Here’s the deal my friend’s dad got a new Compaq laptop recently and he’s kinda ticked 'cause there is no USB slots on it. I’m pretty sure you can buy a USB card for a laptop but I’m not exactly sure and I’m curious as to what I should get. He’s come to me because I’ve built computers and such for friends but I have no experience in messing around with laptops. So if anyone could tell me what I need to buy so his laptop can have USB support it would be much appreciated.
here you go:
Dual USB ports PCMCIA cards.
http://www.psism.com/usbports.htm
http://www.bixnet.com/pcmciausbports.html
alternatively, you can also get a serial to USB converter
Thank you xash.
when you say ‘new’ laptop, do you mean brand new?
Frankly, i’m gobsmacked that there would be such a thing as a new laptop without USB.
[hijack]
Cites please!
I have heard people talking about this before, but never believed them. And here comes Xash with a spotless reputation and says the same! Time to investigate further.
Is there really such a thing as RS-232 to USB converters?
I know that the other way exists, but to me it would seem imposible to emulate a USB port using just a single RS-232 port. (Just look at the bandwidth for example, 4+Mb/s as opposed to a mere 115kb/s for the serial)
It might just be possible to make a little thingy that you plug into a parallell port, that (together with quite a bundle of software) emulates USB.
Or is there simply a low-speed mode of USB that can easily be emulated on a serial port?
Again, cites please!
[/hijack]
Per Mangetout he must be using “new” in a relative sense. It’s possible that the owner doesn’t know what he’s looking at. Every notebook I’m familar with, manufactured in the past 3-4 years has come with USB ports. It’s virtually impossible that a new unit would not have them someplace. Having said this USB ports are quite small and easy to overlook. Some people have asked me to install a USB card on their systems until I show them the existing USB port.
If it is a used PC you need to be careful and not make the same mistake I did. PCMCIA/PCCARD slots come in different flavors. I now have a perfectly nice new 32 bit PCARD slot to USB adapter that I have no use for because I bought it for an older notebook which had the PCMCIA 16 bit slot. There are/were no 16 bit PCMCIA to USB adapters that I am aware of.
From xash’s link.
“Note: Your laptop’s PCMCIA slot must support the 32-bit cardbus in order to use this item. If your laptop’s CPU speed is less than Pentium 166MMX, very likely it does not support the cardbus! Even if your speed exceeds P 166, you still need to make sure. Some laptops, such as Compaq Presario 1xxx models do not support Cardbus well.”
If the notebook has a 32 bit type 2 slot and no USB email me and I’ll make you a deal you can’t refuse on the adapter I have. 
tc, good question. yes, you do get RS-232 to USB converters. No, they do not emulate a USB connection. So, in effect, you do not get the speeds or other PnP benefits of USB. But, you do get to use USB devices on old computers.
e.g. A lot of people buy Palm OS based handheld computers that have a USB HotSync cradle, but have an old PC at home. Problem: Cradle cannot be attached to old PC. Solution: a.) Get a Serial to USB converter, and use the cradle over the COM port. b.) get a PCI card with USB slots, and use it as a USB device. The converter is available for about (Indian)Rs.2000/- or so, that’s about US$40.
Please. He obviously made a small mistake in haste of flipping USB to serial (yes) with serial to USB (no). Don’t beat it to death. Serial to USB adapters do exist for some USB components (like some Palm cradles) that can inherently switch hit but not as a general class of adapter for some of the reasons you mentioned.
astro, i meant Serial to USB.
Yes, you are correct in the sense that they would not be able to work at USB speeds or with certain other USB benefits.
Fascinating!
That’s what I like with this board. It’s a great antidote to prejudice. Last week I would have laughed at someone saying that you can do USB on a serial port, but now I know that in some cases it is possible!
Thanks xash!
I thought the same thing about his laptop. I wasn’t able to look at it and see what it has on it. The guy isn’t a computer moron thankfully and he does know what USB ports are. The laptop was purchased within the last 6-8 months I do believe. Not sure about any of the specs on it because I was told it’s a “new Compaq laptop”. Anyways everyones help is much appreciated.
I just had a thought. I am not familar with all of Compaq’s current notebook offerings but if the USB port is hidden behind a flip up port door of some kind this might explain why he can’t see it. I’m still betting that either it’s a pretty old notebook or he’s just overlooking it.
If he can give you the model # Compaq’s website has technical info on most of their older notebooks. If they don’t you can simply reference Ebay for an identical model that has sold and look at the spec list in the product description. As a very rough criteria for most notebooks around 166 mhz Pentiums and up is when they started bundling them onboard.
The USB port, if it has one, is hidden in the manual, cause that’s where I would look first.
As owner of an older (1.5 years) Compaq laptop that was already headed toward obsolesence when it was purchased, I have a hard time believing that anything newer wouldn’t be USB ported, because mine certainly is. I realized that I didn’t know what the heck the USB port looked like, and discovered it upon a closer inspection. The back end of Compaq laptops can be chock full of meaningless little holes and slots that serve no purpose (I’m on laptop #3, they all had that “feature”) but on every one of the newer Presarios I’ve seen, the USB port is vertically placed right next to the power inlet, and is extraordinarily easy to miss because it looks so similar to the anti-theft cable connection that’s right on the other side.
The port is also lacking in the universal USB icon/logo/whatsis to denote that it is there, instead relying upon users to RTFM, which would only make sense. Conversely, they can also find success by doing what I did – with a USB cable in hand, I started poking around the back end of the computer looking to see where the darn thing would fit and finding, lo and behold, this seemingly innocuous little space where, hey, it fit! Go figure!