I need to know if, first, is it possible to convert a USB cable to serial, and second, what problems I may face. The computer I use does not support USB, so I may be limited in a digital camera if this is not possible. The camera I was interested in is the Sony S50. Thanks for any responses.

-- Sean Broker (srbroker@texas.net), June 01, 2000

Answers

You can go the other way -- if your computer has a USB port you can make it do serial, but if your computer has only a serial port you can't make it do USB (except by adding a USB card).

If your computer doesn't support USB you still have a lot of options

parallel port, PC floppy, PCMCIA (laptop) card readers. SCSI card readers exist also but are a little pricey. Most card readers are very easy cheap and fast.

-- benoit (foo@bar.com), June 01, 2000.

If you have a PCI slot a USB card is relatively cheap and very easy to add! Some computers have a hard time with them - but I've had luck with them.

Des

-- Dan Desjardins (dan.desjardins@avstarnews.com), June 01, 2000.

I'll second the cheap USB card. They are so inexpensive I was considering buying one at Circuit City before opting for the high price spread (a new PC).

Bill Cachrone in the current edition of PCMag writes about the trials and tribulations of USB but I have a Nikon 990 and an Epson 870 running off of mine with nary a glitch. You can read the article at www.pcmag.com/opionions but wait a week - I always seem to get the magazine a week before the on-line issue. (Isn't that backwards?)

-- bill (this_old_house@pobox.com), June 01, 2000.