vijay shankar

hi everyone, i am new to labview and i am from computer science department.. i didnt have any idea about labview a few days back.. but a conventional computer science programmer familiar with other programming languages.. i need to develop a project in labview to access a controller ( a TEC controller in my case) from my machine.. I have a serial port in the controller, but i dont have any adapter for that.. I need to develop the program in an XP system and so i just need an idea of how to go about this project. I basically have the following questions, 1. to connect the controller to my system, do i need a rs232 cable (from the company?). if so, do i need a PCI card installed in the system? any specific card? or can i have a rs232 to usb adapter and plug that into my system and still develop my project in labview? 2. to program in labview, should i need a instrument driver to send commands to the controller? if there is something of this sort, then what should i get from the vendor who supplied the controller for me.. to be specific, the controller is a series 800 thermaoelectric cooler controller from alpha omega instruments