[Elecraft] [Fwd: Re: USB to serial angst]

[eric manning]

Gang

It's been a great discussion and a real eye-opener for this naive 
academic,  who assumed that USB is properly regulated  by an IEEE 
Standard [it is  not]
and that a well-engineered, standard-observant and  portable USB driver 
exists. [It doesn't.] Thank you all for helping to set me straight!

The takeaways for me:

*There is presently no feasible alternative to RS 232 as an Interface. 
Wayne & Eric made the right choice. USB is a non-starter, being FUBARd 
due to the lack of an enforced  standard. What's more,

* RS 232 is plenty good enough for the undemanding radio control or 
"knob-substitution"  task. [Audio & video transmission may be another 
matter, but that's for another time.]

* There's no call to sniff at  RS -232 just because it's almost a 
half-century old. Unix [tm]  is about forty years old, and still the 
reliability and efficiency champ.
[No, I don't want to start a controversy on that!]

* Desktop PCs are better than laptops for radio control, because you can 
fit RS232 cards to them. And laptops may have noise problems due to 
sloppy construction.

* There are many - way too many -  radio communication protocol 
"standards" - Kenwood, K3, etc etc. We must just Get Used To It 
[until YaeWoodCom sees the light and imitates the K3].

eric

VA7DZ
K3 3620



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