RS232 to USB converter

I have two components which want to connect to each other.

The first is a combined multimeter with integrated oscilloscope (brand Unitrend) and the second one is a fully functional Toshiba Libretto CT50 palm top with windows 98 installed.

The palm top has no USB interface but is very small (taking up little space on the workbench) with a display size of 10" diagonally, which I could use to display the oscilloscope with higher resolution than that provided by the LCD-screen in the Unitrend multimeter.

The Libretto has a full functioning (bidirectional) serial port which I used to program SPS devices while laptops generally fail since their serial port doesn't allow handshaking operations.

I found a chip which might suit the needs, the FT8U232AM (Future Technology Devices Intl.).

Will this work for my application? (Data sheet attached)

Boncuk

If the scope only has USB then it won't work. That chip is designed to connect to a host, not a device.

Mike.

Thanks for the advice.

Do you know of any chip meeting my requirements?

Boncuk

As far as I am aware they don't exist.

Mike.

I'm now confused. I found the Libretto and according to that page it doesn't have RS232 but does have USB. Is yours an older version or something?

Mike.

Hi Mike,

it's a Libretto 50CT including a docking station. The bare device doesn't have any external connector except for a card connector for CD-ROM or floppy drives.

The docking station has a serial port, a 15pin high density video connector, a parallel port and two PS2 connectors to connect external mouse and keypad.

Connectors from left to right: mouse, parallel port, video connector, keyboard connector, serial port.

As already stated, the serial port is capable of handshaking.

It must be a quite old model since it was optimized for windows95, but works with windows98 like a charm.

Regards

Boncuk

Maybe something like this will help:
Link
You can find it in any computer shop or service. Also they come with most of mouses and keyboards and a lot of people dont use it, they use USB.

I have mouse with USB connector and with this adapter It was connected to PS2 port.
Same is with keyboard.
Maybe it will work?
You dont need another keyboard