There are PCI-X multiserial cards available that plug into the forward section of PCIx16 video slots. These are readily available and PCIx16 is not going away anytime soon being a very popular video format. The demise of serial ports is overstated. Thankfully the serial port is not being pushed by new game designers, extending speed and changing behavior to suit a new game every other week like USB. Worry about this interface when video card people give up on PCIXnn slots. Industrial users are interested in spending money on new equipment and then using it for free for twenty or thirty years. It is the extremely expensive industrial peripheral equipment that will keep serial ports in use for another decade or two. If it costs them money, industrial users would just as soon Microsoft walked off a cliff. Their engineers are really nasty about spending money based on someone else's consumer-grade eye-candy. There's hope-you-will-buy-my-new-gizmo salesmen TRYING to drive a market, and there's financial reality.
There is a REASON why TV graphics are confined to a 4x3 box on a high def 16x9 presentation of a sports game. MOST people are watching on a converter ahead of a 4x3 box. My wife has our 16x9 TV in the game room on the PS3. According to her, I have to wait for the big 31 inch 4x3 to fail before putting up a 50 inch in the living room. The set has a super-video input fed with a digital converter that has S-video out, and it is actually very sharp. The marketeers don't want you to know what you can so with S-video and a converter box. They don't want you to know about serial ports either. No volume in it. No money. Wierdness with my K3 connected to my computer went away when I quit using USB in favor of a PCIX serial card. I picked serial 1 and 2 which are assigned by the OS at bootup, not juggled in the air, depending on whatever in the USB way. A whole bunch of now and then weirdness that would never trouble-shoot just went away and the serial ports just run. No wheezes, no dropouts, no weirdness, no drop connects, no freezeups, no nuthin. Just run. What a concept. These are cheap cards. Do a google search on "PCIX serial card". Over 1.8 million hits. Many manufacturers. 73, Guy. On Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 12:08 PM, G. Beat <[email protected]> wrote: > > > There are Ethernet (TCP/IP) terminal servers supporting at least one RS-232 > port > > as well as additional A/D lines readily available on market for less then > $100 (proper qty). > > Some even support two RS-232 ports. > > > > Just need to look at inside cover of Circuit Cellar monthly magazine or > > a recent issue of Elector magazine (now available in the USA) > > > > The chips are inexpensive -- typical radio amateur knowledge to use them -- > rare ! > > > > Greg > > w9gb > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: [email protected] > Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2010 11:00:05 AM > Subject: Give us a network interface (Wayne Burdick) > > > > As long as PCs have USB ports, and as long as there are USB to RS232 > adapters available, then the K2, K3, and other rigs having RS232 > control will be 100% supported. No one need worry about installing an > RS232 card in their computer. > > Future Elecraft products will have additional I/O options, possibly > including USB and/or Ethernet, but I can't make predictions beyond that. > > It is also possible for the K3's present digital daughter board to be > replaced with one having USB, Ethernet, or a combination of I/O ports. > We might look at this. Of course we would continue to offer the > existing unit, with RS232, as long as there is a need for it. > > Thanks for all your thoughts on the matter. > > 73, > Wayne > N6KR > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
