If you’ve just purchased a new laptop and you were hoping to plug your old RS-232 9 Pin serial cables into it them you might be in for nasty suprise. Very few new laptops ship with any RS232 or Serial Port capability. This is partly because of cost, partly because the laptop manufacturers are trying to keep the entry price and weights down and partly because less and less people are using peripherals that connect via RS-232.
Don’t despair though unless you’ve bought one of the very small notepads that are really designed for web browsing and not much else your new laptop should have an Express Card Slot on the side of it. These new express card slots come in two different sizes (34mm and 54mm widths) but the standard seems to be settling around the smaller 34mm version. The slots are basically ways in which you can add new capabilities to your laptop after you’ve purchased it. You don’t have to worry about unscrewing the laptop or fitting things inside it you simply buy an express card with the capability you need and slide the card into the slot on your latop – that’s it. Simple.
Express cards are now available for all sorts of things including adding Firewire (ieee1394a) which is a popular way of transferring video and movie footage from your Camcorder, adding integral card readers (for things like CF cards, SD cards, xd Card etc.) adding ethernet cabaiity and of course adding a 9 Pin Serial Port (RS-232).
Even if you’ve got a 54mm express card slot any 34mm card will still fit and work because the inteface on the 54mm cards is only 34mm (its an “L” shaped card) andthe 54mm standard was designed to work with all 34mm cards.
Apiotek Classic Serial Port Express Card Adapter
