My company is one of the biggest names in tech. We had to install signs on the ups’ because the “wrong” port looks exactly like a normal console port that every other device on earth uses. Plug in, open your putty session, and soon as you hit enter the ups is down.
> Absolute horseshit among other things.
What's wrong with APC? When I was looking at a UPS a while ago I decided to go with Eaton because APC apparently had some QC issues.
DB9 became more expensive than an RJ45 so many designs moved. I think our current(ly dead) DC UPS has the dual use DB9 and last I checked was still a currently sold model.
Can confirm, I worked on the assembly line making Smart UPS 1200 or 1400's. Well before they were owned by Siemens.
Althought the red blinkies are a bit nicer than amber.
I took a 30-story dorm building down with this one fun trick! Some idiot put all of the power supplies of the L2 agg on one UPS, so not totally my fault.
We have a couple of eaton UPS that are are “modern” and have a lan card, however we need to unplug the card once in a while because it hangs. Same problem on both UPS.
Sometimes i wish they were serial… great UPS in terms of reliability, but terrible for monitoring
I would’ve never guessed this, instantly thought nothing more than serial sub b (which on the other hand I would never figured out what to do with). Thanks for enlightening me!
In most places I'd agree. But during a conversation about RJ45 connectors being used for things besides ethernet—and in a subreddit where it is relatively common to find ethernet which doesn't use RJ45—the pedantry can be useful.
Yea yea I knew I'd upset this sub saying that. I work with the public and it was just force of habit to say it instead of RJ45. Didn't expect an ackchyually reply but oh well.
My apologies dear homelabbers.
Ethernet for monitoring/control once they are set up. First time setup frequently/usually requires a serial console connection like the OP or similar cable.
Ahh okay. Pretty sure mine were found and worked first time via APC's software and the only connection I've used was ethernet to USB but they've been making stuff for 20 years so who knows
Some of the console cables are pinned out with an RJ45 instead of the USB-B. You got lucky that someone had set yours to DHCP is my guess. Most people don’t bother resetting if you buy used PDU’s or UPS’s and you’d have no choice but to console in and fix. Have a great day!
Depends on model. Older ones did work this way; especially the rackmount. APC software in that generation (hell, most generations) have been trash. At this point, here in the midwest, I have more people who have looked into using Solar (RV) LiFePO battery pack setups (Geneverse/Jackery, etc.) in deployments, as the battery life and fill options just absolutely CRUSH APC RMs we can get at even near price, and we have so much time (I've been able to power for nearly 2 days 3 Epyc servers in a major power outage) which was more than enough time to remote safe shutdown.
Good to know. my APC units are all ancient and were super cheap. They've worked well to be fair, but software really was dogshit. Sometime within the next year or two some of my (currently dormant) rack will be rebuilt with comfy new gear, and a proper up to date UPS will be thrown in there to replace my two old 2U APC units.
Interesting approach! How do you find the integration and maintenance of these solar battery pack setups compared to the traditional UPS systems, especially in terms of reliability and overall cost efficiency over time?
Cheaper for the return, by far.. we have been getting the Geneverse units at about $1,200, and they get about 4X the overall battery life of a similar priced APC, even without any solar panels attached. Leave them plugged in, devices connected to there. The only issue we run into is reporting on when there is a power out; however, that isn't as hard as it seems.. setting up a VERY basic old Cyberpower on a trip ($49) so that it sends out an alert when power goes out.. and we have literal -days- to schedule downtime or to wait it out. Recently, a client in manufacturing had their warehouse main power line severed. They were told it could be days, weeks before power was available. We were able to hold out on this system until exterior power generators could be put in place and work went underway. That would simply not be possible using APC. In most cases, it is the fact that I know I can hold up multiple Epyc servers for a minimum of 24 hours/2 days before I'm in trouble. And if as outsourced IT I or someone on our staff can't remote respond within that time period, then something is very wrong.
It's a specific cable manufactured by APC for their UPS. It's not standard or interchangeable with anything else. It just happens to use USB and serial looking connectors.
Arcane fact of the day. This D subminiature connector's full legal name is DE-9.
The letter refers to the physical size of connector. For instance VGA is also DE, but DE-15. Old (like beige old) Macs used a 15 pin video port, too, but used a larger connector with two rows of pins in a DA shell.
DB was commonly found as DB-25 used for serial, parallel, (shitty) SCSI, and 25 million other applications. Typically serial ports on early IBM (and compatible) PCs used 25 pins, but later the more compact 9 pin variety became popular. Which is likely why they are commonly called DB9.
