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submitted 9 months ago by guildz@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/196@lemmy.blahaj.zone

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[-] AspieEgg@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 9 months ago

They look similar but a VGA port has 15 pins and a serial port has only 9. Serial ports like this one were really common before USB was used. You would plug peripherals into it kind of the same way you use a USB port. Mice were probably the most common use, but you could plug a lot of different things into them.

[-] jaybone@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

Of course it is like USB since the S in USB stand for serial; Universal Serial Bus.

I don’t remember if RS232 was plug and play or hot swap though. I think you might have had to boot with those plugged in. PS/2 I think you could? And of course USB you can. Good times.

[-] terribletortoise@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

Yes and no. They could be unplugged and replugged without a reboot. But also you'd have to manually configure the communication parameters of the port. So I hesitate to say "hot swap".