You didn't say whether or not you were using Windows or
some other operating system and that makes a difference. FreeBSD
Unix, for example has a rather poor USB stack but the one for
Linux seems pretty robust. I was trying to get a pair of
Proliffic brand serial adapters to work on a FreeBSD server we
were building here at work and they just wouldn't cooperate at
all. These can be mail-ordered for $25.00 so they are cheap
enough but they only partly registered themselves and did not
create the /dev/ttyUSB0, etc, devices.

	I ended up completely rebuilding the server under ubuntu
instead of FreeBSD and they both work perfectly. Your milage may
certainly vary.

	You might also look at PCMCIA cards if your laptop has
room for one.


Martin McCormick WB5AGZ  Stillwater, OK 
Systems Engineer
OSU Information Technology Department Telecommunications Services Group

Danny Dyer writes:
> Hi All, my current laptop has no serial port.  I have two different =
> serial programming cords for programming different rigs.
> I'm researching any USB equivalent cords to substitute, but in the =
> meantime,
> Radioshack's got a serial to usb converter/adapter for $35, and a local =
> computer store alledgedly has one for 30.  Anybody got any better =
> cheaper sources? Thanks, Danny Dyer, Wb4idu.