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Win 10 Real Serial Port — Parallax Forums

Win 10 Real Serial Port

ercoerco Posts: 20,250
in General Discussion
I just got decent refurb Win10 computers from Frys for the wife and I. HP/Compaq 6005 and 6305 models. Nice, plenty fast, and newer than our old desktops. Ten, count 'em TEN USB ports. Silly me had them for a week before I realized there was a real serial port on the back. Didn't expect them to work under Win 10 (these were Win7 computers when new back in 2009-10) but I tested and they work just great with a HW board and Stamp editor software. Who knew?

CAM02774.jpg

This review of the 6005 shows that it originally came with a PARALLEL port too. Pretty backwards (compatible) for 2009 IMO.

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Comments

  • ElectrodudeElectrodude Posts: 1,621
    edited 2016-08-27 20:52
    Nice long RS-232 cable. :)
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    What's that CRT thing next to the computer...is that picture from some sort of Computer Museum??? :)
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,250
    mindrobots wrote: »
    What's that CRT thing next to the computer...is that picture from some sort of Computer Museum??? :)

    Yeah, I dragged that in from the garage to test & burn in. DANG I forgot how heavy those CRTs are. Pity, it's a beautiful Viewsonic in good shape but soon it will be e-Waste.
    Electrodude wrote: »
    Nice long RS-232 cable. :)

    Didn't have a cable handy just then. Necessity>>>Invention :)

  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,144
    erco wrote: »
    This review of the 6005 shows that it originally came with a PARALLEL port too. Pretty backwards (compatible) for 2009 IMO.

    The parallel port might be there on the motherboard, and just need a header-DB25 cable.
    Then you could have Win10 and real retro hardware....

    Refurb is a great idea, and if it can drive parallel, could give a safety-net for those 'PC in a corner' driving some ancient device programmer, for those rare cases...
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,250
    edited 2016-08-28 02:39
    jmg wrote: »

    The parallel port might be there on the motherboard, and just need a header-DB25 cable.
    Then you could have Win10 and real retro hardware....

    That's probably the case, I'll check into that and make the connection for my vintage BS1s.
    jmg wrote: »
    Refurb is a great idea, and if it can drive parallel, could give a safety-net for those 'PC in a corner' driving some ancient device programmer, for those rare cases...

    Yep, at $94 and $124 I thought these Fry's refurbs were a good value and I didn't hesitate. They both look brand new, other than the Windows 7 sticker. Here's a look inside the 6005, which came with a slightly bigger hard drive than advertised:



  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    Those off-lease HP refurbs are a good deal. I got one at Wallmart about a year and a half ago for $199. For some reason I bought the extended warranty for $9.99. Six months in use, the hard drive died. Called Wally world to see where I should ship it back to, they told me to just keep it and they sent me a check for $199. Bought a 200GB drive for $25.00, but I did not have the recovery partition to install the OS. Called HP, and because this is in their "Business Computer" line, they overnighted a 3 CD set of recovery disks for WIN7 PRO. Sweet!

    HP 600X for $25.00! Finally beat erco on price! :)

    BTW, the serial port is what sold me for programing BS2's. I think I may have a parallel port PCI board to try my old DOS based EPROM programmers, but that may be a stretch. I keep a 386 and a 486 around for that.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,250
    Publison wrote: »

    HP 600X for $25.00! Finally beat erco on price! :)

    You have vanquished me.

  • ercoerco Posts: 20,250
    Parallel port, done deal. Normally I'd gloat about my amazing $1.35 case connector but adding that to my $124 computer makes Jim look even better. :(

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Motherboard-DB25-1-Port-Serial-Parallel-PCI-Slot-Header-Cable-Bracket-/321228204734



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  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2016-08-29 17:55
    erco wrote: »
    Parallel port, done deal. Normally I'd gloat about my amazing $1.35 case connector but adding that to my $124 computer makes Jim look even better. :(

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Motherboard-DB25-1-Port-Serial-Parallel-PCI-Slot-Header-Cable-Bracket-/321228204734

    Ahh, the have that tucked behind the VGA port. I have a bunch of adapters from the 90's days, although the blanks on the HP are shorter. A little drilling, a little dremel....


  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,144
    erco wrote: »
    Parallel port, done deal. Normally I'd gloat about my amazing $1.35 case connector ..
    I'm impressed, does it work on legacy (dos?) software ?

  • ercoerco Posts: 20,250
    Will have to wait for the connector to try. Guess I need a floppy drive to run stamp/m ! :)
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