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Topic: PC USB-to-Serial adapters
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Randy Stankey
Film God
![](/ubbmembers/64b.jpg)
Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 06-10-2003 10:08 AM
I have used a Keyspan USB/Serial adaptor to hook my iBook to several things: Dolby Digital (DRAS 10 & WinDRAS)... U.S.L.'s DSP-60... Sony SDDS... Sync-ing Palm Pilots.
Every one of them worked fine once I got the driver for the dongle installed properly and got the software that I am using to know where the drivers are located.
When I used this dongle for Dolby, I had to run DRAS under Virtual PC and that's where the beauty of the thing lies. The emulator takes care of handling the dongle and its drivers. The "guest" software doesn't even know that it isn't running on a real PC, nor does it even know that it isn't talking through a real serial port.
When run with an emulator like VPC, the guest OS and the guest application(s) run slower than they normally would but when you're talking about doing the kinds of things we do, speed isn't critical as long as the thing is fast enough to get the software to run.
Now, even when NOT running under VPC and using Mac OS 9 or OS X I have not had very many troubles with the thing once I got it set up in the first place. The only thing I ever had happen was under OS 9. When I accessed the modem, the OS would switch the I/O stream away from the Keyspan adaptor and to the modem port. When I wanted to use the adaptor I would have to remember to put it back. Once I got updated to OS X this ceased to be a problem. OS X just "knows" what to do with the adaptor. When you plug the thing in, the Kernel Extension(s) for the thing load automatically. When you unplug the thing, the KEXTs unload. It seems to happen auto-magically! (Unless you listen for the sound of the HD when the software loads. )
I know that Win-95 (via VPC), DOS 6.6 (via VPC), OS 9 and OS X handle it well on the Mac. As to how other computers or OS-es handle the Keyspan (or other brands of) adaptors I can't attest.
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