Dot matrix printer go EEEEEEEN-futfutfut-EEEEEEEEN-futfutfut...

Going from game port to USB with "plug and play" was a huge deal man. Not having to manually assign IRQ to get your audio working too lol. That said, there is still one thing that was cursed in the old days and remains cursed now: printers. Fuck printers.

You'd plug your mouse into the serial port and your scanner into your printer port. Wild times.

C:\>type autoexec.bat
@ECHO OFF
PROMPT $P$G
PATH C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM;
SET TEMP=C:\TEMP
REM -- HDD cache:
SMARTDRV.EXE 2038 512
MODE.EXE LPT1:,,P >NUL
SHARE.EXE /F:150 /L:1500
MOUSE.COM /Y
DEVICE=C:\sb16\DRV\CTSB16.SYS /UNIT=0 /BLASTER=A:220 I:5 D:1
DEVICE=C:\sb16\DRV\CTMMSYS.SYS
CD \WINDOWS
WIN

And don't forget to set the jumpers correctly!

I remember having to configure the sound card within games. IRQ and DMZ settings. I had no idea what I was doing so a lot of the time I just played without sound.

The modem used to echo the tormented screams from the crypts of hell every time it tried to connect. It's ok to be confused, grandma.

If you started a call with your cellphone close to a loudspeaker you could hear the connection being initiated through the speaker. Something like a tat-ara-tat sound.

Warcraft II Human Footman: Your Sound Card Works Perfectly!

I'll go with what's on CompTIA's A+ certification exam for $100 Alex.

Wtf is that top font? Those bitch ass letters are going too low.

I remember this, but I also remember never actually managing to get a serial port gamepad or joystick to work in Windows. Only DOS.

Why are you surprised? The only ADCs in you computer were on the sound card, and a joystick was just two potentiometers and a couple of push button switches.

And I also remember studying Basic on a book on the beach during summer because I didn't have a computer yet.

Stop with the euphemisms Jessica. I told you, I'm not interested.

I'm just trying to block out trauma from winsock.dll and figuring out IRQ conflicts.

Typewriters... ratatatatatatatatap click ding whirrr

Add-in sound cards. Sound Blaster 16 baby!

Isa sound blaster with upgradable additional memory sodimms

I think my old Logitech from around 1995 plugged into the COMM port.

I had to rewind my games and WASD was QAOP.

Reminds me of a story: I ordered a soundcard for an engineers workstation. Had problems with accounting about this. What does he need a Soundblaster for? Well, he actually needed a joystick for his CAD package!

The parallel port scanner that made your entire computer able to do absolutely nothing while scanning. No mouse input, no display update. An absolute time warp for your CPU.

I used to have to unplug the printer from the parallel port so I could plug in my first MP3 player and transfer MP3s I had totally legally acquired in 1999.