Archived from groups: alt.cellular.bluetooth (More info?)

Whats a dongle?

I've seen so many people use that word when I've been skimming through the
posts, but I'm not sure what one is. Is it a product by a certain company or
is it a piece of software, or a protocol?


Ste

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.bluetooth (More info?)

On Fri, 9 Apr 2004 20:02:47 -0700, "Ste"
<news@homecomptr.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:

>I've seen so many people use that word when I've been skimming through the
>posts, but I'm not sure what one is. Is it a product by a certain company or
>is it a piece of software, or a protocol?

Its a small piece of hardware that plugs into a computer port. It is a
computing word that is very flexible.
--
Andrew. To email unscramble nrc@gurjevgrzrboivbhf.pbz & remove spamtrap.
Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards,
please don't top post. Trim messages to quote only relevent text.
Check groups.google.com before asking a question.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.bluetooth (More info?)

"Andrew" <spamtrap@localhost> wrote in message
news:tetd709h02qghgrnf67p69qaic6tpb5cdf@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 9 Apr 2004 20:02:47 -0700, "Ste"
> <news@homecomptr.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>
> >I've seen so many people use that word when I've been skimming through
the
> >posts, but I'm not sure what one is. Is it a product by a certain company
or
> >is it a piece of software, or a protocol?
>
> Its a small piece of hardware that plugs into a computer port. It is a
> computing word that is very flexible.
SNIP

Originally Dongles were devices used to provide SW copy protection security
and plugged into a port on a computer. I suspect that the word originates
from the word "dangle" but it's unclear who actually coined the term.

Later on the term was used to describe the connection ports for add-on
modems and lan cards that many laptops used. These PC cards usually had a
cabled device with the appropriate ports on one end of the cable, the other
end plugging into the laptop.

Today we use the term to describe any number of devices including the USB
Bluetooth adapters that are often discussed here.

Cheers
TC

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.bluetooth (More info?)

Very well done.
"Tony Clark" <curiousgeorge1964@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:0gDdc.2761$k05.809@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...
>
> "Andrew" <spamtrap@localhost> wrote in message
> news:tetd709h02qghgrnf67p69qaic6tpb5cdf@4ax.com...
> > On Fri, 9 Apr 2004 20:02:47 -0700, "Ste"
> > <news@homecomptr.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> > >I've seen so many people use that word when I've been skimming through
> the
> > >posts, but I'm not sure what one is. Is it a product by a certain
company
> or
> > >is it a piece of software, or a protocol?
> >
> > Its a small piece of hardware that plugs into a computer port. It is a
> > computing word that is very flexible.
> SNIP
>
> Originally Dongles were devices used to provide SW copy protection
security
> and plugged into a port on a computer. I suspect that the word originates
> from the word "dangle" but it's unclear who actually coined the term.
>
> Later on the term was used to describe the connection ports for add-on
> modems and lan cards that many laptops used. These PC cards usually had a
> cabled device with the appropriate ports on one end of the cable, the
other
> end plugging into the laptop.
>
> Today we use the term to describe any number of devices including the USB
> Bluetooth adapters that are often discussed here.
>
> Cheers
> TC
>
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.bluetooth (More info?)

"Tony Clark" <curiousgeorge1964@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:0gDdc.2761$k05.809@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...
>
> "Andrew" <spamtrap@localhost> wrote in message
> news:tetd709h02qghgrnf67p69qaic6tpb5cdf@4ax.com...
> > On Fri, 9 Apr 2004 20:02:47 -0700, "Ste"
> > <news@homecomptr.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> > >I've seen so many people use that word when I've been skimming through
> the
> > >posts, but I'm not sure what one is. Is it a product by a certain
company
> or
> > >is it a piece of software, or a protocol?
> >
> > Its a small piece of hardware that plugs into a computer port. It is a
> > computing word that is very flexible.
> SNIP
>
> Originally Dongles were devices used to provide SW copy protection
security
> and plugged into a port on a computer. I suspect that the word originates
> from the word "dangle" but it's unclear who actually coined the term.
>
> Later on the term was used to describe the connection ports for add-on
> modems and lan cards that many laptops used. These PC cards usually had a
> cabled device with the appropriate ports on one end of the cable, the
other
> end plugging into the laptop.
>
> Today we use the term to describe any number of devices including the USB
> Bluetooth adapters that are often discussed here.
>
> Cheers
> TC
>

What a good description First time I saw a dongle it was to provide copy
protection for a CASE software. And the next one too. Then for a CAD
software. And then it appears that companies got sick of trying to use
hardware to protect the software.

--
Mauricio Freitas
Handhelds, mobile: http://www.geekzone.co.nz
Bluetooth guides: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=449
Performance Centre (Pocket PC reviews):
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?ContentId=2028

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.bluetooth (More info?)

"Mauricio Freitas" <dr.emailposter@nowhere.invalid> wrote in message
news:ioQdc.9082$u%1.828795@news02.tsnz.net...
SNIP

> >
>
> What a good description First time I saw a dongle it was to provide
copy
> protection for a CASE software. And the next one too. Then for a CAD
> software. And then it appears that companies got sick of trying to use
> hardware to protect the software.
>

I used to work for Hewlett Packard and we had dongles for various SW
packages that we sold. The dongle was supposed to be the iron clad
protection against SW piracy. The funny thing is that one of our field
engineers wrote a driver to emulate the hardware dongle so once we had one
good dongle we could duplicate it whenever we wanted. We did this because we
were always loosing the dongles in the sales office...LOL

Cheers
TC

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.bluetooth (More info?)

On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 18:52:49 GMT, Tony Clark wrote:


>I used to work for Hewlett Packard and we had dongles for various SW
>packages that we sold. The dongle was supposed to be the iron clad
>protection against SW piracy. The funny thing is that one of our field
>engineers wrote a driver to emulate the hardware dongle so once we had one
>good dongle we could duplicate it whenever we wanted. We did this because we
>were always loosing the dongles in the sales office...LOL
>
>Cheers
>TC

Yeah I use a piece of software called Trados at work and out of
curiosity I searched for a crack for it and found a small piece of
software which fakes a dongle being in the port providing any device
is actually plugged into the port! So much for it being iron clad


--
Regards,
Morgan R. Pugh
http://mrp.freeshell.org