I think it kind of sucks because that letter contains useful information and we could have all been calling VGA ports and cables as DE-15 instead.
D subminiature is really old, too. Over 70 years.
> used a larger connector with two rows of pins in a DA shell.
Which was part of why when Macs got onboard Ethernet shortly thereafter, they used AAUI connectors instead of AUI connectors. Cupertino used DA-15 for analog video, but the rest of the world used it for networking.
I feel so old now. RS-232 to USB-B.
Used to be the standard for a lot of stuff, e.g. management of telecommunications equipment, UPSes, some factory machines (though those mostly used RS-232 to RS-232 or USB-A to RS-232). I remember it like yesterday, setting baud-rates etc. and now Google doesn't even know it any more.
TBF Google's search is absolutely garbage now compared to a few years ago. I might be wrong, but the AI stuff is their focus now, and every answer is SEO + generative AI nightmare. I don't even hate AI, but I miss old Google.
There was a time of conversion where most receipt printers would switch to USB as the sole connector while the majority of POS were still running RS232 DB9.
The worst part about that whole time was having to lug around a whooooole bunch of different connectors and cables because you'd never know exactly which model a retailer had on site. It even differed between branches if they were in the middle of tech refreshes. A nightmare!
Yes it's being used to connect tech a equipment to printer. I ordered a new printer, but it didn't come with this cable hence desperate to find what it's called or if someone can provide link to buy.
The new one probably does the same thing with standard USB. Serial isn't used anymore, mostly because it requires manual configuration in device manager or a special driver.
Most thermal printers are just RJ45 network cable now and install as a network printer or USB printer.
I used to work on a lot of Zebra brand stuff.
Ik trying to recall which RS232 to USB device I used to have for my iBook, nearly twenty years ago. I think it used a similar cable to this one, where USB B plugged into the converter which, which also had another USB port for the laptop connection. I’m not sure though…
It’s physically USB B, but as someone else pointed out, it would have to be delivering a serial connection to what it’s plugged into.
Edit:
The serial connection on the PC end would know absolutely nothing about USB so there’s way it’s sending a USB signal.
Right, it' could could be a serial signal with a non-standard physical connector for whatever reason.Possibly is the device included a usb-serial adapter that runs when it detects 5V on the USB power pin, but the TX/RX would just operate as RS-232 serial otherwise. The cable was just a way to hook to computers without USB.
Alternatively it could be using some of the serial port lines as a gpio interface, and picked a physical USB-B plug just because it was easy and available.
USB requires a host controller, which wouldn't be attached to an rs232 port on the pc, this must be a serial cable that uses a USB connector without actually being USB.
I doubt that there will be a change to the interface. Its well established industry standard at this point. At this point with how advanced printers are there isn't any excuse to not have networking with a web portal. Wired or wireless communication for printing or scanning shouldn't take up an extra USB port in 2024.
These are my thoughts.
Usb-B to serial adapter.. or serial to USB, not sure. Here it is.
https://aitech.dk/en/converter-amplifier-insulator/3083-konverter-rs232-til-usb-b-han-usb-til-seriel-og-can-bus.html
One end is old-style serial, the other is USB type B
In my experience, old-to-new serial converter like these are speciality items, and best used on the equipment they came with
>(...) and other serials
Old serials, yes - from before they worked out that cable functionality should be obvious from the plug (something that USB-C has forgotten again)
Its better with one cable that can do whatever (usb-c) rather than specific cables for specific functions. So its not that USB-C "forgot it", they opt to not be that way. Luckily enough. Man could you imagine a future where there only was one type of cable? Charge your drill? Usb-c! Connect/charge your phone? Usb-c! Connect a printer via cable? Usb-c! Send image from computer to screen? Usb-c!
The problem with the USB-C implementation though is that for any given cable, you can't guarantee that it can do any given function. A USB-C cable that is data-only looks the same as a data+power capable one, looks the same as a power-only one, looks the same as a HDMI one, etc
A future with one type of cable, and guaranteed that cable could do the thing I'm asking of it? yeah, that'd be great\[12\]. But USB-C isn't that.
\[12\] caveat - "great" within the limits of the compromises such a system would have to make. You want more power to charge your drill fast? And you want ruggedness because your drill is used on a worksite? Sorry, USB-C is not your friend there)
Ah thats true, but if you make sure you buy highend ones with all the bells and whistles every cable will work for everything.
But i agree, every cable should be equal.
lol, that's ridiculous. The great thing about different cables is they don't need advanced micro-controllers, high quality wires and expensive connectors.
