1. [now obs.] A security or {copy protection} device for proprietary
software consisting of a serialized EPROM and some drivers in a D-25
connector shell, which must be connected to an I/O port of the
computer while the program is run. Programs that use a dongle query
the port at startup and at programmed intervals thereafter, and
terminate if it does not respond with the dongle's programmed
validation code. Thus, users can make as many copies of the program
as they want but must pay for each dongle. The first sighting of a
dongle was in 1984, associated with a software product called
PaperClip. The idea was clever, but it was initially a failure, as
users disliked tying up a serial port this way. By 1993, dongles
would typically pass data through the port and monitor for {magic}
codes (and combinations of status lines) with minimal if any
interference with devices further down the line -- this innovation
was necessary to allow daisy-chained dongles for multiple pieces of
software. These devices have become rare as the industry has moved
away from copy-protection schemes in general.
2. By extension, any physical electronic key or transferable ID
required for a program to function. Common variations on this theme
have used parallel or even joystick ports. See {dongle-disk}.
3. An adaptor cable mating a special edge-type connector on a PCMCIA
or on-board Ethernet card to a standard 8p8c Ethernet jack. This
usage seems to have surfaced in 1999 and is now dominant. Laptop
owners curse these things because they're notoriously easy to lose
and the vendors commonly charge extortionate prices for replacements.
[Note: in early 1992, advertising copy from Rainbow Technologies (a
manufacturer of dongles) included a claim that the word derived from
"Don Gall", allegedly the inventor of the device. The company's
receptionist will cheerfully tell you that the story is a myth
invented for the ad copy. Nevertheless, I expect it to haunt my life
as a lexicographer for at least the next ten years. :-( --ESR]
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {dongle-disk}]