Thinkpads Forum

I hope this makes sense, I need to add a native serial port to the laptop because of some specialized equipment I work with that will not work with a USB type adapter (believe me, I've tried about half a dozen different ones). What I've been having to do is carry my ultrabase with me to use the serial port on it.
My question is, does anyone know of a way to add a serial port to the laptop itself? Maybe somehow using certain pins off the ultrabase interface or contacts on the motherboard itself?
Thanks!

Have you looked into PCMCIA cards?

http://www.amazon.com/Socket-Communicat ... B00005149Y

Do people really pay $126 for that card?

I would consider something like this first.

rickster21 wrote:My question is, does anyone know of a way to add a serial port to the laptop itself? Maybe somehow using certain pins off the ultrabase interface or contacts on the motherboard itself?

Good luck trying to find that information. Some years ago I tried to find the same for a T41 ... no luck.
Ended up finding a USB adapter that works just fine. If you do happen to find pinout info for your UB or MOBO please let us know where we can obtain it too!

In the mean-time, perhaps you'll consider:

http://cgi.ebay.com/PCMCIA-To-RS232-RS- ... 2ea3436697
(have not tried this, would be nice to hear from someone who has)

-or-

http://trendnet.com/products/proddetail ... -S9&cat=49
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007T ... -1&seller=
(can be used for DNC operation, great overall reviews)

EDIT: being interested in the TRENDnet adapter did some research and found the following in a Newegg review, it can affect some purchasers decision of whether to buy;
Cons: Buried in the Troubleshooting page of the Quick Install manual is this statement: ==The TU-S9 does not support interrupt transfer mode devices. If your serial keyboard, mouse or joystick is an HID device, it is not supported.==