Mark Haney wrote:
Joe Tseng wrote:
> I've been asked to look for notebooks for my office that have built-in
> serial ports. We've already used USB-to-serial adapters and port
> multipliers with mixed success; we are kind of leery of using PCMCIA
> serial ports. And we'd like to use these notebooks on the go so docks
> are out of the question. Can I get the big OEMs to sell me a few of
> these or am I out of luck with them?
Wow, with /serial/ ports? Doh. I don't know, I would suspect the
manufacturers don't make many with serial ports any more. You might get
lucky. My USB to Serial adapter works perfectly every time. Are you
needing more than one serial port on the notebook?
You just have to be careful about the adapter you use. Not all of
them support the RS-232 control lines, and a lot of applications
require them. Serial ports are still widely used by control
equipment. (Building lighting controllers, PLCs alarm controls, etc.)
I picked up an Itronix T5200 for these applications, because it can
survive abuse better then a laptop. (It is even extremely water
resistant - 3" rain/hour.)
Mikkel
--
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!