Obselete PC ports that your PC still uses TODAY

5rtytry56

So...do you still use a PC that uses any of these ports? :

Green Mouse port,
PurpleKeyboard port

Orange Sound Port
Pink Parallel Printer Port

Firewire Port

15 pin Black Serial Port

eSATA port

i400 port

....Excluding the 3.5 mm socket any other weird and wonder port your PC has got. ....?

Fysh

I have two machines from within the last 5 years with ports on your list - a Firewire-800 port on my laptop (for directly connecting to an external drive for backups) and an eSATA port on my HP Proliant server (for backing up the server storage to an external RAID box). In both cases I'd gladly switch to USB3, but thanks to Vendor Dickery (that despicable supervillain) neither machine has USB3 natively and add-in cards would come at the expense of removing other hardware I regularly use.

degsie

Don't forget modem(rj11), scsi, vga & dvi ports.

5rtytry56

Sh;t.

Actually, Any brave souls out there still using HG Duo - also known as Magic Gate?

One on my Sony VAIO.

And I still use it.



You can still buy HG Duo cards from Maplins, if you think your mula is burning a hole in your pocket.:pac:

Digital Solitude

BIOS needs PS2 Keyboards, or the 'purple keyboard port' so they'll be around for a little while yet I think.

degsie

Digital Solitude wrote: »

BIOS needs PS2 Keyboards, or the 'purple keyboard port' so they'll be around for a little while yet I think.

Since when?

Digital Solitude

Older boards do anyways. Pretty sure USB 3.0 doesn't work with BIOS, does with UEFI afaik. I appear to be mixed up.

5rtytry56

The same goes for this slot:

expcard.jpg

FanadMan

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Older boards do anyways. Pretty sure USB 3.0 doesn't work with BIOS, does with UEFI afaik. I appear to be mixed up.

Reseat your RAM and reboot yourself.......you'll be grand in a wee while :P

riclad

Vga is not obsolete ,
my laptops do,nt have hdmi .
I use vga out if i want to connect to a hdtv, from a laptop.
many laptops only have vga out .
There,s probably millions of pc users out there using vga monitors .
my old pc just has vga out .
Even new tvs still have a vga in port.
Sony and apple use special ports or memory card format in order to get
fees from company use that media or connector .

Fysh

riclad wrote: »

Vga is not obsolete ,
my laptops do,nt have hdmi .
I use vga out if i want to connect to a hdtv, from a laptop.
many laptops only have vga out .
There,s probably millions of pc users out there using vga monitors .
my old pc just has vga out .
Even new tvs still have a vga in port.
Sony and apple use special ports or memory card format in order to get
fees from company use that media or connector .

VGA is a positively ancient standard at this point, and the fact that there are many systems out there which still use it does not mean it's not functionally obsolete.

Put it this way - VGA does not have the bandwidth to carry a 1080p signal, which was agreed around 10 years ago to be a notional standard for "high-definition" (hence it being used for Blu-Ray, amongst other things), and it has no hope of carrying a 4K signal which is the current notional standard for high definition. So, much like VHS was obsolete by the end of the 90s despite shuffling on, zombie-like, until sometime between 2007 and 2011 (depending on whether you view the end of production of the blank media or the end of production of new devices capable of playing the media as the end-of-life point).

cml387

Ah yes, but do you have a SysReq key on your keyboard?

theteal

riclad wrote: »

Vga is not obsolete ,
my laptops do,nt have hdmi .
I use vga out if i want to connect to a hdtv, from a laptop.
many laptops only have vga out .
There,s probably millions of pc users out there using vga monitors .
my old pc just has vga out .
Even new tvs still have a vga in port.
Sony and apple use special ports or memory card format in order to get
fees from company use that media or connector .

Pffft HDMI, Displayport is where its at. . .at least on all our new work machines

5rtytry56

cml387 wrote: »

Ah yes, but do you have a SysReq key on your keyboard?

Yes: it's called Sys Rq. It shares functionality with Prt Sc (Print Screen)

5rtytry56

Some ancient PC keyboards also had function keys up to F16

aphex™

My latest laptop came with a dvd player. I was actually a bit surprised at that.
I don't think I'll ever use it.

Aren't all the icon memes wrong nowadays. Floppy drive for save etc.

riclad

Theres millions of companys using old pcs with vga monitors .
or users with old pcs who just use lcd monitors with vga connectors .
VHs and betamax recorders are obsolete ,theres no reason to use them.
Cable boxs have digital recorders built in.
it would be more accurate to say Vga is a legacy video interface .
Some companys run old pcs with windows 7 on them because it would
be expensive to replace all the software on that pc.
And it still does the job ok, eg running company accounts and payroll .
new standard s come along like hdmi,
but it would be wasteful to just throw away all the old vga lcd screens ,
just because it has no hdmi in port.
dvd drives on laptops might disappear with the rise of youtube,and netflix.

gctest50

riclad wrote: »

..........
And it still does the job ok, eg running company accounts and payroll .
....

