dongle
/dong'gl/ (From "dangle" (because it
dangles off the back of the computer)?) A security or {copy
protection} device for commercial {microcomputer} programs
that 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 start-up and at programmed intervals thereafter, and
terminate if it does not respond with the expected validation
code.
One common form consisted of a serialised {EPROM} and some
drivers in a {D-25} connector shell.
Dongles attempt to combat {software theft} by ensuring that,
while users can still make copies of the program (e.g. for
{backup}), they must buy one dongle for each simultaneous use
of the program.
The idea was clever, but initially unpopular with users who
disliked tying up a port this way. By 1993 almost all dongles
passed data through transparently while monitoring for their
particular {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.
In 1998, dongles and other copy protection systems are fairly
uncommon for {Microsoft Windows} software but one engineer in
a print and {CADD} bureau reports that their {Macintosh}
computers typically run seven dongles: After Effects, Electric
Image, two for Media 100, Ultimatte, Elastic Reality and CADD.
These dongles are made for the Mac's daisy-chainable {ADB}
port.
The term is used, by extension, for any physical electronic
key or transferable ID required for a program to function.
Common variations on this theme have used the {parallel port}
or even the {joystick} port or a {dongle-disk}.
An early 1992 advertisment from Rainbow Technologies (a
manufacturer of dongles) claimed that the word derived from
"Don Gall", the alleged inventor of the device. The company's
receptionist however said that the story was a myth invented
for the ad.
[{Jargon File}]
(1998-12-13)