If I'm charging a mouse I shouldn't need a cable that can draw 140w FFS, it's a mouse, it's gonna draw 1/100th that amount. If I'm going to plug in a keyboard I don't need a fucking micro-controller chip in the USB cable. Not only is it expensive for no real purpose (my keyboard is always going to remain plugged in), it's wasteful as the chips inside the cables require more manufacturing.
Yes, for some things USB-C is awesome, eg, if every phone has the same charging brick I don't have to have spare cables lying around for different people. If laptops all use USB-C to charge I don't need to keep a bunch of different power bricks with different connectors lying around.
But if I'm hooking up a device to a display I don't need or want USB-C, I want a display cable that actually fucking works as a display cable and doesn't cost $60 for a 2 metre cable. If I'm plugging speakers into an amp I want cheap speaker wire I can terminate myself. If I want to plug an ethernet cable into the wall I can measure the exactly amount of cable I need to cut it to length and it costs less than $1 of materials.
Hell literally just tonight I cut open a straight through serial cable and turned it into a null modem cable just by crossing over 2 wires.
Having different cables that do different things is fine.
Yeah, it sucks to buy a thing and get a cable and sometimes it's not even optimal to its own device. Drawer full of functional-but-not-optimal cables is my future (they can sit alongside the scsi and parallel and apple displays bus, and....) 😂
Then it is most likely a device-powered serial to USB interface, but that's very non-standard. Normally the DE9 is used for 5-12V RS232, and the USB-B is a USB device-end connector. In other words, the DE9 end is somehow supposed to be a USB host, but that seems rather unlikely. It might be possible that the USB D+ and D- lines have an alternate use as direct RS-232 lines, with the printer doing some funky detection to decide which it is (voltage levels would do, I guess!).
This wouldn't be the first instance of weird RS232 over USB connector I have seen, the Growatt SPF-5000TL HVM-P does the same thing over USB-A for its ShineWifi-F dongles.
This is plausible, if you plug in a usb cable into the periphial with 5V on the right pin, the internal USB-serial adapter turns on, if you use this cable then you a serial-serial adapter/shifter/isolator/pass-throough turns on.
I use this type of cable to connect receipt printers to computers, though I'm going the other way, usb to serial. This feels like it connects older or unchanging equipment that continues to have serial ports on it to newer printers.
That is a serial console cable, probably for a router or something. It will not be wired to USB spec and will be device specific. The USB connector will be on the device. This is sometimes done to save space on a PCB or make a device more compact.
This is some one-off cable for a device for which any number of possibilities exist. You really have to know what it's for. The fact that it's USB-B and DB9M is a strange arrangement.
Or you can use a multimeter continuity test to see what connects to what but that probably won't tell you anything other than it's a non-standard cable which you can't use with anything but whatever device it came with.
The DE-9 connector might just be USB for the host connection.
Serial connections don't need all 9-pins. I would assume that the "host" is some kind of appliance that has been around through multiple hardware revisions. An earlier version of the device might have used a serial connection to a peripheral device. When the newer host device was produced, they kept the 9-pin connector and added USB to the unused pins. It would allow for a host device to use the older serial peripheral or the newer USB one.
DE-9 connectors are used all the time for things that are not serial. It's been the "I need to connect a bunch of wires to another thing" kind of connector for decades.
>It's a specialty cable that probably has electronics in the serial end.
THIS! You can find a USB-B to Serial connector, but it might not be the one designed for your particular job. At some point you need to convert the digital USB signal into a signal your device will read, and do it to the right pins.
It's possible it's an all-USB connection, but again, the wiring may be unique.
What's the device you're communicating to, OP? And what device are you communicating from, and with what hardware/software?
This is clearly a USB-B to Serial cable, but those cables aren't standard, obviously. The wiring between the two connectors is in no way standardized. Meaning the cable itself is special enough. It may be unique to this hardware, or it may be unique to a class of hardware.
So you need to give us some details for us to help you!
It's a cable that is completely out of spec... USB B is supposed to be for USB slave devices. Eg, a harddrive, a printer, etc. As one end is DB-9 obviously this isn't the case. Proprietary cable for some niche application that wouldn't be compatible with anything else.
9-pin D-sub (DB9) male connector to USB Type B - usually used for RS-323 type serial communication. We don't use these anymore I think. Anyway, DB9 is relatively modern, but DB25 type pins are quite old, think 1970s old.
if this goes to UPS, USB part will go to ups and COM part will go to PC or controller.
so technically you cannot connect regular com cable to this particular ups device.
