<div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 4:11 PM, Doug Blakely <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:treeguy@q.com">treeguy@q.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
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<font size="4"><font face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size: 14px;">I am in need of a functioning PC laptop with a dedicated 9 pin serial port. Adapting from a USB to 9 pin will not work for this application involving older software utilized for function adjustments on an aerial lift that is out of production.<br>
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</font></span></font></font></div></blockquote><div> </div></div>Presumably the reason why you need a real 9 pin serial port is because the voltage levels of a USB to serial adapter are not within spec. This is common, instead the voltages are close enough for most purposes and work fine. However they don't work fine for some devices that depend on the negative voltages provided on a conformant serial port. If that is the case then almost no laptop made in close to recent times will satisfy your needs.<br>
<br>It just so happens that I have a Dell Latitude D420 with a media base for sale and the media base has a 9 pin serial port. Again, if it's the voltage levels you need I don't know that this will help you. I had it listed on craig's list for $550 but I think it was priced too high. Instead I'm about to re-list it for $450. If you want to give it a try to see if it will work for your needs you're welcome to it, and if it works then you can buy it. The media base is a small slice with extra ports that attaches to the bottom of the computer. It's detachable so you can leave it on your desk if you want to travel light. With the media base detached it's pretty comparable to a Mac Book Air in size and performance.<br>
<br>Here are the details:<br><br><h2 style="font-family: Arial;">Dell Latitude D420 Ultra Portable Dual Core Laptop with Extended Battery & Docking Station</h2><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">THIS IS A PREMIUM COMPUTER IN EXCELLENT CONDITION WITH ALL THE EXTRAS</span>. They don't sell anything like this in Best Buy.<br>
<br>I
have a new computer so am parting with my trusty Latitude. It's a great
computer if you move around. The computer is in tip-top shape w/ a
recently replaced hard drive and a brand new keyboard. It will </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial;">feel like brand new</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">. </span><br style="font-family: Arial;">
<br style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Screen is in great condition, no scratches or dead pixels</span><br style="font-family: Arial;"><br style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Battery
gets a healthy 4 - 5 hours of life in airplane mode (wifi off, screen
dimmed) - that's when it's running Linux, supposedly Win XP has even
better power management so maybe you'll get even better performance.</span><br style="font-family: Arial;"><br style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial Black; font-weight: bold;">My favorite features:</span><br style="font-family: Arial;">
<ul style="font-family: Arial;"><li>Very light-weight. 3.5 lbs w/ extended battery</li><li>Easy to carry around</li><li>Docking station/media bay - leave it on your desk w/ your cables plugged into it and undock while on the go</li>
<li>Extra
power cord - the default clunky power adapter is included as well as
the "Slim auto/air/ac adapter" which is much more portable and works in
cars and airplanes. Both adapters work w/ foreign power supplies.</li><li>Dual
core cpu - once you've had a dual core you cannot go back. It's so
uncommon for the computer to freeze up because something is using up
all of your CPU</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial Black;">About the Intel Core Duo ULV processor</span><br style="font-family: Arial;"><br style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Like
the Mac Book Air this lattitude has the "ULV" series of CPU. They're
designed for lower power usage so that you get longer battery life. It
has all the benefits of a core duo. Including virtualization support,
so you can run Windows or Linux in a virtual machine at full speed. The
click is 1.2GHz which sounds slow but these cpus are actually quite
fast. I think they have extra cache on the cpu.</span><br style="font-family: Arial;"><br style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This
computer has the full Intel 965 / centrino chipset including the 3d
decelerator. It's got business quality 3d graphics. Games run fine, not
super. In Linux 3d acceleration works great. Presumably Vista would as
well.</span><br style="font-family: Arial;"><br style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial Black;">About Operating System (XP, Linux, Ubuntu)</span><br style="font-family: Arial;"><br style="font-family: Arial;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I
use Ubuntu. I've never used XP on this computer but it does come w/ a
valid certificate of authenticity and serial number on the bottom for
XP Professional. I'll include a copy of the XP pro CD. However the
computer ships with Ubuntu pre-installed. Because this is a business
grade Latitude computer Dell offers superb support for installing and
customizing Windows. You can find all the necessary software and
drivers on their support web-page. There is a number on every dell
computer - just enter it on the dell support site and you'll get
everything you need - manuals, drivers, updates, help, etc.</span><br style="font-family: Arial;"><br style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial Black;">The Screen</span><br style="font-family: Arial;">
<br style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">12" widescreen high def (720p) at 1280x800 resolution. Works great. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial;">Non-glare</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">.
It's getting harder to get non-glare screens and my new laptop does not
have it. I miss it sorely. Laptop has VGA out, docking station has VGA
+ DVI outputs.</span> <span style="font-family: Arial;">Works great with projectors. Excellent for presentations.</span><br style="font-family: Arial;"><br style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial Black;">Problems with this computer</span><br style="font-family: Arial;">
<br style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial;">There are none</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">.
Screen is excellent. Case is excellent. Keyboard was just replaced
because I broke a key off it. I've only used the computer w/ the new
keyboard twice and it feels like brand new. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial;">Battery is still good</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">
and has about 4 - 5 hours of life in it. A new extended capacity
battery will give you 6 - 7 hours of life so it is diminished from it's
original capacity. The screenshot attached below shows powertop, the
Ubuntu power management tool, showing the power usage and expected
battery life. This is in airplane mode of course... wireless disabled,
screen dimmed slightly. You'll get 3 hours of life running lots of
apps, screen fully bright and wifi on.</span><br style="font-family: Arial;"><br style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial Black;">Full list of features</span><br style="font-family: Arial;">
<ul style="font-family: Arial;"><li>2GB of RAM</li><br><li>Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) Intel Core Duo 1.2GHz cpu (like the macbook air)</li><br><li>160GB hard drive (the largest you can get in the 1.8" format) - drive is less than 6 months old so should last a while</li>
<br><li>Wifi built in (802.11 G)</li><br><li>Extended capacity battery (gets about 4 hours of battery life - see attached image)</li><br><li>Very very light weight system 3.5 lbs w/ the extended battery - my fav feature</li>
<br><li>2 power adapters - one full size, one slim auto/air/ac. Leave one
plugged into your docking station on your desk, use the slim one for
travel.</li><br><li>Smart card reader</li><br><li>SD card reader</li><br><li>Docking station w/ DVD/CD burner</li><br><li>Intel 965 chipset/graphics</li><br><li>USB Bluetooth</li><br><li>New keyboard</li><br><li>Touch pad and pointing stick navigation, use which ever you like</li>
<br><li>Windows XP Pro sticker on bottom of computer, copy of the XP pro install CD included</li><br><li>Runs Ubuntu great - Ubuntu is pre-installed - 3d accelerated graphics work good</li><br><li>The Intel CPU supports virtualization capability so you can run an
Windows in Ubuntu or Ubuntu in Windows w/ no performance penalty</li><br><li>Expansion slot and SIM card slot for mobile broadband so that you
don't have to have a usb device hanging off your computer if you use
mobile broadband - you will have to find your own card that works w/
your carrier though</li><br><li>Lots of ports - laptop has vga, sound, ethernet, firewire, modem
(never used that) and several USB. Docking station adds serial,
parallel and DVI </li></ul><br><br>-- <br>Matthew Nuzum<br>newz2000 on freenode, skype, linkedin, <a href="http://identi.ca">identi.ca</a> and twitter<br>