| Front Panel Serial Ports | ||||
One thing that has always amazed me is how long it took for retail PC's to be available with peripheral interface ports mounted on the front of the case, namely USB. The introduction of plug 'n' play should have been quickly followed up by easier access to certain ports. How long have Mac's had a port of some kind on the end of their keyboards? I guess old habits die hard.... However, the age old serial port is usually the communications workhorse of the electronic enthusiasts workbench, not USB. (No surprise there, the USB specification is quite daunting.) My most commonly used peripheral is probably my PIC programmer which connects to the serial port. Even though it turned out to be a little more complicated than I expected, front-panel mounted serial ports have proved very useful. Even if you don't use your serial ports very much, the second aspect of this small project (the activity indicator LED) may be of use. |
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