It seems that many folks don't consider it a problem to reinvent the wheel in code. I try to do as little of that as possible, but I've seen too many examples of how to parse XML to think otherwise. This may be necessary to some degree when working with a medium as volatile and malleable as code. When the subject is hardware, it's a little different. In a nutshell, I'm sick and tired of screwing around with myri It seems that many folks don’t consider it a problem to reinvent the wheel in code. I try to do as little of that as possible, but I’ve seen too many examples of how to parse XML to think otherwise. This may be necessary to some degree when working with a medium as volatile and malleable as code. When the subject is hardware, it’s a little different. In a nutshell, I’m sick and tired of screwing around with myriad serial cables to establish a local serial console connection to whatever device I’m working with. 9600,19200,38400, 8N1, 7N1, null modem, straight through, DB9, DB25, RJ45. It’s ridiculous. It’s damn near impossible to locate the one cable with the bizarre pinout that works with device x, while cables for device y are everywhere. It’s a serial connection, not astrophysics.Can’t we agree that 9600,8N1 XOFF is good enough? I’d even go for 38400,8N1. Let’s standardize on RJ45 device-side connections, a la Cisco, since it’s cleaner and smaller. It’s always amazed me to see an uber-expensive whizbang device like a SAN array controller with a relatively huge DB9 connector or two sprinkled among the LC ports on the back. It’s one thing to get stuck configuring a device due to lack of knowledge or information, it’s a completely different thing to get stuck since you can’t find the cable. Can’t we all just get along? Can you tell that I can’t find a cable for a device I’m working on? Sheesh.