James, thank you for your post. I've been wondering why someone hadn't
mentioned this before.
I just updated / upgraded my Ham Radio station computer from a Pentium D and
Win XP SP3 to an i5 Quad Core and Win 7 64-bit Pro. Of course the new
small-tower desktop came with no COM ports. Rather than go with FTDI chip
USB to COM adapters or use COM port emulation software, I installed a 4-port
RS-232 PCI Express board. It has four 16C950 compatible UARTs and ESD
protection. The driver installed successfully on the first try. Windows
Device Manager says all are working properly. Rig (Orion II) control is on
COM 1 and CW keying is on COM 2 (with a simple Opto-isolator interface). As
best I can tell this setup works just fine with both WriteLog and N1MM.
When the day comes that all transceivers, amps, antenna switching
controllers, rotors, etc. have USB ports as standard, if I am still using
this computer, I can easily uninstall the driver and remove the COM port
card.
Unless someone can give me a compelling reason why FTDI USB to COM port
adapters or virtual COM port software is better, I'll stay with what I am
using now.
Of course if you are using a laptop computer with no PCI Express expansion
slot, the FTDI USB to COM port adapters work I know with no problems.
Marsh, KA5M
-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of K8JHR
Sent: Monday, April 07, 2014 11:10 AM
To: Kimberly Elmore; Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Any update on a replacement for the Orion II?
On 4/7/2014 11:06 AM, Kimberly Elmore wrote:
that's what people use: a USB-to-RS232 adapter since no one puts
RS232 ports on either desktop motherboards of laptops anymore.
------------------------------------------------
NOT SO, DICK TRACY ! There IS a way.
I use a 4-port serial port PCIe I/O add-on card that gave my new
computer 4 old fashioned serial ports. NO USB-SERIAL ADAPTERs in my
shack. These look and act and feel just like regular built-in serial
ports, so no finicky oddball drivers. No issue with potentially bogus
bootleg Prolific brand chips.
Cost - $20
Problem solved. There is no reason to pay more for a USB-to-Serial
adapter cable and suffer its little idiosyncrasies.
--------------------- K8JHR ----------------------
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