They look similar but a VGA port has 15 pins and a serial port has only 9. Serial ports like this one were really common before USB was used. You would plug peripherals into it kind of the same way you use a USB port. Mice were probably the most common use, but you could plug a lot of different things into them.

[–] jaybone 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Of course it is like USB since the S in USB stand for serial; Universal Serial Bus.

I don’t remember if RS232 was plug and play or hot swap though. I think you might have had to boot with those plugged in. PS/2 I think you could? And of course USB you can. Good times.

[–] terribletortoise 4 points 7 months ago

Yes and no. They could be unplugged and replugged without a reboot. But also you'd have to manually configure the communication parameters of the port. So I hesitate to say "hot swap".

[–] swag_money 9 points 7 months ago

there's a similar looking plug for serial, RS232