[Tfug] Tiny "serial console"

[Bexley Hall]

Hi Robert,

On 2/16/2014 8:26 AM, Robert Hunter wrote:
> On Sun, Feb 16, 2014 at 12:34 AM, Bexley Hall<bexley401 at yahoo.com>  wrote:
>
>> Does anyone make a "netbook" type device *with* a genuine
>> serial port?  (USB serial ports tend not to be 100.00%
>> compatible with *real* serial ports)
>
> Have you looked at those USB-to-Serial dongle thingies?

Yes.  The problem is they tend not to implement "real"
serial ports.

I.e., if you are just pushing characters in/out through the
device, it probably will suffice.

But, if the serial port is intended to interface to something
other than a "generic serial port", the adapters fall down in
different (vendor specific) ways.

Many of the devices that I attach to a serial port exploit
particular characteristics of a "real" serial port in order
to achieve some particular functionality.  E.g., they may
use the modem control signals in non-generic ways and/or
rely on specific timing relationships between when the
software driving the serial port initiates some action and
when it expects the "pins" to reflect that action (for example,
controlling the "direction" of an external bi-directional
transceiver).

The same sorts of "problems" apply to USB-parallel port
adapters.

I was hoping to find a *small* laptop/netbook that would have
at least the serial port (preferably serial AND parallel but
the parallel port tends to be physically large).  The laptops
that I have with these capabilities are either large/bulky
*or* small -- but requiring external "docks/port expanders".