Jon Arnett

Thanks for the comments thus far, I'll answer what I can for now. First off, the current prototype does not support full duplex over RS422, for the very reasons described above, that this hasn't worked out well in testing various devices as it's not "true" full duplex. Regarding the power for RS485, this is something we may be able to add before launch. While most 485 don't seem to have this, I could see how the 5V there would be nice. From my research, people seem to like pin 8 for the 5V, and retaining pin 5 for ground, does this sound accurate to you folks?

Thanks for the comments Pete; our release candidate currently avoids that exact headache. Was there any other annoying things you would like to see this product solve, or have we gotten lucky and nailed it as is?

Hello all, we're in the midst of developing a new product, similar to others out there, but trying to make it better and more useful for real world users like yourselves. The product is essentially a USB to RS422/485 converter with a 6 ft. cable built onto it which is resonably unique, but not completely original. Based on the chipset we've chosen, we have the ability to add a few other features to the product, including: 1) Com port retention, so unplugging and reconnecting the cable to a given laptop or PC will always be remembered as whatever port you confirgured it for 2) Com port renaming, so the cables can be named and rather than show up only as com ports, can show as the device name in the device manager 3) Traffic logging, so some debugging from collisions, etc. can be logged (obviously memory for logging is limited to a short interval, but still feasible) for later troubleshooting Are there any other features for a product like this that you would find useful? If so, let me know, as we're in the final stages on development, but still have some time to make driver and software changes. Thanks, -Jon Arnett Senior Product Manager, StarTech.com

QUOTE (hooovahh @ Apr 3 2009, 03:50 PM) The COM retention is controlled by the driver on the PC itself and the renaming portion is stored in memory on the device itself. If you were to set it up on a host PC with say com 1,2,3,4, then disconnect it, and plug something else in that took a com port, then add the device again, it would not get the same com ports. Essentially the retention is more for portability purposes, rather than changing the configuration of a given machine. Giving you the ability to disconnect the box, take it with you, and hook up again in the same configuration with everything saved with correct device names, etc. Multiple boxes will configure themselves in the original fashion regardless of the order they're plugged in, so for many serial devices, you'll always end up controlling the right ones. QUOTE (TobyD @ Apr 3 2009, 04:00 PM) I could see a use for this in our operations, but what does it mean when it says, " Limited functionality with Windows NT 4 and Vista." We use Vista quite a bit. Note: CDW has it listed above MSRP! The NT4 limited portion is 100% accurate; as for Vista, we do have a replacement driver that allows Vista to work with it. The only downside is that the renaming portion doesn't function, but the com retention, and the logging still work fine in Vista, which is why we say limited functionality. Good catch on the CDW price, we've contacted them to adjust their price down accordingly. The real street price of this guy should be similar to where PCConnection shows it ($80USD give or take) QUOTE (crelf @ Apr 3 2009, 04:32 PM) I'm wondering if some data remains on the PC that remembers the USB device number. Does the COM port number change if I plug it into a different USB port? The data actually remains on the device itself in memory, as for the com port number changes, no you can use any USB port on the machine, and as long as the COM range is still available (no other devices added that are occupying the range since you set it up), it will grab the original COM ports regardless of how which USB port you use. If anyone is interested in testing one of these devices out in your configuration, feel free to get in touch with me. We're always looking for solid, honest reviews of products, and if these are products you think will work for your situation, we do have a fairly liberal return policy if it doesn't do what you need it to. Thanks.

I would like to introduce two new products (with more to come) that have been developed by StarTech.com. Both of these new releases are small form factor USB to Serial RS-232 devices, which of course there are plenty of, however these offer some new features that may be useful to this group. In this launch is a 2 and 4 port version; apart from the standard control of serial devices from a USB machine, you get: COM port retention - The device will store connected serial devices, so if you should need to disconnect, the port settings last used for any connected devices will be recalled when they're connected again COM port renaming - You can rename any connected serial devices, so that they show up as "weigh station", "infrared scanner", or whatever you may have connected. This too is stored in memory, so when moving disconnecting/reconnecting, it's quite simple to tell what's hooked up without having to trace wires. Error logging - Traffic logs are also stored for troubleshooting and error logging purposes, unlike most competitive products Competitive products from major names I've seen on this site run at their lowest $239USD, and usually $280+ for the 4 port version. StarTech.com's ICUSB2324X is under $100USD with additional features. The two port version can obviously be had for even less: For anyone looking to purchase, please purchase through one of our distributors (linked off the site links above), as they always sell well below our MSRP prices. A 10-port version of the same product is currently in development, and later on down the road, an RS422/485 version will be coming. Please feel free to comment and/or send me private messages with features or other products you'd like to see us build.

QUOTE (Dan DeFriese @ Feb 7 2009, 06:53 PM) Interesting suggestions, a couple of questions then. Regarding the hardware time-tag, are you referring to a logging function for troubleshooting, or something different? Obviously moving devices also gets frustrating, so if the device support com port retention and renaming, would that be helpful? For devices like this, is working with 232, 422, and 485 a must? Thanks.

Thanks for the response Crelf, I had a look at the concentrator, and I noticed the 8 port version is around $907 from their site. I had a couple of questions on a product like that. 1) For your project, was it required to control over ethernet, and did you lose any of the serial functionality you needed because of the tcp/ip connection? 2) If you were integrating something (again focusing on only 8 ports here), would the pricepoint be much of an issue for you? Our 8 port card would retail somewhere around $200 instead of $900, and give raw serial control. As for NI-VISA, compliance is no issue, so sounds like it would work well. At this point, the card can run 8 serial ports simultaneously on a single core 2 Ghz chip without maxing it out, which is why I was wondering how much of an issue cpu usage actually was for you. On more broad terms, are there any specific products that the industry is craving right now, or any huge complaints on products you use from other companies like Digi that we could improve upon for you?

Hello, I'd like to introduce myself first as a Senior Product manager at StarTech.com, and let you know this is in no way advertising for the company; just want you to know my background before I ask a couple of questions. We're looking at launching some new serial card products, and I figured who better to talk to than people that actual program serial control and monitoring. I've read several threads on here where people mention applications using 4+ serial ports that cause cpu levels to spike and impede performance. I'm wondering if anyone has tried any single chip serial cards on these types of applications, and how they actually work in the real world? The cards our engineers have developed are both PCI Express cards, using single chip architecture instead of a bridge chip design like everything else out there. In their bench testing, we're seeing as good as a 48% reduction in cpu loads on the 4 and 8 port cards (RS-232). I'm wondering how actual developers use these sorts of cards though, as we're certainly open to making changes, custom driver configurations, etc. if that's what the market wants. So, hopefully I don't flamed for being from a product company and posting here, but I would like some honest feedback on how useful these types of cards would be in your fields, and which applications you use them for? Right now, we're looking at Windows, Linux and Mac support, so hopefully that covers what everyone would need, but let me know if not. Thanks in advance for the space, as well as your comments and insight.