On Tue, 22 Nov 2005 21:11:51 GMT, "Alan Gardiner"
wrote:

The reason I suggested USB is than the traditional serial port is becoming
obsolete, my recently acquired laptop is all USB and manufacturers can save
money by not including them on desktop machines.


Certainly and that's obviously a good reason for going the USB route
and, if not for a current PC, then it will offer some futureproofing
for a new PC whenever it might be bought (though external
serial-to-USB adapters will be around for a long time I suspect).

But if you do have a choice of serial or USB ports then serial is
still IMO marginally the better choice for reliability and
flexibility.

John Dann
www.weatherstations.co.uk

"John Dann" wrote in message
...

(though external
serial-to-USB adapters will be around for a long time I suspect).

Keep in mind that not all applications work with USB to Serial converters.
I see no reason why I would expect a weather station to fall into this
category, but many hobbyist/amateur radio applications use the serial port
in strange ways, and USB to serial converters require that you use the
serial port as it was intended.

But serial ports are fast becoming extinct, especially on laptops. For the
best combination of flexibility and ability to continue to use your stuff,
look for serial ports on PCs you buy, but don't go buying peripherals that
require serial ports. Or if you do, accept the fact that they are likely to
be a temporary thing.

Nowadays, viewing peripherals as disposable is probably a reasonable thing
to do anyway. Generally these devices also require drivers, and by the time
you decide to upgrade your PC or operating system or whatever, the
manufacturer will likely have a new model and have lost interest in the one
you just bought. So even if you have the interface, you probably won't be
able to use the thing anyway. And keeping the old OS isn't a choice, either.
Just try to buy a machine that runs Win98OE, let alone Win95. Can't be
done. Once Vista hits, machines probably won't support SE or W2K either.

So whether its a weather station or a printer or a scanner, remember that it
is probably only for your current computer. You next computer, whenever
that happens, might not be able to support that shiny new whatever.

Hmmm ... maybe it's time to upgrade to the biggest, baddest XP machine
before Vista comes along and you can't buy a machine to run XP.

Oh, and Linux isn't much of a help, either. Not only is device support
STILL weak, but it has the same hardware issues, although not nearly as
severe. And it has issues the other way. I can't put Linux on my new
laptop yet, even though the model is a year old. Still waiting for the
distro that supports the DVD drive.

...

On Wed, 23 Nov 2005 09:50:58 -0500, "xpyttl"
wrote:

(though external
serial-to-USB adapters will be around for a long time I suspect).

Keep in mind that not all applications work with USB to Serial converters.
I see no reason why I would expect a weather station to fall into this
category, but many hobbyist/amateur radio applications use the serial port
in strange ways, and USB to serial converters require that you use the
serial port as it was intended.

Yes - I was really commenting in the context of commercially available
weather stations, most of which do seem to use serial ports in a
standard way and hence can generally accept serial-to-USB external
converters without a problem.

But serial ports are fast becoming extinct, especially on laptops. For the
best combination of flexibility and ability to continue to use your stuff,
look for serial ports on PCs you buy, but don't go buying peripherals that
require serial ports. Or if you do, accept the fact that they are likely to
be a temporary thing.

Fair comment. The problem at present is that - again in the context of
AWS systems - USB does not offer quite the same robustness and
flexibility as good old RS232. So new users with eg a USB-only laptop
end up being unable to implement the best solution.

There is another option, for new USB-only desktops at least, which is
to buy an inexpensive expansion card providing one or two standard
RS232 ports. Again I suspect that these will be around for some years
to come, though you might have to seek out a more specialist PC
dealer. (This applies to laptops also but it's physically a more messy
solution.)

[Other good points snipped.]

John Dann
www.weatherstations.co.uk