So you have a new USB capable Mac and a pile of old
serial devices - what to do. Well Belkin and Keyspan
each have a device that will allow you to use most of
your old serial devices with your new machine. While
both of these USB to serial adapters will get the job
done, one does it considerably better than the other.
The Belkin adapter is an attractively designed product
that comes with a series of plastic colored sleeves
to match whatever Mac you have. It plugs into one of
your machine's USB ports and has two serial ports on
the back; one a standard Mac serial port that can emulate
either a printer or modem port, and one a DB9 serial
port that is the serial standard used in the PC world
and, as far as we could tell, has only limited applicability
on the Mac platform. In any case you can only have one
serial device at a time connected to this adapter -
you can however have more than one Belkin adapter connected
to your Mac, and connect a second serial device to that.
One nice touch of the Belkin adapter is the inclusion
of status LED lights on the front of the unit which
are helpful for troubleshooting purposes.
The software to drive the Belkin adapter comes on a
CD-ROM. You must have the adapter disconnected from
the machine before you install the software. Four items
are installed into the Extensions folder. Once you restart
your Macintosh, you first connect the adapter to your
machine's USB port and then attach the serial device
to the adapter.
If you are running Mac OS 8.1 or 8.5, you will need
to specify which port the adapter should emulate; Printer
Port or Modem Port. Some serial devices require Printer
Port emulation in order to function. To get Printer
Port emulation you need to hold down the option key
when connecting the adapter to your Mac. If you are
running OS 8.6 or later you don't need to go through
this rigmarole as these OS versions have advanced USB
support that automatically configures the port for whatever
device is connected. If you have OS 8.5, do yourself
a favor, download the free OS 8.6 updater from Apple
and upgrade your software.
The Belkin adapter comes with a nice long USB cord
and a complete instruction manual to walk you through
the installation and set up process.
The
first thing you'll notice about the Keyspan adapter
is its small footprint, when compared to the Belkin
adapter. Although it doesn't have the industrial design
of the Belkin adapter (only a slight nod to the new
Macs by using translucency) it only takes up a little
more than a third of the deskspace. Its USB connection
cord is however an anemic 9 inches long.
The Keyspan adapter, unlike the Belken one, comes with
two full functioning, standard Mac serial ports- both
can be used at the same time. For example you can be
surfing the Web with a modem attached to one port, and
be printing a web page with a printer attached to the
other. The Keyspan adapter also supports more printers
than does the Belkin one (but fewer PDAs). Certain serial
devices that require a Printer port to operate have
to be connected to serial port 1 on the Keyspan adapter
which emulates the printer port. We had to figure this
out by trial and error because the Keyspan adapter ships
without any documentation! There is extensive documentation
online at Keyspan's web site, but that is cold comfort
if you are trying to connect a modem to the adapter
and can't get to the Web site.
There is a caveat on the "full functioning"
of both ports for Epson printer owners. According to
Keyspan when an Epson printer is attached to the adapter's
printer port the printer's driver disables the other
Keyspan port.
The Keyspan software installs three items, an extension
to drive the adapter, and software that will aid you
in troubleshooting the adpater - should you need to
do so. The adapter supports OS 8.1 and later.
We tested the adapters by connecting several serial
devices to them including; a Zoom K56 Flex modem, an
Olympus D450 Zoom camera and a Apple StyleWriter 2500
printer (only compatible with the Keyspan adapter).
We tested on both an 233MHz iMac and a 350MHz Blue and
White PowerMac. In all cases, once we got our device
software configured correctly, the adapters worked flawlessly
- again the StyleWriter is not a supported device on
the Belkin adapter so we did not test this combination.
We were able to download images off our digital camera,
surf the Web and print without problems or conflicts.
To test speed we downloaded a series of images off the
Olympus camera and speeds were on par with that of a
regular serial connection. Belkin says their adapter
is rated at 230Kbps and Keyspan says their adapter can
transfer data at up to 1Mbps. Whatever the case both
adapters downloaded the images in the same amount of
time. Again the Keyspan adapter has two operational
serial ports so you can be connected to, and be using,
more than one serial device at a time - a real advantage.
Perhaps that 1Mbps of bandwidth comes in to play then.
Neither adapter is compatible with devices that require
AppleTalk/LocalTalk nor compatible with Geoport devices.
Conclusions: Both adapters work well, but other
than in the area of design, the Keyspan adapter, with
its two functional serial ports, runs rings around the
Belkin one, in terms of functionality. Users may also
find the smaller footprint of the Keyspan adapter an
advantage. If on the other hand you have a serial device
that requires a DB9 connection and don't already have
an adapter for that, you might want to give the Belkin
adapter consideration. Device compatibility is updated
as Belkin and Keyspan refine their products, but as
it stands now Keyspan is stronger in printers and Belkin
has more PDAs in its corner. Check the compatibility
device links below
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The
first thing you'll notice about the Keyspan adapter
is its small footprint, when compared to the Belkin
adapter. Although it doesn't have the industrial design
of the Belkin adapter (only a slight nod to the new
Macs by using translucency) it only takes up a little
more than a third of the deskspace. Its USB connection
cord is however an anemic 9 inches long.
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