USB/Serial Converter Recommendation

[pdubinsky]

I just upgraded my mobo and found that my USB/Serial converter is a USB 1.1 device AND my new spiffy (even has USB 3.0 ports) doesn't support legacy USB 1.1. I'm currently running WQinXP64 but I'm soon to upgrade to Win7. My question:

Does anyone have a recommendation for a USB/DB9 serial converter that they particularly like? And has support for USB 2.0?

TIA,
Paul

[dlh]

http://www.byterunner.com/byterunner/pr ... atch=exact
I've used this with XP, Win7, Linux & OSX. The price is hard to beat.

[pdubinsky]

Thx, Dave - perfect and I really love the price.

As an aside, it's amazing how little specification detail there is on most sites for inexpensive products. It seems like "the price is so low, what else do you need to know" rules.

Thx,
Paul

[dlh]

Paul,

ByteRunner specializes in various add-on thingys like this and Sean Dudley has always been able to answer any questions I've had. If you order today, you'll likely get it tomorrow by First Class Mail - no shipping ripoff on top of a low ball price, either.

BTW, I remembered that I've also used this on a old laptop running W98SE.

[stevech]

I use consumer devices that incorporate an FTDI chip. Their logo is often on the packaging. The FTDI drivers for Windows and Linux are, unlike many others, done correctly.

[dkinzer]

I [...] found that my USB/Serial converter is a USB 1.1 device AND my new spiffy (even has USB 3.0 ports) doesn't support legacy USB 1.1.

The FT232R chip used by our TTL-USB converter (and many others) claims to be USB2.0 compatible. The same is true for the FT245R as well.

[dlh]

The FTDI drivers for Windows and Linux are, unlike many others, done correctly.

I don't know exactly what done correctly means but I've briefly tested the $9 Prolific based adapter under...

• Mac Mini (Intel) 10.6.6 - iMac G4 (PPC) 10.4.11
  Dell Dimension 2400 W98SE,W2K,XP,Vista,Windows-7
  Debian,Ubuntu,Kubuntu,Xubuntu,Fedora,Mandriva,PCLinuxOS,Mint,OpenSUSE

with no apparent issues other than those attributable to Linux itself.

I've also tested FTDI based adapters, both first-generation and more recent. I saw no difference in performance.

However, you can encounter problems with some implementations where not all modem signals are handled correctly. When this is done at the hardware level, drivers cannot help. I've seen this with FTDI, Silicon Labs & others. That is not the case with the specific Y-105 adapter from ByteRunner.

[pdubinsky]

First, thx to all who responded.

What I found after some further research (and actually finding the correct Prolific download site) was that the problem isn't with the mobo or the adapter. The problem is with WinXP 64. Who would've thunk!!!!!

I downloaded the correct driver from Prolific, ran the install MSI and the converter connected fine. I don't know when I'm going to learn to look at the most likely problem area first (that usually means the Micro$oft area). Ya'd think that after all these years I'd learn.

Thx, again,
Paul

For those who might need it:

http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/Download-2.asp?ID=17