Just no.

If yer doing accounts you'd be wanting dual monitors ( ones using a connection from this century at least )

for everything else there is the SSI Quad™ Q85 four-shaft shredder

Graham

riclad wrote: »

Theres millions of companys using old pcs with vga monitors .
or users with old pcs who just use lcd monitors with vga connectors .
VHs and betamax recorders are obsolete ,theres no reason to use them.
Cable boxs have digital recorders built in.
it would be more accurate to say Vga is a legacy video interface .
Some companys run old pcs with windows 7 on them because it would
be expensive to replace all the software on that pc.
And it still does the job ok, eg running company accounts and payroll .
new standard s come along like hdmi,
but it would be wasteful to just throw away all the old vga lcd screens ,
just because it has no hdmi in port.
dvd drives on laptops might disappear with the rise of youtube,and netflix.

I'm guessing your current 'legacy video interface' is CGA which would explain why your lines of text wrap after every 40 characters.

moc moc a moc

Graham wrote: »

I'm guessing your current 'legacy video interface' is CGA which would explain why your lines of text wrap after every 40 characters.

Riclad is so oldskool he views Boards by telnetting to port 80 :eek:

Senecio

I have a 2011 Mac Mini. USB3 was added in the next iteration. I'm still using the FireWire 800 port as the fastest connection for an external HDD.

5rtytry56

aphex™ wrote: »

My latest laptop came with a dvd player. I was actually a bit surprised at that.
I don't think I'll ever use it.

What about Bluray? Hush! Stop talking down the IT Economy!! All those poor folk in the film industry who churn out Bluray DVDs!!!:D

BionicRasher

Fysh wrote: »

VGA is a positively ancient standard at this point, and the fact that there are many systems out there which still use it does not mean it's not functionally obsolete.

Put it this way - VGA does not have the bandwidth to carry a 1080p signal, which was agreed around 10 years ago to be a notional standard for "high-definition" (hence it being used for Blu-Ray, amongst other things), and it has no hope of carrying a 4K signal which is the current notional standard for high definition. So, much like VHS was obsolete by the end of the 90s despite shuffling on, zombie-like, until sometime between 2007 and 2011 (depending on whether you view the end of production of the blank media or the end of production of new devices capable of playing the media as the end-of-life point).

Unless I am mistaken my monitors are running 1080P - one from a VGA connection and one from DVI-D. I have dual monitors running from a laptop docking station

Many many business laptops will remain to have VGA for connection to projectors etc for a long time to come.
Our workplace is only getting upgraded at the moment with a few new projectors with wireless capabilities but there is still the obligatory VGA cable in the meeting rooms to connect a laptop to

Newer business laptops (last 6 months) are coming with USB 3 and Mini DisplayPort only. However most folk then also order a Mini DisplayPort to VGA adaptor to connect to a projector! Also these laptops come with a USB Docking station on which you have a DVI and DP port......but guess what - it comes with a DVI to VGA Adapter in the box
VGA staying for another while yet

Graham

BionicRasher wrote: »

Unless I am mistaken my monitors are running 1080P - one from a VGA connection and one from DVI-D. I have dual monitors running from a laptop docking station

Many many business laptops will remain to have VGA for connection to projectors etc for a long time to come.
Our workplace is only getting upgraded at the moment with a few new projectors with wireless capabilities but there is still the obligatory VGA cable in the meeting rooms to connect a laptop to

VGA uses an analog signal, all the others you mention are digital. To borrow a quote from CNET

The old-school VGA connector is a cable of last resort. It's not too common anymore, and hardly ever found on TVs. A recent e-mail asked about it, so I'm including it.

Don't use VGA, not if you can help it. While it is capable of fairly high resolutions and frame rates, it's an analog signal. You're not likely to get a pixel-perfect image with today's LCD monitors (hence why you'd use DVI).

riclad

All the new tvs still have vga ports,so i don,t think its obsolete ,
millions of people still use lcd monitors with vga inputs.
The Nokia 3310 or betamax vcr are obsolete ,
they are not used any more .no one makes betamax vcrs anymore .
i bought a brand new android phone 4 weeks ago,
i bought a brand new android tablet yoga 2 .
last year.
Theres many charitys and companys that still use windows 7 pc,s
as they work well ,they use ms office,word etc
it would cost millions to switch every pc to windows 10 .
I,LL be buying a ps4 maybe in the next year .
Many of the old pc ports were replaced by usb .Pcs are designed to last for 5 years plus, most of the web is powered by standard pc,s running
server software based on linux .
i,m happy to buy new hardware when i need it.

