On Oct 19, 8:53*pm, Questor wrote:
---





On Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:00:02 -0400, "SC Tom" wrote:

wrote in message
. ..
On Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:13:50 -0400, Questor
wrote:

---
On Sat, 17 Oct 2009 21:50:45 -0400, "Tom Lake"
wrote:

"whs" wrote in message
...
Here is an explanation and a picture of a serial port. Look at your
machine whether you have one of those. Usually they are present.
Very few new machines come with a serial port these days. *Some
have a header on the motherboard but no cable to the outside
of the case. *You have to buy a header-to-DB-9 cable.

Tom Lake
Thanks. *So if I buy this cable, where, on my notebook, do I plug it
in?
I don't think you really want the answer: on the notebook motherboard.

This would mean you have to open the case and search for a header that
may (or may not) be there. *I think Tom was thinking desktop. *I peeked
into my desktop and did indeed find a header marked COM1. *It was a
10-pin DIP header (two rows of 5 pins).

I doubt very much if you would find one on your notebook motherboard
even if you opened it up.

I'd still go with a USB to COM cable.

Questor
Thanks. *I understand USB - but what kind of port does a COM cable plug
into? *It sounds like a stupid question but I never ran into this
before. *I have these two label makers that I don't want to replace
with newer ones just because of the Serial port they require.
A COM cable is a serial cable. The converter allows you to plug your serial
cable(s) from the printer(s) to a USB port on your notebook. There are
drivers that allow Windows to see them as serial ports, thus allowing you
printers to work. We had to do a similar conversion on our UPS station at
work with a serial label printer (until UPS finally sent us a USB label
printer).

SC Tom

Is a COM port also referred to as RS232? *I looked these adapters up on
Google and I want to be sure I have the right item.

Yes

Questor- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Another alternative is using a router such as the D-Link DSL-704p.
It's a wired router, but if you have a wireless router, it can be
uplinked from there. A benefit to this type of arrangement is that you
can leave your printer(s) in one place. They also have the DSL-704up,
which has a USB port instead of rs-232.

--Jim

This works when the printer drivers are compatable. Some are not, so with
label printers, is a maybe it will work. The same thing can be true of USB
to serial converters. Not all are equal, and not all printer drivers will
work properly with a USB to serial converter.

Actually, serial ports have been going downhill for years. As far back as
1989, laptops started dropping various handshaking and control options.
We got into this when we tried to convert "special purpose" military
programs to run on a full mil spec laptop, and found that the Mfr had
removed support for various obscure serial handshaking and port control
methods. Unfortunately, we needed them to control the serial port on a
"Black Box" used on a very popular fighter.
(Pins on the serial chip were not connected, (no place to connect them to,
and the needed BIOS support for them was missing.)

"Another alternative is using a router "
"Spike9458" wrote in message
...
On Oct 19, 8:53 pm, Questor wrote:
---





On Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:00:02 -0400, "SC Tom" wrote:

wrote in message
. ..
On Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:13:50 -0400, Questor
wrote:

---
On Sat, 17 Oct 2009 21:50:45 -0400, "Tom Lake"

wrote:

"whs" wrote in message
...
Here is an explanation and a picture of a serial port. Look at
your
machine whether you have one of those. Usually they are present.
Very few new machines come with a serial port these days. Some
have a header on the motherboard but no cable to the outside
of the case. You have to buy a header-to-DB-9 cable.

Tom Lake
Thanks. So if I buy this cable, where, on my notebook, do I plug it
in?
I don't think you really want the answer: on the notebook
motherboard.

This would mean you have to open the case and search for a header
that
may (or may not) be there. I think Tom was thinking desktop. I peeked
into my desktop and did indeed find a header marked COM1. It was a
10-pin DIP header (two rows of 5 pins).

I doubt very much if you would find one on your notebook motherboard
even if you opened it up.

I'd still go with a USB to COM cable.

Questor
Thanks. I understand USB - but what kind of port does a COM cable plug
into? It sounds like a stupid question but I never ran into this
before. I have these two label makers that I don't want to replace
with newer ones just because of the Serial port they require.
A COM cable is a serial cable. The converter allows you to plug your
serial
cable(s) from the printer(s) to a USB port on your notebook. There are
drivers that allow Windows to see them as serial ports, thus allowing
you
printers to work. We had to do a similar conversion on our UPS station
at
work with a serial label printer (until UPS finally sent us a USB label
printer).

SC Tom

Is a COM port also referred to as RS232? I looked these adapters up on
Google and I want to be sure I have the right item.

Yes

Questor- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Another alternative is using a router such as the D-Link DSL-704p.
It's a wired router, but if you have a wireless router, it can be
uplinked from there. A benefit to this type of arrangement is that you
can leave your printer(s) in one place. They also have the DSL-704up,
which has a USB port instead of rs-232.

--Jim

This works when the printer drivers are compatable. Some are not, so with
label printers, is a maybe it will work. The same thing can be true of USB
to serial converters. Not all are equal, and not all printer drivers will
work properly with a USB to serial converter.

Actually, serial ports have been going downhill for years. As far back as
1989, laptops started dropping various handshaking and control options.
We got into this when we tried to convert "special purpose" military
programs to run on a full mil spec laptop, and found that the Mfr had
removed support for various obscure serial handshaking and port control
methods. Unfortunately, we needed them to control the serial port on a
"Black Box" used on a very popular fighter.
(Pins on the serial chip were not connected, (no place to connect them to,
and the needed BIOS support for them was missing.)

"Another alternative is using a router "
"Spike9458" wrote in message
...
On Oct 19, 8:53 pm, Questor wrote:
---





On Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:00:02 -0400, "SC Tom" wrote:

wrote in message
. ..
On Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:13:50 -0400, Questor
wrote:

---
On Sat, 17 Oct 2009 21:50:45 -0400, "Tom Lake"

wrote:

"whs" wrote in message
...
Here is an explanation and a picture of a serial port. Look at
your
machine whether you have one of those. Usually they are present.
Very few new machines come with a serial port these days. Some
have a header on the motherboard but no cable to the outside
of the case. You have to buy a header-to-DB-9 cable.

Tom Lake
Thanks. So if I buy this cable, where, on my notebook, do I plug it
in?
I don't think you really want the answer: on the notebook
motherboard.

This would mean you have to open the case and search for a header
that
may (or may not) be there. I think Tom was thinking desktop. I peeked
into my desktop and did indeed find a header marked COM1. It was a
10-pin DIP header (two rows of 5 pins).

I doubt very much if you would find one on your notebook motherboard
even if you opened it up.

I'd still go with a USB to COM cable.

Questor
Thanks. I understand USB - but what kind of port does a COM cable plug
into? It sounds like a stupid question but I never ran into this
before. I have these two label makers that I don't want to replace
with newer ones just because of the Serial port they require.
A COM cable is a serial cable. The converter allows you to plug your
serial
cable(s) from the printer(s) to a USB port on your notebook. There are
drivers that allow Windows to see them as serial ports, thus allowing
you
printers to work. We had to do a similar conversion on our UPS station
at
work with a serial label printer (until UPS finally sent us a USB label
printer).

SC Tom

Is a COM port also referred to as RS232? I looked these adapters up on
Google and I want to be sure I have the right item.

Yes

Questor- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Another alternative is using a router such as the D-Link DSL-704p.
It's a wired router, but if you have a wireless router, it can be
uplinked from there. A benefit to this type of arrangement is that you
can leave your printer(s) in one place. They also have the DSL-704up,
which has a USB port instead of rs-232.

--Jim