USB serial RS232 converter cable

[Eugenias]

I have an old Thinkpad T64. I want to connect a serial RS232 scale to it. The T64 has USB ports but it also has on of those old PCMCIA ports. Which will be the most reliable solution: a usb serial converter cable or a PCMCIA serial card? Or does it even make a difference?

[rkawakami]

Uh, first thing to do is to clarify exactly what your system is. There was no T64 made that I'm aware of. If you can post your system's full 7 character TYPE, that would help. If the system's TYPE ends with -CTO, then also include the PRODUCT ID.

Second, serial port converters/emulators may not work if the software that communicates through them is picky. What are you trying to connect to the laptop?

[Eugenias]

Sorry about that, it is a T60 not a T64, however I don't see a 7 character type number anywhere on it. Im trying to connect a GPS tracker with a serial RS232 port to the laptop.

[rkawakami]

Besides the two adapters you have mentioned, there's a third, albeit, rare, possibly expensive solution: http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/detail. ... MIGR-62708

An Ultrabay Slim Serial/Parallel port adapter should provide the closest support of a "real" serial port. The USB and PCMCIA adapters can be a problem with some older software / hardware combinations. If it were me, I'd also look into the possibility of getting a GPS unit that natively connects via USB. It sounds like you're trying to connect an old piece of gear to a (relatively) new laptop. I understand where you're coming from. Somewhere in my closet I have a DeLORME Tripmate receiver that I used with an old Pentium laptop way back in the prehistoric ages (circa 1995). It has a 9-pin serial plug. I'm wondering if it still works . Anyway, back to your problem. If you're intent on keeping the GPS hardware unchanged, then I'd look to see if that manufacturer has an online forum. If so, search/ask to see what people have used for an adapter.

An off-topic but related note: I've been spending this weekend updating my two Garmin nüvi GPS units (260W and 1490LMT). The latest map update for the 1490 is causing me to go out and get a MicroSD card tomorrow since the database is now too big to fit in the standard memory. The 260W updated fine after hours and hours downloading the update. $90 for the unlimited map updates seemed kind of high, but the unit is now almost five years old. I also had to replace the battery ($16 for kit on eBay).

edit: The answer to my question about the Tripmate working is "yes". Had to remove the dead, but non-leaking AA batteries that were in the unit for, I'm guessing, 10 years. Popped in batteries, went Goggling to get some info, attached it to this A31p (real serial port), configured CRT (a terminal/telnet program) and started getting location data that almost identically matched my Garmin. Found some plans to turn the Tripmate into a GPS logger. Might be fun to do that someday.

ref: http://www.semifluid.com/2007/01/26/pic ... ps-logger/

[Eugenias]

Thanks for the suggestion, the Bay adapter seems good but the price is a bit more than what I was looking for. I did find an explanation of what is supposed to be a good adapter here http://www.usconverters.com/index.php?m ... &chapter=0 so I think I will give that a try.

I agree that the price for those map updates are getting kind of high but I guess it a small price to pay considering how useful a GPS actually is.