Definition – What does Serial Port mean?
Serial Port is an interface that enables the computer to transmit or receive data one bit at a time. It is one of the oldest kinds of interfaces that was commonly used to connect printers and external devices to a computer. Latest serial ports are used in scientific instruments, shop tills system including cash registers and application like industrial machinery systems. Compared to the other ports like parallel port, the data transfer rate of the serial is slower.
Glossary Web explains Serial Port
Serial Port is a male port while the parallel port is a female port. System resource configurations are select for each port and are identified by COM1 to COM4. Each COM position represents an input and output, and an interrupt request address. The input and output address transfers and receives data to and from peripheral devices such as keyboard and mouse.
A serial port standard is RS-232 that is used for transmitting serial communication between devices that are normally known as data communications equipment and data terminal equipment. The serial port uses a DE-9 connector or a DB-25 connector. Originally, the standard use 25pins, because most of the pins were unused and were quite bulky, the smaller DE-9 connection become famous.
