Maker Pro
Maker Pro

No serial ports

A

alarman

Jan 1, 1970
0
OK, here's a chance for you to talk about alarm stuff.

I have been looking for a new laptop, and almost bought one, until I
realized that none of the ones I've seen have a serial port. Since I use my
laptop program and download alarm controls through an external modem, the
serial port would come in handy. I know there are serial port adapters, and
I might settle for that arrangement if it works with my external Hayes and
Practical Peripheral modems. OTOH, I have seen laptops on the internet with
a serial port, but the selection is slim.

What are you guys doing?
js
 
F

Frank Olson

Jan 1, 1970
0
alarman said:
OK, here's a chance for you to talk about alarm stuff.

I have been looking for a new laptop, and almost bought one, until I
realized that none of the ones I've seen have a serial port. Since I use my
laptop program and download alarm controls through an external modem, the
serial port would come in handy. I know there are serial port adapters, and
I might settle for that arrangement if it works with my external Hayes and
Practical Peripheral modems. OTOH, I have seen laptops on the internet with
a serial port, but the selection is slim.

What are you guys doing?
js


Custom built. :)
 
J

Jim Rojas

Jan 1, 1970
0
I have a newer HP laptop with no serial ports. Therer is a USB to serial
adapter that works great. Only thing is that it won't work on Windows 98se
or DOS.

Jim Rojas
 
R

R.H.Campbell

Jan 1, 1970
0
I have tried the "USB to serial converter" and found it simply didn't work
in all the cases I tried. Personally, I only use a laptop that has a serial
port, which means an older one. This is no problem, since the alarm software
is pretty "low end" in regards to the laptop it needs....

RHC
 
S

Sean Sokoly

Jan 1, 1970
0
R.H.Campbell said:
I have tried the "USB to serial converter" and found it simply didn't work
in all the cases I tried. Personally, I only use a laptop that has a serial
port, which means an older one. This is no problem, since the alarm software
is pretty "low end" in regards to the laptop it needs....

RHC
I was faced with the same problem, when I got a new HP laptop last year.
Bought it then went ah crap no Serial port, how can I download Napco
panels and Silent Knight Fire panels. Tried a USB - serial it didnt work
with certain cables. finally found the solution.....>
http://www.socketcom.com/product/SL0707-078.asp
if you have a PCMCIA slot that adapter works perfectly and also can be
set up in DOS.
 
M

Mark Leuck

Jan 1, 1970
0
Mark M. said:
People using our downloader software are using the Belkin USB to Serial
adapter, and the Bafo USB to Serial with great success. Drivers for Windows
98 SE should be available at the web sites for the respective manufacturers.
If you are using the modems for downloading panels, you might consider the
DC Security Securcomm DL110 modem. It's designed especially for talking to
security controls, and works well on older, legacy panels that "talk" at
speeds < 300 baud. You can also get the same model number modem from
Starcomm.

Cheers!

Can't do DSC with that modem tho
 
M

Mark Leuck

Jan 1, 1970
0
One thing to consider is getting one that also has a docking station
available which will have serial ports
 
P

plug

Jan 1, 1970
0
that link says it will do DSC. what's the story?
 
M

Matt Ion

Jan 1, 1970
0
R.H.Campbell said:
I have tried the "USB to serial converter" and found it simply didn't work
in all the cases I tried. Personally, I only use a laptop that has a serial
port, which means an older one. This is no problem, since the alarm software
is pretty "low end" in regards to the laptop it needs....

That's my thinking too... I've noticed that USB-to-serial adapters don't
always work for "esoteric" uses (ie. just about anything other than a
modem). You should have no problem finding an older Pentium or Pentium
II (or similar AMD) laptop with a REAL serial port for maybe a couple
hundred bucks that will run Win98SE or Win2K nicely, along with the
requisite software.


---
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Virus Database (VPS): 0615-0, 04/08/2006
Tested on: 4/8/2006 11:59:55 PM
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2005 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com
 
J

Jim Rojas

Jan 1, 1970
0
The DL110 works with Radionics Ram4 v3.7 & Caddx windows version, I haven't
tried it with Napco yet.

Jim Rojas
 
M

Mark Leuck

Jan 1, 1970
0
Allan Waghalter said:
While shopping for a new laptop in December, I too noticed that most of them
did not have a serial port. I did buy a Dell Latitude D510 for a good price
and it has a serial port! Its very light compared to my older Dell Inspiron
7500. Works great! Its hard to beat a Dell. Been using them for years.
Good box with superb customer and technical support behind them.
Regards,
Allan

The reason you won't see those ports is due to the Intel and MS standards
which consider printer and serial ports "legacy devices" and obsolete.
 
M

Matt Ion

Jan 1, 1970
0
Mark said:
The reason you won't see those ports is due to the Intel and MS standards
which consider printer and serial ports "legacy devices" and obsolete.

Well they are largely obsolete for most mass-market computers. What
uses them anymore that's going to be of interest to 99% of the
laptop-buying population? You almost can't buy a laptop without a
built-in modem (and most would use a PCMCIA modem anyway). Almost
anything else made now uses USB - PDA sync cables, primarily, I would
expect (I still have an old Palm "universal" crasdle that's a serial
connection, but that too is obsolete, modern Palm PDAs won't work with
it).

