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View Full Version : the future of the serial port?

thomaspecht
12-15-2005, 06:58 PM
just wondering if anyone could enlighten me on the state of retiring "legacy" serial and parallel connectors. for years i've been hearing from manufacturers how soon these connectors would die out and be replaced with usb and firewire all over the place.

now, i still have some serial devices (wacom tablet, spacemouse/ball) that i refuse to replace with their usb-counterparts, yet i'm in the market for a new machine for the first half of '06. i've looked at interesting workstations from boxx, hp and others and noticed that serial and parallel ports are still there, at least on machines sold as workstations. is this the last batch of models that are equipped with these ports or can i expect them to stick around for a while?

also, there are probably stil those serial port plugin-cards on the market - any known problems with one of those with wacoms, or spacemice under windows?
nafa
12-16-2005, 01:45 AM
I suspect that the cost of those ports are so insignificant that they are likely to be around to provide for maximum connectivity to legacy peripherals that may still be around. There must still be plenty of those floating around, judging by the availability of USB-serial and USB-parallel adaptors in computer stores.
stephen2002
12-16-2005, 01:47 AM
We are just starting to see computers lacking legacy ports. Some on the very high end motherboards that use the space for more audio connectors and fans, and some on the very low end systems that are just trying to cut corners wherever they can be cut.

The "legacy" ports will be sticking around for quite some time.
lots
12-16-2005, 03:19 AM
Looked at the back of a Dell recently?

Notice anything.... lacking?

I do ;) Most of our newest Dells dont have anything but USB and a network port. Maybe a VGA plug (if internal video). Thats about it...
thomaspecht
12-16-2005, 09:18 AM
nah, i don't consider dell's in my purchase ;) anyway, yes i checked their website - dell precision still has serial and parallel ports while some other model, geared towards home use, had none of them.

thanks for the info, guys. also good to know that there are serial->usb converters, sounds interesting!
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