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In the process of using the POS hardware, customers often have questions about the use of the COM and USB interfaces on the POS machine. This article will answer the features and differences of the two interfaces for you.
COM (cluster communication port) is a serial communication port, referred to as a serial port. USB (universal serial bus) is an external bus standard used to regulate the connection and communication between computers and external devices.
The COM port is currently used more in industry, and the USB port is more used for commercial and civilian use. The COM port standard was launched in 1970, while USB was launched around 1994, with a difference of more than 20 years, so the two interfaces are quite different in appearance and performance.
COM | USB | |
Features | Simple communication lines Slow transfer speed Suitable for long-distance communication Strong anti-interference |
Hot swappable Widely used on devices Multi-device connection Unified standard |
Although COM is slow and complicated to use, its anti-interference ability far exceeds that of USB. Under the same high-frequency interference, devices using USB communication often crash and get stuck, but COM ports will not. Therefore, when the transmission speed requirement is not high, many POS hardware still retain the COM port.