magnetic card reader

kasattack · 11-18-2006, 08:36 PM

hello, i am trying to use a magnetic card reader, the reader comes with a nine pin female serial port,as my laptop does not have serial ports i have to use a usb adapter, i have downloaded some software from the web but i am not sure if it will work with my set up, they talk about using game ports?? i don't know what a game port is.
can anone help??
regards kas

Will.Spencer · 11-18-2006, 09:23 PM

That must be very old software. "Game ports" are where we used to plug in joysticks. They are not compatible with serial ports.

If the magnetic card reader wants to connect serially, then I would try to talk to it using HyperTerminal.

kasattack · 11-20-2006, 07:56 AM

thanks for the info Will, i have read the link regarding hyper terminal, my internet connection is via wireless broadband so i don't have a modem ( although i belive my laptop has one built in ) can i still use hyper terminal to communicate with my card reader?
regards kas

Will.Spencer · 11-20-2006, 10:55 AM

Yes, HyperTerminal can be used to talk through any serial port.

Your USB<->Serial Adapter will have to create a serial (RS-232) port out of one of your USB ports.

Then, you can use HyperTerminal to talk to that serial port and -- if everything works out well -- you will be connected to your card reader.

You will need to set speed, number of data bits, parity, and the number of stop bit to use. I generally start with 9600 8 N 1.

kasattack · 11-21-2006, 08:11 AM

hi Will
hmm, well i am not the most pc savy guy on this board so please forgive me if this is a stupid question, how does a serial port - usb adapter create a serial port out of one of the usb ports?
regards Kas

Will.Spencer · 11-21-2006, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kasattack

how does a serial port - usb adapter create a serial port out of one of the usb ports?

That's an interesting question!

I've never really looked into "how" it works.

ops:

You plug it in and it works.