I am after an old laptop with windows 7 or 8. It must have a serial connection ( 9 pin)

Guessing its for megasquirt / jolt??

If you get a usb to serial converter which used the FTDI chipset, it will work fine, I’ve been using one for a few years no failures or dropouts.

ETA

I’ve 2 if you want to give one a try...

[Edited on 7/7/19 by r1_pete]

Pete, its for a old plotter. I bought a converter and it did not work well.

Ahh I see, you’re welcome to try one of these ftdi converters if you have no joy sourcing a lapdog.

How much is a new plotter or having the stuff plotted for you?

The convenience of being able to plot anytime is invaluable. I am sure, I can solve the comms issue. Just time and patience

Get yourself to a car boot. That's what I did. £5 for a old windows notebook with a serial port.

I bought three USB to serial converters before giving up.


Nearly killed myself with it. I was testing the car on my drive with the laptop plugged in and the comms cable snagged the spinning prop shaft. Flung the laptop 20ft across the garden before wrenching the wires from the serial plug. Laptop was still on when I picked it up.

[Edited on 9/7/19 by Irony]