USB-to-serial adapter (for GPS) and latest Prolific drivers

[John Navas]

NOTE: This is posted as a public service, _not_ spam -- I have no
connection to any of the companies below (except as a customer).


My two GPS units (Garmin and Magellan) have serial interfaces, and my
ThinkPad T41 notebook computer doesn't have a serial port, so I needed a
good USB-to-serial adapter.

My 1st try, a cheap generic adapter based on a "Huge Pine" chip,
purchased on eBay, was a complete failure -- Windows XP couldn't even
identify the hardware properly. In addition, the cable is relatively
long (over 3'), and the serial connector has attachment _screws_ rather
than (normally needed) attachment _nuts_. While I may have been unlucky
enough to get a defective unit, my research suggests that these "Huge
Pine" products are flaky, so I recommend avoiding them.

My 2nd try, a generic adapter based on the Prolific PL-2303 chip, was
successful -- it plays very well with Windows XP and with my GPS units.
(Prolific-based adapters are used by a number of major OEMs.) It's a
nice short (1') cable, and the serial connector has attachment nuts.
Prolific-based adapters are readily available on eBay, but I purchased
mine from local (San Francisco) vendor TekGems <http://tekgems.com/> for
$10 -- see <http://tekgems.com/Products/SBT-USC1M.htm>.

Although the adapter as supplied by TekGems comes with drivers on a mini
CD, later drivers for Windows (2.0.2.1, XP Logo Certified), Mac, and Red
Hat Linux, can be downloaded directly from Prolific. If you have
difficulty with the Prolific Taiwanese website in English (as I did),
use Google _cache_ from the Google search
<http://www.google.com/search?q=site:prolific.com.tw+"PL-2303+Software+and+Drivers">.
For Windows, run the Setup program _before_ attaching the adapter cable
and driver installation will be smooth and painless.

 

[Emidio S.]

John Navas ha scritto:

NOTE: This is posted as a public service, _not_ spam -- I have no
connection to any of the companies below (except as a customer).


My two GPS units (Garmin and Magellan) have serial interfaces, and my
ThinkPad T41 notebook computer doesn't have a serial port, so I needed a
good USB-to-serial adapter.

My 1st try, a cheap generic adapter based on a "Huge Pine" chip,
purchased on eBay, was a complete failure -- Windows XP couldn't even
identify the hardware properly. In addition, the cable is relatively
long (over 3'), and the serial connector has attachment _screws_ rather
than (normally needed) attachment _nuts_. While I may have been unlucky
enough to get a defective unit, my research suggests that these "Huge
Pine" products are flaky, so I recommend avoiding them.

My 2nd try, a generic adapter based on the Prolific PL-2303 chip, was
successful -- it plays very well with Windows XP and with my GPS units.
(Prolific-based adapters are used by a number of major OEMs.) It's a
nice short (1') cable, and the serial connector has attachment nuts.
Prolific-based adapters are readily available on eBay, but I purchased
mine from local (San Francisco) vendor TekGems <http://tekgems.com/> for
$10 -- see <http://tekgems.com/Products/SBT-USC1M.htm>.

Although the adapter as supplied by TekGems comes with drivers on a mini
CD, later drivers for Windows (2.0.2.1, XP Logo Certified), Mac, and Red
Hat Linux, can be downloaded directly from Prolific. If you have
difficulty with the Prolific Taiwanese website in English (as I did),
use Google _cache_ from the Google search
<http://www.google.com/search?q=site:prolific.com.tw+"PL-2303+Software+and+Drivers">.
For Windows, run the Setup program _before_ attaching the adapter cable
and driver installation will be smooth and painless.

hi there,

i had same bad experience with the "huge pine" adapter john had.
but i'm still trying to let it work under xp. the problem is that xp
does not report a valid VIDID couple, it is all zero. i tried the
same hardware on windows 2000 and it works, and it works also under
linux (VIDID=0x6547:0x0232).
any advices?

thanks,

emidio

 

[DanS]

John Navas ha scritto:



hi there,

i had same bad experience with the "huge pine" adapter john had.
but i'm still trying to let it work under xp. the problem is that xp
does not report a valid VIDID couple, it is all zero. i tried the
same hardware on windows 2000 and it works, and it works also under
linux (VIDID=0x6547:0x0232).
any advices?

thanks,

emidio

I've had one experience with USB-to-Serial adapters. It was the Belkin
model circa 2002, the one that looked like a small round body with a bite
taken out of it.

I was working on the road deploying wireless network infrastructure, and
what happened was the company hired 3 more people to work on the project
I was working on. They were hired, 3 laptops were ordered the same day,
they got one day of training on the product, then were sent to my
location. The laptops were shipped to us 3 or 4 days after that. When I
opened the box, there was also 3 of the previously described adapters as
well. It turns out that the person who had ordered them ordered ones that
didn't have serial, only USB, so someone else went out and bought 3
adapters before they were shipped to us.

It took 3 hours to get the first one working. The laptops were Win2K, and
when initially installing the first one, I chose the Win2K driver. Didn't
work. 2 hours later after not being able to get it to go, I thought I'd
try the Win98 driver....what the hell, it's not working now, so why not.
Went thru the 'Update Driver' process, not the mfg install. No go.

Let's try the Windows Me driver next. 'Update driver' again. No workie.

Well, let's try the 2K driver again. 'Update driver' to the Win2K driver.
It worked !!!

On to laptop 2......mfg install, no work. Damn. Decide to try the 98-Me-
2K route again. Worked perfectly again.

Laptop 3......install 98 drivers through mfg install, 'Update driver' to
Win Me, then 'Update Driver' to 2K. Good to go.

I'm not saying that this will work out for you, just sometimes you have
to do some oddball stuff to get things to work.

That was the experience that soured me on these converters.

 

[Guest]

:

i had same bad experience with the "huge pine" adapter john had.
but i'm still trying to let it work under xp. the problem is that xp
does not report a valid VIDID couple, it is all zero.

Where do you see all zeros id - in the registry?
Does XP display any popups, like "USB device not recognized", when you
attach it?

i tried the
same hardware on windows 2000 and it works, and it works also under
linux (VIDID=0x6547:0x0232).

But linux and win2000 are on different machines? so this can be hardware
compatibility issue?

--PA

 

[Emidio S.]

DanS ha scritto:

....

I'm not saying that this will work out for you, just sometimes you have
to do some oddball stuff to get things to work.

That was the experience that soured me on these converters.

oh i see, you're right. but what leaves me disorientated is that
windows xp does not see the VID/PID identifiers of the device... i
wonder if this is normal. i suppose that if os does not know which
device it is, it cannot associate any driver...

thank you

emidio