What’s the deal with these things? It seems like no matter how hard I try, I can never get one to actually work with the device that i’m using. I’ve successfully managed to make it work with an old serial swipe card reader, but that’s about it!

It also seems like completely uninstalling the Windows drivers is an impossibility. I have three different USB to Serial adapters, all made by different vendors, all using the same Prolific PL2303 chipset. The installed drivers work for ONE of them. No amount of deleting ghosted devices or clearing USB IDs out of the registry can make the other two work correctly. I’ve even tried forcing them onto the older versions of the drivers with no luck. It’s just disaster after disaster with these things, yet it seems like everyone is using this same chip set.

Yet another piece of terrible driver software accompanied by bad hardware. Any recommendations for a good USB to Serial adapter would certainly be appreciated! If anyone is into the aquarium scene and has used one with an Aquatronica controller, that would be even more helpful. Sad irony, Aquatronica sells a PL2303 based USB to Serial adapter and i’d say success rates are abysmal. I see LOTS of people complaining about them not working. At least i’m not alone!