[Elecraft] RS232 vs USB yet again...

[John Ragle]

George...

You're quite correct. I have one of these, currently in storage, waiting 
for the day when my DELL XPS 420 shuffles off the mortal coil. 
Fortunately, for $20 I could install a PCI board in the XPS 420 that 
gives me a pair of COM ports, which I also did. My Parthian comment 
about "planning for the succession" includes worries about the several 
other PCI and PCIx boards I have in active use, most particularly the 
frame grabber that allows me to 'window' my P3 operation.

Thanks for bringing up the Edgeport boxes. They seem to be very well 
thought out.

John Ragle -- W1ZI

=====

On 5/12/2012 9:07 AM, George Dubovsky wrote:
> 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 
> <mailto: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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-- 
Sent from my lovely old Dell XPS 420