Hacker News Reader

Comment by melling | Hacker News Reader

Why do we need to be stuck in the 1980's forever?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VGA_connector

We wouldn't even have USB-A without Apple. PC manufacturers stuck with PS/2 keyboard connectors for another decade after Apple switched.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS/2_port

According to most, the rate of technology is accelerating. Unfortunately, we want to stick with the same ports forever.

Let's all move to USB-C, for example, and everyone else can buy an adapter.

https://www.amazon.com/Aukey-Adapter-Reversible-Supported-CB...

View on HN

> PC manufacturers stuck with PS/2 keyboard connectors for another decade after Apple switched.

PC manufacturers still sell PCs with PS/2 keyboard connectors. Because once you lay out a thousand bucks for a KVM switch, you're in no hurry to throw it away. Because people still love those mechanical IBM keyboards. Because you can't plug a thumb drive into the keyboard port of a machine at a secure site. And PS/2 to USB converters are full of bugs.

Meanwhile PCs have had USB support since USB has been a standard. Apple "dropped" PS/2 because they never had it -- Macs used ADB. Adopting USB (from Intel et al) was a bid to stay relevant by becoming compatible with PC peripherals.

Dropping ADB (and VGA and RJ45 and so on) are nothing but Apple saving a buck at the expense of the people who still use those things. You can have the new thing without destroying the old thing.

I was a PC user when Apple adopted USB. It took almost 5 years before it gained wide adoption on PC hardware. It was a long wait.

You can have the new thing without destroying the old thing.

OK. So every computer needs to have, at minimum, multiple USB ports, probably at least one type C USB port, a PS/2 port (really at least two PS/2 ports), a serial port, an ethernet jack, a CD-ROM drive, a floppy drive, a VGA port, a DVI port, probably an optical audio port, an HDMI port, a pair of audio ports for stereo out, an SD slot and a 3.5mm headphone/microphone jack.

After all, it's wrong to destroy the old things just because there are new things. So I'm sure you'll get busy right now starting up a company to make computers that come with all of these and they'll sell like hotcakes, right?

There are a bunch of PC makers who already do. Take a look at the back of most workstation-class PCs.

About the only thing you're going to have trouble finding is the floppy drive, and that's because they're legitimately defunct. A PS/2 keyboard is just as good as a USB one; a floppy disk on a new PC is a useless anachronism.

No, every computer. That includes the laptops.

Also, the floppy drive can't be left out. Remember: we never drop an old thing just because there's a new thing!

Well, after the VGA we got DVI, there is HDMI, display port, mini display port, and I probably forgot some.

All the time, VGA (and headphones jacks) just work. It is not the most brilliant solution, but it works.

I don't know the details, but some combinations, I think going from HDMI on a MacBook to DVI actually don't work. I guess due to HDCP getting in the way.

About adaptors, nice if you use the laptop only on your desktop. In the field I managed to break a thunderbolt to ethernet dongle and it also took out a thunderbolt port on the MacBook. It used to be that only a cheap RJ45 patch cable would get old. You toss it in the bin and get a new one. I guess that's progress.

HDMI to DVI works without issues on the MacBook Pro. Just make sure your display accepts digital input. Some older displays/projectors had DVI without actually supporting the digital in pins and only had the analog (VGA equivalent) pins.

There are a variety of Catch-22 situations with HDMI on some Macbooks.

For instance, the maximum resolution on my current Macbook is lower if I use HDMI than if I use Thunderbolt.

I know VGA is on it's way out, but it's a sad thing. It's the last open-spec video monitor connector that we have. You need a annual licence to make anything that talks HDMI, and IIRC the org behind DVI closed the spec a few years ago.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com