Autosport Labs

Does anyone have any experience of using an rs232 PCMcia type card in their laptop rather than the troublesome usb to serial lead? My laptop doesn't have a built in serial port Also what operating sytems are people using/ are there any known problems with win 98/xp etc?

Regards Nigel

Big Vern wrote:Does anyone have any experience of using an rs232 PCMcia type card in their laptop rather than the troublesome usb to serial lead? My laptop doesn't have a built in serial port Also what operating sytems are people using/ are there any known problems with win 98/xp etc?

Regards Nigel

as a general comment, all the pcmcia devices i have used, worked perfectly first up, whereas USB devices often have issues. i give them the thumbs up! if you are buying one, note that there is now a newer pcmcia type card which is physically narrower, so make sure you get the right one!

alexander.

As long as you're using the latest firmware and config software there shouldn't be a problem using a USB serial bridge, but Huge Pine chipsets did seem more shaky than Prolific. Cardbus would be better as it's a "proper" USB port.

The PCcard adapter should work for you.

I'm a bit more concerned about win98/Me - we haven't tested on that platform. Does the software seem to come up normally on your laptop?

Regards,

Should probably have explained my question better My laptop currently has Win Me loaded and runs the MJLJ software ok but I have a lot of problems with USB to serial leads on a variety of projects. At work we have abandoned the use of the USB/serial lead in favour of the PCMCIA type cards as they seem to be much more stable. The card supplier advises against using with Win Me/98 as the caus drive problems and can only guarentee the card with Win XP/Vista. So what I should have asked is... Is MJLJ software Ok with Win XP/vista ?

Regards Nigel

Nigel: Yes. I have run the MJLJ software with Win 98 SE, XP, and currently Vista in my newest laptop.

I once tried using a PCMCIA RS-232 Adapter for another device (Fuel Injection Computer) that I wanted to hook to my laptop without success.

First I tried my unknown-brand USB device first, which didnt work, so I then bought a different brand of USB Adapter that also didnt work.. Then I bought a PCMCIA-RS232 adapter which *also* didnt work with this device ! (fussy !)

So, then I found a USB-RS232 adapter based on the FTDI chipset which DID work (Finally !).

The FTDI chipset based units seem to be the popular ones for people using them to program Arduinos and other Microcontrollers as well..

Anyway, the point of the post is, that not even a PCMCIA Adapter is guaranteed to be a "proper" RS232 Port.

Try a FTDI based USB lead if nothing else is working for you. To find one just google for suppliers of Arduino or Microcontroller programming kits in your area,, they usually stock them and will specifically mention they are FTDI based.

It amazes me that a simple 30yo-tech serial port can be so hard to get right in these days of gigabit firewires etc.