WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.080 Do you ever wonder why nearly every external device you connect to a PC uses a USB port? 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:09.760 Well the simple answer is, because that's a lot better than the way it used to be. 00:00:09.760 --> 00:00:14.720 Before USB was around, we had a whole litany of port types, so today we're going to show you 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:19.600 just how annoying it could be to connect your electronics back in the 80s and 90s. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:24.880 Let's start out with a port some of you might still be familiar with today, the PS2 port. 00:00:24.880 --> 00:00:29.760 This chocolate chip cookie looking little guy was introduced not with the PlayStation, 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:34.080 but in 1987 on the IBM Personal System Slash 2. 00:00:34.080 --> 00:00:39.200 It replaced an older connector called the DIN, which was originally an audio connector from the 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:45.200 1950s, but was used as the keyboard connector on the original IBM PC, as well as a tape drive 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:51.040 connector on the IBM PC Junior, which was like the IBM PC, but more naive. 00:00:51.040 --> 00:00:56.720 Once PS2 took over, it was common for systems to include two of them, one for your keyboard and 00:00:56.720 --> 00:01:02.080 one for your mouse, and color code them purple and green respectively, since each port was 00:01:02.080 --> 00:01:05.840 often coded at a low level to only work with that specific device. 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:12.800 The PS2 port was useful back in the day because it provided a dedicated link on the motherboard 00:01:12.800 --> 00:01:15.840 for mice, something older systems didn't always have. 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:20.000 But seeing as how USB provided an equally easy way to connect them, 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:25.840 PS2 ports aren't that common anymore, especially as their pin-based design made them more fragile 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:30.160 than the typical USB port, and they're not technically meant to be hot swapped. 00:01:30.880 --> 00:01:36.560 However, PS2 ports can still be found on some modern motherboards, usually as a combined 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:40.640 keyboard and mouse port, and that's because they do still have some advantages. 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:46.960 PS2 tends to work more reliably with some older BIOSes, and in settings where security is paramount, 00:01:46.960 --> 00:01:51.600 PS2 ports allow an organization to just disable all USB ports on their computers 00:01:51.600 --> 00:01:55.440 to ensure people aren't connecting things like unauthorized flash drives. 00:01:55.440 --> 00:02:00.160 But the PS2 connector wasn't the only connector for keyboards and mice during the late 80s. 00:02:00.160 --> 00:02:06.320 This thing is called the Apple Desktop Bus, found on Apple systems starting in 1986. 00:02:06.320 --> 00:02:10.480 But it supported more peripherals, like joysticks and graphics tablets, 00:02:10.480 --> 00:02:17.200 and could even be daisy-chained. But this port too was replaced by USB once the original iMac came out. 00:02:17.200 --> 00:02:21.360 But let's move on from keyboards and mice and talk about what the heck these things are. 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:26.000 Instead of being intended for a specific use like the keyboard and mouse ports we've discussed, 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:29.520 this guy was kind of the OG do-it-all connection. 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:37.440 It's called a serial port, and just like today's USB ports, it's sent or received data one bit at a time. 00:02:37.440 --> 00:02:45.120 Serial ports were used for all sorts of things. Not only could you connect a mouse to them, but people used them for modems, routers, PC to PC connections, 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:50.880 uninterruptible power supplies, text displays, and even old-school smart home hubs. 00:02:50.880 --> 00:02:55.360 Although the serial port can still be found today in some specialized applications, 00:02:55.360 --> 00:03:02.400 older implementations of the port were quite limited in real-world speed to around 9600 bits per second, 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:08.960 which, in addition to its clunky design, contributed to its downfall and the rise of USB. 00:03:08.960 --> 00:03:15.280 Now this big chonker is called a parallel port, also more specifically known as a printer port or 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:21.120 1284 port, and was typically labeled LPT followed by a number in Windows. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:25.920 As the name suggests, it was mainly used for connecting printers and was fairly ubiquitous 00:03:25.920 --> 00:03:30.720 for this purpose during the 1990s. Although there were some printers that could connect through the 00:03:30.720 --> 00:03:35.680 aforementioned serial port, the parallel port became more popular because it could deliver 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:42.480 both data and control signals to the printer at the same time. What? Technology. 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:48.480 A few other data-heavy devices, including optical drives, zip drives, and even a few MP3 players, 00:03:48.480 --> 00:03:53.520 also used the parallel port because it could move more data than the serial port. However, 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:58.880 it still couldn't do more than around a couple of megabytes per second at most. At high speeds, 00:03:58.880 --> 00:04:03.520 it becomes difficult to keep the multiple data streams of a parallel connection synchronized, 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:08.240 which was part of the reason that the parallel port also became displaced by USB, 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:14.320 a much faster serial connection. However, both parallel and serial ports are still in use in 00:04:14.320 --> 00:04:20.400 some industrial and scientific applications as they provide simple interfaces that just work 00:04:20.400 --> 00:04:25.920 with older equipment. Finally, we'd like to say a few words about the game port. Somewhere between 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:31.760 the parallel and serial ports and physical size, this was a common way to connect joysticks and 00:04:31.760 --> 00:04:38.400 game paddles in the 1980s and 90s. In the mid-1980s, game ports were often included on expansion 00:04:38.400 --> 00:04:45.120 cards that also contained other types of ports. But during the 1990s, game ports became very popular, 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:50.800 as it was typical for them to be placed on sound cards. And seeing as gamers were a key market for 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:56.880 better sound quality, the game port was a natural choice for a cool value add. Does that mean those 00:04:56.960 --> 00:05:03.920 sound cards were technically dongles? Hmm. However, the game port could only support a limited number 00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:08.800 of buttons without a specialized driver. And on top of that, it was an analog connection, 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:13.040 leaving joysticks vulnerable to electrical noise that could mess with your inputs. 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:19.040 USB's digital nature, which allowed easier support for fancier controllers, meant the game port fell 00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:23.920 out of fashion quickly during the 2000s. And Windows dropped native support for it starting 00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:29.360 with Vista. You know, because they had to make room for the important things. Did you use another 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:34.160 gone but not forgotten port before the days of USB? Comment down below and you might see your 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:39.200 submission in a future episode. But as for this episode, it's over. Thanks for watching. Hey, 00:05:39.200 --> 00:05:42.640 like the video if you liked it, dislike it if you disliked it. Check out our other videos, 00:05:42.640 --> 00:05:46.400 comment below with video suggestions, and don't forget to subscribe and follow 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:52.720 using the peripheral of your choice. It could use you at USB, it could not. I don't know.