USB to 9pinD serial adapters?
in [UK Mac]
|
Prev: mail server
Next: I can't be happy
From: Elliott Roper on 11 Feb 2010 17:16 In article <v8q8n5pdqjng6lc2sius2hrnrmq6jktbap(a)4ax.com>, Jaimie Vandenbergh <jaimie(a)sometimes.sessile.org> wrote: > On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:22:08 +0000, Chris Ridd <chrisridd(a)mac.com> > wrote: > > >On 2010-02-11 19:23:38 +0000, Jaimie Vandenbergh said: > > > >> I've just got back into scuba diving (thanks to a short holiday > >> bobbing up and down in the red sea), and need to get my dive computer > >> connected to slurp out my dives. It's a Suunto Vyper, and it's got an > >> old 9 pin D shell serial connector. Nasty. > > > >You'd think it'd be cheaper to just provide USB nowadays. > > I bought the kit in 2002, so it would have been a little ahead of the > curve... > > >The Keyspan USA-19HS (single 9-pin port) has Snow Leopard drivers. > > And I see it's recommended by Suunto, at that. Sounds like a good bet. I have got one of those. Not yet tried it in SL. It has worked fine in everything up to now. I'll be trying it out for Geotagging my photos in Aperture 3 when *that* arrives. Does it have to be waterproof? Not even its mum thinks it is waterproof. -- To de-mung my e-mail address:- fsnospam$elliott$$ PGP Fingerprint: 1A96 3CF7 637F 896B C810 E199 7E5C A9E4 8E59 E248
From: Elliott Roper on 11 Feb 2010 17:40 In article <110220102216231830%nospam(a)yrl.co.uk>, Elliott Roper <nospam(a)yrl.co.uk> wrote: > In article <v8q8n5pdqjng6lc2sius2hrnrmq6jktbap(a)4ax.com>, Jaimie > Vandenbergh <jaimie(a)sometimes.sessile.org> wrote: > Update: > > > > >The Keyspan USA-19HS (single 9-pin port) has Snow Leopard drivers. > > > > And I see it's recommended by Suunto, at that. Sounds like a good bet. > > I have got one of those. Not yet tried it in SL. It has worked fine in > everything up to now. I'll be trying it out for Geotagging my photos in > Aperture 3 when *that* arrives. After rummaging for all the bits in cardboard boxes... I downloaded the driver, installed it, woke up my ancient Garmin 12XL and GPSy X, my venerable GPS app.... It just works. Snow Leopard want to add it as a modem, I just ignored that. GPSy X immediately saw the Keyspan and off it went. Painless. -- To de-mung my e-mail address:- fsnospam$elliott$$ PGP Fingerprint: 1A96 3CF7 637F 896B C810 E199 7E5C A9E4 8E59 E248
From: Tim Streater on 11 Feb 2010 17:56 On 11/02/2010 20:00, T i m wrote: > Luckily, all my real computers have real serial ports (including the > ASROCK ATOM 330 A330GC S/V/L MINI-ITX board I've just bought. You > never know when they might come in handy eh!) ;-) You could say the same about a penny-farthing bicycle, too. Me, I found myself a USB-serial cable and it worked fine for connecting from an iBook to a router serial port, the few times I needed it. -- Tim "That the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament" Bill of Rights 1689
From: Jaimie Vandenbergh on 11 Feb 2010 18:40 On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:56:57 +0000, Tim Streater <timstreater(a)waitrose.com> wrote: >On 11/02/2010 20:00, T i m wrote: > >> Luckily, all my real computers have real serial ports (including the >> ASROCK ATOM 330 A330GC S/V/L MINI-ITX board I've just bought. You >> never know when they might come in handy eh!) ;-) > >You could say the same about a penny-farthing bicycle, too. Me, I found >myself a USB-serial cable and it worked fine for connecting from an >iBook to a router serial port, the few times I needed it. Aye. I have at least two machines with serial ports - one's an AMD Athlon64 4200+ or so that used to run Ubuntu and currently is powered off; another is a Compaq iPaq (not the handheld) from 1999ish. Oh, and there's a work Celeron laptop running XP like a slug, though I don't have a login to that so it probably doesn't count. (Ye olde LCIII might have one as well, I've not looked at it for some years now. Probably not RS-232 though - RS-422 rings a bell) So I certainly *could* rig up one of those machines to do this, but frankly that's a ridiculous waste of my time, and particularly house space leaving it set up. I'd rather pay for an adapter to use it with my normal machine, this 'ere Mini. Cheers - Jaimie -- There's no limit to the amount of work someone can do, provided it's not the work they're supposed to be doing.
From: Rowland McDonnell on 11 Feb 2010 18:56
Jaimie Vandenbergh <jaimie(a)sometimes.sessile.org> wrote: > I've just got back into scuba diving (thanks to a short holiday > bobbing up and down in the red sea), and need to get my dive computer > connected to slurp out my dives. It's a Suunto Vyper, and it's got an > old 9 pin D shell serial connector. Nasty. > > I can buy a proper USB lead from the manufacturer, for a mere 65quids > (which includes the software that I already have). Or I can buy a 3rd > party USB cable for it which appears to be a builtin USB-serial > converter, but that needs a driver - and they haven't got a Snow > Leopard one yet. And it's 25 quid, anyway. > http://www.customidea.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=99 > > USB to serial adapters get a bad rep, rightly so, due to using 5V > where serial should be 7-12V or some such. Wot? USB *IS* serial. You're talking about the ancient big iron and modem era RS232 standard, superseded *in the 1970s* by backward compatible tech more suitable for the world of modern microcomputer PCs in the 1970s but - alas - still with us. The RS232 spec requires +/- 3V minimum tranmission voltage; spec says -/+ 2.5V minimum reception thresholds, so 5V is marginally `you should pick this up, but...' But: DC-DC converters to deal with this were standard fittings in the 1980s. So there shouldn't be a problem - because this one should be dealt with in a single chip that takes USB in at one end and chucks pukka RS232-type signals out the other. I can't see any reason why not, not these days. Rowland. (who can't quite recall the /maximum/ RS232 voltage, but thinks it's about 25V sending (+/- 12.5V) and 30V (+/- 15V) receiving. Got a note about it somewhere. Yes, that way round: noise on the line etc means the receiver MUST be able to cope with more than the transmitter can kick out, or normal service will prove fatal.) -- Remove the animal for email address: rowland.mcdonnell(a)dog.physics.org Sorry - the spam got to me http://www.mag-uk.org http://www.bmf.co.uk UK biker? Join MAG and the BMF and stop the Eurocrats banning biking |