dongle /dong'gl/ n.
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 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 RJ45 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]
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dongle-disk /don'gl disk/ n.
A special floppy disk that is required in order to perform
some task. Some contain special coding that allows an application
to identify it uniquely, others are special code that
does something that normally-resident programs don't or can't.
(For example, AT&T's "Unix PC" would only come up in root mode with a special boot disk.)
Also called a `key disk'. See dongle.