> The cable I bought from Radio Shack cost about $50 if I remember correctly.

$24 in my shop, and be sure that I make a good profit on that. If you 
ever need quantity and $50 is the alternative we should have a good talk...

But an FT232RL chip does all the hard work, and will look much nicer 
than a separate dongle, and you won't need to translate RS232 back to 
TTL. GBP 3 @ 100 : 
http://apple.clickandbuild.com/cnb/shop/ftdichip?op=catalogue-products-null&prodCategoryID=35&title=FT232R

The drawback is of course that the customer must identify the correct 
virtual serial port. If you don't want that you must probably use an USB 
framework for a HID device.

-- 

Wouter van Ooijen

-- -------------------------------------------
Van Ooijen Technische Informatica: www.voti.nl
consultancy, development, PICmicro products
docent Hogeschool van Utrecht: www.voti.nl/hvu

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