The topic of serial ports came up today with discussions of purchasing a new field laptop. Of course we need the serial port. It is the least common denominator in all industries.
If you find that 'perfect' laptop but it doesn't have the DB-9 serial, take a look at Socket Communications which manufactures ruggedized PCMCIA cards with one, two or four hardwired or removable cables and even a compact flash single port model.
As per the discussions of future trends, just remember: if it has a TCP/IP port, it has a LOT of software running behind it and embedded systems or not, can lock up. Still want to do away with serial ports? Didn't think so.
And Randy, please don't take this as bashing but I would never, ever in a million years design a product with USB taking the place of low-level supervisory port such as RS-232. Just take my word for it.
TCP/IP is relatively new to A/V and home automation and the manufacturers will need some time to sort out reliability issues before making the leap from low-level. Personally, I'm keeping my eyes on 802.14.4 (ZigBee). Many other industries are going to drive adoption of this wireless protocol - particularly process control - for high reliability control and low-bandwidth data, ours included.
