Re: No Serial Ports on Notebooks

[The Computer Dood <info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Randy Mass wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> I don't imagine that I'm the first to realize that most new notebooks
> arrive lacking a standard rs232 port.
>
> I've tried usb to rs232 converters with very limited amounts of success
> (they definately don't like legacy software, if they sniiff DOS walking
> across the street three blocks away they just have a fit).
>
> Some manufacturers will provide a notebook with serial ports but you
> usually have to buy a model that's far above (in price) their mainstream
> models.
>
> I've done a little research and I believe a pcmcia card with a serial
> port should function like a normal serial port. Most seem to advertise a
> 16550 serial chip on the pci bus, just like if it was onboard.
>
> Anyone else run into this and already slain a dragon that I'm now facing??
>
> Thanks
> Randy
I have had the same problem, but with Desktops.  You are correct, that
the hardware emulation does not always do the trick...but what does that
say for us hanging on to "OLD" software.  In my Software Engineering
classes, we talked about "Life Cycle" of software.  How long should it
be maintained, and how long should it run before it is rightfully
retired.  I guess the moral is that they built stuff too good back then.
  What is it you are using that uses DOS anymore?  I used to program
industrial devices with RS-232 controls, back in the early 1980's.  So
here we are 20 years later, still clinging to RS232 devices?  Now I buy
networked (TCP/IP) devices.  The speed difference (156K vs 10Mb) between
network devices and RS232 Serial is astronomical.  So what is it you are
using DOS for????????????  It is not even "DOS" anymore, but the command
shell.