NOPE9 wrote: > I think just about everyone will suggest you communicate using a USB > to Serial adapter . Count me as one "everyone" that doesn't. > It is a great solution. For small values of "great". Big drawbacks with serial ports is that the user has to know which one a device is connected to. With a USB serial port it's even worse because you don't know without some digging which COM port number the operating decided to assign a particular adapter. Another drawback is that the system doesn't know the list of devices connected to it. A app can't look around for devices it knows how to handle, or be run automatically when its particular device type is connected. > Async serial communication is supported by nearly every development > language plus True, although this could be explained because only a few years ago that was how it was done. > you find it on lots of devices. Not anymore, at least counting newly designed devices, not existing ones. > Aysnc serial communication is not obsolete and will be viable for the > next 20 years [ I think ] . It will likely be around in niches for a long time yet to come, but it is basically obsolete already for mainstream purposes. Can you show even a single mass market device produced today that has RS-232 connectivity but not USB? Printers are a good example. 20 years ago printers came with a parallel port and often a serial port. Then USB came along and it was at first added, then the serial port was dropped, and now the parallel port is gone too. ******************************************************************** Embed Inc, Littleton Massachusetts, http://www.embedinc.com/products (978) 742-9014. Gold level PIC consultants since 2000. -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist