USB -> serial. Anyone have recommendations?

[Jim]

I really need a serial port on a Macbook. Been looking at USB to serial
adapters and all the ones I find either say compatible with Mac OS 8 or
above, or compatible with OS X 10.2 and above.

Anyone out there used these? Recommendations? Warnings?

[Chris Schram]

Post by Jim
I really need a serial port on a Macbook. Been looking at USB to serial
adapters and all the ones I find either say compatible with Mac OS 8 or
above, or compatible with OS X 10.2 and above.
Anyone out there used these? Recommendations? Warnings?

I'm using a Keyspan USB->Serial device on my G4 under Mac OS X 10.4.x
and it works OK. I have not had the need to try it out on a new
processor or a newer OS.

[David Empson]

Post by Chris Schram

Post by Jim
I really need a serial port on a Macbook. Been looking at USB to serial
adapters and all the ones I find either say compatible with Mac OS 8 or
above, or compatible with OS X 10.2 and above.
Anyone out there used these? Recommendations? Warnings?

I'm using a Keyspan USB->Serial device on my G4 under Mac OS X 10.4.x
and it works OK. I have not had the need to try it out on a new
processor or a newer OS.

My Keyspan USA-19QW (USB to single high-speed serial port with D9M
connector) still works fine under Mac OS X 10.5 on my MacBook Pro, and
I'd expect other models to work just as well.

Keyspan may have taken some time to release updated drivers for major
new releases of Mac OS X - I use mine so rarely that I haven't noticed
if there was a delay (I just check for new drivers every few months or
when I intend to use it again).

[Fergus McMenemie]

Post by David Empson

Post by Chris Schram

Post by Jim
I really need a serial port on a Macbook. Been looking at USB to serial
adapters and all the ones I find either say compatible with Mac OS 8 or
above, or compatible with OS X 10.2 and above.
Anyone out there used these? Recommendations? Warnings?

I'm using a Keyspan USB->Serial device on my G4 under Mac OS X 10.4.x
and it works OK. I have not had the need to try it out on a new
processor or a newer OS.

My Keyspan USA-19QW (USB to single high-speed serial port with D9M
connector) still works fine under Mac OS X 10.5 on my MacBook Pro, and
I'd expect other models to work just as well.
Keyspan may have taken some time to release updated drivers for major
new releases of Mac OS X - I use mine so rarely that I haven't noticed
if there was a delay (I just check for new drivers every few months or
when I intend to use it again).

...

I have a keyspan USA-19HS which I used just yesterday with tiger on a
macbook. Worked fine after I down loaded and installed the keyspan
drivers. I have in the past used the same thing with a titanium laptop
running OS 9.

[Jim]

Post by Fergus McMenemie

Post by David Empson

Post by Chris Schram

Post by Jim
I really need a serial port on a Macbook. Been looking at USB to serial
adapters and all the ones I find either say compatible with Mac OS 8 or
above, or compatible with OS X 10.2 and above.
Anyone out there used these? Recommendations? Warnings?

I'm using a Keyspan USB->Serial device on my G4 under Mac OS X 10.4.x
and it works OK. I have not had the need to try it out on a new
processor or a newer OS.

My Keyspan USA-19QW (USB to single high-speed serial port with D9M
connector) still works fine under Mac OS X 10.5 on my MacBook Pro, and
I'd expect other models to work just as well.
Keyspan may have taken some time to release updated drivers for major
new releases of Mac OS X - I use mine so rarely that I haven't noticed
if there was a delay (I just check for new drivers every few months or
when I intend to use it again).

I have a keyspan USA-19HS which I used just yesterday with tiger on a
macbook. Worked fine after I down loaded and installed the keyspan
drivers. I have in the past used the same thing with a titanium laptop
running OS 9.

...

Thank you for your recommendations, gentlemen. The top one on the list
I was looking at is the USA-19HS.

Guess I'll be putting that order in today.

[nospam]

Post by Jim
Thank you for your recommendations, gentlemen. The top one on the list
I was looking at is the USA-19HS.
Guess I'll be putting that order in today.

i don't know if it's too late but i'd vote for the iogear guc232a. it
has a bigger buffer than the keyspan, and back when garmin gps devices
didn't support usb, it was the only one that would work without getting
buffer overflows and causing the data transfer to fail.

