4 ms·
Where's the parallel port? :-)
by als0 7y ago
Where's the parallel port? :-)
- mc32 7y agoRS-232 would be more useful though. I like this departure from Apple’s custom of having as few ports available as possible.
- jpindar 7y agoWhat type of problems do you have using a virtual com port? Timing?
- yyyk 7y agoSome old UPSs and industrial machinary use RS232 connections. This can be solved by other means (e.g. USB to RS232 adapters), but virtual com ports are not helpful there.
- jpindar 7y agoI use virtual comports (with an FTDI adapter) every day to control industrial instrumentation, and I'm honestly curious to know specifically why they are not helpful in your case, so I can be prepared in case any of my clients experience the same issues. Does your equipment require the higher voltage levels (I don't remember the last time I saw any that required the full 12V), or do you need all the handshaking lines, or is it a timing or latency issue?
- yyyk 7y agoOur assessment was that latency would be a problem for $client. Eventually, it turned out the "just throw ancient hardware at it until it dies" was far more efficient then going along with it.
- jjoonathan 7y ago...and if you press a button, a baggy drops out full of null modems, gender changers, level shifters, diagnostic LED blocks, a wrench + diagonal cutter for inappropriately placed nuts, and a male and female 0.1" header adapter. One can dream!
- myself248 7y agoTellya what, on my old Toughbook I had done a shit-ton of modding, and when I removed the 56k modem, I repurposed the RJ11 jack on the side to bring out an internal (TTL-level) serial port from the CDPD module connector. With some inline resistors to current-limit any stupidity I might get myself into. Then in my bag, I carried an RJ11-to-female-headers cable, and a handful of jumper wires of various genders and a handful of minigrabber clips. And a butane-powered soldering iron, because you never know. It was no Novena, for sure, but just having a TTL-level serial port made that a hell of a hacking machine. This was in the heyday of the WRT54G and similar, and I can't count the number of console ports I invaded with no more hardware than a wisp of wire.
- tootie 7y agoWhy a VGA port? What would I do with that in 2019?
- detaro 7y agoConnect it to displays/projectors in meeting rooms or lecture halls that haven't been upgraded in a long while?
- m463 7y agoJust get an AST six pack plus with serial, parallel, game, memory, clock and... uh... one more thing!
- fencepost 7y agoAnd combine it with a 386 AboveBoard! Ah the days of connecting to the native cpu socket via ribbon cable.
- als0 7y agoCompletely agree. As a low-level developer on a PC it's been indispensable and I miss its simplicity over other methods.