[Elecraft] USB Support - K3, K2?

[Don Wilhelm]

Well said Vic.
Warning - opinionated reply below <G>.

I believe the incentive for advocating USB in the K3 (or any other 
radio) is grounded in the fact that serial ports are disappearing from 
laptop (and some desktop) computers.

Serial ports make more sense to me - the means to communicate with the 
port is native in every operating system in current use (and is likely 
to continue to be), and it is the duty of the application to make the 
communications happen.  So you choose an application that supports the 
radio and runs on your chosen OS.  That is much different than depending 
on the radio manufacturer to provide support for a myriad of USB drivers 
   whose requirements will likely change with the next version of the 
operating system.

Serial will drive a long distance, so if you want to control the radio 
in a far corner of the home, all you need do is run a long serial cable 
- with USB, the distance is limited.

Serial ports may be disappearing from laptops, but the technology is 
uncomplicated and well proven and has fewer roadblocks and dependencies 
than solutions like USB.

Yes, Ethernet would be a better choice for those who have computer 
networks installed already, but a small inexpensive computer (with a 
serial port) dedicated to the radio installation can easily provide that 
level of connectivity - Simon Brown's HRD does provide for such remote 
operation.  I have seem several refurbished 2 GHz/512k/40GB IBM 
computers with *2* serial ports advertised recently in the $200 range. 
A computer like that would provide more power than needed for most 
situations, but then I already have more computers than I need.

73,
Don W3FPR

Vic K2VCO wrote:
> Leigh L Klotz, Jr. wrote:
> 
>> This is a bit of a rant, I must admit, I am mystified by the desire 
>> for USB inside an HF radio.  
> 
> Agreed. From the point of view of the manufacturer, there is the big 
> headache of having to provide drivers for the various operating systems 
> -- and versions of operating systems. Do we want Elecraft to spend 
> valuable staff time making sure that working drivers are available for 
> Windows 95 through Vista, the various Mac OS versions, Linux, and who 
> knows what?
>