[time-nuts] usb serial converter

[gary]

I see I have that option, but it looks a bit clunky. I didn't want the 
DVD player I got with the notebook in the first place, let alone another 
one. ;-)

I've worked my way around needing the true serial port with different 
software. The cardbus came in handy because I needed a line level input 
for the sound card, so it all worked out in the end.

If it isn't obvious to everyone, MS set up the WOW (Windows on Windows) 
in their 64 bit win 7 OS, to only fall back to 32 bit software. Hence no 
need for a 16 bit driver on the cardbus. Then again, maybe 32bit win7 
still supports 16 bit code, so they should have a driver.

On 6/14/2011 10:48 PM, Hal Murray wrote:
>
>> One of the annoying things is Dell provides a hardware serial port if you
>> buy a docking station, but no way to just get a serial port by itself using
>> the docking port. Well at least that I know of.
>
> I have a Dell laptop (Latitude 430) that came with a MediaBase.  It's another
> layer that clips on and plugs into the docking-station connector.  It makes
> the laptop a bit thicker but still looks like a laptop.
>
> Mostly, it has a CD-ROM reader, but it also includes a DVI connector,
> parallel port, and serial port.  (and maybe a few more USB connectors)  I
> haven't taken it apart to see if there are any chips inside.  The connector
> has lots of pins so maybe all the silicon is in the laptop.  But maybe it's
> something like a PCI connector with a chip in the MediaBase.
>
>
>