Direct cable connection to a standard serial cable) must be used to connect each of the two computers to communicate properly. Such connection uses PPP protocol. If the parallel ports are used, Windows supports standard or basic 4-bit cable (commonly known as LapLink cable), Enhanced Capabilities Port (ECP) cable, or Universal Cable Module (UCM) cable (which was known as DirectParallel cable by Parallel Technologies). Infrared communication ports, like the ones found on laptop computers (such as IrDA), can also be used. Connecting any two computers using USB requires a special proprietary bridge cable. A directly connected pin-to-pin USB type A cable does not
Serial port COM1, COM2..etc. Ports numbered greater than COM9 should be referred to using the \\.\COM10 syntax. The RS-232 standard is used by many specialized and custom-built devices. This list includes some of the more common devices that are connected to the serial port on a PC. Some of these such as modems and serial mice are falling into disuse while others are readily available. Serial ports are very common on most types of microcontroller, where they can be used to communicate with a PC or other serial devices. Since the control signals for a serial port can be easily turned on