Serial Converters
Information
The serial port Express Card is a variation of the standard Express Card with a serial RS232 COM port. In the older days, well in the 1980ies the PCMCIA card was the only used PC card for laptops. Recently the PCMCIA card has be replaced with the newer standard which is called a ExpressCard. Express cards comes in many differnt variations such as a serial port Express Card, USB port ExpressCard or SATA port Expresscard, but all of them are a type of ExpressCard. Before buying a serial port card to your laptop you should determine if you need a serial PCMCIA card or if you need a serial port ExpressCard. Take a look at your computers card port, can check if the slot is wide or if it is narrow, if it is wide then its most likely a PCMCIA port but if it is narrow (like 32mm wide) then it most likely is a serial port Express Card you need. However, notice that some ExpressCard cards are 54mm wide so in some cases it can be hard to tell the difference between a PCMCIA card and a 54mm EXpressCard. In this case you should check your computers configuration to make sure you get the right card. Once you have installed the drivers for the serial port ExpressCard a virtual COM port will show up in your computers Device Manager. This COM port can be used as if it was a built-in COM port. Usually the drivers are included when you buy a serial port ExpressCard but not always so check before you buy. Another thing to consider when you buy a serial port ExpressCard is if it is designed with a PCI or a USB architecture, the serial port ExpressCard PCI design is in some cases faster than the USB serial port ExpressCard design, however if you are not concerned about speed, which does not apply most RS232 applications, a USB design will work perfectly fine.