Got an adaptor but it doesn't work, need to get a new laptop for the club so it won't have RS232. Does anyone know of an easy to get adaptor that does work? The one i've got has a Prolific PL-2303 chipset so anything with that probably isn't going to work.

Not sure why you need an adapter? Why not just use a USB cable?

edgeport from digi.com

our company (Johnson Controls Inc/York/Interstate Battery) gives edgeports to ALL technicians for use in connecting to all of our controllers and older building automation equipment that utilizes rs232 (serial). our new laptops as well do not come with a serial anymore, thus its mandatory now unlike before when we did have 1 and still used an edgeport to get the ability to do 2 devices at a time (1 serial, 1 edgeport). in my case i have 2 edgeports so i can still use com1 and com2 for my work. just more wires heh.

edgeport USB, cheap, 18in dongle, very durable. and b/c its on a dongle it doesnt hang precariously off side of ur laptop.

TIP: take elec tape and wrap 2-3 times around edgeport head. to keep the plastic cover from separating accidently. might not even lose connection by why try.

never had a serial i couldnt talk to with an edgeport, even tried it with modems and a printer once. does work.

good luck

R

ps-if u need a new laptop, perhaps take a shot on a good older 1 that has a 232. just a thought. or a desktop perhaps if the system can stay at the track. just an idea.

Why bother with all that? There is a USB port on the decoder, and one on the laptop... no need for that non sense.. just more to go wrong.

well i've never worked with an amb unit. but i saw usb to 232 title and figured well thats somethin u work with everyday. sorry.

R

The rc decoder has both 232 and USB. When I had one I used the 232.. my laptop only has 1 USB.. and I use that for a mouse. Now with the newer decoder I use the ITP connection... and the 232 for the Alpha sign (beta bright)

Yeah the decoder i'm using has a USB socket but the program i'm using only supports RS232 and TCP/IP. Plus the manual that came with the decoder says the USB can only be used as a power source for the decoder.

Seems to be very few newish laptops that do have a serial port, so far i've only found a certain model of Dell but we've had a Dell fail before so i'm not too keen on that.

Thanks for that ultegrasti, I might've found a cheapy that works though, according to this page http://www.rcscoringpro.com/downloads.html

Sorry to hear your software/race program doesn't support USB...

Might want to check the manual again... one of the pluses to using USB is, you don't need a power supply... it uses the USB cable for power "and" communication to the decoder.

Depends on the software....which do you use Ed?

Autoscore, I know that communicates from all three sources.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=3120513


Worked good for me. You have to install the driver though. Easy enough though.