Why do some Nforce4 Boards have Parallel Ports?

[ddviper]

I dont understand why companies like Asus on the SLI board put out mobos with parallel ports. i would think 99% of ppl that buy these high end mobos dont use a device the uses a parallel port

 

[MDE]

Some people have old parallel printers or scanners they want to hold on to. They're cheap so they keep putting them in. I'd like to see them get relegated to the PCI slot plates that they keep putting FireWire and USB ports onto.

 

[ribbon13]

Why not replace them with some Firewire or USB2 device that could be loaded with RS232 and EPP+ECP ports?

 

[Schadenfroh]

I still use it

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
Why not replace them with some Firewire or USB2 device that could be loaded with RS232 and EPP+ECP ports?

Sometimes the converters don't work properly plus people tend to be cheap and don't want to pay for extra stuff.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I feel the opposite way. I won't buy a board if it's missing serial/parallel/PS/2 ports.

 

[Macro2]

I use serial and parallel ports. If they are going to leave it off at least leave a way of adding one in a punch out on the back of the case and plugging it into the mobo.

 

[ribbon13]

I have a K6-3 that could always do whatever I would need to do with a RS232 or Parallel. Anything else should be USB2/IEEE1394/RJ45.

I wish I could have a custom motherboard. Why not do away with the floppy and ide controllers? Make a SATA floppy/card reader. Adapters SATA-to-IDE for any ide device. Then just have one nice onboard SAS controller, which can take an SATA device. 😛

 

[Amaroque]

It would be nice to have a board that is completely "legacy free" No PS2, parallel, floppy, PATA, or serial ports.

But a MB manufacturer won't do that, because they will severely limit the amount of people interested in the MB.

 

[LikeLinus]

Originally posted by: ddviper
I dont understand why companies like Asus on the SLI board put out mobos with parallel ports. i would think 99% of ppl that buy these high end mobos dont use a device the uses a parallel port

because a lot of people still have really nice laser/inkjet printers and other devices that use that port.

I being one of them. Why would you want to throw away a good $1,000+ laser printer just because it doesn't have usb?

 

[ribbon13]

What's wrong with running a K6-3 print server on the LAN? 😀

 

[amol]

i dont mind the PS/2 slots, but i have absolutely NO USE for the parallel and serial

i'd rather have one or two more firewire

using MSI K8N Neo4 Ultra

 

[SynthDude2001]

I haven't used a serial (or parallel for that matter) port in almost five years. However, I will once again be using a serial port within the next week, due to the remote that comes with this. 🙂

Hell, the serial/parallel ports could be completely nonfunctioning on my motherboard and I wouldn't even know it. 😛

 

[halfadder]

If I was buying PCs for the office, I'd probably want "legacy free" with no serial or parallel.

But if I was buying a board for home use, I would want it to have parallel and 2 serial ports. I don't really care if they're on the back panel or not, but at least give me the headers on the board and the cables so I can pipe them out the back thru an empty PCI slot cover.

I feel the same way about USB. Only two usb ports on the back panel are ok, but I would want at least 6 ports total. Give me at least 2 headers on the board so I can pipe USB to the front of my case and maybe more headers for additional ports on the back.

This is why I love the wide variety of ATX boards on the market!

 

[halfadder]

Originally posted by: Amaroque
It would be nice to have a board that is completely "legacy free" No PS2, parallel, floppy, PATA, or serial ports.

A board like that would be nice for office use, but I wouldn't want a board like that for home use.