it's legal.

    • @alhypo
      @alhypo 11 месяцев назад

      @@destrierofdark_ Really? Your kettle uses a C13/C14 power cable? I've never seen that before. 🤔

    • @destrierofdark_
      @destrierofdark_ 11 месяцев назад

      @@alhypolots of kettles do. that cord is used in a lot of other places, including in the kitchen. look around a department store and you'll definitely find c13/c14 hanging around.

  • @coolsnake1134
    @coolsnake1134 11 месяцев назад +2

    One that I used that you didn't cover was SCSI. It was both an internal port for hard drives mainly found on servers and workstations but also offered an external option that again could be used for external hard drives, external tape drives and again it was mainly found on servers. Another one is the serial port but with an RJ45 connector instead of a DB9 connector, that was commonly found on Enterprise routers and switches so that you could manage them and configure them using a command line interface. Think Cisco iOS

    • @coolsnake1134
      @coolsnake1134 11 месяцев назад

      One I still occasionally have to work with is BNC which was common for CCTV security camera systems as well as the rg6 F connector, which is still used to this day because it is the connection used for coax cables for things like over the air TV, retro game consoles, cable TV and cable internet

    • @whytecold
      @whytecold 11 месяцев назад

      The RJ45 serial ports are still around on modern hardware. For scientific equipment the RS-232 serial ports are mostly being replaced by ethernet connections nowadays.

  • @hedgeearthridge6807
    @hedgeearthridge6807 11 месяцев назад +8

    In the manufacturing world, the sort of USB connector equivalent is the M5, M8, and M12 Circular Connectors. They are used everywhere to connect everything, including carrying a surprising amount of voltage. And for good reason, they're IP67 or IP68 rated, so it's almost impossible for them to get shorted out by all the dust and water and crap that gets everywhere. I'm surprised they're not more common with hobbyists.

  • @cobaltninjas
    @cobaltninjas 11 месяцев назад +1

    The majority of the customers at my work use serial ports (industrial), another benefit of serial (using the RS232 protocol) is the distance the cables can be as well.
    However a lot of them are being retrofitted to send serial over ethernet because the converter boxes are cheaper than ordering serial cards.

  • @shalevhaham
    @shalevhaham 11 месяцев назад +3

    I gotta be honest - the only three ports I actually need are Type C, Lightning and 3.5mm
    (The reason I like lightning is because of its superior water resistance compared to USB C)

  • @philipmcdonagh1094
    @philipmcdonagh1094 11 месяцев назад +1

    One thing you said about the old stuff it worked. I've a fairly new PC and I can be sitting using it only to hear that USB disconcerting / connecting sound because its lost contact to one of the myriad of things connected via USB.

  • @moofey
    @moofey 11 месяцев назад +4

    Another reason why sound cards had a game port: It doubled as a MIDI port

  • @Stratelier
    @Stratelier 11 месяцев назад +2

    Because PS/2 keyboards and mice are interrupt-based, I distinctly remember that you COULD NOT plug in a mouse and run (certain) PC games unless _the game_ was able to catch the interrupts, otherwise just bumping the mouse would immediately hang the whole system. Fun times.
    Our first few family computers had ALL of the ports shown here: 9-pin serial, 25-pin parallel, 5-pin DIN ("AT") keyboard, PS/2 keyboard and mouse, "game port", then finally USB (via its own expansion card, before it became truly universal)

  • @Martin_from_SC
    @Martin_from_SC 11 месяцев назад +4

    I miss the old ports... computing was much simpler back then.

    • @gus473
      @gus473 11 месяцев назад +2

      Yup, just strap into the desk, grab a donut and a Diet Doctor Pepper, and wait for the thing to boot up while preparing to fax some documents. Good times. 🙄😉✌️

    • @triadwarfare
      @triadwarfare 11 месяцев назад +1

      I don't remember it being that simple. It takes 5-10 minutes to restart the computer. You actually had to "defrag" to make your computer run a bit faster and that process takes half a day.
      Also, I think prior computers were more complicated than the pre-USB generation where there's plenty of daughterboards for every function

    • @Martin_from_SC
      @Martin_from_SC 11 месяцев назад

      @@triadwarfare the DOS era was pretty cool. Windows 95/98 was quite bad because they were just running on top of DOS.

