Legacy-free motherboards?

[realmadmartian]

Does anyone make a legacy-free motherboard? We finally got rid of parallel and serial ports, but we still seem to be stuck with other stuff we don't use anymore. By legacy-free I mean:

No PATA ports (I've had all SATA, including DVD, for years now)
No floppy port (haven't used one in years)

Do any such motherboards exist? I checked a few of the major manufacturers and can't seem to find one.

 

[Mondoman]

There are plenty in which you can shut off any such ports in the BIOS so they don't use up interrupts/MMIO addresses.

 

[SuicideSilence]

Thats a good question, but i think the reason that companies are still making boards with these ports is simply because there are still a small handfull of people out there that still use them. I also have used SATA for all my drives for at least 2 years, and i cant even remember the last time I installed a ide drive lol.

The funny thing is, if a board didnt have a ide port, or floppy connector, it would drive me away from it haha. Even though i know i would probably never use those ports, i suppose you can say its "comforting" to have the options open? maybe incase i ever needed it i guess.

 

[realmadmartian]

Yes, I know I can turn the ports off in the bios, but they get in the way and I haven't used them in years. I'd rather they weren't there at all.

 

[Zorg]

Well I think you are SOL for a little while longer, you will just have to rough it.

I still use my serial port, parallel port, floppy (rarely) and IDE.

In case you were wondering, I have a Q6600 @ 3G w/ GA-P35-DQ6, SATA DVD, SATA DVDR and a Raptor. So it's not like I'm stuck in the dark ages.

 

[realmadmartian]

Yes, but if you like you can use a serial to USB adapter and a parallel to USB adapter, thus you can still use a mobo that eliminates these. There are ide to sata adapters, so they could support legacy product without forcing the old ports on everyone if they chose to.

 

[JDocs]

Anybody tried installing XP on a RAID array? I'm glad FFD connectors are still around for that reason alone.

 

[Zorg]

Yes, but if you like you can use a serial to USB adapter and a parallel to USB adapter, thus you can still use a mobo that eliminates these. There are ide to sata adapters, so they could support legacy product without forcing the old ports on everyone if they chose to.

And they all suck. They are catch as catch can, not to mention the extra dough, no thanks.

 

[Onus]

+1 @JDocs. Also, the FDD is useful for BIOS updates. My system locked up during a BIOS flash a while back. I would have been SOL without a floppy.

 

[realmadmartian]

FDD is not necessary if you have a BIOS capable of USB boot (most current BIOS) and USB flash memory.

 

[nukemaster]

JDocs, Zorg, and jtt283 have it dead on.

Why would i want to use a usb adapter(that cost extra money and just take the extra usb ports i get from removing the legacy ports) when the port can be on the board?
I still have a Floppy for raid driver on XP reasons.

 

[Zorg]

Plus having a FDD makes me a legacy user. :lol:


I tried that little claim with Dynojet on my Power Commander (serial interface DB9) for my Suzuki TL1000 bike, in order to get a discount on a PC USBIII. The old one took a crap. They told me to pound sand.

It was so old the tech didn't even know what I was talking about.

 

[jaguarskx]

Yeah, it would be nice to get rid of some legacy ports. The only "legacy" parts are my IDE DVD burner drives that are a couple of years old.

I haven't had the need to use a floppy drive since 2001.

 

[brian1143]

Some of Intel's new X58 boards have eliminated the Lagacy connections... There is no reason to have PS/2's or IDE's on a new mobo. And yes you are in the dark ages if you still use a PS/2 mouse and or keyboard. DVD drives and Hard drives are so cheap and getting better in general that it makes a ton of sense to get rid of these darn IDE connections. I expect future boards within the year to fallow suit and remove these useless connections. This is the way of the future.

 

[gamerk316]

Some of Intel's new X58 boards have eliminated the Lagacy connections... There is no reason to have PS/2's or IDE's on a new mobo. And yes you are in the dark ages if you still use a PS/2 mouse and or keyboard. DVD drives and Hard drives are so cheap and getting better in general that it makes a ton of sense to get rid of these darn IDE connections. I expect future boards within the year to fallow suit and remove these useless connections. This is the way of the future.

