[time-nuts] Using a frequency synthesizer replacement for motherboard oscillator

David davidwhess at gmail.com
Sun Dec 2 18:14:44 UTC 2012


On Sun, 2 Dec 2012 08:43:39 -0500, Bob Camp <lists at rtty.us> wrote:

>Hi
>
>Maybe I'm just shopping in the right places. I have yet to build up a desktop machine that does *not* have at least one COM port on the motherboard. That's been true all the way from simple little Atom based ITX boards right through monster boards with all sorts of crazy stuff on them.  Yes, it's not out the back, but that's very easy to take care of if you need the port. 
>
>Laptops are a bit different. They seem to die of some sort of display issue long before a desktop. I don't use them in test setups.
>
>Bob

When I built my most recent workstation a couple years ago, I
specifically looked for motherboards that included a COM port and
thought I had found one but when it arrived, I discovered that they
left off everything except the UART which was integrated.  Instead of
trying to figure out what level translator they used, I just bought a
PCI serial card instead.  None of the USB serial dongles I tried
worked well.

I have stopped using laptops as well.  They are too fragile even when
just sitting in one place.  I have seen a lot of old used working ones
for sale at HAM swap meets though that are inexpensive.



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