Usb To Rs232 Cable

Getac X500

Full-size, full-featured rugged notebook computer offers up-to-date technology, excellent connectivity, resistive multi-touch, and optional PCI/PCIe expansion
(by Conrad H. Blickenstorfer)

On June 15, 2011, Getac announced yet another addition to its growing lineup of rugged tablet, handheld and notebook computers. The new Getac X500 is a large, full-featured rugged laptop computer that combines the most desirable features of three other Getac products into one machine. Specifically, Getac points out that the new machine offers the expandability and customization potential of the Getac A790 , the screen size and graphics emphasis of the Getac M230 , and the overall performance and flexibility of the Getac B300 .

So what does it all mean to potential customers, and what do you get with this new Getac model? In essence a modern, full-size, full-function multi-purpose rugged notebook computer with a large display and substantial expansion potential via an optional PCI or PCIe expansion unit that fits under the computer. "Full-size" here means a 16.1 x 11.4 inch footprint—about as large as that of today's 17-inch consumer notebooks—and a weight of almost 12 pounds. The X500 has an extremely bright 15.4-inch LCD display with Getac's unique resistive multi-touch and wide-format 1366 x 768 pixel resolution (the same as the 720p high definition TV standard). A 2.66GHz Intel Core i7-620M processor provides excellent performance and integrated graphics, with optional nVidia GT330M discrete graphics available as well.

Bottom line here: the X500 is larger and offers a larger display than any other machine in Getac's lineup (or in rival Panasonic's, for that matter). It benefits from general technology advances with a fast Core i7 processor, Getac's very bright QuadraClear display technology, optional nVidia graphics, etc. It has an attractive modern design, and for those who need it, there's the expansion unit that provides access to conventional full-size expansion cards. The picture above shows how the expansion unit neatly attaches underneath the X500. Its availability means that special purpose functionality that is simply not available in standard notebooks can easily be integrated into the Getac X500.

But let's take a closer look at the X500's components and features: Powerful Core i7 processor The unit's 2.66GHz Intel Core i7-620M processor is part of Intel's initial generation of Core i7 CPUs.

USB to RS232 Cable | Garmin Handheld GPS

This item comes with absolutely no instructions for installation. The enclosed CD contained drivers to many products and was equally useless. I only found the correct driver after I called a company whose README file was on the CD who no doubt had many calls from others about the same product. The company had no affiliation with the actual product but they were kind enough to help me identify the item and I was then able to install a driver.

The unit does work properly now that the correct driver is installed but I don’t envy the mere mortal that purchases this device. It is ridiculous that there are no instructions. So in an effort to help anyone that has purchased this device (or plans to purchase it) here are the instructions to install the driver.

When the unit is plugged in identifies itself as USB SER! The unit has a barely legible HL-340 molded on the side of the DB9 connector. HL-340 is the part number and with that you can find the driver installation executable (HL-340.exe) for the device under the folder USB-232 on the USB driver mini CD that comes with the device.

Don’t expect to tell Windows to search the CD for the device driver – it won’t find it because the driver installation is an .exe file that you need to run manually first. Simply run USB-232HL-340HL-340.exe first and then plug the device in.

After connecting the device, Windows will prompt you to install the driver. Follow the usual Windows prompts to install the driver software automatically (since the driver software was already installed on the system in the previous step). The driver identifies itself as USB Serial CH340 to add further confusion.

You will get warnings about the driver not having passed Windows Logo testing. You can ignore those warnings and install the driver anyway.

The com port should appear in the com port menus of whatever software that tries to use a com port – in my system it appeared as COM7 and this will probably vary on other systems.

Once the device is installed it works properly so I can’t know it from that standpoint. It was just an ordeal to get it working. I hope that this helps someone.

I bought this product to use for a scrolling sign at my local high school.The athletic department was low on funds so I bought this. I put in the installation CD, nearly worthless because of the lack of any manual. I decided to scan the CD just out of curiosity and my antivirus program found 13 files infected with viruses. 13 viruses is not what I want on the brand new athletic department computer. PLEASE WHATEVER YOU DO DONT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID AND GO FOR THE EL CHEAPO BRAND. I would install the drivers from the website recommended but Lord knows what nasty surprises could be waiting online. I tried installing the cd that came with it and still no good.

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