Serial port ports with pinouts and voltage levels incompatible with RS-232. Inter-operation with RS-232 devices may be impossible as the serial port cannot withstand the voltage levels produced and may have other differences that "lock in" the user to products of a particular manufacturer. Low-cost processors now allow higher-speed, but more complex, serial communication standards such as USB and FireWire to replace RS-232. These make it possible to connect devices that would not have operated feasibly over slower serial connections, such as mass storage, sound, and video devices. Many personal computer motherboards still have at least one serial port, even if accessible
Parallel Redundancy Protocol Parallel Redundancy Protocol Parallel Redundancy Protocol (PRP) is a network protocol standard for Ethernet that provides seamless failover against failure of any network component. This redundancy is invisible to the application. PRP nodes have two ports and are attached to two separated networks of similar topology. PRP can be implemented entirely in software, i.e. integrated in the network driver. Nodes with single attachment can be attached to one network only. This is in contrast to the companion standard HSR (IEC 62439-3 Clause 5), with which PRP shares the operating principle. PRP and HSR are independent of the application-protocol and can