[time-nuts] HP 58503A Com 4 conflict

[Bob Camp]

Hi

Ok, off into serial land …. 

The GPSDO does not really know or care what port it’s on. It will be just as happy on port 119 as on port 4.  It (by design) does care about the baud rate / data bits / parity / stop bits. This is as true with a USB to serial as with a direct serial card. That’s the good news. Now for the rest of the news.

If your computer operating system is old enough, you may only *have* 4 com ports. Bad news there = upgrade the computer. Typically this is a Windows 95 and earlier issue. 

If the software running on the computer is old enough it may only *know* how to use 4 com ports. Bad news is same = upgrade the software. Typically this is a Windows 95 era (mid 90’s) issue. 

If the drivers on the serial to usb converter are old enough, they may only talk as 4 com ports (I’ve never seen this on a modern OS). Same news = upgrade the driver.

All this relates to Windows. The cutoff times and versions for other OS’s are a bit more obscure. The same basic details apply. 

————

If you are running on an XP or newer machine, you should have far more than 4 com ports available. If you are running any of the newer ( = past 2000) software to talk to the box, it should be quite happy to deal with more than 4 com ports. 

My *guess* is that you need a different piece of software. Exactly what you are doing will determine which one you need. ( = more info required).

---------

> On Jan 4, 2015, at 10:50 AM, James Robbins <jsrobbins at earthlink.net> wrote:
> 
> My new old HP58503A wants to connect to my PC on Com 1-4.  Other PC devices are already using those 4 Com ports.  
> 
> Is there any way to connect it to a Com port other than one of those 1 to 4?
> 
> I currently use an Edgeport USB-to-Serial Converter which works very well to communicate with the PC and to assign Com ports to my various GPS units.  But, as far as I know, the chosen Edgeport Com port must fall within the range of Com ports which for which the device is designed.
> 
> If this has been answered, please point me to the discussion.  Many thanks.  And, Happy New Year to all, with wishes for a more peaceful (and timely - couldn't resist) year.

I have this terrible urge to start a calendar thread revolving around “new” years … so far I’ve resisted the urge. It’s *very* difficult ….arrrrrgggghhh….

Bob

> 
> Jim Robbins
> N1JR  
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