Guest joshuabrand Posted November 11, 2001 Share Posted November 11, 2001 I will be soon purchasing a laptop and moving off to college, so I won't have a serial port anymore. Since the Garmin Etrex cables are serial, I'm trying to figure out how I can interface my gps with my laptop. I emailed garmin and they suggested purchasing a usb converter for $42! Yeah, right, like I'm gonna pay that much to use my gps with my laptop. What sort of luck have people had with serial to parrallel port adapters? I can get one for about $5, so I figured that might be a better option if it would work. Here's a link to the adapter: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000J1UE/qid=1005443454/br=1-16/ref=br_lf_e_16/102-2046138-7516104 Quote Link to comment
Guest Hawk-eye Posted November 11, 2001 Share Posted November 11, 2001 Just a question ... What kind of lap top do you have that doesn't have a serial port ... even my Sony Vaio has a serial port on the replicat.? I'm not sure I've encounter one that doesn't have one available. Quote Link to comment
Guest joshuabrand Posted November 11, 2001 Share Posted November 11, 2001 Serial ports are becoming very archaic. They are a very old form of connecting devices to pc's and many new pc's no longer have them, many Toshiba laptops no longer have serial ports at all, however they still do have parallel ports. Quote Link to comment
Guest hideandseek Posted November 11, 2001 Share Posted November 11, 2001 I just got a 1 GHZ Dell laptop and it's got a serial port. I dont think you will have to worry. Quote Link to comment
Guest barramus Posted November 11, 2001 Share Posted November 11, 2001 quote:Originally posted by joshuabrand:I will be soon purchasing a laptop and moving off to college, so I won't have a serial port anymore. Since the Garmin Etrex cables are serial, I'm trying to figure out how I can interface my gps with my laptop. I emailed garmin and they suggested purchasing a usb converter for $42! Yeah, right, like I'm gonna pay that much to use my gps with my laptop. What sort of luck have people had with serial to parrallel port adapters? I can get one for about $5, so I figured that might be a better option if it would work. Here's a link to the adapter: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000J1UE/qid=1005443454/br =1-16/ref=br_lf_e_16/102-2046138-7516104 That part is just an adapter to change a 25 pin cable to 9 pin or vice-versa. It won't "change" a parallel port into a serial port. I've never heard of anything that will do that. I've also never heard of a laptop that doesn't have a serial port. Quote Link to comment
Guest mikemtn Posted November 11, 2001 Share Posted November 11, 2001 I have a Sony Vaio and had to get the serial to USB adapter. I know some of the Toshiba's we get at work don't have a serial port. I'm guessing that the serial port on all computers is soon to be a thing of the past. It will be a problem till all the stuff that uses a serial port gets archieved away. Quote Link to comment
Guest joshuabrand Posted November 11, 2001 Share Posted November 11, 2001 barramus - I do understand that the adapter doesn't actually turn the parallel port into a serial port, but I should still be able to access my etrex with Easygps if I plug it into the parallel port with that adapter, right? mikemtn - how well does that usb to serial adapter work? Does it emulate an actual com port? Anyway, if anyone else has any constructive advice, it would be very appreciated. Quote Link to comment
Guest topografix Posted November 12, 2001 Share Posted November 12, 2001 quote:Originally posted by joshuabrand:barramus - I do understand that the adapter doesn't actually turn the parallel port into a serial port, but I should still be able to access my etrex with Easygps if I plug it into the parallel port with that adapter, right? No. You still need a COM driver on the laptop that knows where to route the serial data. quote:Originally posted by joshuabrand:mikemtn - how well does that usb to serial adapter work? Does it emulate an actual com port? Anyway, if anyone else has any constructive advice, it would be very appreciated. A USB adapter works by emulating the serial port. A program like EasyGPS sees COM5 and talks to it, not knowing (or caring) that it's really just a software driver that is converting the serial commands to USB commands. I think the USB to Serial is your only option. ------------------ Dan Foster TopoGrafix: GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps http://www.topografix.com Quote Link to comment
Guest joshuabrand Posted November 12, 2001 Share Posted November 12, 2001 ont face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by topografix: I think the USB to Serial is your only option. Thanks for the help! At least I know what I have to do now. Quote Link to comment
Guest blackjak Posted November 12, 2001 Share Posted November 12, 2001 Here is a USB to Serial adapter for 32 bucks... http://www.usbgear.com/usa/item_158.html Quote Link to comment
Guest Pote Posted November 13, 2001 Share Posted November 13, 2001 Maybe I'm a little off base here, but it would seem to me that my purchase decision of the laptop would start with my minimum requirements and if I already had an external device that requires a serial connection, I would shop for a unit that has a serial port. In your purchase analysis, look at a machine that has a com port and one without. If the cost of the one without is more that $42 less than a unit with, then get the one w/o and buy the adapter. I infer from your comments above that your decision is already made on the Toshiba. Is there a reason for that unit and not another brand/model? Quote Link to comment