There's just very, very little need for serial ports on laptops anymore,
and for that application, anything you can remove to reduce weight,
power consumption, and space is probably going to get removed.


---
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 0615-0, 04/08/2006
Tested on: 4/10/2006 1:32:17 AM
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2005 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com
 
B

Bob La Londe

Jan 1, 1970
0
If all you are using it for is downloading then go to www.usedlaptops.com

I have two I got from them and they work great.


alarman said:
OK, here's a chance for you to talk about alarm stuff.

I have been looking for a new laptop, and almost bought one, until I
realized that none of the ones I've seen have a serial port. Since I use my
laptop program and download alarm controls through an external modem, the
serial port would come in handy. I know there are serial port adapters, and
I might settle for that arrangement if it works with my external Hayes and
Practical Peripheral modems. OTOH, I have seen laptops on the internet with
a serial port, but the selection is slim.

What are you guys doing?
js


*** Free account sponsored by SecureIX.com ***
*** Encrypt your Internet usage with a free VPN account from http://www.SecureIX.com ***
 
A

alarman

Jan 1, 1970
0
Sean Sokoly said:
I was faced with the same problem, when I got a new HP laptop last year.
Bought it then went ah crap no Serial port, how can I download Napco
panels and Silent Knight Fire panels. Tried a USB - serial it didnt work
with certain cables. finally found the solution.....>
http://www.socketcom.com/product/SL0707-078.asp
if you have a PCMCIA slot that adapter works perfectly and also can be set
up in DOS.

Well, I decided to live without a serial port for now, and bought a new HP
machine. It's just a lot nicer than anything I could find with a SP. I'll
try the converters 'til I find one that works. Now I have a new problem, I
can't get the new laptop to share files on my network with my old Win98SE
office box. Grrrr... It's always something. Time to upgrade the office box I
know, but Uncle Sam just took a giant bite out of my wallet.

Thanks to all who replied with suggestions.
js
 
C

Crash Gordon

Jan 1, 1970
0
Use the network wizard thingie on the laptop, it'll create a floopie that
you just pop in the 98se machine and bada-bing youre done.


| | > R.H.Campbell wrote:
| >> I have tried the "USB to serial converter" and found it simply didn't
| >> work in all the cases I tried. Personally, I only use a laptop that has
a
| >> serial port, which means an older one. This is no problem, since the
| >> alarm software is pretty "low end" in regards to the laptop it
needs....
| >>
| >> RHC
| >>
| >> | >>> OK, here's a chance for you to talk about alarm stuff.
| >>>
| >>> I have been looking for a new laptop, and almost bought one, until I
| >>> realized that none of the ones I've seen have a serial port. Since I
use
| >>> my
| >>> laptop program and download alarm controls through an external modem,
| >>> the
| >>> serial port would come in handy. I know there are serial port
adapters,
| >>> and
| >>> I might settle for that arrangement if it works with my external Hayes
| >>> and
| >>> Practical Peripheral modems. OTOH, I have seen laptops on the internet
| >>> with
| >>> a serial port, but the selection is slim.
| >>>
| >>> What are you guys doing?
| >>> js
| >>>
| >>>
| >>>
| >>
| >>
| > I was faced with the same problem, when I got a new HP laptop last year.
| > Bought it then went ah crap no Serial port, how can I download Napco
| > panels and Silent Knight Fire panels. Tried a USB - serial it didnt work
| > with certain cables. finally found the solution.....>
| > http://www.socketcom.com/product/SL0707-078.asp
| > if you have a PCMCIA slot that adapter works perfectly and also can be
set
| > up in DOS.
|
| Well, I decided to live without a serial port for now, and bought a new HP
| machine. It's just a lot nicer than anything I could find with a SP. I'll
| try the converters 'til I find one that works. Now I have a new problem, I
| can't get the new laptop to share files on my network with my old Win98SE
| office box. Grrrr... It's always something. Time to upgrade the office box
I
| know, but Uncle Sam just took a giant bite out of my wallet.
|
| Thanks to all who replied with suggestions.
| js
|
|
 
A

alarman

Jan 1, 1970
0
Crash Gordon said:
Use the network wizard thingie on the laptop, it'll create a floopie that
you just pop in the 98se machine and bada-bing youre done.

Tried that a while back but couldn't get yhe XP machine to play nice with
the 98SE machines. I'll give it a try again, though along with no serial
port, there's no floppy on the new laptop. I'll have to try a CD.
js
 
F

Frank Olson

Jan 1, 1970
0
alarman said:
Tried that a while back but couldn't get yhe XP machine to play nice with
the 98SE machines. I'll give it a try again, though along with no serial
port, there's no floppy on the new laptop. I'll have to try a CD.
js


Getchurself one of those new fanagled USB chippie drives. Them's work
better'n flooopies. It also helps (in some cases where you have a
"mixed bag" of connected machines) to actually assign the IP addresses
to each computer and set up the address range in the switch instead of
having it automatically assign them. This has the added benefit of
being able to block certain computers from using the internet. We do
this with a couple of machines running 98SE we use to download panels 'n
setch but grant them temporary access to upgrade the virus defs and Winders.
 
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