<http://www.iogear.com/product/GUC232A/>

[Richard Maine]

Post by nospam

Post by Jim
Thank you for your recommendations, gentlemen. The top one on the list
I was looking at is the USA-19HS.
Guess I'll be putting that order in today.

i don't know if it's too late but i'd vote for the iogear guc232a. it
has a bigger buffer than the keyspan, and back when garmin gps devices
didn't support usb, it was the only one that would work without getting
buffer overflows and causing the data transfer to fail.
<http://www.iogear.com/product/GUC232A/>

Puzzling. I used to use the Keyspan with my Garmin GPS and never noticed
any problems like that. That's what I got the Keyspan for, and I had
seen several recommendations of it for that purpose. I was unhappy with
the mess of adaptors, cables, power cords, etc. strewn all over my car
as a result of everything needed for the combination. But it did seem to
function from a hardware perspective.

It might be that the particular hardware I had and the particular way I
was using it didn't run into the problems you refer to. My Garmin unit
actually did support USB in addition to the serial. But for various
silly software-related reasons, I couldn't do the obvious thing of
connecting the Garmin's USB to my Macs USB, but instead had to connect
the Garmin's serial port through the Keyspan to my Mac's USB. (No, this
isn't a silliness I invented; I heard of other people with the same
workaround).

[nospam]

Post by Richard Maine

Post by nospam
i don't know if it's too late but i'd vote for the iogear guc232a. it
has a bigger buffer than the keyspan, and back when garmin gps devices
didn't support usb, it was the only one that would work without getting
buffer overflows and causing the data transfer to fail.
<http://www.iogear.com/product/GUC232A/>

Puzzling. I used to use the Keyspan with my Garmin GPS and never noticed
any problems like that. That's what I got the Keyspan for, and I had
seen several recommendations of it for that purpose. I was unhappy with
the mess of adaptors, cables, power cords, etc. strewn all over my car
as a result of everything needed for the combination. But it did seem to
function from a hardware perspective.

...

i have a keyspan too and it mostly worked with garmin gps devices.
however, it definitely flaked when i had to update maps, but only
beyond a certain amount. if it was under that amount it worked ok.
the iogear was flawless.

Post by Richard Maine
It might be that the particular hardware I had and the particular way I
was using it didn't run into the problems you refer to. My Garmin unit
actually did support USB in addition to the serial.

the gps i had was an older unit, before garmin supported usb in the gps
itself. they had a separate usb card reader to load up the special
(and ridiculously expensive) garmin memory cards because serial was so
slow. it was very nonstandard usb and didn't work in virtual pc.

now, most garmin gps devices have usb, sometimes with serial as well.

Post by Richard Maine
But for various
silly software-related reasons, I couldn't do the obvious thing of
connecting the Garmin's USB to my Macs USB, but instead had to connect
the Garmin's serial port through the Keyspan to my Mac's USB. (No, this
isn't a silliness I invented; I heard of other people with the same
workaround).

garmin now supports usb on macs.

[David Lesher]

Post by nospam
i don't know if it's too late but i'd vote for the iogear guc232a. it
has a bigger buffer than the keyspan, and back when garmin gps devices
didn't support usb, it was the only one that would work without getting
buffer overflows and causing the data transfer to fail.
<http://www.iogear.com/product/GUC232A/>

I've had poor luck with Keyspams; they are d/l'ed with code from
the driver at detection....if it works.

The IOGEAR uunits were recommended to me...

[notme]

Post by Jim
I really need a serial port on a Macbook. Been looking at USB to serial
adapters and all the ones I find either say compatible with Mac OS 8 or
above, or compatible with OS X 10.2 and above.
Anyone out there used these? Recommendations? Warnings?

Heard good things about the ioGear adapters.

[notme]

Are there independent developments of OS X drivers for USB-serial adapters
using the PL-2303? Or are they all sourced from Prolific (the IC
manufacturer)?

Thanks.

[notme]

Post by notme
Are there independent developments of OS X drivers for USB-serial adapters

By "independent developers" I mean are the manufacturers of these adapter
writing their own drivers (or modifying the Prolific) or are they just using
the Prolific driver "as-is"?