5rtytry56

hmmm..........

I have'nt seen SCART connection mentioned. Why is that?

Come out come out SCART users where ever yee are!!:D

riclad

Scart is a standard for video and audio not usually used on pc,s .
i set up a sky tv wireless sender I had to use a scart cable to connect it
to a hdtv as the wireless reciever only has scart output .
my friend bought a new house with 2 new tvs, and 2 new skyboxs,
Everything is connected by hdmi cable .
Theres no reason to to use scart on modern tvs or sky boxs ,
unless you are using a satellite wireless sender unit that has no hdmi out port.

Gyck

I still get a warm fuzzy feeling when I purchase a new motherboard, complete with snazzy UEFI bios, and find that it has com port pin-outs.

Aaaaah.

BionicRasher

Graham wrote: »

VGA uses an analog signal, all the others you mention are digital. To borrow a quote from CNET

The old-school VGA connector is a cable of last resort. It's not too common anymore, and hardly ever found on TVs. A recent e-mail asked about it, so I'm including it.

Don't use VGA, not if you can help it. While it is capable of fairly high resolutions and frame rates, it's an analog signal. You're not likely to get a pixel-perfect image with today's LCD monitors (hence why you'd use DVI).

Even though they say dont use it there is no escaping the fact it is still very heavily used on PCs. Different for TVs but the thread is about PC ports. of the 2000+ employees in the company I work for I can assure you 99% of them use VGA daily - be it for their monitors or connection to projectors etc.

Therefore I think VGA is not in fact an obsolete port at all

My laptop docking station still has the works:

2 PS/2
1 DB25 parallel
1 DE9 serial
1 VGA
1 DVI-D
1 DisplayPort

The laptop itself also has Firewire and RJ11.

By the way, while it might be analogue, VGA is well capable of 1920x1080 output. Most video cards, even from 2001 or so, could output 2048x1536.

riclad

Thousands of companys use vga monitors , at some point they will be replaced with monitors which have displayport and hdmi ports .Many older pcs still have only vga out ,
so to use them it is necessary to use a vga monitor .
Technology becomes obsolete when its no longer sold in retail stores
and theres no reason to use it.
And its replaced by new tech which is cheaper and easier to use .
i remember a time when vga monitors cost 100,s of euros
and they were state of the art ,used by designers and video editors.
Apple has changed the type of connectors on its phones and pcs,
making some devices obsolete .
i dont think a new pc has serial or parallel ports,
Those have been replaced by usb ports .

5rtytry56

Notice nobody has mentioned the co-axial TV cable port. This featured on the original Raspberry Pi B. Maybe all the boardsie Raspberry Pi users have thrown their Raspberry B's out.
Yes, I still have my Pi B, but I use the HDMI port for display.

5rtytry56

5rtytry56 wrote: »

Notice nobody has mentioned the co-axial TV cable port. This featured on the original Raspberry Pi B. Maybe all the boardsie Raspberry Pi users have thrown their Raspberry B's out.
Yes, I still have my Pi B, but I use the HDMI port for display.

I've seen people use these as test card generators for old CRTs.

Fysh

5rtytry56 wrote: »

Notice nobody has mentioned the co-axial TV cable port. This featured on the original Raspberry Pi B. Maybe all the boardsie Raspberry Pi users have thrown their Raspberry B's out.
Yes, I still have my Pi B, but I use the HDMI port for display.

I've got a home-modded 3.5" display that I can power via USB and connect to the Pi via that composite video port (so combined with a USB power source it's a portable system, mainly used for RetroPie). However, barring console connector cables (with the addition of a composite-SCART adapter) I think it's the only time I've ever used composite video

As for VGA and higher resolutions - sure, it's possible. Rarely reliable, though, and over the last few years you'd be making an unwise choice to prefer VGA over every other alternative...

riclad

I was in an office today all the laptops are new ,
windows 10 os.
There,s a vga connector on the projector connected to a new laptop.
I think vga is the standard input on all projectors ,
vga is still being installed on new laptops ,tvs, an projectors .
theres no way its obsolete .
maybe its like usb 2 a legacy standard .
i regard a port as obsolete when its no longer being put into new pcs or
laptops .

VGA is optional on Intel Skylake processors. I even came across a HP server, the ML10 Gen9, which only has DisplayPort.