Dongle

A dongle is a small piece of computer hardware that connects to a port on another device. It helps the device work better or lets it connect to other tools.

At first, the word "dongle" was mostly used for special pieces of hardware called software protection dongles. These helped protect computer programs. A program would only work if the right dongle was plugged into the computer.

Now, the word "dongle" is used for many small devices that look similar. These include adapters that change one type of connection to another, like turning a DVI connection into a VGA one. They can also be wireless adapters for Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, small USB flash drives, or tiny digital media players that fit into an HDMI port.

Etymology

There are different ideas about where the word "dongle" comes from. One idea says it might be a changed version of the word "dangle" because these devices hang from a port on a computer.

In 1992, an advertisement in Byte magazine said that dongles were invented by a person named "Don Gall." However, this story was likely just a fun marketing trick. The company later said it was not true.

Examples

Copy protection

Software protection dongles help stop people from using or copying software without permission. They used to connect to ports like serial or parallel ports, but now most are USB.

Small peripheral appliances

In the mid-to-late 2010s, dongles were used for small digital media players, like Chromecast and Fire TV Stick. These plug into an HDMI port on a TV or AV receiver. They get power through a Micro USB connection to the TV or an AC adapter, instead of being a bigger set-top box. Single-board computers, like the Intel Compute Stick, were also made in a similar way.

Adapters

Very short cables can connect big jacks to smaller plugs, making them easier to use in tight spaces.

Other

• Cassette adapters let cassette-radios play audio from an iPod, MP3 player, smartphone, or portable CD player.
• Personal FM transmitters let you hear audio from a portable media player, portable CD player, smartphone, portable cassette player, or other portable audio system on an FM radio.
• IDE/PATA connectivity can be changed with some dongles. For example, floppy disk and hard disk drives have been copied onto solid-state "dongles" so that SD cards can send software to old Commodore 64 and Apple II computers.
• The Nintendo DS has a slot for Game Boy Advance games and also for add-on dongles like the Rumble Pak.
• USB host connectivity lets computer-based devices connect to things like Bluetooth, legacy game controllers, GPS receivers, SD card readers, Flash drives, Mobile broadband modems, and Network interface controllers.
• Older cars that moved their CD players and changers away from the main unit can now use "emulators" that let USB and SD cards with MP3s and other audio files be recognized as "tracks" by the CD control unit.
• Adapters that change small versions of an interface to the full-sized one, or that provide the right electrical and mechanical connections for expansion cards that are too thin to fit a standard connector. Some people in the IT industry call these "Pig-tails" because they look like the tail of a pig, with a full-sized connection and a short, thin wire extending from it.