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DE-9 Serial Pinout (some might call it DB-9)

What is a pinout? Well, if you have to ask you probably won’t care about this post very much. A pinout is a map of the conductors for a cable or port.

I’m posting this because I constantly find myself forgetting the standard pinout for a DE-9 serial port. The problem is I’m constantly trying to visualize the male vs female port pins and in very short order I’ve confused myself as to which is which. I know the pins are numbered, but for whatever reason I get to the point where I don’t trust myself even with the basic 2=RX / 3=TX kind of thing.

ixbrickserialportpinouts

Oh, if you are looking for a great resource for pinouts, check out www.pinouts.ru. They have all kinds of obscure pinout information.

2 Responses to “DE-9 Serial Pinout (some might call it DB-9)”

  1. Thanks Amal,
    Like your point above, also

    Here is another good DB 9 site, plus some good info I did not know.
    Did you know that a DB 9 is really a DE 9?
    Regards,
    Phillip KC5WXZ
    http://wiki.xtronics.com/index.php/RS232_db9_pinout

  2. Amal says:

    Intereting! I never knew that!

    “The original Serial connectors used DB-25 connectors, it seems people, not knowing the significance of the letter “B” (the shell size), began to call all D-sub connectors “DB” connectors. Instead of correctly saying DB-25, and DE-9 we have called all serial connectors DB-. Today “DB-9″ really means DE-9. Today you will see DE-9 connectors sold as DB-9 more often than the correct terminology.

    The letter after the D refers to the shell size, with DB referring to the common 25 pin size and DE for the 9 pin size. The error is so often repeated that there is no fixing it.”

    Unfortunately I’m the kind of person who, once knowing the truth, will be forever tortured every time I see any reference to “DB-9”!

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