Review: USB Serial Adapter for Mac and USB Dual Serial Adapter for Mac

Reviewed By: Kirk Hiner

Review Date: July 13, 2001

It's odd how these things work out. I ordered my G4 a week after they were announced, and it arrived a couple months later; November 1999. What a day it was when that arrived on my doorstep. And despite the cries of many a Mac user, I shed no tears for the loss of the serial port. My printer was connected with ethernet, the modem was internal, and I was ready to leave behind the care-free days of boyhood and join the manly world of USB.

For a year and a half I carried on this way; busy, content, happy with my lot in life. But then along came that Intellicart, and I was suddenly helpless. All those Intellivision games and nowhere to play them. But surely I couldn't justify picking up a serial adapter just to play Intellivision, right? Well, yes, so I found other ways to justify it. Suppose my Epson 800 died and I had to retreat to the Apple StyleWriter? What if someone bought me a digital camera for my wedding and it wasn't USB compatible? And...be still, my soul...what if I stumbled across a Newton at a garage sale?!

Enter Belkin, who offered me two logical remedies to my serial port inadequacy; the USB Serial Adapter for Mac and the USB Dual Serial Adapter for Mac. Before I get into the differences between these two devices, I'll cover the similarities.

Both immediately bring to mind either the maligned Apple "hockey puck" USB mouse or one of the lesser known space ships from Star Wars, depending upon your age and geek level. The fronts are rounded off in a semi-transparent, smokey white, and the backs sport removable colored sleeves in indigo, ruby, sage, graphite and snow. Sorry, no Flower Power or Blue Dalmatian to be found here.

Each of the devices also has lights on the front that mean...something, I'm sure. Four flash green when I turn on the computer, and a single red light remains lit when the device is receiving power. That's all I know, and the manual reveals nothing else on these mysterious signals. Perhaps they're sending messages not meant for me. I'm used to that.

Neither device requires an external power source, and I had no trouble with either when plugged into a powered Macally 7 port USB hub. Connecting both is as simple as USB is supposed to be; install the software, reboot the computer, plug in the adapter, and then plug in your serial device. Now you're ready to play Intellivision!

Okay, it's probably wrong of me to assume that Belkin had the Intellicart in mind when they developed their serial adapters, so I decided to take a more practical approach. I first tested USB Serial Adapter for Mac, which features both DB9 and MiniDIN 8 ports, both of which provide serial communications up to 230 kbps (individually, that is; the two ports cannot be used at the same time). I dug out my old Global Village modem, rounded up an Apple StyleWriter 1200, and bowered an Epson digital camera to put the Serial Adapter through its paces.

I think it yawned at me.

After I'd configured the Mac to work with the old peripherals, the USB Serial Adapter had no problem recognizing them and sending the proper signals. I also tried connecting an old Apple LaserWriter II, but no luck there. Of course, the LaserWriter isn't on Belkin's list of supported devices, so it was just wishful thinking (the Intellicart is not listed either, of course, so you may have luck with some devices not officially supported by Belkin).

The USB Dual Serial Adapter for Mac forgoes the DB9 port in favor of two RS-422 MiniDIN8 ports. These support serial communications at up to 460 kbps and sport external clocking. Numbers and technical jargon aside, the best feature of the Dual Serial Adapter is that you can connect two serial devices at once. With it, I was able to go online with my Global Village modem and print web pages to StyleWriter. Through the Dual Serial Adapter, both devices operated with the speed and stability of my normal Apple internal modem and Epson printer. In fact, the Dual Serial Adapter got the print signal to the Style Writer faster, but I'll attribute that to a slow 10baseT ethernet connection to the Epson.

Because of its support for external clocking, the Dual Serial Adapter is able to accommodate some laser printers such as the Apple Personal LaserWriter LS and LaserWriter 300. Again, check Belkin's compatibility list for full information.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, I went a year and a half without need for serial ports. Truth be known, I could probably still do it without too much sacrifice. However, as a result of Apple's focus on USB and FireWire, there are a lot of perfectly good serial devices filling up peripheral graveyards everywhere. If your closet serves as such a graveyard, I suggest logging on to www.belkin.com to see if your devices are supported. Just be aware that those using Mac OS 8.1 or 8.5 may need to use Printer Port Emulation with some devices, and a few printers will require the Belkin Printer Patcher (supplied by Belkin) to function properly with the USB Serial Adapters for Mac.

And if you're not sure which to get, you can always go with both. As with most other Belkin devices for the Macintosh, both USB Serials Adapter can be stacked in the Belkin BusStation that provides a convenient method of organizing multiple USB port devices. Belkin understands functionality, they understand simplicity, and they understand the Macintosh aesthetic. They apparently even understand my need to plug my computer into my Intellivision for a late night Astrosmash marathon, and I'm not even sure I understand that.

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