No, John, I read Ross's post correctly. Even if Elecraft were to use
a "known" USB chip, they would still be stuck providing drivers for
obsolete operating systems long after the OS and chipset vendors stopped
supporting the chip set and OS simply because amateurs insist that every
product be supported for eternity and a day.
73,
... Joe, W4TV
On 4/14/2014 3:30 PM, John Marvin wrote:
Joe, I think you read Ross's post differently than intended. I don't
think Ross was suggesting that Elecraft do their own USB to RS232
converter chip or provide a native USB interface with custom Elecraft
drivers (although there would potentially be other advantages to a true
USB interface, the driver challenge you mention would probably outweigh
those advantages). He was suggesting that Elecraft use a standard (e.g.
FTDI) converter chip inside the box (I'm not sure a retrofit would make
sense, but this would be a change going forward). From the perspective
of the computer, it would not see anything different from an external
converter, and you would use the same drivers.
The supposed advantage is that by buying the converter chips directly
Elecraft would be in a better position to ensure that the chips weren't
counterfeit. However, since Elecraft is supplying converters to their
customers and is buying them in bulk, it would seem to me that they may
be able to get most of the way there by working with a reliable supplier
and doing the necessary checking to make sure that the converters they
are buying don't contain counterfeit chips.
John
AC0ZG
On 4/14/2014 1:00 PM, Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:
Then _Elecraft_ would need to worry about continuously updated and
*signed* drivers for Windows (including Windows 95, 98, 2000 and XP
compatible drivers 15 year after the operating system is no longer
supported), OS-9, OS-X, and 57 varieties of LINUX.
Far better to stick with RS-232 and leave the _USER_ be responsible
for his on computer interfacing.
73,
... Joe, W4TV
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