[Elecraft] RS232 vs USB yet again...

[George Dubovsky]

One of the still-plentiful, proven, and inexpensive Edgeport boxes (USB to
4 or 8 RS-232) would seem to obselence-proof your station.

73,

geo - n4ua

On Sat, May 12, 2012 at 8:48 AM, John Ragle <tpcj1r03 at crocker.com> wrote:

> It is very rare that one can find a modern PC desktop that comes with 1
> or more RS-232 serial ports, just as it is becoming more and more
> difficult to find stock desktops with expansion slots on the MoBo.
> Laptops, at least newer than my ancient IBM Thinkpad, are even less
> likely to be equipped with RS-232 ports. This puts hams in an invidious
> position -- either use some old clunker of a desktop that came with
> RS-232 equipment, or find an expansion board that will plug into the
> MoBo of a moderately old tower, or use a USB-->RS-232 converter and go
> modern.
>
> Regarding the various items of Elecraft equipment, the choice between
> USB and RS-232 seems to have had very little to do with relative merits.
> It is not "which one is better?" but "which one is more suitable?"
> Apparently a substantial fraction of the brethren use superannuated
> desktops because this is a reasonable financial option. Another fraction
> of us use modern-day laptops, even though they promise half the
> performance at twice the price of a modern desktop. When the choice is
> between USB-->RS-232 conversion and RS-232-->USB conversion, the former
> is more readily available (the USB->RS-232 converters) than the latter.
> Again, this is just a marketing matter.
>
> Unfortunately, not all USB-->RS-232 converters are usable; some are
> "more equal than others" (apologies to George Orwell). A lot of the
> previous fuming and fussing over this topic has concerned specific chip
> sets and manufacturers of these converters. This is where the archived
> to-and-fro is of most utility. At first I was also a bit put off to
> discover that Elecraft relied on what I thought of as antiquated
> hardware, but in retrospect, I have gone over to the dark side and
> embraced the DB-9. I have used Firewire, USB, and RS-232, and find I
> much prefer the latter. I am fortunate to have a desktop with expansion
> slots, though in a bit of a quandary planning for the succession.
>
> John Ragle -- W1ZI
>
> --
>
> Sent from my lovely old Dell XPS 420
>
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