New Laptops/No Serial Ports???

nylawman · Post by **nylawman** » Sat Apr 12, 2003 3:39 pm

I recently purchased software from Motorola for my Astro Spectra and Astro Saber III's. Since my old Pentium III laptop lacks the suggested capacity and I was in the market for a new notebook computer with lots of bells and whistles, I began looking for a replacement. There are lots of nicely loaded P4's out there but thought I'd ask for suggestions. I was leaning toward the Toshiba S703 or S805 but It appears that many of the newer laptops do not have a Serial Port. (1) Is this the case? (2)If this is the case, does anyone know of another way to connect cables, a RIB box, and run RSS. Charlie

ExKa|iBuR · Post by **ExKa|iBuR** » Sat Apr 12, 2003 3:43 pm

Search around on the board, this has been discussed many times in the past.

The best solution would be to buy a PCMCIA Serial Port card.

But, search around

M

Hightower · Post by **Hightower** » Sat Apr 12, 2003 7:17 pm

I use the Belkin PDA USB to serial adapter to program my Yaesu radios with no problem. I have read my AS3 with the Belkin (no problem), but have not written to it yet.

If you have problems with PCMCIA or USB adapters, you'll need to turn down the serial FIFO buffers.

Here is a clip and paste from my webpage:
2) No serial port on your laptop/desktop - no problem. The Belkin USB PDA ADPATER - Model number F5U109 (USB to Serial) works with VX7 Commander. You must turn down your FIFO buffers most of the way down to make it work.

nmfire10 · Post by **nmfire10** » Mon Apr 14, 2003 6:45 am

I personally wouldn't trust a USB to Serial adaptor. It just isn't the same.

I use a PCMCIA Serial card. It is a REAL serial port and works great.

JAYMZ · Post by **JAYMZ** » Mon Apr 14, 2003 6:58 am

I use the Socket PCMCIA Serial Card.. Comes with a Dongle with a 9 pin serial port. It has a utility where you can set the port speed and such. It works extremely well.

http://www.socketcom.com/product/serial.asp

It goes for about $100 or so.

BrentLA · Post by **BrentLA** » Mon Apr 14, 2003 12:55 pm

I have also used the Belkin USB to Serial adapter. I've done at least 100 reads and approx 50 writes to various AS3 radios with no errors. You are probably safer using an adapter card, but it worked for me. It just depends on how willing you are to risk your radio.
Good luck

Hightower · Post by **Hightower** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 12:00 pm

From my experience, the PCMCIA is good if your doing something that uses the serial port to its maximum speed. However programming radios doesn't require fast comport speeds and the USB adapter would work just fine for programming radios.

The Belkin USB adapter works perfect with my GPS and mapping software.