[time-nuts] HP 58503A Com 4 conflict

[Didier Juges]

To add a small dose of additional complexity, Visual Basic 6.0 (and I suspect other dev tools of that generation) only support COM ports up to 16. Not as bad as 4, but still a problem on occasion.

Didier KO4BB


On January 4, 2015 12:03:05 PM CST, Bob Camp <kb8tq at n1k.org> wrote:
>Hi
>
>Ok, off into serial land …. 
>
>The GPSDO does not really know or care what port it’s on. It will be
>just as happy on port 119 as on port 4.  It (by design) does care about
>the baud rate / data bits / parity / stop bits. This is as true with a
>USB to serial as with a direct serial card. That’s the good news. Now
>for the rest of the news.
>
>If your computer operating system is old enough, you may only *have* 4
>com ports. Bad news there = upgrade the computer. Typically this is a
>Windows 95 and earlier issue. 
>
>If the software running on the computer is old enough it may only
>*know* how to use 4 com ports. Bad news is same = upgrade the software.
>Typically this is a Windows 95 era (mid 90’s) issue. 
>
>If the drivers on the serial to usb converter are old enough, they may
>only talk as 4 com ports (I’ve never seen this on a modern OS). Same
>news = upgrade the driver.
>
>All this relates to Windows. The cutoff times and versions for other
>OS’s are a bit more obscure. The same basic details apply. 
>
>————
>
>If you are running on an XP or newer machine, you should have far more
>than 4 com ports available. If you are running any of the newer ( =
>past 2000) software to talk to the box, it should be quite happy to
>deal with more than 4 com ports. 
>
>My *guess* is that you need a different piece of software. Exactly what
>you are doing will determine which one you need. ( = more info
>required).
>
>---------
>
>> On Jan 4, 2015, at 10:50 AM, James Robbins <jsrobbins at earthlink.net>
>wrote:
>> 
>> My new old HP58503A wants to connect to my PC on Com 1-4.  Other PC
>devices are already using those 4 Com ports.  
>> 
>> Is there any way to connect it to a Com port other than one of those
>1 to 4?
>> 
>> I currently use an Edgeport USB-to-Serial Converter which works very
>well to communicate with the PC and to assign Com ports to my various
>GPS units.  But, as far as I know, the chosen Edgeport Com port must
>fall within the range of Com ports which for which the device is
>designed.
>> 
>> If this has been answered, please point me to the discussion.  Many
>thanks.  And, Happy New Year to all, with wishes for a more peaceful
>(and timely - couldn't resist) year.
>
>I have this terrible urge to start a calendar thread revolving around
>“new” years … so far I’ve resisted the urge. It’s *very* difficult
>….arrrrrgggghhh….
>
>Bob
>
>> 
>> Jim Robbins
>> N1JR  
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