Guest joshuabrand Posted November 13, 2001 Share Posted November 13, 2001 quote:Originally posted by Pote:I infer from your comments above that your decision is already made on the Toshiba. Is there a reason for that unit and not another brand/model? My preference is either Toshiba or Dell (leaning towards Toshiba), primarily due to their customer support track record and their tendancy to sell reasonably priced, high quality pc's. Pretty much the reason that just about anyone else would buy a pc. To reiterate, serial is a fairly old type of pc-peripheral communication and will likely be phased out in the near future (1-2 years). My brother's Toshiba that he recently purchased (a higher end home use model) has no serial port. However, I do believe that my sister's Toshiba laptop does (purchased even more recently). I see it as being questionable as to whether or not I will have a serial port available on my laptop, after all, there very few devices that use serial anymore and USB and firewire are continuously gaining ground. Quote Link to comment
Guest Pote Posted November 14, 2001 Share Posted November 14, 2001 I can't disagree with your logic on the future of a serial port. Similarly, a 1.44 floppy will soon be outdated. But since I have a Sony Mavica that uses a floppy, my next machine will have a 1.44 floppy on it. Similarly, I have a Garmin GPSMap76 that came w/ a serial connector so I will make a serial port a requirement till I get a new camera and a new GPS. Heck, for about $100 you can get a 166 pentium with a floppy, an ethernet and a serial port. For another $99 you can get a router and peer to peer the whole mess. Or just spend the 40 bucks and buy the USB cable. :^) Another option may be to get an old usb wire, and splice your garmin wire onto it. Garmin publishes their wiring spec. C couple of drops of solder and some black tape and you'd be good to go! Quote Link to comment
Guest joshuabrand Posted November 14, 2001 Share Posted November 14, 2001 quote:Originally posted by Pote:Another option may be to get an old usb wire, and splice your garmin wire onto it. Garmin publishes their wiring spec. C couple of drops of solder and some black tape and you'd be good to go! The thing you run into with that method is getting it to work with EasyGPS. The program will be looking for a serial port since that's how etrexes are interfaced with pc's. I'd need to either have a serial port, or have a piece of hardware that emulates a serial port. Quote Link to comment
Guest topografix Posted November 14, 2001 Share Posted November 14, 2001 quote:Originally posted by Pote:Another option may be to get an old usb wire, and splice your garmin wire onto it. Garmin publishes their wiring spec. C couple of drops of solder and some black tape and you'd be good to go! Don't follow this advice. If you don't understand why, you shouldn't even be considering making your own cables. ------------------ Dan Foster TopoGrafix: GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps http://www.topografix.com Quote Link to comment
Guest joshuabrand Posted November 15, 2001 Share Posted November 15, 2001 quote:Originally posted by topografix: Don't follow this advice. If you don't understand why, you shouldn't even be considering making your own cables. I do understand why, actually. However, I prefer to buy my cables, as manufactured cables are almost always more durable and reliable. However, yes, I do understand that it would also be very easy to screw the wiring up and toast my GPSR by hooking up to power in the USB port, or even just a wrong pin. Plus, Etrex units aren't made to be plugged directly into USB, so it would make sense no to plug it into a USB port unless there is an adapter designed to make it work correctly. Quote Link to comment
Guest Pote Posted November 15, 2001 Share Posted November 15, 2001 ket science if you do your homework. I'm not an electrical engineer, or a marine mechanic, just a guy who likes to solve puzzles. Personally, I find your statment to be similar to saying "don't change the tires on your car. If you don't know why, then you shouldn't be holding the lug wrench". I won't pretend to have an air of superiority so I'll explain that in this situation the "why" is that overtorquing the lug nuts can cause warped brake rotors. Chrysler owners find this out over time. The owners guide tells you the proper torque - but they don't tell you they use crap rotors! :^) Quote Link to comment
Guest JDMC Posted November 15, 2001 Share Posted November 15, 2001 Re Dell vs Toshiba: I've had Dell and Toshiba laptops, and I believe Dell is cheaper, and the customer support from both has been equally excellent, and both have been excellent laptops, and I'll bet Dell's still have serial ports. Quote Link to comment
Guest CharlieP Posted November 20, 2001 Share Posted November 20, 2001 My Compaq laptop does not have a serial port, but I have 2 desktops that do, so it has not been a problem. My digital camera uses a USB port and I suspect that GPSR's will go to USB before long. Anyone have an idea when GPS will go USB? CharlieP Quote Link to comment
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