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
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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
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subscribe and follow using the peripheral of your choice it could use
USB it could not I don't know