Remember what life was like before plug 'n' play came along? For those of you that don't, count yourself lucky, configuring I/O addresses, DMA and IRQs wasn't much fun. Of course, when plug 'n' play came along it got the affectionate techies calling it plug 'n' pray. The technology has matured since then. USB surfaced in the mid-90s, not all that long after plug 'n' play, but it introduced something new and radical: hot plug 'n' play. You could add and remove devices without even turning your computer off! High-tech or what? USB's versatility has led to it being the most popular way to connect external devices to PCs.



Link: Hexus