  • @jsteezy80
    @jsteezy80 11 месяцев назад +2

    I was waiting for you guys to bring up SCSI. Definitely something that was used by many but maybe not as common for a normal end user as a serial port or parallel port. The other thing you guys should highlight in the future is input output (i/o) cards. My 10 year old self learned so much having to configure those. Having plug and play now is a godsend

    • @profklyzlr
      @profklyzlr 11 месяцев назад +1

      Funny that ZIP drives got a mention, but the associated SCSI interface was omitted....

  • @Aeturnalis
    @Aeturnalis 11 месяцев назад +3

    3:06 skip ad

  • @namelessbag
    @namelessbag 11 месяцев назад +1

    I'm literally still using a 2005 PS/2 keyboard on the 1300€ gaming PC that I built last year. My USB keyboard died after only 2 weeks of use, and then I saw that my motherboard still had that ancient port available. Surprised to see that this old ass keyboard with nearly 2 decades full of use is still working flawlessly

  • @smokeduv
    @smokeduv 11 месяцев назад +7

    I would add the FireWire port, which most Macs had and some PCs had too. It was better than the USB of the era, but there were very little devices that supported and like the Thunderbolt of today, those devices were more expensive. They're still used today in some recording studios because most of the studios preferred Mac and most of those devices did used FireWire. They're almost obsolete now because Apple dropped the driver in the latest OS

  • @almeisam
    @almeisam 11 месяцев назад +1

    My first scanner used a SCSI port. Had to install an expansion card and driver for it. And the parallel port was often called the Centronics parallel port.

  • @АртёмСабадырь
    @АртёмСабадырь 11 месяцев назад +9

    This week my parents tried to get my "old" PC working. They found PS/2 keyboard and... my "old" Taichi X370 motherboard has a port for it!
    I've also seen COM and LPT port headers on some Ryzen gaming motherboards.

  • @nathanielswanson5730
    @nathanielswanson5730 11 месяцев назад

    We use serial ports at work for display output from little appliance boxes. Since we have so many of them all on a rack, it's not not needing any monitors at the rack. Just SSH into the box the serial is connected to and connect to the serial port. Also really handy for remotely installing an OS on something that doesn't have IPMI or iKVM.

  • @shapelessed
    @shapelessed 11 месяцев назад +5

    I honestly love how USB, the "universal SERIAL bus" has secretly become a parallel bus, with introduction of USB 3.0.

    • @randomgeocacher
      @randomgeocacher 11 месяцев назад +3

      No? USB 3.0 is serial single lane full duplex (one lane up, one lane down). USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 is multi-lane, i.e. two independent serial lanes. Serial clock implicit, encoded into the serial lane. Neither USB is a traditional parallel port, that’s why it works pretty well at high speed. Traditional parallel cables had interference problems and out of sync problems on long cables at high speed; that’s why virtually everything is using serial communication today with a few exceptions (like e.g. QSPI).

    • @gljames24
      @gljames24 11 месяцев назад

      ​@@randomgeocacherI think they are referring to the fact that USB 3 has support for SCSI commands that allow for faster data transport for things like hard drives. USB 4's data transfer protocol has superseded this and now only tunnels USB 3.0 commands. That being said, the distinction between serial and parallel, like digital and analog is really blurred and doesn't really make sense in extremely optimized networking connections like USB 4 as it uses things like PAM-3 and alternate modes that can have a mix of serial and parallel technologies.

  • @Dukenukem
    @Dukenukem 11 месяцев назад +2

    PS2 also helps you if you really need to get into UEFI-BIOS after quick start disables your USB periferies for the extra seconds. I keep one PS/2 keyboard at home just for those situations (I have yet to see MB without this port)

  • @johnsparozich6839
    @johnsparozich6839 11 месяцев назад +3

    Yes used all of the ports prior to USB

  • @ShanetheFreestyler
    @ShanetheFreestyler 11 месяцев назад +1

    5:16 NO WAY! That's the exact flight stick I had back in the day! Lasted me long enough to be used on the very last PC I had to have a gameport and the first PC I discovered MAME and played After Burner II and Space Harrier the way they were meant to be played. Good times.

  • @trevorbradley3737
    @trevorbradley3737 11 месяцев назад +3

    I am 49 and am severely called out by this video.
    PS/2 was not hot swappable. I managed to fry a motherboard by pulling one live. It worked fine, just no more keyboard input. Not a good day at my co-op work term.
    Surprised the old XT keyboard connector wasn't mentioned. About 1cm across, it was very popular in the late 80s for PCs.

