serial to USB adapter?

[Jason]

I have an older laptop with no USB port. all I can find are the new Cardbus
type PCMCIA USB cards. None of them work. I have

 

[Jason]

oops, I was saying I cant get any of the Carbus USB cards to work and I
cant find any of the older ones (even a USB 1.0). so I was wondering if the
USB to serial (i.e. USB port on PC to a serial cable on a camera, gps, etc.)
would work in reverse. That is, would an adapter plugged into the PC serial
port and a USB at the other end work?

Somehow, I think not. I think the features of a USB are more advanced than
what a serial port connection can provide.

 

[Pen]

oops, I was saying I cant get any of the Carbus USB cards to work and I
cant find any of the older ones (even a USB 1.0). so I was wondering if
the USB to serial (i.e. USB port on PC to a serial cable on a camera, gps,
etc.) would work in reverse. That is, would an adapter plugged into the
PC serial port and a USB at the other end work?

Somehow, I think not. I think the features of a USB are more advanced
than what a serial port connection can provide.

You're correct, the adapters won't work in reverse. Among the problems
USB is much faster than serial, but also the units would have to be
designed to work in reverse.

 

[Noozer]

oops, I was saying I cant get any of the Carbus USB cards to work and I
cant find any of the older ones (even a USB 1.0). so I was wondering if
the USB to serial (i.e. USB port on PC to a serial cable on a camera, gps,
etc.) would work in reverse. That is, would an adapter plugged into the
PC serial port and a USB at the other end work?

Nope... and remember that "PCMCIA" and "CardBus" are NOT the same thing.

You can usually put a PCMCIA card into a CardBus slot and it will work, but
not necessarily the other way around. Be sure that the card you try is the
right version for your slots. Also, depending on your OS, you may need to
load drivers for your slots before you can use them - do you have any other
cards working in those slots?

Might help to post your Laptop model and what cards you've tried already.

 

[Jason]

Good idea. It is a Toshiba Tecra probably 8-10 years old at this point
(bought it used). It is just a Pentium 1 200 MHz, with 80 mb RAM (OK, you
all can stop laughing now)

I have tried a Belkin, ADS, Compaq, and another I cant remember. All were
current model USB 2.0, and all were Cardbus. But I think they all said
PCMCIA also (probably supposed to be a backwards compatibility thing). No
worked with W98SE, so I put on XP (ouch, I don't recommend this painfully
slow experience) and they still didn't work. I have a Netgear wireless card
that works just fine. But it is about a 3-4 year old PCMCIA "PC Card" type.

I think an older "PC Card" type USB card would work. Even USB 1.0, I don't
care. Anyone have one to sell?