what is the difference between serial port and parallel port?  

A parallel port and serial port both are used for connecting an external device .
The parallel port uses a 25-pin connector (type DB-25) and is used to connect printers, computers and other devices that need relatively high bandwidth.A serial Port that can be used for serial communication, in which only 1 bit is transmitted at a time.

There are other difference like :

Parallel ports are usually Purple in color and serial ports usually come in light green as part of ISO standards when found on PCs.

Parallel ports on the motherboard are usually female and serial ports are usually male.

Parallel ports will have different pinouts to serial,most of the serial lines will be used for control functions and grounding functions while a good few of the parallel pins usually 8 are used for sending data.

Answered by Ashish at 9:30 PM on February 06, 2008

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Answered by Sunny Rockz! at 7:40 PM on February 05, 2008

Parallel interface is a channel through which eight or more data bits can flow simultaneously, such as a computer bus. A parallel interface is commonly used to connect printers to the computer; also called parallel port. Serial interface is a channel through which data bits flow one at a time. Serial interfaces are used primarily to connect a mouse or communications device to the computer. Also called a serial port.

Answered by Nisha at 7:19 PM on February 05, 2008

serial port used for short dist, communication.. compared 2 parallel port which 's used for lond dist. communication.. data is X'ted/Reicved serially.. hence itz slow comm'n. wheras its fast in case of parallel port.. becoz byte of data is sent parallely. now a days USB is very popular port for data transfer.....

Answered by mahendra at 6:27 PM on February 05, 2008

Parallel ports are usually Purple in color and serial ports usually come in light green as part of ISO standards when found on PCs.

Parallel ports on the motherboard are usually female and serial ports are usually male.

Parallel ports will have different pinouts to serial,most of the serial lines will be used for control functions and grounding functions while a good few of the parallel pins usually 8 are used for sending data.

To avoid crosstalk Parallel usually operates at a lower frquency then serial and popularity switches from one to the other as a result of emerging technologies.

Examples of serial technology are USB and Firewire with IEEE 1284 being a parallel technology.


Hope this helps.

Answered by Heyy Babyy at 4:13 PM on February 05, 2008

Physically serial port is a nine min mail connector. where as parallel port is 25 pin female connector. parallel port moves bit next to each other where as serial port send bits inline i.e one bit at a time

Answered by samir at 3:56 PM on February 05, 2008

Well There are some major differences between serial and parallel port.

A serial port is an input/output connection on the computer that allows it to communicate with other devices in a serial fashion-data bits flowing on a single pair of wires. The serial port is used with RS-232 protocol.
IT is a type of interface in which only 1 bit of data is transferred at a time. Mice and modems are usually connected to serial ports, which are also referred to as COM ports.

Where as , Parallel ports are typically used as a printer port on a personal computer. Several bits of data are transmitted simultaneously down parallel wires from the computer to the printer. Parallel printing is very fast, but can only be accomplished over distances of less than 50 feet (cable length).

Parallel port mainly used for printing transmits data 8 bits at a time. This parallel transmission of 8 bits at a time gives the port its name.

Answered by alokgupta14 at 2:54 PM on February 05, 2008