[GreenKeys] Re: USB to Serial...

[teletype at buzbee.net]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: gil smith [mailto:gil at baudot.net] 
> Sent: Monday, April 03, 2006 10:54 AM
> To: Jack
> Cc: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [GreenKeys] Re: USB to Serial...
> 
> Hi Jack:

... snip -> question about HeavyMetal on machine without rs-232 ports

> 
> For HeavyMetal on a laptop, well, can't be done as far as I 
> know.  Ahh, the death of the serial port.  Yes, you can get 
> adapters for USB to serial.  I have a couple and they seem to 
> work fine for ASCII applications, though the throughput seems 
> slower than a built-in serial port provides (just an 
> empirical observation based on firmware load times for 
> products around here).

As it happens, I've gotten this question a few times lately - and now it's
personal.  I just retired my old laptop (and HeavyMetal development machine)
for a new laptop which has only USB ports - no RS-232.  So, I'm gong to be
seeing what I can do to make HeavyMetal work.  The adaptor I bought claims
to be able to handle arbitrary baud rates, so long as I follow Win32 rules.
HeavyMetal, however, does not follow the rules currently.  I don't actually
know the "official" way of requesting an odd baud rate via standard Win32
calls, but I have run across some comments that suggest it is possible.

Anyway, I'll see what I can do and report back.

...Bill (the HeavyMetal guy)