Author Topic: wanted old laptop with a serial port for a couple of weeks (Read 3088 times)

photoman290 · « **on:** July 07, 2015, 09:50:39 PM »

does anyone have an old laptop with a serial port i could borrow for a week or so .i have a network card i need to configure for my UPS but don't have anything with a serial port. should work with win XP. a cd drive would help but can stick all the software on a usb stick if i have to. i have tried those usb to serial converters before with out any luck. will cover postage ect of course. i could drag the UPS up to the house but trying to avoid that as i would have to use someone else s PC to install it. something is bound to go wrong and i will get the blame

Tony · « **Reply #1 on:** July 07, 2015, 10:31:48 PM »

Those USB to serial adapters are a swine, I've got a working one but it only worked with a particular version of driver, wasted hours finding out.

Rossey · « **Reply #2 on:** July 07, 2015, 11:03:01 PM »

If your using a USB to serial adapter, you must have your laptop on charge to boost the voltage.

therecklessengineer · « **Reply #3 on:** July 08, 2015, 06:50:10 AM »

I have an old laptop with a serial port. It's got a knackered hard drive, but will boot from USB. There's a also a load of crud stuck in the fan, so it's pretty noisy when it's running. The battery, unsurprisingly, is knackered although it'll manage about 1/2 an hour.

Yours for the postage if you want it, although I'm unlikely to be able to get to the post office until next week.

photoman290 · « **Reply #4 on:** July 08, 2015, 10:52:00 AM »

that sounds fine. i have a collection of old hard drives. pre sata i assume?

therecklessengineer · « **Reply #5 on:** July 08, 2015, 04:25:17 PM »

I think it might be SATA actually. I'll check.

It ran as a headless server for about 3 years, which is what clogged up the fan and probably killed the HDD.

photoman290 · « **Reply #6 on:** July 08, 2015, 07:21:45 PM »

no prob have a sata drive from my old win7 lenovo that died.

knighty · « **Reply #7 on:** July 08, 2015, 11:10:17 PM »

if you use a serial adapter, you need to get a proper one / more expensive one

serial communication is all about exact timing

most adapters don't have proper timing, they just run as fast as he cpu/bus tires to push/pull data from it :-(

photoman290 · « **Reply #8 on:** July 09, 2015, 12:55:07 AM »

i did look at some proper serial usb adapters, but as i only need it load software i thought an old laptop would be cheaper.

Rossey · « **Reply #9 on:** July 09, 2015, 09:02:26 AM »

Quote from: knighty on July 08, 2015, 11:10:17 PM

if you use a serial adapter, you need to get a proper one / more expensive one

serial communication is all about exact timing

most adapters don't have proper timing, they just run as fast as he cpu/bus tires to push/pull data from it :-(

You dont need a expensive one.

just one with the right driver, make sure the voltage is up and set the speed to 9600

kamaangir · « **Reply #10 on:** July 09, 2015, 11:01:02 AM »

The original chips are made by fddi, there was a load of grief when the fddi driver (which all the cheapo copies of the chip use) disabled the chip by changing a value in the copies and thus rendering them inoperable.

If you do buy one get an original fddi chiped one. About £20ish on fleece bay.

therecklessengineer · « **Reply #11 on:** July 09, 2015, 08:44:03 PM »

I think you'll find it's FTDI

. And yes, they're the dog's danglies. I've got a breakout board that I use on the ship with FTDI-USB, but on the serial end pretty much every interface you'll find in an industrial environment. Very handy.

One of the reasons why I've gone to linux and never gone back is this whole driver thing. No drivers on linux - stuff just works.

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wanted old laptop with a serial port for a couple of weeks