On 5/10/2010 6:03 AM, John Smith wrote:
On 10/4/2010 11:59 AM, Brian Gregory [UK] wrote:

...
If you motherboard doesn't advertise itself as having a serial port it
won't
have those pins.

If it does advertise itself as having a serial port it'll come with the
necessary connector, or possibly it'll be an optional extra.


Yes. If you run ancient equipment, you need a USB to serial
dongle/adapter. And, I do have an old SDR which requires one ...

Regards,
JS

At least some motherboards still come with a serial port on the back
panel but don't expect to see it often in the future. On this computer I
am currently using, I have one on the back panel but no internal header.
It matters not as I always turn serial ports off in the BIOS. No point
in having them use up valuable interrupts if they aren't used. I turn
the parallel ports off in the BIOS as well.

The only devices I ever saw using serial ports on computers generally
were modems and printers. Even the printers went to parallel in the
early days. After a while even modems were fitted internally on a card
used an ISA or a PCI slot. The terminals on the very early computers
used a serial connection but they were no longer used in my office by
the mid 80s.

The serial port sees so little use (when fitted) that most computers
assemblers don't even bother to fit the header cables. I have a pile of
them in a box that I have collected over the years. They will eventually
get turfed out. I see no potential for them and sometimes wonder why I
collect these items. I notice that computers are dispensing with the
services of the PS2 ports (mouse/keyboard) on a lot of the new
motherboards. They are serial ports of a more specialised nature but
even they are being replaced by the ubiquitous USB connector.

Laptops have long forsaken serial ports. All they do is take up valuable
real estate on the laptop whilst serving no essential purpose. My
laptops have plenty of connectivity without either serial or parallel
ports. Both have an internal modem fitted (unused) and printers are
taken care of with USB ports. Ethernet, firewire and wireless take care
of the remainder of my connectivity needs these days.

Krypsis