computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, e ...

, a legacy port is a computer port or connector that is considered by some to be fully or partially superseded.''definition of legacy from Oxford Dictionaries Online''
/ref> The replacement ports usually provide most of the functionality of the legacy ports with higher speeds, more compact design, or

plug and play In computing, a plug and play (PnP) device or computer bus is one with a specification that facilitates the recognition of a hardware component in a system without the need for physical device configuration or user intervention in resolving resou ...

and

hot swap Hot swapping is the replacement or addition of components to a computer system without stopping, shutting down, or rebooting the system; hot plugging describes the addition of components only. Components which have such functionality are said ...

capabilities for greater ease of use. Modern PC

motherboard A motherboard (also called mainboard, main circuit board, mb, mboard, backplane board, base board, system board, logic board (only in Apple computers) or mobo) is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expand ...

s use separate

Super I/O Super I/O is a class of I/O controller integrated circuits that began to be used on personal computer motherboards in the late 1980s, originally as add-in cards, later embedded on the motherboards. A super I/O chip combines interfaces for a vari ...

controllers to provide legacy ports, since current

chipset In a computer system, a chipset is a set of electronic components An electronic component is any basic discrete device or physical entity in an electronic system used to affect electrons or their associated fields. Electronic components are ...

s do not offer direct support for them. A category of computers called

legacy-free PC A legacy-free PC is a type of personal computer that lacks a floppy and/or optical disc drive, legacy ports, and an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus (or sometimes, any internal expansion bus at all). According to Microsoft, "The basic goal ...

s omits these ports, typically retaining only

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...

for external expansion. USB adapters are often used to provide legacy ports if they are required on systems not equipped with them.

Common legacy ports

References

Computer buses Legacy hardware {{compu-hardware-stub

Common legacy ports

See also

References