You'd be surprised; I work at a multi-million dollar business, and we still use nothing but PS/2 equipment. Heck, half of us still use programs written on floppys. Why should we pay more for something that used to be free?

You make the same wrong assumption that MS made with Vista: That just because upgrading is cheap, people are willing to upgrade.

 

[brian1143]

I'm not saying you should, you shouldn't in your case... You will just be stuck in the dark ages. But you bring up a valid point; people are still using PS/2's & IDE's... True, however if this is the case then you are not in the market for a new motherboard anyway--if you upgrade the mobo you have to build a new computer in this case--so it dosent matter what happens to future mobo's. Of course they are still going to put useless connection like floppy connectors on mobo's for many years to come. They should be making more lagacy-free motherboards. Lagacy connections will very gradually fade out.

I don't think this is like Visa in the least bit. In fact Vista will actually slow your computers down, because you are running old computers. And Vista is not cheap. Windows 7 is going to be much better and it may or may not makes sence to upgrade to it at the time of release or shortly after.

"half of use still use programs written on floppys" Franky I am shocked. Floppys are very unreliable and don't have hardly any space on them. I can only hope that you don't lose any important data or anything. I don't know your situation, but you have made it thus far without problems? With our current economy It may not be worth it as a business expense to do anything but the minimum to run the business. Perhaps if you employees are tired of dealing with floppys they could consider flash drives, if you have USB ports that is. There is a new technology its called USB 2.0, hopefully you have heard of it. If you're programs run on floppy then there has to be a way to run them on flash drives with a little time an effort. If you are constantly having problems with floppys then it may make sence to get flash drives. 8Gig flash drives go for $15 online. Or if you don't need the space then I'm sure you could find a 512MB one for for $ 3 or 4.

I think a better example is the comparison of CDs and CD players to MP3 players as lagacy is to lagacy free mobo's. I guess some people are willing to carry around a 5 or 10lb binder of CDs rather than getting an MP3 player. Perhaps CDs to records is a better example?

 

[realmadmartian]

I did not mean for this to become a debate on whether or not legacy connectors should be on boards. Every manufacturer makes multiple models. There is often a more expensive "enthusiast" model that may eliminate legacy connections for the type of customer who buys the latest stuff. I am merely looking for one of these types of boards. No manufacturer is going to eliminate legacy connectors from their entire line. I just don't follow motherboard news close enough to know who is making legacy-free boards. Since they tend to drop these things silently, I have to sift through hundreds of motherboard specs and/or photos to find the few legacy-free boards. It's been a while since I originally posted this - has anyone come out with legacy-free boards yet?

 

[FALC0N]

I have seen a couple of Asus AMD boards with only an IDE port, but nothing completely legacy free. Close, but not entirely.

 

[nukemaster]

well its been 2 years since this came out. things are getting closer.

 

[FALC0N]

well its been 2 years since this came out. things are getting closer.

At least the OP was the one who resurrected it.

 

[realmadmartian]

Yah, I am still looking for legacy-free motherboard nirvana and will not give up the search until I find it! Looks like my goal may be further off than I thought. The motherboards I have seen with SATA 6BG and USB3 still have legacy SATA 3GB and USB2 ports. Grrrrrr. I want SATA ports that all handle 1.5/3/6GB and USB ports that all handle 1.1/2/3. Looks like I will be reactivating this thread in 2012. <sigh>

 

[hythos]

lol;
Interestingly, Serial ports have some useful functionality - as for controlling block-devices (ie, 10, 100, or 1000 servos), and also in some CNC manufacturing machines; and not all RS-232 or serial-connected hardware is compatible with a USB style of Serial connection. I would expect there will still be some multi-million dollar machinery out there to be used for decades to come, and will require a 9-pin serial because retro-fitting will be too costly.