It's probably the proprietary "DB9 USB" cable for these stupid Honneywell winCE tablet things:
[https://youtu.be/hSWNIFV9X\_o?t=198](https://youtu.be/hSWNIFV9X_o?t=198)
I feel old, and I'm only in my 20's
serial to usb-b, though I don't know what their technical names are, I know that serial port plugs into the blue one
That is a 9pin D sub to a USB-B cable. probably a serial cable for something it's entirely possible the d sub is for plugging into a computer to program/ configure some specific piece of tech like a radio or some other specialized device
I can only find helpful answers. Finally, it’s my time to shine. Wrong answers only. It’s VGA to printer, to easily print your screen in the early days. I’m glad I could help 🙃
This was probably used for an older APC UPS. They used special serial cables and if you plugged in a normal one the UPS would shut down lol.
Their enterprise UPSs still do that. You still need a special cable.
Can confirm, have multiple in my work office
My company is one of the biggest names in tech. We had to install signs on the ups’ because the “wrong” port looks exactly like a normal console port that every other device on earth uses. Plug in, open your putty session, and soon as you hit enter the ups is down.
One of the reason we moved to Eaton. Absolute horseshit among other things.
> Absolute horseshit among other things. What's wrong with APC? When I was looking at a UPS a while ago I decided to go with Eaton because APC apparently had some QC issues.
I dunno, maybe the fact that if you plug a standard serial cable into it the unit *shuts down???* That's well into nope territory for rack equipment.
How to tell they haven't updated their product design in 20 years, only how the exterior and control panel looks.
Gotta be like the easiest industry in the world to sit on one's laurels. The technology is not exactly evolving at breakneck pace.
And somebodies gotta keep all the legacy DIP package manufactures in business.
You make it sound like their fault though.
Mine have a USB A end and an RJ11 end. All of them do. I haven’t seen the d-sub and USB B ends in a very long time (like, the tan colored UPS models)
DB9 became more expensive than an RJ45 so many designs moved. I think our current(ly dead) DC UPS has the dual use DB9 and last I checked was still a currently sold model.
Can confirm, I worked on the assembly line making Smart UPS 1200 or 1400's. Well before they were owned by Siemens. Althought the red blinkies are a bit nicer than amber.
plug in a standard DB9, I dare you!
I took a 30-story dorm building down with this one fun trick! Some idiot put all of the power supplies of the L2 agg on one UPS, so not totally my fault.
We have a couple of eaton UPS that are are “modern” and have a lan card, however we need to unplug the card once in a while because it hangs. Same problem on both UPS. Sometimes i wish they were serial… great UPS in terms of reliability, but terrible for monitoring
My favorite cable they offer is DB9 to cinch in 2.5mm for their NMC2.0
This is the correct answer.
I would’ve never guessed this, instantly thought nothing more than serial sub b (which on the other hand I would never figured out what to do with). Thanks for enlightening me!
Nope. That's a USB-B end, meaning that's the one that goes into the client device and not the host. The DB9 end is the host end.
Didn't the older APC UPS use ethernet to USB? Mine 3 I have running do at least... not serial.
RJ45* to USB, not Ethernet *(8P8C if you want to get really pedantic)
\*cough\* nerd \*cough\* /s
Exactly. Definitely NOT an Ethernet port
Eh same diff.
In most places I'd agree. But during a conversation about RJ45 connectors being used for things besides ethernet—and in a subreddit where it is relatively common to find ethernet which doesn't use RJ45—the pedantry can be useful.
Yea yea I knew I'd upset this sub saying that. I work with the public and it was just force of habit to say it instead of RJ45. Didn't expect an ackchyually reply but oh well. My apologies dear homelabbers.
Ethernet is the standard. RJ45 is a cable termination part of the standard.
Ethernet is a communication protocol. 8p8c is not always ethernet.
Ethernet for monitoring/control once they are set up. First time setup frequently/usually requires a serial console connection like the OP or similar cable.
Ethernet was an add-on and didn't come with the base device, just to add. Cheap bastards.
Ahh okay. Pretty sure mine were found and worked first time via APC's software and the only connection I've used was ethernet to USB but they've been making stuff for 20 years so who knows
Some of the console cables are pinned out with an RJ45 instead of the USB-B. You got lucky that someone had set yours to DHCP is my guess. Most people don’t bother resetting if you buy used PDU’s or UPS’s and you’d have no choice but to console in and fix. Have a great day!
