USB/Serial Adaptor

[barkis]

Simple question, which Brand is regarded as the best.?

I have the Prolific, but just wondering if there's a Rolls Royce version.

Ron.

[Ben Ritchie]

I have a couple of ones from Astronomiser which are Prolific and they've always been perfect for me, had a couple of others which were more temperamental.

Exact version I have is:

ID 067b:2303 Prolific Technology, Inc. PL2303 Serial Port

[barkis]

Thanks Ben.

Im sure the one you quote is the same one I have.

No point in changng to anything else if it is reliable.

Ron.

[Ben Ritchie]

No point in changng to anything else if it is reliable.

Golden rule of USB-Serial adapters

[Psychobilly]

No need to pay more Ron.. the Prolific chipset ones are great..

I also have some Targus ones (we used to buy them a couple of hundred at a time for a product we made) and they work as well...

Has anyone tried the FTDI based ones - they have the advantage of keeping the same com port allocation whatever USB port they get plugged into...

Peter..

[Merlin66]

Since moving to the laptops almost four/five years ago I've always used the Keyspan USB>Serial adaptors. They've never let me down and will handle any software/ hardware I have. Everything from the Lx200's to the NEQ6 and TheSky, Carte du Ciel, Astroplanner etc etc.

Works 110% for me

Ken

[Ben Ritchie]

Has anyone tried the FTDI based ones

Yes - mostly ok, but I had something that didn't work reliably (maybe a TrueTek filter wheel? not sure)

[NickH]

Belkin one has always worked for me.. even on the netbooks

[barkis]

I was wondering where I had heard 'Keyspan' before. Ken. has supplied the answer, he has mentioned the name on here before, and spoke highly of them. However, I suppose I'm just trying to anticipate problems, when none will occur. (Famous last words hey?.) I'll stay with the Prolific until any glitches crop up, if any.

Thanks all for your input.

Ron.

[syd_malicious]

There are 2 points about USB-serial adapters.

1) The chipset manufacturer (eg Prolific or FTDI). This is the actual brain of it that converts the signals and does the USB side of things.

2) The manufacturer of the actual adapter. There are very many from the well known to the no name ones.

The only ones I have any experience of are based on FTDI and Prolific chips. The former are much better as they retain the COM port designation (because each has a unique identifier). The Prolific ones work but assign a different COM port if you plug them into a different USB slot - very irritating especially as it can be difficult to remove old COM port designations.

Unfortunately it is difficult to know which chipset is used and certainly the cost of the adaptor is no indication. Maplin (yeuch, yeuch) charge an outrageius price for theirs and they generally use Prolific; OTOH I saw a load of cheap ones that use FTDI.

Irrespective of which you use they can be a pain. When they are recognised they work flawlessly but I am forever having to pull and and put back the USB plug as my PC randomly goes into a teenage strop and doesn't recognize some USB peripherals. If at all possible get a hardwired PCI serial port card.

Paul

[Psychobilly]

If the usb system gets it knickers inthe twist with loads of instances of devices which arent connected to the machine then you can use this method to clear them out ...

Starry Night Support Center - KnowledgeBase - My telescope control software doesn't list the COM port number BlueStar is connected to.

it works for any type of device not just comports so its handy for usb cams etc... just need to browse to the relevant sections of device manager..

I create a batch file with the relevant commands in..

Peter...

[syd_malicious]

There was a similar post from Software Bisque. This does help with the tangle of COM ports but I do find FTDI chips stop it happening in the first place.