Re: Super Serial Card Question?

["David Wilson" <mcs6502@gmail.com>]

Michael J. Mahon wrote:
> I suspect the IBM PC designers would have followed the same convention
> except that they reused the DB-25 for both the serial and the parallel
> ports, making a gender shift in one desirable from a human engineering
> point of view.
>
> One could argue that they should have decided to make the parallel port
> male, since female serial connectors (on boxes) were widespread by the
> time the PC was designed.

The choice the IBM PC designers made (male RS-232 sockets) is actually
the correct one.

The RS-232 standard states that DTEs (Data Terminal Equipment) will be
associated with the male connector while DCEs (Data Communication
Equipment eg modems) will be associated with the female connector.