1. Just a thought, how do you go from a modem to a fully-recognizable serial port from a software standpoint? Wouldn't Windows (or whatever OS) still think that it's a modem?

Posted at 7:18AM on Oct 27th 2006 by andrew

2. Neat little hack, but his excuse that pcmcia serial adaptors are hard to find or expensive just makes me laugh. He suggests a cheap 20 dollar 14.4 modem for this project, but you can buy pcmcia serial adaptors all day long for 10-20 dollars on ebay or other discount sites.

Some things you do for fun/experimentation and some you do out of necessity. Be honest with yourself and admit you just wanna tinker.. its okay! :)

Posted at 8:32AM on Oct 27th 2006 by JD

3. In response andrew, it would seem that the modem is simply detected through the serial interface on the pcmcia card. And just because you can buy a solution does not mean it was either fun or informative to build your own. Seems if nothing else the author will gain a better understanding of how the device works. That is something you simply cannot put a price on.

Posted at 11:40AM on Oct 27th 2006 by Robert Brown

4. @1: When a PCMCIA modem is plugged in, Windows maps it to a COM port to allow windows programs to communicate with it. Windows simply assumes theres a modem connected to that com port, but you can still use it for whatever you want.

I had actually wondered it this was possible.. and now I know it is! my particular model (14.4 as well) has an x-jack, so i could remove that and fit the chip there instead. this is really neat, too bad theres not more info tho :(

Posted at 11:56AM on Oct 27th 2006 by Steve DiRaddo

5. i did this mod once, kinda hard to folow the directions and pictures.
i had to get the datasheet
For the chip and "start over"
but it works.

i made a FULL Rs232 Mod

Regarding the cheap 20$ modem.
this is a couple of years old like 1999 or 2000
where serial cards where harder to come by!
(specialty hardware like)

if anybody wants the details, they can send me an email

kyQWERTYndal.dk@gmail.com
Remove the capital letters!

/Kyndal

Posted at 12:24PM on Oct 27th 2006 by Kyndal

6. Hm.. Hackaday removes capital letters.
Consider it a challenge :)

Posted at 12:38PM on Oct 27th 2006 by Kyndal

7. seems Hackaday removes my capitalion. :o)
i just love my "qwerty" keyboard ;o)

/Kyndal

Posted at 12:42PM on Oct 27th 2006 by Kyndal

8. Man, this hack is ANCIENT... I remember reading this when I was back in highschool.

Good hack though, just a bit dated. (You can get USB->Serial ports now, for cheaper than $20.)

Posted at 1:53PM on Oct 27th 2006 by Alexander

9. ah ok, yeah i was thinking that must be the case but i wasn't sure... neat ;)

Posted at 8:21PM on Oct 27th 2006 by andrew

10. this guy's website has great stuff!

shame its design isn't the best but I'm used to that kinda thing :)

Posted at 5:24AM on Oct 28th 2006 by danadamkof

11. yea, i remeber this hack from a while ago as well. still cool none the less

Posted at 12:24PM on Oct 28th 2006 by zigzagjoe

12. scratch that, that is the site i remeber. old hack. be sure to check out the rest of the site...wicked cool stuff

Posted at 12:24PM on Oct 28th 2006 by zigzagjoe

13. While you can get usb to rs232 adaptors really cheap, there are heaps of things that still dont work reliably/at all, or go really slow on them since you dont have real access to the handshaking lines, so this hack still has value.

Posted at 4:40PM on Oct 29th 2006 by Richard

14. I just found an old (1998) Compaq modem (free) -- It is USB connected & USB BUS powered. One of my laptops doesn't have a serial port, and I didn't want to spend any money on a USB / Serial dongle. I especially did not like the ones CompUSA has -- they require you to plug the USB/Ser adapter into an AC adapter *Boggles*.

I might try this hack, so that I can use my crappy portless laptop on router configs :) .

Posted at 6:20AM on Jul 29th 2007 by Pedro Hin