*POLL* Do you think Parallel and serial (LPT and COM) ports will ever go away?

[astroview]

Elemental007

right now we have USB 1.1, the next version is 2.0

 

[beer]

Ah ok thanks for clearin it up

 

[Eli]

I sure hope so. How many of you, like me, have spent countless hours trying to get that new modem working? How many of you felt stupid when you realized(okay, this was back in the 2400 days..) that you don't PUT the modem on a comport, the modem IS a comport? Heh... (Ex: If you have COM1, and set the modem to COM1, it won't work. LOL..)



There wouldn't be any problem with serial ports and IRQs if they were a little more user-friendly. Oh yeah, and if there was more than 16 to choose from ...


BTW- whoever said you don't think FW will become mainstream on Intel and VIA chipsets, think again. VIA is supporting FW. You are correct, though, that you won't find it on any Intel chipset. 😉

 

[Ug45]

BLUETOOTH! It is gonna send the other ports packing, especially the damn anchient parallel.

 

[Goi]

I've always used my serial port for my external modems until I got broadband...and my printers are still LPT too.

 

[Eli]

Oh heh, yeah, before I get laughed at, i might want to say that that's only for Internal modems. Of course, external modems connect directly to a serial port 🙂

 

[Chriz]

You know this talk regarding USB keyboards not working in DOS leads me to another point. In most farely new motherboard BIOS setups i've seen an option for USB keyboard support via both or OS. If it's done with BIOS, you can use the USB keyboard anywhere, even in DOS. But by default it is set to OS. Why is this?

The problem that a lot of people run into is that some programs...even some NEW Windows programs, sometimes exit to DOS to do things. For example...if I install Partition Magic LE for BeOS R5 in Windows 98, PM will actually restart the computer into DOS to run and do the partitioning. But, if I have a USB mouse in, I have to use my keyboard to navigate the windowed interface (which sucks btw). But if I have a PS/2 mouse in, it works fine. I think programs just shouldn't have to use DOS like that, because then you're limited in hardware support. It's going to get worse and worse once USB 2.0 and if Firewire or Bluetooth become standard too.

So, I think the BIOS and the environment that exists if no OS is installed should be improved...be more user friendly and support USB. But i guess that's not possible since it is the core of the x86 architecture. I suppose it would also take much more ROM....might be too costly. Just a thought 🙂

 

[Maniac9127]

I don't think any 'legacy' technology will disapear anytime soon. I sure as hell hope ISA doesn't disapear to AMR or any of that other crap. I still use my ISA slot for my scaner, I used my parallel port untill I got cable, and I would use it for my printer if I didn't have a LAN printer.

Heck, I'm going to get a BASIC STAMP soon, and I won't be able to program it with out a serial or parallel port, and interfacing with a parallel is easier than USB or 1394

 

[bonkers325]

hell no not for a long time
usb is still buggy
and some of us still got old junk lying around

 

[Chriz]

Bonkers, how is USB still buggy? Give me some examples. I'm not saying I think you're wrong i'm just curious to know what you mean.

 

[Warrenton]

Well, I am trying to get my USB scanner on my other computer to be accessible over the LAN. I know it can be done, I just have to figure it out.

 

[Vincent]

One example of a buggy USB device: the driver for Hauppague's WinTV USB crashes my computer under Windows 2000. I admit that this is probably a software problem.

USB devices have to have much more intelligence than devices that connect through a parallel or serial interface. This will continue to drive up prices until/if USB dominates parallel and serial interfaces.

 

[BoberFett]

Industry won't let legacy interfaces die for a good long time. Personal computers on the other hand I could see losing them in the next year or two.