Poll: How many of you still use a parallel or serial port?

[Stiganator]

Does anyone still use parallel or serial ports? I'm mostly looking at normal use of the ports.

I don't think I've used either port since 1998.

In my opinion, they should cease to produce serial and parallel because they take up way too much board space and material.

This was all brought about by looking at this atom cpu/mobo combo

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813121342

I will get one once they ditch the full size DDR2 slots, ps2,serial, parallel, VGA, and IDE and swap them out for
6 more USB, a DVI port, and 2 more SATA ports, 4x DDR2-SO-DIMM and a multi function 16 x PCI-E port (not just graphics).

That would net us, 8x USB, 8GB RAM (upto 16GB if you can afford 4GB DIMMs), good digital video output, and the possibility of hardware RAID.

Also, why don't they use mini-usb on these mini mobos, it seems like you could fit way more connectors on and just offer a cheap connector dongle that converts to normal usb.

 

[skyking]

I use serial almost every day to work on voicemail, phone systems, and network switches.
Parallel? nah.

 

[Steve]

At home, I have no devices that require either. At work I occasionally use a serial dial-up modem for testing, and regularly troubleshoot parallel-connected printers.

 

[grrl]

No, and I have them turned off in BIOS.

 

[ed21x]

I have a gamepad that still uses the serial port. Not too bad, as I'd rather use the USB ports for other things.

 

[D1gger]

I have an old parallel port printer (HP Deskjet 1120c) that prints 11"x17" which is great for printing small scale engineering drawings. There are very few wide format desktop printers around, so I still use this dinosaur. It recently created some grief by interfering with a USB hardware security key for some new client software we installed. Everyone else in the office had no problem, but it took the software supplier's tech support guy three days to figure out it was the fact that I used my paralleled port that was causing the problem. He reconfigured the security device software and all was well.

 

[Megatomic]

At work I do to connect to various pieces of equipment like PLCs, flow computers, VFDs, etc. It blows me away that in the 21st century I'm still connecting to industrial equipment via comm port.

 

[waffleironhead]

Serial cable running to my ups, also use it to connect to my Magellan gps. Parralel? not for years.

 

[nageov3t]

I use serial cables at work on a regular basis for sun servers, network devices, small misc. equipment, etc.

I haven't use either at home since USB became widespread, but I've got a 56K serial modem floating around my parents house somewhere.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Yes, serial, because my wife still uses an old scale that uses serial communications. We're upgrading soon to a USB scale, which is still technically a serial port, but I know what you mean so I won't be a bitch about it.

 

[Leros]

I use the serial port to program microcontrollers.

 

[imported_Imp]

Nope. Cut my serial (?) loose when I replaced my keyboard last year. Never going back.

 

[PottedMeat]

I use the serial port to troubleshoot mcus. Quicker than diagnosing via USB.

 

[frostedflakes]

Parallel port for an old HP printer (I only print off B&W documents for school, so upgrading hasn't been a big priority) and serial port for an IR receiver.

 

[HardcoreRomantic]

So only one person uses for a "normal" reason. Programming microcontrollers and switches is not something your average joe does.

 

[irishScott]

I sometimes screw around with building small amateur robots, some of the boards require a serial port interface.

 

[fatpat268]

Nope... haven't used it in years. I imagine though if I needed, I could always get an expansion card supplying me with parallel or serial ports.

 

[BassBomb]

parallel port for my laser printer

 

[alkemyst]

I am hating the serial ports are being left off devices now. They are invaluable for datalogging. USB to Serial adapters *sometimes* work but the big issue with them is no thumbscrews.

 

[hellokeith]

HP DeskJet 1120C (color printer) on parallel FTW!

 

[BoomerD]

I have an x-10 controller that hooks to the serial port. Other than that, nope.

 

[spidey07]

I absolutely have to have a serial port when I put my hands on network gear. I was given a laptop with no serial port one time. WTF! You can't give a network guy a computer without a serial port.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
I am hating the serial ports are being left off devices now. They are invaluable for datalogging. USB to Serial adapters *sometimes* work but the big issue with them is no thumbscrews.

Yeah, it's tough to find that and also big box PCs that support full size cards. Tons of industrial hardware still requires parallel and serial ports, along with full size PCI cards.

 

[Baked]

I need more USB ports.

 

[DanTMWTMP]

Dude, i wish every laptop still came w/ RS232's.

I need them like a how I need food. They are insanely essential since it's still the standard for many oceanographic equipment feeds.