Bye bye vga.

Today3D: Intel and AMD sign death warrant for VGA port

Never mind!

These will become popular in schools then... StarTech.com Mini DisplayPort VGA Video Adapter Converter | Ebuyer.com

Great. Whiteboards are already a pain in the backside, with their naff Serial to USB connections, now we'll need to add VGA to something-else connectors too?

I yearn for the return of serial and parallel connections. Things just worked! Whilst USB is convenient, it's also a very badly implemented standard.

I'll save the rest of my moans for the Football this afternoon. ;-)

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Originally Posted by AyatollahPies

Great. Whiteboards are already a pain in the backside, with their naff Serial to USB connections, now we'll need to add VGA to something-else connectors too?

I yearn for the return of serial and parallel connections. Things just worked! Whilst USB is convenient, it's also a very badly implemented standard.

I'll save the rest of my moans for the Football this afternoon. ;-)

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Serial, Parallel, PS2 and VGA are all a nightmare due to one simple fact - they have pins to bend. We have 35 IWB installs around our place, and I get through at least 10 - 20 vga leads each year due to staff bending/snapping pins. I get through zero USB leads - they just work.

And if you're still using devices that are using serial -> usb adapters, by the time you are replacing the computers with new ones you should be looking at replacing your projectors and smartboards too... As they'll be a decade old.

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Originally Posted by localzuk

Serial, Parallel, PS2 and VGA are all a nightmare due to one simple fact - they have pins to bend. We have 35 IWB installs around our place, and I get through at least 10 - 20 vga leads each year due to staff bending/snapping pins. I get through zero USB leads - they just work.

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You must be lucky with your staff, I hate USB, what kind of idiots make a symetrical connector that has to be plugged in one way, you need to be looking at it otherwise you are not sure whether you have misaligned it or its round the wrong way making it practically impossible to plug it in behind a pc without pulling the whole damn thing out.

At least with pins they just bend/break and you have to replace a cable, with USB our lovely staff plug them in the wrong way (large force required) breaking both the cable and the port, shorting the pins in the port to ground and either causing a reboot or cooking the motherboard.

USB was progress but included so many mistakes that are only made worse by USB 3, I can't wait for lightpeak in the hopes of getting rid of the problems caused by USB and careless/clueless staff.

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Originally Posted by localzuk

replacing... smartboards too... As they'll be a decade old.

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lol ours already are.

Well I'm glad they seem to be binning DVI. What a badly thought out standard that was! The amount of problems we've had with "is it a; DVI-D, DVI-I, DVI-D dual link, DVI-I dual link, DVI-A, DVI with USB..."! Display port is such a better thought out standard, especially how it just clips in and out rather than having pins and screws.

Must say I agree with SYNACK, the number of usb devices ive had given to me to be fixed is unreal. Besides them plugging them in the wrong way, they are too flimsy. You plug them into a laptop, laptop slides off your knee, result = snapped memory stick "which was my only copy of teh work"

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Originally Posted by SYNACK

You must be lucky with your staff, I hate USB, what kind of idiots make a symetrical connector that has to be plugged in one way, you need to be looking at it otherwise you are not sure whether you have misaligned it or its round the wrong way making it practically impossible to plug it in behind a pc without pulling the whole damn thing out.

At least with pins they just bend/break and you have to replace a cable, with USB our lovely staff plug them in the wrong way (large force required) breaking both the cable and the port, shorting the pins in the port to ground and either causing a reboot or cooking the motherboard.

USB was progress but included so many mistakes that are only made worse by USB 3, I can't wait for lightpeak in the hopes of getting rid of the problems caused by USB and careless/clueless staff.

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Never had any of that here I have to say! All desktops are spec'ed to prevent teachers switching cables around (ie. they're set up and that's that). If a laptop is required, they switch the other end (plugged into the wall) and that's very easy to see what's what on.

And most staff have notebooks anyway, so again its pretty easy to see what goes where.

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Originally Posted by j17sparky

lol ours already are.

Well I'm glad they seem to be binning DVI. What a badly thought out standard that was! The amount of problems we've had with "is it a; DVI-D, DVI-I, DVI-D dual link, DVI-I dual link, DVI-A, DVI with USB..."! Display port is such a better thought out standard, especially how it just clips in and out rather than having pins and screws.

