I received an interesting e-mail today from Tech Support at Xircom. They stated the software drivers for their ultra-cool PortStation USB unit do, in fact, have problems with the RS-232 serial port snap-ins.
They said they're working on a fix and will have revised drivers out "soon".
At the Goodwill Games, I used the Entrega USB serial unit recommended by Fred Patton, and it worked flawlessly under Win98. I was reticent to use anything other than NT in a mission-critical situation, but NT does not have full support for USB so I was forced to use W98 on that one PC, networked to others running NT. In the long run, I think the Xircom is potentially better than the Entrega, simply because it doesn't require power, but until Xircom gets their software act together, my PortStation is sitting in my closet.
The PortStation driver version 1.2 is Xircom's most recent, and it doesn't work, so if you're interested in the PortStation keep checking Xircom's web site for 1.3 or higher.
Originally posted 9 Mar 2000 by James Broder
james@skunkware.tv
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