Xref: utzoo comp.sys.ibm.pc:30929 comp.periphs:1877 comp.misc:6474
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!b.gp.cs.cmu.edu!Ralf.Brown@B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU
From: Ralf.Brown@B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.periphs,comp.misc
Subject: Re: RS-232 protocol primer (long)
Message-ID: <24acaae5@ralf>
Date: 1 Jul 89 11:28:37 GMT
Sender: ralf@b.gp.cs.cmu.edu
Organization: Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science
Lines: 29
In-Reply-To: <471@antares.UUCP>

In article <471@antares.UUCP>, pnelson@antares.UUCP (Phil Nelson) writes:
}In article <821@cf-cm.UUCP> sme@computing-maths.cardiff.ac.uk (Simon Elliott) writes:
}|In article <1989Jun26.155855.1680@utzoo.uucp>, henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes:
}|| ...  The way these
}|| particular connectors are built, the male connectors are much more
}|| durable (solid post, as opposed to the springy sleeve on the female end),
}|| so they ought to be used in the position where the connector is harder
}|| to replace.
}|
}|Now I am confused.  I always thought that the male connector was the one
}|with the pins, rather than the sockets.  It's been a long day, and I may be
}|reading Henry's article incorrectly, but he seems to be saying that the solid
}|block with the sockets in it is male, and that the flimsy shell with the pins
}|in it is female.  Do I need a basic biology lesson?
}
} No, you're right. Henry is wrong. Amazing, isn't it?

Henry is right, you've both misread him.  He was talking about the thin metal
sleeves INSIDE the solid block of a female connector.  If one of them gets
bent out of shape, the corresponding pin of the male connector will not make
proper contact.  On the other hand, in the unlikely event that a pin on the
male end should get bent, you can always use a screwdriver to bend it back
into place....
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