In the distant past I was involved in troubleshooting a wide array of PLCs from all MFGs, ranging from brand new to fossilized. I remember there were some PLCs (esp older Allen Bradley if I remember correctly) that you could not connect to them via a USB->Serial converter; had to be a physical COM port.
For the past 4 years I have been dealing with nothing but brand-new Omron PLCs which are interfaced with using a straight USB cable. Now I'm getting back into my old line of work and looking to purchase a new laptop for that purpose. I'm looking for a brand new laptop with a physical COM port and apparently that's a unicorn.
So it makes me wonder exactly what is it about some applications that require a physical COM port? Is the software doing some kind of strange thing with the pin voltages that only a physical port can do?
And 2 related questions:
1. Are there any brand-new laptops today, with a physical COM port?
2. Have there been any USB-Serial converters to come out in the last few years which can replace a physical COM port in every way, and interface with these old PLCs?
For the past 4 years I have been dealing with nothing but brand-new Omron PLCs which are interfaced with using a straight USB cable. Now I'm getting back into my old line of work and looking to purchase a new laptop for that purpose. I'm looking for a brand new laptop with a physical COM port and apparently that's a unicorn.
So it makes me wonder exactly what is it about some applications that require a physical COM port? Is the software doing some kind of strange thing with the pin voltages that only a physical port can do?
And 2 related questions:
1. Are there any brand-new laptops today, with a physical COM port?
2. Have there been any USB-Serial converters to come out in the last few years which can replace a physical COM port in every way, and interface with these old PLCs?