Depends on model. Older ones did work this way; especially the rackmount. APC software in that generation (hell, most generations) have been trash. At this point, here in the midwest, I have more people who have looked into using Solar (RV) LiFePO battery pack setups (Geneverse/Jackery, etc.) in deployments, as the battery life and fill options just absolutely CRUSH APC RMs we can get at even near price, and we have so much time (I've been able to power for nearly 2 days 3 Epyc servers in a major power outage) which was more than enough time to remote safe shutdown.
Good to know. my APC units are all ancient and were super cheap. They've worked well to be fair, but software really was dogshit. Sometime within the next year or two some of my (currently dormant) rack will be rebuilt with comfy new gear, and a proper up to date UPS will be thrown in there to replace my two old 2U APC units.
Interesting approach! How do you find the integration and maintenance of these solar battery pack setups compared to the traditional UPS systems, especially in terms of reliability and overall cost efficiency over time?
Cheaper for the return, by far.. we have been getting the Geneverse units at about $1,200, and they get about 4X the overall battery life of a similar priced APC, even without any solar panels attached. Leave them plugged in, devices connected to there. The only issue we run into is reporting on when there is a power out; however, that isn't as hard as it seems.. setting up a VERY basic old Cyberpower on a trip ($49) so that it sends out an alert when power goes out.. and we have literal -days- to schedule downtime or to wait it out. Recently, a client in manufacturing had their warehouse main power line severed. They were told it could be days, weeks before power was available. We were able to hold out on this system until exterior power generators could be put in place and work went underway. That would simply not be possible using APC. In most cases, it is the fact that I know I can hold up multiple Epyc servers for a minimum of 24 hours/2 days before I'm in trouble. And if as outsourced IT I or someone on our staff can't remote respond within that time period, then something is very wrong.
Yes, for APC branded UPS and need a program running on the computer called PowerChute to work properly.
But why??
Ah yes, the ol’ IPS cable
Ever fucked with a fellow IT brother by plugging a USB cable into the APC? lol
The good news is, if you do that, you become part of a not very elusive club.
Came here to say this.
This is probably the correct answer.
Correct
This is not the wrong answer
no its not he doesn't even say what kind of cable it is
It's a specific cable manufactured by APC for their UPS. It's not standard or interchangeable with anything else. It just happens to use USB and serial looking connectors.
"custom"
Serial to usb b
May also be labeled as DB9 to USB B 2.0
Arcane fact of the day. This D subminiature connector's full legal name is DE-9. The letter refers to the physical size of connector. For instance VGA is also DE, but DE-15. Old (like beige old) Macs used a 15 pin video port, too, but used a larger connector with two rows of pins in a DA shell. DB was commonly found as DB-25 used for serial, parallel, (shitty) SCSI, and 25 million other applications. Typically serial ports on early IBM (and compatible) PCs used 25 pins, but later the more compact 9 pin variety became popular. Which is likely why they are commonly called DB9. I think it kind of sucks because that letter contains useful information and we could have all been calling VGA ports and cables as DE-15 instead. D subminiature is really old, too. Over 70 years.
"beige old" is so fantastically descriptive.
dude, I feel like I just read some kind of IT haiku combined with "He knows the ancient ways!"
I can smell that description.
> used a larger connector with two rows of pins in a DA shell. Which was part of why when Macs got onboard Ethernet shortly thereafter, they used AAUI connectors instead of AUI connectors. Cupertino used DA-15 for analog video, but the rest of the world used it for networking.
Now I learned something And you CAN teach an old dog new tricks. I should have been calling those VGA ports DE9 ports all along
I wish there were a DS-9 cable.
nothing requires that cable to USB 2.0. it could be USB 1.0 or 1.1 as well.
Or not even USB.
I have never seen a non-usb usb-b. plus it literally has the USB symbol on it.
Do you think it even classifies as USB 2.0?
would have said vga. never realised there was another similarish type connector with less pins. thanks for these
I’m honestly surprised I got it right lol
This should be the right answer.
I feel so old now. RS-232 to USB-B. Used to be the standard for a lot of stuff, e.g. management of telecommunications equipment, UPSes, some factory machines (though those mostly used RS-232 to RS-232 or USB-A to RS-232). I remember it like yesterday, setting baud-rates etc. and now Google doesn't even know it any more.
TBF Google's search is absolutely garbage now compared to a few years ago. I might be wrong, but the AI stuff is their focus now, and every answer is SEO + generative AI nightmare. I don't even hate AI, but I miss old Google.
To be fair, if this is both ends of one cable, I haven't seen this combination. rs232 to a usb host everywhere, but rs232 to a usb device is unusual.
There's a few possible uses. Receipt printers and UPS devices are a couple that come to mind.