    • @MegamanXGold
      @MegamanXGold 11 месяцев назад +1

      Was the XT the one that looks like a giant PS/2?
      Also, I think they specifically said the PS/2 was not hot swappable when they were referencing the USB adapter, because USB is normally a hot swappable connector.
      In my experience, unplugging a PS/2 device, or USB device adapted to PS/2, would either freeze a computer or the port would no longer work until a complete system restart. That experience with the motherboard sounds awful, yikes.

  • @dabombinablemi6188
    @dabombinablemi6188 11 месяцев назад +1

    As I'm watching this, I've got one of my old PC running benchmarks - with an AT keyboard adapted to PS/2, and a USB mouse adapted to PS/2.
    Still got a dual gameport card as well, from my mum's first or second PC - that computer ended up having 3 with the soundcard. And yes as a kid it was used to play games splitscreen.

    • @Coolman13355
      @Coolman13355 11 месяцев назад

      Which AT is just a physically different connector and electrically compatible.

  • @Jellysem_06
    @Jellysem_06 11 месяцев назад +5

    Please add chapters.

  • @Charlesb88
    @Charlesb88 11 месяцев назад +2

    You missed SCSI (Pronounced SKUZ-ee), aka Small Computer System Interface, which was the de-facto way to connect high-data transfer parietals like external hard drives and flatbed scanners before USB, FireWire, and Thunderbolt existed. While not very common on home PC’s, it did see use in enterprise PC’s (via an add-on card) and was also universal on Macintosh Plus and later Macs prior to the original iMac. It was a parallel-type port that supported much higher data transfer speeds then even the fastest Parallel Bi-directional port (aka Printer port). You could Daisy chain like 7 different parietals (or more in later version of the spec) so long as each was assigned it’s own unique address (done via dip switches or other means) on the back of each device). You also had to make sure the last device was terminated via a terminator device that plugged in second SCSI port on the last device. It was commonly used for things like large external storage devices (such as external hard drives, SyQuest drives, and Jazz Drives) and flatbed scanners.

    • @fungo6631
      @fungo6631 11 месяцев назад

      The PCMCIA slot was more comparable to thunderbolt as it was electrically identical to ISA or PCI and found on Laptops.
      You could in theory make a PCI eGPU enclosure connected via PCMCIA and get 3DFX Voodoo graphics on a laptop (though you had to use a monitor).

    • @Charlesb88
      @Charlesb88 11 месяцев назад

      @@fungo6631 But Thunderbolt is used these days for applications where SCSI was was used. On laptops, PCMCIA (and later ExpressCard) did replace SSCI for some purposes but not on Desktops where ISA/PCI/PCIe/etc have always existed so USB/Firewire/Thunderbolt served as SCSI replacements in many instances (SCSI still is used today but in modern forms like Serial attached SCSI, iSCSI (SCSI over Ethernet), USB attached SCSI, Fibre Channel (SCSi over fiber optic cables).

  • @_____alyptic
    @_____alyptic 11 месяцев назад +3

    *Petition:* If the headphone jack isnt coming back, we should have two USB-C ports on phones. One on top, and one on bottom.

  • @Youckle
    @Youckle 11 месяцев назад

    That was a nice trip down memory lane. Some ports that come to mind are RG-58/BNC connector for networking, S/PDIF for digital audio, SCSI for disk/tapedrives and scanners, VGA/EGA display ports.
    Nowadays all you have to plug in is a single USB-type-C cable to your dock and all peripherals are connected.

    • @llamatronian101
      @llamatronian101 11 месяцев назад +1

      Oh man, early networking was the best. 10-base-2, vampire plugs, oh my.

  • @petwisk2012
    @petwisk2012 11 месяцев назад +7

    I tend tô prefer gabinets with PS2 ports since It let the USB port free for other uses

  • @madTVwatcher2
    @madTVwatcher2 11 месяцев назад +1

    There was also FireWire, which was used by a lot of camcorders, imaging devices, hard drives and iPods, it was often faster than usb 1 or 2, but it usually only found on Macs and some Sony PCs

  • @MinePlay25YTB
    @MinePlay25YTB 11 месяцев назад +3

    If bro thinks VGA is ancient, he still hasn't come to India 💀💀💀

    • @BillyYT40
      @BillyYT40 3 месяца назад

      Wdym? He didn't mention the VGA yet!

  • @zachcrawford5
    @zachcrawford5 11 месяцев назад

    I remember in the late 90s my older brother found a way to rig an original SNES controller up to a serial port. He opened up the cables and bradded the wires in the SNES controller cable to the wires in the serial cable and wrapped the all connections in duck tape, and got it working on a SNES emulator, it was amazing at the time and it actually lasted for years.

