m II wrote:
On 14-06-30 09:33 AM, dave wrote:

Thanks. Some cutting and pasting into the Terminal beats paying for
software. And the programs usually work better; if you do have a problem
there are free answers everywhere. Nobody cares if you are a drooler
from the Great Lakes. Mint 16 Mate` here.

I was worried the USB to Serial converter cable might have issues, but
it was recognized immediately. So, it looks like the total demise of the
9 pin D connector has been delayed for a while.

Those 25 pin D serial cables were a source of mystery to me. 25 wires
for a SERIAL connection?

You can account for a great many of them by the phone company
(remember, at one time only _they_ could attach equipment like
modems to their lines) trying to imagine all the different sorts
of signals that might be needed between data terminal equipment
(DTE - like a terminal or a computer) and data communications
equipment (DCE). Synchronous modems needed clock signals,
sometimes going both ways, truly relied on RTS/CTS, and sometimes
provided secondary, low speed channels for such things as
supervisory control; and you could tie in automatic calling
units - ACU's - that could be sent digits as four-bit codes
in order to make outgoing calls. In those days the communications
equipment could be very expensive, especially with the extra
features, so they wanted a standard that would support the
customers paying the really big bucks for the Cadillac
configurations.

The connectors were pretty stupid too. "Let's make them like boat
anchors" said the misanthropic tech..."it will keep them swearing and
tangled for decades!"

I believe the worst sin in the design of the the serial
interface - the RS232 standard, for short - was making it
asymmetric. Using a symmetric standard that did not differentiate
between who's what on either end, and had for every control
or data signal going one way an equivalent going the other
way, with perhaps special connectors that automatically created
a crossover when installed (stepped connector, male at one extreme,
female at the other?), would have made things so much simpler
down the road. How many pins are used is a minor thing - just
drop down to a reduced size connector, like we do with the DB9,
for simpler configurations - but asymmetry caused, and still
causes, innumerable problems.

The same guy got a job later, making sure that only ONE end of USB
cables were standardized. He also developed all the gizmos that require
three batteries. I can only charge two at a time.

Murphy's ******* son Phucupius.

mike