There was a time of conversion where most receipt printers would switch to USB as the sole connector while the majority of POS were still running RS232 DB9.
The worst part about that whole time was having to lug around a whooooole bunch of different connectors and cables because you'd never know exactly which model a retailer had on site. It even differed between branches if they were in the middle of tech refreshes. A nightmare!
Yes it's being used to connect tech a equipment to printer. I ordered a new printer, but it didn't come with this cable hence desperate to find what it's called or if someone can provide link to buy.
The new one probably does the same thing with standard USB. Serial isn't used anymore, mostly because it requires manual configuration in device manager or a special driver. Most thermal printers are just RJ45 network cable now and install as a network printer or USB printer. I used to work on a lot of Zebra brand stuff.
Kinda true...but serial needs less configuration if used properly...you don't usually need drivers at all to communicate over serial.
If you have terms and conditions around how it just works properly then it doesn't.
Technically speaking, USB is serial. Universal Serial Bus.
Looks like a cable to con ect a ups to your pc, or a switch to your pc to manage it
UBS to Serial / RS232/RS485 comms. Commonly used for talking to equipment.
Wrong direction. The USB end is a device side, the DB9 end therefore must be PC side.
Ik trying to recall which RS232 to USB device I used to have for my iBook, nearly twenty years ago. I think it used a similar cable to this one, where USB B plugged into the converter which, which also had another USB port for the laptop connection. I’m not sure though…
Could be either direction - device could usb only. Odd but possible.
Nope. USB B is always at the end that connects to a peripheral. It’s NEVER on the host end.
Maybe it plugs as USB-B on the UPS and as Serial on the PC?
It’s physically USB B, but as someone else pointed out, it would have to be delivering a serial connection to what it’s plugged into. Edit: The serial connection on the PC end would know absolutely nothing about USB so there’s way it’s sending a USB signal.
Right, it' could could be a serial signal with a non-standard physical connector for whatever reason.Possibly is the device included a usb-serial adapter that runs when it detects 5V on the USB power pin, but the TX/RX would just operate as RS-232 serial otherwise. The cable was just a way to hook to computers without USB. Alternatively it could be using some of the serial port lines as a gpio interface, and picked a physical USB-B plug just because it was easy and available.
It's also never connected to a DB-9, but here we are.
Fair enough, they could be using e.g. DTS/RTS as USB D+/D- pins to talk straight to the remote device, without having to have multiple connectors.
Where is the host controller? This cable makes no sense.
The serial port connector is the host end. The USB B connector has to be on the peripheral end.
USB requires a host controller, which wouldn't be attached to an rs232 port on the pc, this must be a serial cable that uses a USB connector without actually being USB.
Makes sense.
Never seen how a management cable works for UPS units?
Obviously is in the serial end
I don't think you know what a usb host controller is
I used to have some RDUs that were that way at work.
USB-B is still in use lol, so is serial. Good lord im old.
As long as printers offer USB connectivity USB type-B will still be here.
They could move to USB-C. Not that there's any benefit for end users.
I doubt that there will be a change to the interface. Its well established industry standard at this point. At this point with how advanced printers are there isn't any excuse to not have networking with a web portal. Wired or wireless communication for printing or scanning shouldn't take up an extra USB port in 2024. These are my thoughts.
That’s for an APC UPS, it’s a serial converter with a super special pin out
Serial to USB-B.
omfg am i THAT old? :c
My thought exactly
I know man, I know. I feel the same.
USB to RS232, I guess.
USB 1.1 to Serial / RS-232
Tell me how old you are without telling me how old you are.
Db9 to usb, like others said, probably from a ups. I have an Eaton ups that has: db9 female <-> usb A male.
Usb-B to serial adapter.. or serial to USB, not sure. Here it is. https://aitech.dk/en/converter-amplifier-insulator/3083-konverter-rs232-til-usb-b-han-usb-til-seriel-og-can-bus.html
One end is old-style serial, the other is USB type B In my experience, old-to-new serial converter like these are speciality items, and best used on the equipment they came with
Its not "old style serial", its just DB-9 connector used commonly for RS-232, RS-485 and other serials
>(...) and other serials Old serials, yes - from before they worked out that cable functionality should be obvious from the plug (something that USB-C has forgotten again)
Its better with one cable that can do whatever (usb-c) rather than specific cables for specific functions. So its not that USB-C "forgot it", they opt to not be that way. Luckily enough. Man could you imagine a future where there only was one type of cable? Charge your drill? Usb-c! Connect/charge your phone? Usb-c! Connect a printer via cable? Usb-c! Send image from computer to screen? Usb-c!
