New I/O Panel Format
This post consolidates a few other postings about the RS-232 [EIA-232] interface going obsolete.
The picture shown above depicts the back panel I/O found on some newer mother boards. Comparing that picture with the one at the bottom of this post and the difference becomes obvious. The RS-232 and IEEE-1284 connectors have been replaced by a heat sink. The video interface has also been removed.
It makes perfect sense to remove the RS232 interface and the other two connectors from the back of computers. The video interface is normally found on the video card, so the 15-pin D-sub connector is not required. Many video cards ship with a DVI and VGA connector, so why have another one the mother board. The 25-pin parallel port connector is out dated. Many new printers ship with an Ethernet port which is much faster then the IEEE-1284 interface bus. With over 6 USB ports to handle any required peripheral, and 2 circular DINs to accommodate a keyboard and mouse the RS-232 interface is just not required.
When you add all this up, the benefit to removing these out-dated interfaces translate to higher speed peripheral connections, reduced cost by eliminating 3 large connectors, and the better use of the motherboard back panel.
In the three different mother boards I looked at the free space was taken up by a heat sink and fan. Both used to vent heat from the chip set ICs
The Apple computers removed the RS232 bus and IEEE-1284 [Printer Port] bus some time ago.
Links with detailed information about the interfaces:
EIA-232
IEEE-1284
VGA
DVI
The RS232 interface is dead and should not be used for new designs. The IEEE-1284 interface is dead. The 15-pin VGA interface is dead on the newer mother boards. These interfaces should start to disappear next year
Mother Board I/O
2 comments:
I disagree. While RS232 may be dying in the consumer world, it is found everywhere in industry, even in new designs. I bought a laptop three weeks ago, and one of the primary factors in deciding what to buy was having an onboard serial port so I wouldn't have to carry around an often unreliable USB to serial adapter. RS232, and especially RS485 and RS422, while possibly not even on the radar anymore in the consumer world, are guaranteed to be alive and kicking in commercial/industrial/military applications for years to come. Sure, it makes sense to save the space on a piece of crap off the shelf computer from Emachines... but doing so means you're effectively cutting out a segment of the market.
The same applies for 1284, though admittedly to a lesser extent. I watched a company buy 17 new computers for employees who each had their own printer at their desks without checking if the computers came with 1284 ports. They ended up buying 17 USB to parallel adapters because it made more sense than throwing away all the older printers that still work great. Sure, it works... but that's just annoying.
Let's never take anything out of Apple's playbook. If people want a Mac, they'll buy one, and they'll be so preoccupied with the things Apple tells them they can do on it that they can't think of the things Apple won't let them do.
12-13-10 I just updated the RS232 page [EIA-232] on the main web site showing the search trend for the term RS232. The number of people doing searches for RS232 continues to decline. However there still are a number of companies producing RS232 ICs, but I'm not sure what products are getting these interfaces.
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