Use a Keyspan USB-to-Serial adapter with Virtual Box
Sun's VirtualBox is a slick new virtualization alternative to VMWare Fusion, Parallels, and the like. For some of us, we not only need to run a Windows app, but that app requires a connection to a serial device. Here's what I did just now to get my Keyspan USA-19HS USB-to-Serial adapter working in VirtualBox under Windows XP: Windows XP installed without a hitch, but it had no COM ports set up. It turns out that I hadn't turned them on in VirtualBox, so I did that. Installed the Keyspan drivers on my Mac (Leopard, 10.5.4). Downloaded SerialClient, the excellent app that seems to make this work. Attached the Keyspan adapter. In XP, I went into the Add Hardware wizard, and scrolled down to the bottom to add hardware I pick from a list. Basically, I wanted to force XP to set up an item in Device Manager for a COM port. The device was created, but for some...
published on Tuesday, the 29. July 2008, macosxhints
10.4: Share a serial port with Windows on Parallels
The Problem (as I faced it): I have need to use a serial port to connect my MacBook to my amateur radio equipment. The USB/serial port adapter that I have chosen is the Keyspan USA-19HS. There are both Mac OS and Windows programs applicable to my needs; however, they differ in their purpose, and thus I need the Windows environment to supplement my Mac-based operations. Initially, I had set my Mac to use Boot Camp to provide the Windows XP environment. This was necessary because the Keyspan driver under Mac OS would not release the serial port adapter to Windows under Parallels, and I did not want to have to remove the drivers from Mac OS each time that I wanted Windows to use the serial port. Rebooting to the other environment was the solution that I came up with; until I read about SerialClient.The Solution: SerialClient is a Mac application that (in my own words, which may not be technically accurate) takes the se...
published on Friday, the 12. January 2007, macosxhints