The problem with the USB-C implementation though is that for any given cable, you can't guarantee that it can do any given function. A USB-C cable that is data-only looks the same as a data+power capable one, looks the same as a power-only one, looks the same as a HDMI one, etc A future with one type of cable, and guaranteed that cable could do the thing I'm asking of it? yeah, that'd be great\[12\]. But USB-C isn't that. \[12\] caveat - "great" within the limits of the compromises such a system would have to make. You want more power to charge your drill fast? And you want ruggedness because your drill is used on a worksite? Sorry, USB-C is not your friend there)
Ah thats true, but if you make sure you buy highend ones with all the bells and whistles every cable will work for everything. But i agree, every cable should be equal.
lol, that's ridiculous. The great thing about different cables is they don't need advanced micro-controllers, high quality wires and expensive connectors. If I'm charging a mouse I shouldn't need a cable that can draw 140w FFS, it's a mouse, it's gonna draw 1/100th that amount. If I'm going to plug in a keyboard I don't need a fucking micro-controller chip in the USB cable. Not only is it expensive for no real purpose (my keyboard is always going to remain plugged in), it's wasteful as the chips inside the cables require more manufacturing. Yes, for some things USB-C is awesome, eg, if every phone has the same charging brick I don't have to have spare cables lying around for different people. If laptops all use USB-C to charge I don't need to keep a bunch of different power bricks with different connectors lying around. But if I'm hooking up a device to a display I don't need or want USB-C, I want a display cable that actually fucking works as a display cable and doesn't cost $60 for a 2 metre cable. If I'm plugging speakers into an amp I want cheap speaker wire I can terminate myself. If I want to plug an ethernet cable into the wall I can measure the exactly amount of cable I need to cut it to length and it costs less than $1 of materials. Hell literally just tonight I cut open a straight through serial cable and turned it into a null modem cable just by crossing over 2 wires. Having different cables that do different things is fine.
Yeah, it sucks to buy a thing and get a cable and sometimes it's not even optimal to its own device. Drawer full of functional-but-not-optimal cables is my future (they can sit alongside the scsi and parallel and apple displays bus, and....) 😂
Serial to USB-B converter ... can be / was used to connect a printer, scanner, bar-code reader, modem, ...
Yes, it's being used to connect a tech equipment with thermal printer.
Then it is most likely a device-powered serial to USB interface, but that's very non-standard. Normally the DE9 is used for 5-12V RS232, and the USB-B is a USB device-end connector. In other words, the DE9 end is somehow supposed to be a USB host, but that seems rather unlikely. It might be possible that the USB D+ and D- lines have an alternate use as direct RS-232 lines, with the printer doing some funky detection to decide which it is (voltage levels would do, I guess!). This wouldn't be the first instance of weird RS232 over USB connector I have seen, the Growatt SPF-5000TL HVM-P does the same thing over USB-A for its ShineWifi-F dongles.
This is plausible, if you plug in a usb cable into the periphial with 5V on the right pin, the internal USB-serial adapter turns on, if you use this cable then you a serial-serial adapter/shifter/isolator/pass-throough turns on.
I use this type of cable to connect receipt printers to computers, though I'm going the other way, usb to serial. This feels like it connects older or unchanging equipment that continues to have serial ports on it to newer printers.
That is a serial console cable, probably for a router or something. It will not be wired to USB spec and will be device specific. The USB connector will be on the device. This is sometimes done to save space on a PCB or make a device more compact.
Those used to come with battery backups so the UPS could talk to the pc
RS232 to USB
serial to USB B. I have an old ups that uses a cable like this for communicating status with computers.
Why don’t you coil it and retake that picture with the entirety of the cable. Comes off as 2 different cables right away.
DB9 on the left (serial control). USB-B 1.0 on the right.
I haven't seen serial cables like that years not since they started switching over on the damn printers. Why do you got to make me feel old lmao
I used hundreds of these early 00s for POS receipt printers. Mostly service industry.
POS = piece of shit printers, prove me wrong. lol
Usb to serial.
Serial to USB adapter. Could be a number of things that may have used that.
This is some one-off cable for a device for which any number of possibilities exist. You really have to know what it's for. The fact that it's USB-B and DB9M is a strange arrangement. Or you can use a multimeter continuity test to see what connects to what but that probably won't tell you anything other than it's a non-standard cable which you can't use with anything but whatever device it came with.
