[Elecraft]RS-232 and USB with Elecraft.

[Brett Howard]

I'd bet dollars to donuts that if this board was redesigned that what
would happen is that an FTDI chip (or similar) would be dropped in and
put onto a board that replaced the KIO3.  Guess what.... The USB to
UART converters are identical to that solution.  The only difference
would be that you don't have the RS232 level signals that have to go
through the RS232 chip that is in the KIO3 right now...  It doesn't
really change much.  Granted it puts every one on a level playing
field as to what USB chip is used but buying the USB to UART converter
from Elecraft does just that as well.

On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 11:12 AM, Lee Buller <k0wa at swbell.net> wrote:
>
> I like what Julian said here and I think he is spot on.  I do not think it would take much for the wizards at Elecraft to redesign the KIO3 to include both...RS232 and a USB port.  users could swap out one for the other and you have USB port.  That is so cool about the K3 and its modular design.  Again, the whole issues of drivers come up, but I am sure Elecraft would keep up with it all.  But that is another expense to redesign the unit and keep up with all the programming of the USB drivers.
>
> RS-232 is not going away anytime soon, but you are hard pressed to find these ports on new systems...laptops in specific.  As long as the USB to Serial cables are available, I think Serial devices will be around for quite awhile.  The technology is proven...although old ... but very proven.
>
> Lee - K0WA
>
>
> In our day and age it seems that Common Sense is in short supply.  If you don't have any Common Sense - get some Common Sense and use it.  If you can't find any Common Sense, ask for help from somebody who has some Common Sense.  Is Common Sense divine?
>
> --- On Mon, 8/25/08, Julian, G4ILO <julian.g4ilo at gmail.com> wrote:
> From: Julian, G4ILO <julian.g4ilo at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 competition from Icom?
> To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> Date: Monday, August 25, 2008, 11:02 AM
>
>
>
> R. Kevin Stover wrote:
>>
>> I've always considered a Serial to
>> USB adapter as a " box of chocolates", you never know what
> you're going
>> to get. Whether it works or not depends entirely on the chip set used
>> and the quality of the driver.
>>
>> Elecraft should have used USB ports.
>>
> I don't agree. By using a standard RS-232 port Elecraft has provided
> greater
> flexibility. If they had provided a USB port then everyone is stuck with it.
> A serial port can be interfaced to USB using a readily available and
> inexpensive adapter, or, as has been pointed out, by installing a PCI serial
> card in an expansion slot. A USB device can only be interfaced to a PC that
> has a USB port and drivers for that particular device.
>
> Of course, Icom will ensure that the drivers are available today to connect
> the thing to Windows. But drivers may not be available for other platforms
> (as was the case with the RigExpert interface I sold because I could not use
> it under Linux) and they may not be available at all in 25 years time by any
> OS which is not an unreasonable time for someone to still be using a radio
> (even if not the original owner.) Whereas you can be pretty damn sure that
> RS-232 ports will still be around, and there will be adapters to interface
> them to whatever type of peripheral connector is popular at that time.
>
> I have grown resigned to the idea of throwing away perfectly serviceable
> computer peripherals only a few years old because drivers are no longer
> available but that is not something I want to do with a $4000 radio.
>
> -----
> Julian, G4ILO. K2 #392  K3 #222.
> http://www.g4ilo.com/ G4ILO's Shack   http://www.ham-directory.com/ Ham
> Directory    http://www.g4ilo.com/kcomm.html KComm for Elecraft K2 and K3
> --
> View this message in context:
> http://n2.nabble.com/K3-competition-from-Icom--tp781209p781856.html
> Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
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