That is exactly how I got a serial port in my Dell Optiplex. Found it on the motherboard and made sure it was listed in Bios.
73, N2TK, Tony -----Original Message----- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Alan Bloom Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 10:05 PM To: n...@nf4l.com Cc: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] USB to serial angst A lot of PCs that "don't have a serial port" actually do have the electronics on the motherboard. If so, you can mount your own DB-9 connector on the rear panel and wire it to the motherboard. The motherboard connector is often a 10-pin (two rows of 5 pins) header with one pin removed to give a one-for-one correspondence to a 9-pin RS-232 connector. If you can't find the COM ports in Windows, you might have to check the "integrated peripherals" section of the BIOS to see if the manufacturer has disabled serial ports in the BIOS. It might be worth a look before going out and buying a serial PCI card (or a new computer). Al N1AL On Fri, 2010-03-12 at 20:31 -0500, Mike wrote: > For those suffering from lack of a real serial port, something I found > today may interest you. PC's with a real serial port, and a parallel > port to boot (no pun intended). There are a couple of differently > equipped ones on the page. It has no OS installed, so you'll need one. > > I ordered one. If you have a local store, call and they'll order it for > you. I have no connection to CompUSA. > > http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=57424 68&CatId=2629 > > 73, Mike NF4L > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > 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:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net 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:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
