Serial port may require USB-to-serial converters to allow compatibility with RS-232 serial devices. Serial ports are still used in applications such as industrial automation systems, scientific instruments, point of sale systems and some industrial and consumer products. Server computers may use a serial port as a control console for diagnostics. Network equipment (such as routers and switches) often use serial console for configuration. Serial ports are still used in these areas as they are simple, cheap and their console functions are highly standardized and widespread. A serial port requires very little supporting software from the host system. Some computers, such as the
Parallel universes in fiction or unintentionally – as in "Angel Heart". Less often, the alternative narratives are given equal weight in the story, making them truly alternative universes, such as in the German film "Run Lola Run", the short-lived British West End musical "Our House" and the British film "Sliding Doors". More recent films that have explicitly explored parallel universes are: the 2000 film "The Family Man", the 2001 cult movie "Donnie Darko", which deals with what it terms a "tangent universe" that erupts from our own universe; "Super Mario Bros." (1993) has the eponymous heroes cross over into a parallel universe ruled by