Must say I agree with SYNACK, the number of usb devices ive had given to me to be fixed is unreal. Besides them plugging them in the wrong way, they are too flimsy. You plug them into a laptop, laptop slides off your knee, result = snapped memory stick "which was my only copy of teh work"

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DVI is a nightmare, I agree. We only have 2 or 3 machines making use of it, and during that time I managed to order the wrong cables twice. Displayport and HDMI are definitely the way forward! And why do you have your notebooks on your knee? All health and safety documentation says the same thing - notebook computers should always be used on a solid surface to prevent potential burns etc... Hence why all manufacturers stopped calling them laptops too!

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Originally Posted by localzuk

DVI is a nightmare, I agree. We only have 2 or 3 machines making use of it, and during that time I managed to order the wrong cables twice. Displayport and HDMI are definitely the way forward! And why do you have your notebooks on your knee? All health and safety documentation says the same thing - notebook computers should always be used on a solid surface to prevent potential burns etc... Hence why all manufacturers stopped calling them laptops too!

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Because I live in the real world where people don't always follow H&S :p Personally I rarely sit with it on my knee, but then thats because I prefer to work at a desk. Its really stupid tbh; if people couldnt put them on their knee then no one would buy a laptop, netbook, large tablet, etc as how are you supposed to use one on a sofa, train, bus, airport waiting area, or infact any location where a portable device would be useful without putting it on your knee? Infact there are very few locations where one could use a laptop "properly". Maybe we should invent a "baby carrier" type strap for your laptop.

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Originally Posted by j17sparky

Because I live in the real world where people don't always follow H&S :p Personally I rarely sit with it on my knee, but then thats because I prefer to work at a desk. Its really stupid tbh; if people couldnt put them on their knee then no one would buy a laptop, netbook, large tablet, etc as how are you supposed to use one on a sofa, train, bus, airport waiting area, or infact any location where a portable device would be useful without putting it on your knee? Infact there are very few locations where one could use a laptop "properly". Maybe we should invent a "baby carrier" type strap for your laptop.

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Well, if you want to risk infertility, genital burns, and leg burns...

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Originally Posted by localzuk

Serial, Parallel, PS2 and VGA are all a nightmare due to one simple fact - they have pins to bend.

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With the exception of Serial ATA :D

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Originally Posted by localzuk

DVI is a nightmare, I agree. We only have 2 or 3 machines making use of it, and during that time I managed to order the wrong cables twice. DisplayPort and HDMI are definitely the way forward!

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HDMI is pretty much DVI with a smaller connector and the ability to carry audio. Once there are devices which use the Type B connector you will end up in more or less the same situation. :(

VGA ports should have been dropped a long time ago. We have no end of trouble with them at school (ranging from broken pins, ports snapped off motherboards, having to use signal boosters etc.). :mad:

It is mildly annoying that we're being almost forced into having no choice in the matter in a relatively short space of time. Projector manufacturers better get their act in gear, as so many of them are still sold only supporting VGA, composite and S-video standards only, same with monitors, you still have to pay a premium to get anything other than VGA input on them, all the budget offerings only support VGA. Personally I've never found anything wrong with the VGA standard, still use it for everything.

We are lucky thou, our new building will be full cabled to the latest standards, but I do pity schools with an extensive infrastructure who will have to upgrade all their AV equipment becuse they won't be able to get compatible machines to connect to them easily any more. Even schools built as recently as last year I've seen only cabled with VGA ports on the faceplates, so within 4-5 years it's all going to be effectively redundant, what a waste.

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Originally Posted by j17sparky

Must say I agree with SYNACK, the number of usb devices ive had given to me to be fixed is unreal. Besides them plugging them in the wrong way, they are too flimsy. You plug them into a laptop, laptop slides off your knee, result = snapped memory stick "which was my only copy of teh work"

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As much as i find it a PITA when you can't see the usb port your trying to plug into, i don't think you can entirely blame the usb standard for user carelessness. :)

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Originally Posted by torledo

As much as i find it a PITA when you can't see the usb port your trying to plug into, i don't think you can entirely blame the usb standard for user carelessness. :)

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The number of times I've seen USB plugs jammmed into the RJ45 network port on a laptop, and I bet I'm not alone on that one. Some people just don't take 20 seconds to actually look at what they're doing. You could make the port bright pink with a big label 'TOP' on the plug, and someone would still plug it into the wrong hole or force it in the wrong way.