Anyone have a good current reccomendation for the USB to Serial adapter that works in XP? I seem to have trouble. So far borrowed 2 and no luck. Or if there's another way, I'd like to hear about it. I'm hoping this subject isn't already exausted.

Are you looking to plug a USB device into your serial port, or a serial device into your USB port?

Randy
www.RRDeals.com

Oh, Sorry,
I don't have a serial port on my new computer (laptop), only USB, so I'm trying to connect to a Pronto. I need USB at the computer, and adapt to serial connection, to plug in the cable which runs to Pronto.
Does that make sense?
I read in FAQ that such devices exist, but not all are compatible.

I use Keyspan High Speed USB Serial Adapter (USA-19QW) Perfect.

I use the same adapter as willy-boy, there (on WIN98SE). But they seem finicky, I know of several people here with the same set-up as me, but cannot get this adapter to work. If you try (have tried) a Belkin, make sure that it is not the PDA adapter, they won't work with the Pronto.

Sorry to say that it is pretty Hit-&-Miss, but most usually find success with one of them.


MIKE

CLICK ON THESE LINKS
FAQ | Files | Reviews | Play with it | Phases | Planning | ALIAS.CCF | Copying .BMPs & Galleries | Discretes | Docking Station | NEO | X-10 | Parts | Cable | Buy/Sell

Or the Belkin FU5103, which is the one that worked for me (the keyspan did not.)

I just purchased the Belkin F5U103, and I'm not sure how to setup the com ports to read throught pronto edit or rc edit. Any help is greatly app. Thanks

Also I'm using win xp and I set the com port for the adapter to 1 and the old serial port to 2.

You should load the drivers from the CD that comes with the Belkin. Make a note of what directory they were loaded into. Then when you plug the adapter in the USB port, XP should find the drivers and set it up. If not, do a search and tell XP where the drivers are (where the CD installed them).

The drivers are loaded fine and the adapter shows that it's working right, Just not through pronto pro edit or rc edit. I'm not sure of the com port settings if I need to change them or not. Thanks

I just got a HP laptop without real serial ports. I have spent a couple of weeks and a couple of hundred trying to get Pronto Edit to work. I now have a solution, but not a 100% fix.

The 2 Belkin adaptors did not work at all for me (103 and 105 iirc).

The keyspan does work, with some help. Each time I reboot or unplug the adaptor (and sometimes when I have the laptop sleep), I must uninstall and reinstall the drivers. Keyspan has a nice utility that does this cleanly and allows you to see what is installed on what port.

So, I reinstall, open the device manager and change the port from COM3 to COM1. Then, the software works fine.

Let me know if you need me to give more detials, I can.


Matt

You should not have to go through those changes every time you boot up. The problem I had with the Keyspan was that it defaulted to COM4, my COM3 was empty, and Pronto Edit would not cross that empty port. As soon as PE gets to an empty port, it stops searching. Whey you change your Keyspan to COM1, it is now on the first open port so PE sees it.

The moral: the adapter must either be on COM1 or the very next port after the last occupied one.

The keyspan worked once for me. It took a lot of work to get it up though. Then I did a clean install of Windows and can not get it working again.

Plus it was pretty freaking expensive. 90 bucks if I remember right.

jason

The Keyspan was around $49, the Belkin $59. That's still expensive. What previous posts on this subject show is that its trial and error until you find which one works with your setup.

Assuming you clean-installed the same OS as before, it's really puzzling why it would not be working now.

Yes, I had to go through that each time. That is, if I unplug or reboot. I did a DOX to figure this out, and it is the only combo that worked.

YMMV, but for me, I had to do it.

HP laptop with modem, front LCD panel, and other options that may cause this to happen.

It is A solution, maybe not the best.