Serial port problem

kleefarr

Hi,

I am trying to find out a solution to a problem of a customer of mine.

He runs a small mobile phone business in Waterford and was about to buy a new laptop of me but was looking for one with a serial port on for programming etc.
Now, as you may know, most of the new laptops for the last couple of years don't have serial ports, which is the case with the ones I supply. So I suggested an RS232 usb/Serial adapter. He's already tried these and they don't work. He wondered if a PCMCIA to serial adapter would work.

If anybody has any solutions to this probem, I would be most grateful.

Thanks in advance.

Kevin

Aquos76

I have tried many of these usb adaptors also but to no avail. I have not tried one of the pcmcia cards though.

There are quite a few of them on ebay mind you.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-PCMCIA-to-RS232-Card-with-cable-for-Notebook-W011_W0QQitemZ6840171995QQcategoryZ96913QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

kleefarr

Aquos76 wrote:

I have tried many of these usb adaptors also but to no avail. I have not tried one of the pcmcia cards though.

There are quite a few of them on ebay mind you.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-PCMCIA-to-RS232-Card-with-cable-for-Notebook-W011_W0QQitemZ6840171995QQcategoryZ96913QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

So it's a common problem?

We need to hear from somebody that has tried the PCMCIA adapter as to whether they work with mobiles or not.

(Your names not Paul is it? )

kleefarr

Er...

I originally posted this in the Mobile/PDa forum as it seems to be a mobile phone connection problem, as opposed to a computer problem.
Not sure why it was moved here.

copacetic

we have a similar problem in work with new laptops and have tried various usd-serial converters and some do work fine (at least for what we need
them to do) - try farnell.

otherwise can he buy a laptop that comes with a docking station providing
the port? we do that for some of the parallel port apps we need...

david powell

Yes USB/Serial adapters can be tricky to get working.

Is the device he is trying to use with the converter trying to souce power from the converter?? typically the converter will not have as much drive capability as a H/W Serial Port. I would guess this is not the case.

Typically the voltage levels they generate are fine ( Comply to RS232 ), the problem is usually in the emulation of the H/W serial port over the USB bus.

It also depends on the S/W application that he is using, and how fast this application is sending data and expects data back from the device it is communicating with.

Typically the driver on the PC Poll's the USB/serial converter for data. You can typically set how often the converter is polled ( from device manager if he is using windows ), this will speed up the response time and possibly get the application working.

Hope this helps.

kleefarr

Thanks for the replies so far guys. I have passed on the info to him.

Cheers.

kleefarr

Looks like this is what's needed. PCMCIA/Serial adapter

Capt'n Midnight

If he used to use 98 and has moved to 2k/xp then the OS is probably the problem as 98 did not restrict a programs access to serial ports in the way that NT does.

Corporate laptops may have serial ports.

kleefarr

These PCMCIA adapters aren't cheap are they. :eek:

I found a few places in UK doing them, the best one was www.misco.co.uk £105 inc VAT

I only found one place in Ireland doing them www.radionics.ie €173 inc VAT

I tried Elara and Komplett, but didn't find anything. Anyone any other sources?

Kevin

Kali

kleefarr wrote:

I am trying to find out a solution to a problem of a customer of mine.

He runs a small mobile phone business in Waterford and was about to buy a new laptop of me but was looking for one with a serial port on for programming etc.
Now, as you may know, most of the new laptops for the last couple of years don't have serial ports, which is the case with the ones I supply.

I've just received delivery of 3 brand new Dell D610s.. which have serial ports, as have several D810s which arrived a couple of months ago. If its a case where he requires a serial port I suggest he find an alternative supplier with a larger range of notebooks, you are doing yourself or your customer no favours by fobbing him off and then having to work around it.

kleefarr

Kali wrote:

I've just received delivery of 3 brand new Dell D610s.. which have serial ports, as have several D810s which arrived a couple of months ago. If its a case where he requires a serial port I suggest he find an alternative supplier with a larger range of notebooks, you are doing yourself or your customer no favours by fobbing him off and then having to work around it.

He told me that he had checked Dell. I don't know which models he looked at, but will pass on the information.

Thanks.

kleefarr

Kali,

I just checked out the Dell prices for the D610 and D810. The cheaper of the two is the D610 from €1400.

With the cost of the adapter he would save over €300 with my prices.
Anyway, I pointed both options out to him and will leave him to decide.