[GLLUG] Additional Serial & Parallel Ports

[Marr]

On Sunday 30 September 2012 23:18:31 Chick Tower wrote:
> Would a PCI card interfere with the motherboard's ports?  Is there any
> reason it wouldn't work with Linux?

I've heard of people using add-in cards that don't work for some things but 
_do_ work for other things. Often, these people are running Windows, but I 
suppose Linux isn't immune to whatever vagaries might be causing such issues. 
My desktop still has both serial (RS-232) and parallel ports, so I have no 
experience with such PCI add-in cards.

As Richard suggests, I'd expect the motherboard ports to be capable of being 
disabled via BIOS.

Personally, if the motherboard has connectors for RS-232 and parallel ports, 
I'd use them over a PCI card any day.

> Are there cables that can connect to the motherboard and some external
> ports that are simply mounted on something like those metal covers for
> the PCI slots?

Yes. They used to be quite common in "the days of old", in fact. I recall 
buying an ISA-bus card for my self-built IBM XT-compatible PC which had a 
single RS-232 port (with the connector physically mounted on the card). To get 
the 2nd RS-232 port capability, I had to buy/install a UART chip (16550, for 
those who recall that) and connect a cable from the pin-header on the card to 
an external bracket in an empty slot. Quite simple and cost-effective.

You should be able to find such a cable/connector/bracket, even though I don't 
see them used nearly as much these days. The pinout _should_ be standard, but 
I'd still double-check as I can recall having some cables from that era which 
only worked with a specific card.

> Does anyone know of a cheap, local source for these devices?

No, unfortunately. But it wouldn't be hard to make such a cable of your own 
from parts, if you can't find it anywhere. It's a shame that a motherboard that 
comes with such connectors doesn't also provide the cables/brackets, but as we 
all know, that's how it goes these days. :^(

Whatever route you go with this, good luck! And, if you think about it, please 
let us know how it works out because I, for one, would be quite curious.

Regards,
Bill