Before USB (short for Universal Serial Bus) took hold as the common standard for connecting peripherals to a computer, there ...

Next, to separate serial and Ethernet on the outside of the router he build a short adapter cable. This is an elegant solution if you’re looking for zero case modifications.

And if you do need to connect equipment with a serial port to a modern computer, you can do so by using a USB-to-serial adapter.

To solve this problem, [Robert] decided to hack in a traditional DE-9 connector instead. Commonly referred to as the DB-9, this is the most common serial port design used on IBM PCs and compatibles.

USB drives are ubiquitous with almost every form of technology on the market today, but the oldest generations of USB demonstrated a surprisingly limited use.