Editing Serial port (section)

===Gender===
Generally, serial port connectors are [[Gender of connectors and fasteners|gendered]], only allowing connectors to mate with a connector of the opposite gender. With [[D-subminiature]] connectors, the male connectors have protruding pins and female connectors have corresponding round sockets.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/routers/7200-series-routers/12219-17.html |title=Serial Cable Connection Guide |date=2006-08-01 |publisher=CISCO |access-date=2016-01-31}}</ref> Either type of connector can be mounted on equipment or a panel; or terminate a cable.

Connectors mounted on DTE are likely to be male, and those mounted on DCE are likely to be female (with the cable connectors being the opposite). However, this is far from universal; for instance, most serial printers have a female DB25 connector, but they are DTEs.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ltxfaq.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1216/~/rs232---dte-and-dce-connectors |title=RS232 - DTE and DCE connectors |date=2006-03-29 |publisher=Lantronix |access-date=2016-01-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151214054632/http://ltxfaq.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1216/~/rs232---dte-and-dce-connectors |archive-date=2015-12-14 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In this circumstance, the appropriately gendered connectors on the cable or a [[gender changer]] can be used to correct the mismatch.