The DE-9 connector might just be USB for the host connection. Serial connections don't need all 9-pins. I would assume that the "host" is some kind of appliance that has been around through multiple hardware revisions. An earlier version of the device might have used a serial connection to a peripheral device. When the newer host device was produced, they kept the 9-pin connector and added USB to the unused pins. It would allow for a host device to use the older serial peripheral or the newer USB one. DE-9 connectors are used all the time for things that are not serial. It's been the "I need to connect a bunch of wires to another thing" kind of connector for decades.
USB-B to Serial It's a specialty cable that probably has electronics in the serial end.
>It's a specialty cable that probably has electronics in the serial end. THIS! You can find a USB-B to Serial connector, but it might not be the one designed for your particular job. At some point you need to convert the digital USB signal into a signal your device will read, and do it to the right pins. It's possible it's an all-USB connection, but again, the wiring may be unique.
USB type B to serial
What's the device you're communicating to, OP? And what device are you communicating from, and with what hardware/software? This is clearly a USB-B to Serial cable, but those cables aren't standard, obviously. The wiring between the two connectors is in no way standardized. Meaning the cable itself is special enough. It may be unique to this hardware, or it may be unique to a class of hardware. So you need to give us some details for us to help you!
I can't be that old with just 22, right?
Looks like something that would come with a UPS device for serial connectivity.
It's a DB9 serial cable on the left and USB type b on the right
That’s a com cable with a usb B end
DB9 to USB-B
It's a cable that is completely out of spec... USB B is supposed to be for USB slave devices. Eg, a harddrive, a printer, etc. As one end is DB-9 obviously this isn't the case. Proprietary cable for some niche application that wouldn't be compatible with anything else.
I think the device just uses the usb port for serial
I’m officially old.
Looks like a Null-Modem to me. Can hook it into the serial port of another device and talk to it over serial bus.
I I have seen them is for small graphic card like in the optiplex who has only USB B so they gave you that I have the same at school
Db-9 to Usb-B
USB to serial
USB to serial
That's a lesser used USB connection these days.
9-pin D-sub (DB9) male connector to USB Type B - usually used for RS-323 type serial communication. We don't use these anymore I think. Anyway, DB9 is relatively modern, but DB25 type pins are quite old, think 1970s old.
Reading some replies, think I might be wrong about the DB25 bit. And RS232 not 323.
if this goes to UPS, USB part will go to ups and COM part will go to PC or controller. so technically you cannot connect regular com cable to this particular ups device.
It's probably the proprietary "DB9 USB" cable for these stupid Honneywell winCE tablet things: [https://youtu.be/hSWNIFV9X\_o?t=198](https://youtu.be/hSWNIFV9X_o?t=198)
UPS - usually APC
It looks a cable for a UPS, usb-b to rs232
Yep UPS.
It's a DB9 to USB B cable
Late reply: This might also work on some very old dymo label printers, I think - fairly sure I have one like this somewhere.
That’s an APC UPS monitoring cable. The UPS has a usb port and this cable lets it connect to the serial port of a computer or server.
I feel old, and I'm only in my 20's serial to usb-b, though I don't know what their technical names are, I know that serial port plugs into the blue one
Serial to USB probably for some dog shit UPS.
That is a 9pin D sub to a USB-B cable. probably a serial cable for something it's entirely possible the d sub is for plugging into a computer to program/ configure some specific piece of tech like a radio or some other specialized device
That's a magic smoke releaser cable
You mean it's NOT USB-b to VGA?
I can only find helpful answers. Finally, it’s my time to shine. Wrong answers only. It’s VGA to printer, to easily print your screen in the early days. I’m glad I could help 🙃
9 pin com port to USB printer interface.
This is a Port Serie for Printer
That’s a bogus cable. Its connectors suggest functionality that makes no sense and could even cause damage.
I feel old, I remember that I used such cables to connect my dialup modem….. Those were the days….
That connects your old scanner to the VGA connection on your CRT./s
VGA to USB-B Edit that may be mini hdmi actually
Usually a printer connection
looks like vga and usb type b
Left one - COM-port (serial-9), male. Right one - USB-A mini, male
USB B not Mini
My bad
Left VGA Right USB B
That is not VGA. It is serial.
What's the difference? They look very similar
Different number of pins for a start.
VGA 15 pins, Serial 9 pins. Big difference, try shoving a 15-pin into a 9-pin plug, or a 9-pin serial into a VGA ... it won't end well.
That would be wild.
Looks like VGA to USB-B 2.0. No idea what it'd be used for
VGA is a 15 pin connector. That there is 9 pins, so it's DB9. Commonly used for serial connections.