USB to RS232

[aprpac]

I am planning to replace my long standing Cortex machine with something much lower power - probably the Acer Aspire Revo R3610 Desktop PC which is currently only £200 inc VAT (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/225754).

This machine will be dedicated to running Cortex with access via VNC.

I will stay with tried and trusted Windows XP (load my existing copy) as I can't see any reason why I would be better paying more for Windows 7.

As well as asking for any comments on my plan, my specific question is, obviously there is no RS232 on such a new machine and as my Idratek system has a RS232 interface (PCA 001), is there any reason I can't use a USB to RS232 converter? (eg. http://www.ebuyer.com/product/161362).

I will also need to do the same USB-RS232 conversion for my attached Rako lighting controller if anyone has any experience of this change?

Thanks in anticipation.
Paul

[Gumby]

In general USB-RS232 converters do not work with the PCA/PCD due to the way Cortex needs to use low level access to the port hardware.

There is now a USB-based interface, the PCU, to allow RS232-less computers to be used.

Having said that, I vaguely recall someone reporting they had used a USB-RS232 device, but my memory could very well be dodgy.