A
legacy port is a port or connector on a PC that is considered fully or partially obsolete. Some manufacturers, particularly in laptops, remove the legacy ports, making way for modern ports such as
USBUSB is a way of setting up communication between a computer and peripheral devices. USB is intended to replace many varieties of serial and parallel ports. USB can connect computer peripherals such as mice, keyboards, PDAs, gamepads and joysticks, scanners, digital cameras, printers, personal...
. The modern ports usually provide much of the functionality of the older ports; special USB
adaptersIn computing, adapter is a hardware device or software component, that converts transmitted data from one presentation form to another. The data presentation can be, for example, a message sent between objects in an application, or a packet sent through a network.In modern personal computer, almost...
are often used to replicate the connectors for older devices. Modern
motherboardA motherboard is the central printed circuit board in many modern computers, and holds many of the crucial components of the system, while providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the main board, system board, or, on Apple computers, the logic...
s utilize separate
Super I/O"Super I/O" is a class of I/O controller integrated circuits that began to be used on personal computer motherboards in the late 1980s, originally as add-in cards, later embedded on the motherboards. A super I/O chip combines interfaces for a variety of low-bandwidth devices...
controllers to provide legacy ports since current
chipsetA chipset or chip set refers to a group of integrated circuits, or chips, that are designed to work together. They are usually marketed as a single product.- Computers :...
s do not offer direct support for them.
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A
legacy port is a port or connector on a PC that is considered fully or partially obsolete. Some manufacturers, particularly in laptops, remove the legacy ports, making way for modern ports such as
USBUSB is a way of setting up communication between a computer and peripheral devices. USB is intended to replace many varieties of serial and parallel ports. USB can connect computer peripherals such as mice, keyboards, PDAs, gamepads and joysticks, scanners, digital cameras, printers, personal...
. The modern ports usually provide much of the functionality of the older ports; special USB
adaptersIn computing, adapter is a hardware device or software component, that converts transmitted data from one presentation form to another. The data presentation can be, for example, a message sent between objects in an application, or a packet sent through a network.In modern personal computer, almost...
are often used to replicate the connectors for older devices. Modern
motherboardA motherboard is the central printed circuit board in many modern computers, and holds many of the crucial components of the system, while providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the main board, system board, or, on Apple computers, the logic...
s utilize separate
Super I/O"Super I/O" is a class of I/O controller integrated circuits that began to be used on personal computer motherboards in the late 1980s, originally as add-in cards, later embedded on the motherboards. A super I/O chip combines interfaces for a variety of low-bandwidth devices...
controllers to provide legacy ports since current
chipsetA chipset or chip set refers to a group of integrated circuits, or chips, that are designed to work together. They are usually marketed as a single product.- Computers :...
s do not offer direct support for them.
Common legacy ports
- Parallel port
A parallel port is a type of interface found on computers for connecting various peripherals. It is also known as a printer port or Centronics port. The IEEE 1284 standard defines the bi-directional version of the port....
(typical uses: printer)
- Serial port
In computing, a serial port is a serial communication physical interface through which information transfers in or out one bit at a time...
/ RS-232In telecommunications, RS-232 is a standard for serial binary data signals connecting between a
DTE and a
DCE . It is commonly used in computer serial ports...
(typical uses: modem, mouse)
- AT connector
The AT keyboard was a keyboard with 84 keys introduced with the IBM PC/AT computer. It succeeded the 83-key PC/XT keyboard and therefore did not have many of the features seen on modern keyboards such as arrow keys and dual ctrl and alt keys. It was later replaced with the 101-key Enhanced keyboard...
/ DINA DIN connector is a connector that was originally standardized by the Deutsches Institut für Normung , the German national standards organization...
(typical uses: keyboard)
- PS/2 connector
The PS/2 connector is used for connecting some keyboards and mice to a PC compatible computer system. Its name comes from the IBM Personal System/2 series of personal computers, with which it was introduced in 1987...
/ Mini-DINThe mini-DIN connectors are a family of multi-pin electrical connectors used in a variety of applications. Mini-DIN is similar to the larger, older DIN connector. Both are standards of the Deutsches Institut für Normung, the German standards body....
(uses: keyboard, mouse)
- Game port
The game port is the traditional connector for video game input devices on x86-based PCs. Since about 1990, the game port has usually been integrated with a PC I/O or sound card, either ISA or PCI, or as an on-board feature of some motherboards; before that, it was usually on a dedicated ISA card...
(typical uses: gaming devices such as joysticks)
- Apple Desktop Bus
Apple Desktop Bus is an obsolete bit-serial computer bus connecting low-speed devices to computers. Used primarily on the Macintosh platform, ADB equipment is still available but not supported by most Apple hardware manufactured since 1999....
/ mini-DIN (typical uses: low speed external peripherals; such as keyboard, mouse, or joystick)
- Industry Standard Architecture
Industry Standard Architecture was a computer bus standard for IBM compatible computers.-History:...
/ ISA bus (typical uses: connect peripheral cards to motherboard)