Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Before USB, we had THIS”.
Do you ever wonder why nearly every external device you connect to a PC uses a USB port? The simple answer is because that’s a lot better than the way it used to be before USB was around. We had a whole Litany of Port types, So today we’re going to show you just how annoying it could be to connect your electronics back in the 80s and 90s. Let’S start out with a port. Some of you might still be familiar with today, the PS2 Port. This chocolate chip, cookie looking little guy, was introduced not with the PlayStation but in 1987 on the IBM personal system SL2, it replaced an older connector called the din which was originally an audio connector from the 1950s, but was used as the keyboard connector on the original Ibm PC, as well as a tape, drive connector on the IBM PC junor, which was like the IBM PC, but more naive once PS2 took over.
It was common for systems to include two of them, one for your keyboard and one for your mouse and color code. Them purple and green respectively, since each Port was often coded at a low level, to only work with that specific device. The PS2 Port was useful back in the day because it provided a dedicated link on the motherboard for mice, something older systems didn’t always have, but seeing as how USB provided an equally easy way to connect them. Ps2 ports aren’t that common anymore, especially as their pin base design, made them more fragile than the typical USB port and they’re not technically meant to be hot popped.
However, PS2 ports can still be found on some Modern motherboards, usually as a combined keyboard and mouse port, and that’s because they do still have some advantages. Ps2 tends to work more reliably with some older bioses and in settings where security is Paramount. Ps2 ports allow an organization to just disable all USB ports on their computers to ensure people aren’t connecting things like unauthorized flash drives, but the PS2 connector wasn’t the only connector for keyboards and mice during the late 80s. This thing is called the Apple desktop bus found on Apple system starting in 1986, but it supported more peripherals like joysticks and Graphics tablets and could even be Daisy chained.
But this port, too, was replaced by USB once the original iMac came out. But let’s move on from keyboards and mice and talk about what the heck these things are right after we thank the sponsor of this video Cloud. Dns Cloud DNS is a provider of global managed, DNS services that ranks among the fastest in their field.
According to DNS perf, they deliver reliability, speed and security thanks to a global anycast DNS Network that spans across 50 different points as a trusted, DNS hosting provider Cloud DNS offers highquality cost-effective services with DOs protected servers, plus their 10,000 % uptime service level. Agreement means for every minute of downtime that occurs. They extend 100 additional minutes to their customers to enjoy their forever free, Dynamic, DNS plus 24/7 technical support simply click the link below it’s that easy, instead of being intended for a specific use like the keyboard and mouse ports, we’ve discussed this guy was kind of the Og doit all connection, it’s called a Serial port and just like today’s USB ports it sent or received data one bit at a time. Serial ports were used for all sorts of things. Not only could you connect a mouse to them, but people use them for modems, routers, PC to PC connections, uninterruptable power supplies, text displays and even old school smart home hubs, although the serial Port can still be found today in some specialized applications, older implementations of the Port were quite Limited in real world speed to around 9600 bits per second, which, in addition to its clunky design, contributed to its downfall and the rise of USB.
Now this big chunker is called a parallel port, also more specifically known as a printer port or 1284 port and was typically labeled lpt, followed by a number in Windows, as the name suggests, it was mainly used for connecting printers and was fairly ubiquitous for this purpose. During the 1990s, although there were some printers that could connect through the aforementioned serial Port, the parallel port became more popular because it could deliver both data and control signals to the printer. At the same time, what technology? A few other data, heavy devices, including Optical, drives, zip, drives and even a few MP3 players also used the parallel port because it could move more data than the serial Port. However, it still couldn’t do more than around a couple of megabytes per second.
At most, at highp speeds it becomes difficult to keep the multiple data streams of a parallel connection, synchronized, which was part of the reason that the parallel port also became displaced by USB. A much faster serial connection, however, both parallel and serial ports are still in use in some industrial and scientific applications, as they provide simple interfaces that just work with older equipment. Finally, we’d like to say a few words about the game: Port somewhere between the parallel and serial ports in physical size. This was a common way to connect joysticks and game paddles in the 1980s and’90s. In the mid 1980s game, ports were often included on expansion cards that also contained other types of ports, but during the 1990s game, ports became very, very popular as it was typical for them to be placed on sound cards and seeing as Gamers were a key market For better sound quality, the game Port was a natural choice for a cool value ad. Does that mean those sound cards were technically dongles H? However, the game Port could only support a limited number of buttons without a specialized driver, and on top of that it was an analog connection, leaving joysticks vulnerable to electrical noise that could mess with your inputs. Usb’S digital nature, which allowed easier support for fancier controllers, meant the game. Port fell out of fashion quickly during the 2000s and windows dropped native support for it, starting with Vista, you know, cuz they had to make room for the important things. Did you use another gone, but not forgotten Port before the days of USB comment down below, and you might see your submission in a future episode, but as for this episode, it’s over thanks for watching hey like the video, if you liked it dislike it, if you Disliked it check out our other videos, comment below with video suggestions and don’t forget to subscribe and follow using the peripheral of your choice. It could use USB. It could not. I don’t know, .