[GreenKeys] USB to RS-232

Wed Jun 7 17:47:14 EDT 2017

I picked up one of the Chinese USB-to-RS232 gadgets a few years ago. It worked fine

with Heavymetal at 100 wpm Baudot, but would not work at 60 wpm, just

as Steve points out.

Eric’s board is the answer. USB-to-loop at any Baudot speed! The problem

I had was trying to get HyperTerminal to work on an older XP PC, but I did eventually

get it to work. I’m not so good with programming, but I’m experienced

with cursing and swearing.

Jack K2TTY

From: greenkeys-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:greenkeys-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Steve Garrison
Sent: Wednesday, June 7, 2017 12:40 PM
To: Ralph Irish <w8roi at wowway.com>
Cc: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net; Ron Boltz <rl.boltz at mhsdesign.com>
Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] USB to RS-232

These have been around for long enough now that I'm somewhat surprised at the number of folks that have no knowledge of them.  But then again, if you haven't had the need for one you probably haven't followed any of the chatter about them.

Some of the early Chinese 'copies' (i.e. cheap) did have a problem with software drivers as the cloned chip (which is indeed inside the DB9 portion of the cable) wasn't copied exactly and drivers made for original manufacturers chips would fail to load on the cheap clones.  Most of that has gone by the wayside, to my knowledge, on the newer clones, although I guess you could come across some older stock.

The major problem with the standard USB to RS232 adapters these days is they do not support baud rates down to the 45.5 rate we need for our old TTYs.  There is, or was, one solution to that issue that John Nagle resolved for his demo telegraph system.  I use that also but haven't checked lately to see if that special piece of hardware is still available.

Steve G./N4TTY

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 7, 2017, at 11:47 AM, Ralph Irish <w8roi at wowway.com <mailto:w8roi at wowway.com> > wrote:

A few weeks back, I decided to see if I could get back on packet radio.  There is a system in downtown

Detroit, just sitting there, waiting for business.  Sadly, it has no internet connection as it once did,

but is still in a good location with decent 'altitude' for the antennas.

I asked a local computer repair guy if he knew of a way to convert an RS-232 signal to a USB connector

without extensive use of software drivers?  He spent a few minutes on the internet and found a cord/cable

device for a few bucks.  It is a 30" cable with a USB connector on one end and a DB9F on the other.  Also

included was an adaptor that allowed one to use an RS232 signal emerging from a DB25 connector.  I've not

yet tried it.  I'm assuming that inside the DB9 connector is some electronics that convert the signals as

needed.

I'm not familiar with the manufacturer (China) but here are all of the details from the package:

SKU OC-1061-US   

SIENOC USB to RS@#@ DB9  le Converter Cable 2.5ft

So, this might be the proverbial 'quick and dirty' way of putting that old PK-232 back into service with

a computer that has no RS232 connector.

If there are any questions, I can't answer them, at least at this time.

My next chore is to see if I have any Mac software in the house that will work on much later Operating

Systems.  I may not be out of the woods yet!

Ralph - W8ROI

If anyone really needs to see the info under the barcode, here it is:

                        X0017HM7LV

R.

- - - - - - - -

On Jun 6, 2017, at 9:51 AM, Ron Boltz wrote:

I do have two laptops with the RS-232 port and both of those are kept only for that reason.  One runs XP the other win-7.  In their early work life, I used them for machine interfaces as many older PLC’s and other industrial controllers used RS-232.  I’m looking to the future when batteries die or other failures of these PC’s.  I have replaced the hard drives in both of these already and no telling how long parts will be available.

Ron Boltz

K3TZJ

______________________________________________________________
GreenKeys mailing list
Home:  <http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys
Help:  <http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm> http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post:  <mailto:GreenKeys at mailman.qth.net> mailto:GreenKeys at mailman.qth.net

2002-to-present greenkeys archive:  <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/> http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/
1998-to-2001 greenkeys archive:  <http://mailman.qth.net/archive/greenkeys/greenkeys.html> http://mailman.qth.net/archive/greenkeys/greenkeys.html
Randy Guttery's 2001-to-2009 GreenKeys Search Tool:  <http://comcents.com/tty/greenkeyssearch.html> http://comcents.com/tty/greenkeyssearch.html

This list hosted by:  <http://www.qsl.net> http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list:  <http://www.qsl.net/donate.html> http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

______________________________________________________________
GreenKeys mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:GreenKeys at mailman.qth.net

2002-to-present greenkeys archive: http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/
1998-to-2001 greenkeys archive: http://mailman.qth.net/archive/greenkeys/greenkeys.html
Randy Guttery's 2001-to-2009 GreenKeys Search Tool: http://comcents.com/tty/greenkeyssearch.html

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/attachments/20170607/26072920/attachment.html>