Re: laptop serial port

[test_at_1-script_dot_com@xxxxxxx (DA)]

Nomen Nescio wrote:

> Have you tried it on download software, and if so, which ones?  I've
> tried
> several USB-RS232 converters with Compass, without success.

Just watch out for what COM port number the driver installs itself on.
You'd have to open the Windows Device Manager and look it up. In my case
my USB-to-Com adapter (which I like very much and bought for $18 at
Tigerdirect.com) always wanted to be COM5 I had to rearrange my ports and
re-configure the modem to be COM3 so COM2 became available and that fixed
the problem. Most terminal programs have at least a choice of COM1 or COM2
and, if COM2 is available, my USB converter installs on it.

There is one deficiency in these adapters - if you need to draw any power
from it, you might as well just forget about it. On the other hand, most
laptops do not allow drawing any power from their hardware COM1 either. So
if you need to burn a PIC or a EEPROM either use programmer with external
power or switch to a desktop PC.

Hope this helps,

Cheers,

D~


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