Once you've got it running, it isn't (usually) any trouble. Doesn't everybody have a drawer full of null-modem adapters, DB9-DB25 adapters, RJ11/RJ14/RJ45 => DB9 cables, and a Zoom 14.4K modem that probably still works if the AC-DC adapter can be found?
Depends on your location of course. In the USA I believe the median age is 38 and in Japan it's 48. But globally speaking, at 35 you've got one foot in the grave already :=)
Most of this, plus USB-serial adapters (I've heard that PCs with native serial ports are now considered "professional" equipment), plus some more exotic ones. A decade ago I used to use port switching boxes and to assemble adapters like Lego bricks to connect the square peg with the round hole . But that's only because I work in embedded.
>>I've heard that PCs with native serial ports are now considered "professional" equipment
I mean, laptops, sure. But PCs I think most still have a COM port. I bought a "gaming" X570 motherboard recently and there's still a COM header on it, I'd need to buy the port itself but the mobo does support it natively.
Microsoft started an initiative in the late 90s to abolish "legacy" ports from PCs including serial, parallel, and PS/2. RS232 is not something you can expect on consumer-grade equipment.
