Friend wanted to give me programmer board for me to try to learn but it use serial RS282 connector, but i don't have it on my labtop. I was told centain USB to serial converter don't work. The best is to build your own using FTDI chip. I wish i knew how to do it. But is there on the market that i can buy that is ready made USB to RS232 (Real or future UART) or even PCMCIA to RS232 (Real or latest UART), eeerrr....cheap? That way, i can get started learning the coder immediately.
Any help would be appreciated.
PS : I seened eBay sell a lot of those USB/PCMCIA to serial RS232 adapter really cheap. Which one will work best?
I think you're right: the problem lies in the programs, not the adaptors.
Programs that use the serial port purely for its intended purpose of transferring data should work with any and all adaptors;
Programs that try to play "clever" tricks by, for example, manipulating the modem control signals are likely to fail - because it was never intended that those signals should be used in that way.
The same can be said of much stuff that relied upon non-standard use of the parallel port...
Always beware of such tricks - and anyone who recommends them...
true in many cases, however FlashMagic (not an 'amateur issue') has problems because many such adapters do not handle DTR/CTS etc, correctly and, quite often (flash write time) a flash update programm need to take a break from receiving data,
Erik