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Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!tektronix!zephyr!midas!copper!michaelk
From: michaelk@copper.MDP.TEK.COM (Michael D. Kersenbrock)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.periphs,comp.misc
Subject: Re: RS-232 protocol primer (long)
Keywords: In article <821@cf-cm.UUCP> sme@computing-maths.cardiff.ac.uk (Simon Elliott) writes:
Message-ID: <3279@copper.MDP.TEK.COM>
Date: 30 Jun 89 18:55:04 GMT
References: <1538@mtunb.ATT.COM> <592@megatek.UUCP> <1989Jun26.155855.1680@utzoo.uucp> <821@cf-cm.UUCP>
Reply-To: michaelk@copper.MDP.TEK.COM.UUCP (Michael D. Kersenbrock
Followup-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Organization: Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, Or.
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<> ...  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, but he is right in a way.  The plug with "pins" has male connectors
located in a female connector housing.  Note that the "housing" IS female!
Likewise the other half has female connection-pins in a male housing!

When I say housing, what I mean is that if you removed the electrical
connection parts, you still could mate the connector housings, look at
them and figure out their sex.

Most people seem to call a connector "male" if it has male pins, but
being a stickler for such things, I call it "the female connector with
male pins" (which is most correct along with other paraphrases of the
same thing).

If you "build" connectors from some manufacturers, you can have both
male and female pins in a housing of either sex, or a hermaphroditic
housing.  Almost as tricky as life, eh?


-- 
Mike Kersenbrock
Tektronix Microprocessor Development Products
michaelk@copper.MDP.TEK.COM
Aloha, Oregon