USB to serial adapter

[Zargon]

its about laptop refresh time, and its getting REALLY hard to shop laptops whe you need a serial port

last time around I heard nothing but bad things abou the usb to serial dongles


has anything changed?

 

[rsutoratosu]

its about laptop refresh time, and its getting REALLY hard to shop laptops whe you need a serial port

last time around I heard nothing but bad things abou the usb to serial dongles


has anything changed?

There are usb to serial and usb to rs-232.. since the 8088 days I always thought they were the same but apparently they are slightly different..
Make sure if you need a rs232, get one that is rs232 compatible.

I use the belkin one, have no problems so far, used on cisco and netapp appliances, didn't test with apc & other stuff..

 

[Zargon]

rs232 is def what I need. thanks for the info!

 

[holden j caufield]

look up the prolific on amazon. We got those, works wonderfully in osx, winxp, win7 and 2k8r2.

 

[Zargon]

Awesome thanks

Tapatalking on my pos thunderbolt. Sorry for teh typos!

 

[akugami]

Zargon, make sure when you buy the Prolific USB to Serial adapter, you buy one with the PL2303HX chipset for Windows 7 compatibility. Older Prolific adapters will work in Windows XP but not Windows 7.

With that said, some devices simply do not like being used with a USB to Serial adapter...

 

[WraithETC]

Look for use of the FTDI chip. We use it at work for almost all newer designs of electrical test equipment.

 

[RU482]

I'll second what WETC says

 

[richaron]

I use a few different brands every day at work. Seems scientific equipment dudes are stuck in the dark ages.

My fave atm are "digitech" branded with prolific controllers. Best built quality & compatability I've seen (tho it's rare the cheap ones won't work at all).

 

[Zargon]

thanks guys I appreciate the info!

 

[Zargon]

Look for use of the FTDI chip. We use it at work for almost all newer designs of electrical test equipment.

FTDI is the brand right?

They seem to cost alot more than the PL-2303X chipsets, so I will probably try those first, especially since they are available through amazon prime

 

[mikeymikec]

+1 FTDI

I bought a non-FTDI one for a customer recently so they could connect their laptop to a piece of machinery with a serial port. I know the adapter worked with their laptop because I tried a serial dial-up modem and a mouse in it, but the machinery didn't work at all with it. As soon as we got the FTDI one, no problems.

 

[MattJones]

In my job as an electronics engineer I have been using a lot of usb to serial adapters over the years;... and learned A LOT.
Here is what I got out of it:

The majority of adapters are designed with either a FTDI chipset or a Prolific chipset. There is also a lesser known called Silicon Labs.

Compatibility with the operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux) on the USB side depends on the drivers and the chipset inside the adapter.
Compatibility with the serial device on the serial side (RS232 or RS485) depends on the chipset and the serial driver chip inside the adapter.

FTDI chipsets are higher priced, works well with most operating systems, and if you have a usb serial adapter with a good serial driver chip it will be compatible with most serial devices as well. FTDI is designed in Great Britain.

Silicon Labs chipsets are also very good, similar to FTDI. Made in Texas USA.

Prolific chipsets are low-cost and often, in my experience, incompatible with many serial devices and also has problems with the never versions of Windows (Vista, 7); but usually works fine with older operating systems (Win 2K, XP). Made in Taiwan. Usually sold on ebay.

In my younger days I have used many Prolific based adapters with a lot of headache, I now only use FTDI based usb serial adapters from reputable sellers, now without the headache. Im sure I could have less gray hair now if I just had used FTDI adapters from the start
Here is a good usb serial wiki which will tell you everything you need to know about usb serial adapters before you buy.

 

[RU482]

In my job as an electronics engineer I have been using a lot of usb to serial adapters over the years;... and learned A LOT.
Here is what I got out of it:

The majority of adapters are designed with either a FTDI chipset or a Prolific chipset. There is also a lesser known called Silicon Labs.

Compatibility with the operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux) on the USB side depends on the drivers and the chipset inside the adapter.
Compatibility with the serial device on the serial side (RS232 or RS485) depends on the chipset and the serial driver chip inside the adapter.

FTDI chipsets are higher priced, works well with most operating systems, and if you have a usb serial adapter with a good serial driver chip it will be compatible with most serial devices as well. FTDI is designed in Great Britain.

Silicon Labs chipsets are also very good, similar to FTDI. Made in Texas USA.

Prolific chipsets are low-cost and often, in my experience, incompatible with many serial devices and also has problems with the never versions of Windows (Vista, 7); but usually works fine with older operating systems (Win 2K, XP). Made in Taiwan. Usually sold on ebay.

In my younger days I have used many Prolific based adapters with a lot of headache, I now only use FTDI based usb serial adapters from reputable sellers, now without the headache. Im sure I could have less gray hair now if I just had used FTDI adapters from the start
Here is a good usb serial wiki which will tell you everything you need to know about usb serial adapters before you buy.

I second that. FTDI has been good for me. Prolific....I just got a headache typing that.

If I recall, the FTDI was much much better at maintaining the RS-232 voltage levels. The prolific couldn't drive the full -12V to +12V signal voltage range that some equipment requires

 

[Zargon]

FTDI has gotten alot cheaper lately, we got some of these at my old job before I left last month, and they worked great for flashing some VERY expensive radios that the prolifics had problems reading configs on

I am about to order one to use with my asus transformer