D connector tirade (was: Re: Age-old ethernet equipment)

From: Eric J. Korpela <korpela_at_ellie.ssl.berkeley.edu>
Date: Thu Mar 29 12:55:31 2001

>> What is the purpose of the DB-9 connector?
> My old SynOptics 2813 hubs have a DA9 as well, and it's some odd

I'm going to pop in and point out a pet peeve of mine. The letter
following the D in a D-sub connector is the shell size.

The standard options I'm aware of are:
DE-9, DA-15, DB-25, DC-37, DD-50, DE-15, DA-26, DB-44, DC-62, DE-78,
and the occasional 2DE-19 and 2DB-52. Those 19 pin "D style" connectors
that Apple, Atari & NeXT were so fond of don't really count because
they were really just an attempt to force people to buy branded
products.

It's quite possible that someone made a DB-9 or a DA-9. If they did,
you certainly couldn't plug your mouse into one. (Actually there is
a DB-9W4 which has 5 standard pins and 4 places for either coax inserts
or size 8 pins (just in case you need to run 160 amps through your
connector.))

It doesn't so much bother me when people use "DB-9" in conversation, but
when people selling the things online have them listed incorrectly it
makes a search more difficult.

My next tirade will be on why you should always specify pins and sockets
rather than male or female. (It doesn't have anything to do with sexism.)
Now back to your regularly scheduled discussion.

Eric
Received on Thu Mar 29 2001 - 12:55:31 BST