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A brief history of Mac ports: low speed

ADB, which could fry your Mac’s motherboard iif you weren’t careful, USB that opened up a new world of different cables and adaptors, and wireless with Bluetooth.

ADB and serial ports underwent the transition from Motorola 68K processors to the PowerPC in 1994, and it was another four years before their replacement came, in USB 1. The first version of USB had only been introduced in 1996, and brought with it new USB-A connectors, although those were initially complicated by a different USB-B format on printers. The move to USB opened up many new possibilities for external devices including storage, and hubs quickly became needed to support the profusion.

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