20 Jul
2010
20 Jul
'10
8:06 p.m.
All fair points, but then, who ever used serial ports
to connect mass
storage? (I know there was a serial port hard disk for the first ever
This is classicmp...
Assuming by 'serial port' you mean somethign RS232-like (as opposed to
USB, firewire (which are serial interfaces), HPIL, etc) then off th rtop
of my head, Epson did (the RS232-interfacd drive units for the HX20/PX
series of laptops). Resarch Machines did (disk unit for the 480Z,
although that was a synchonous RS232 interface). Tandy/Radio Shcack
(portable disk drive for the M100 etc). DEC did (TU58 tape cartridge
drive). There must be many others.
Mac, but that was from complete lack of any
alternative.)
The equivalents to USB for this sort of thing were SCSI, Firewire,
eSATA and the like - or, arguably, ST-506, ESDI and PATA/ATAPI.
Frankly, USB has caused me less trouble than any of them, considering
the relative volumes. No ID setting, no jumpers, no termination,
generic cables and it even works pretty smoothly across hubs, even
multiple ones. It's a wonder.
I am having problems following this. It appears you're saying that USB is
superior to RS232 for all applications because USB is easier to use than,
say, SCSI for linking up mass sotroage devices (but RS232 was not
commonly used for this).
-tony