port replicator question

[djradam]

anyone use these? i have a sony laptop and i'm interested in a serial port. i was thinking i could sell my sony and buy an el cheapo with a serial port, but then i realized i could spend a little over $100 for a port replicator.

are these things good / reliable / etc? thanks!

[djradam]

well, there's a certain "programmer" thingy ... i mean i'd consider a serial to USB, but i think those things are flawed. plus at work some of the electronics are programmed via serial

[ski]

Originally posted by DarkFury
Personally I didn't even thing anyone was using the 9-pin serial port anymore. Personally, I haven't used mine in over 5 years.

You'd be surprised at what you find in electronics industries! At my internship, our new line of RF equipment sports serial connections on the radios. It made it a TON easier to incorporate a Bluetooth module pack for the radio (to connect wirelessly to a PDA) with D-sub 9 connectors than trying to figure out how to work with homebrew USB, but in 10 years, I don't think we'll see a standard 9 pin serial port anymore

djradam - is your "programmer" a microprocessor kit? I have to use Serial on my laptop to connect to my kit for a computer engineering course...

[theprod]

I use a replicator at work all the time for my Dell. And don't knock the serial port. There is so much equipment that still uses it in the manufacturing industry, even the new stuff. When in doubt, you know the serial port will work for programming.

[Jeffbx]

Whew - the good 'ol serial port! Can't knock it to communicate with the older network equipment that's not web enabled. I have an old Compaq laptop circa 1998 that I keep around for just that purpose... it just boots into Win98 & runs a terminal emulator.