  • @Zurich_for_Beginners
    @Zurich_for_Beginners 11 месяцев назад +2

    The USB-RS232 adapter cable is still a important part in my toolbox at work.
    So can connect to some devices to pull logs an update firmware.

  • @notmuch_23
    @notmuch_23 11 месяцев назад +2

    The first Lego Mindstorms sets (with the yellow RCX) used the 9-pin Serial port for their IR transmitters.

    • @MasterofGalaxies4628
      @MasterofGalaxies4628 9 месяцев назад +1

      OMG I remember those! We played with them in one of my middle school classes, and I remember being tasked with setting up the receiver on one of the computers. Some of the most fun I ever had in school.

  • @abzzeus
    @abzzeus 11 месяцев назад +1

    SCSI - As old as the PC, initially used for Hard Drives, then tape drives, scanners, CDs, CD Jukeboxes. Now it's back to SAS Harddrives

  • @procrastinatingnerd
    @procrastinatingnerd 11 месяцев назад

    I just used a serial connection about a week ago to reset the configuration on a new to us switch that we got. The switch is from July 2010, I think serial is probably the one old port that still is used for many things today. It's main advantage is that it is such a rugged spec. It just works.

  • @johnmcgaw2753
    @johnmcgaw2753 11 месяцев назад

    Several of the early machines I bought/built utilized SCSI ports of one form or another for external disk drives and QIC tape drives and my HP scanner and then later for a DAT drive. Very advanced for their time.

  • @AvroBellow
    @AvroBellow 2 месяца назад

    Serial ports were used just as frequently for mice as they were for modems. Parallel ports were also used for the first webcams. A typical multifunction expansion card had two serial ports, one parallel port and one game port. They also controlled two floppy drives and two hard drives back in the MFM and RLL days.

  • @HedgehogY2K
    @HedgehogY2K 11 месяцев назад +1

    0:25 how did he get this right on the first try? I was thinking something like that and he just guessed it. I've always liked how it looks for some reason.

  • @SadlyBest
    @SadlyBest 11 месяцев назад

    I'm certain you covered these, I had an external SCSI CD-ROM drive, and used Firewire (IEEE 1394) for a while. Thank you, for this great trip down memory lane

  • @Steamrick
    @Steamrick 11 месяцев назад

    Of these ports, the Serial is the one I still see the most. As an IT technician I actually have a USB to Serial adapter in my work bag in case I run into an old switch that can't handle anything newer. They're also still in use as interfaces for a lot of old industrial equipment.

  • @bryanmakesstuff
    @bryanmakesstuff 11 месяцев назад

    I've been having to revisit external SCSI for some tape backups. Talk about fun there. There's several standards using the same connector, and you can easily fry gear if not matched correctly.

  • @IIGrayfoxII
    @IIGrayfoxII 11 месяцев назад +1

    Things not mentioned.
    PS/2 ports, Serial ports and Parallel ports were NOT color coded in the beginning
    They were just black.
    Color coding came in with the PC-97 design standard for PS/2 and PC-99 for everything else.
    PS/2 ports also have a more direct connection to the CPU so it has less latency and PS/2 keyboards do not suffer from Ghosting like USB keyboards do
    The speed issue does not only effect the Parallel port, but ANY Parallel based connection
    IDE or PATA(Parallel ATA) also suffered issues with high data speeds would cause "Crosstalk"
    This was somewhat mitigated by using a cable with 80 conductors instead of the standard 40 conductor cable
    The extra 40 conductors were just grounds.
    Gameport was also used for MIDI devices.

  • @marcoskatsuragi
    @marcoskatsuragi 11 месяцев назад +1

    On series 286,386 the doors were all the same color, it was easy to mess up. In the 486 the VGA (board, there was no onboard) were already in blue. But even the sound pins on the SoundBlaster 8 or 16 were all the same color. Hard times.

  • @Ojisan642
    @Ojisan642 11 месяцев назад

    4:10 this parallel port on the printer is a Centronics connector. The other end of the parallel printer cable would have a DB-25 connector.

  • @Thomas-po4ex
    @Thomas-po4ex 8 месяцев назад

    I use the serial port almost every day for work. The port is bulky, the pins can be finicky, and the port breaks easily. However, the port also just works with basically no drivers and still has tons of support through adapters and hubs. I was kind of amazed that even the M3 MacBook Pro I got recently works perfectly with serial ports and I can test hardware devices and run massive control systems right from that laptop and everything just seems to work exactly how I would expect it to even though some of the devices I connect to are multiple decades old at this point.