In a couple of years there will be a new generation of computers coming online, if not sooner. The legacy of IDE and Serial Ports will slowly fade into the sunset. When I look at new periphials anymore I look for Firewire or USB II conectivity, so much faster then Serial, and you can 'daisy chain' USB. Adding as many devices as you want, up to some absurd number. The newest Mobo's have Ultra DMA and RAID built in. Have you noticed the floppy drive fading away? The newer machines don't even have an open front 3.5 bay! Look at the latest and greatest cases over at Tiger Direct, many of them do not give and option for an open 3.5 drive addition, such as a floppy, ZIP or tape drive.

As to why IDE has two ports? I don't know. I keep thinking it has something to do with the original design IBM built into their systems, along with the everpresent Mr Gates. I have seen a nub\mber of Mobo's that will support far more than two IDE devices.

I've noticed that more and more motherboards have the FSB and Serial bus setup so the CPU runs at a diferent speed than the memory. These damned boxes are getting to the point an oldtime do-it-yourselfer is getting squeezed out, unless they're one of those pimple faced pasty white Ubergeeks, who isn't old enough to drive yet. It is pretty easy to slap a system together, if you can figure out all the acronyms. Hardware has gotten tot he point it's fairly easy.

Software however.......... I get cold chills. Once upon a time, in a land far away I could open the DOS box and Doctor my software. No longer.