StarTech.com ST100SLP Low Profile 10/100 Mbps PCI Ethernet Network Adapter Review

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(More customer reviews)For those of you that have computer systems that do not allow for full size PCI card installation, a low profile network controller is probably what you need.Although most mini, mid and full sized tower PCs offer easy installation of a normal PCI controller, a desktop PC (that lays horizontal on your desk) usually only offers open slots for low profile (sometimes called "half-height") cards.In fact, some desktop PCs offer no expansion slots whatsoever.Since low profile cards are not in very high demand these days, they can be a real challenge to find when shopping for PCI card; such as a video controller, modem, soundcard or network adapter.

My oldest daughter has a little HP desktop PC, and during a recent electrical storm her integrated network controller (built in to the motherboard) got zapped.Her system had one open PCI slot, for which I wanted to install a new network adapter, but I noticed that it was a low profile slot, which meant that I couldn't just run to my local electronics store and buy one.I searched a great deal on-line and found the StarTech ST100SLP Ethernet Network Adapter here on Amazon.com.The cost was very low, which kind of scared me a little, but I researched the product on-line and found that most people stated that it was a decent performer.

The product box contains very few items.Of course it contains the ST100SLP Ethernet adapter, as well as an installation manual and an installation floppy diskette.Yes, you heard me correctly; installation "DISKETTE".Most newer computers don't even come with a diskette drive any more so I was rather surprised to find this form of media, rather than a CD-ROM disk.Of course the drivers can also be downloaded directly from the StarTech.com website, in case anyone needs them.Fortunately Windows XP (which is the OS on my daughter's PC) has built-in drivers for this controller, so there was no need for me to install the drivers from StarTech.I simply snapped the StarTech ST100SLP adapter card into my daughter's PC and powered the PC on.As soon as Windows XP loaded it detected the new controller and installed the necessary drivers for it.It immediately acquired an IP address from my home network router (via DHCP) and I was browsing the Internet within just a couple of minutes.

Overall I am very happy with my purchase of the StarTech low profile Ethernet adapter.It functions as promised by the manufacturer and the installation was as effortless as I could have hoped for.Although this card is only a 10/100 Mbps controller (not capable of Gigabit speeds), it is a real bargain for the money.Amazon had one of the lowest prices I could find for this item, and I received it within 2 business days.I cannot truly attest to how well the ST100SLP will hold up over time but I feel that it is a well built product that will potentially last for several years (provided we don't get hit by another close lightning strike!).Even if I have to replace it in the next year or two, the StarTech ST100SLP is priced low enough to prevent any hard feelings on my part.Keep in mind, the ST100SLP is a budget network adapter, so don't expect any bells and whistles, or to set any data transfer speed records.However, for basic web browsing, e-mail, and mild amounts of home network file transfers, I highly recommend this product for any consumer that requires a low profile Ethernet adapter for their desktop PC.

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Product Description:
Bring all your network resources right to your desktop!StarTech.com's 10/100 Mbits/sec PCI Ethernet Adapter brings high speed Ethernet connections to low profile workstations and workgroup servers.Easy plug and play installation lets you access the Internet, printers, scanners, and all other network devices instantly.The adapter provides full duplex support, allowing data transfer rates of up to 200Mbits/sec with Fast Ethernet Switch connections. Includes drivers for all versions of Windows, many versions of UNIX, Linux, Novell Netware & MAC OS X 10.3. Backed by StarTech.com's lifetime warranty and FREE lifetime tech support.

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Sabrent SBT-USC1M Hi-Speed USB 2.0 to Serial (9-pin) DB-9 RS-232 Adapter Cable (1-foot, Blue) Review

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(More customer reviews)Some people have had an easy time installing this cable and others couldn't get it to work at all. Why is that?

Whether this cable works or doesn't work with particular drivers depends on the chip used in it. To find this out you have to connect the cable, go to Device Manager, right click on Properties, select the Details tab. Under Properties select Hardware IDs, then read what it says under Values. The cable I bought was USB\VID_058F&PID_9720. If you check the driver downloads from Sabrent they are good for an evidently much later version VID_067B&PID_2303, so the drivers from Sabrent's site won't work with the cable I bought. Since my inclination is to always download the latest drivers I wasted a lot of time on this!

If you have a cable with a later chip in it you may be OK. Or you may be OK with the drivers that come on the included CD. If none of these work you can try searching the net for drivers for the particular chip you have. The responsible thing for Sabrent to have done is to have all legacy drivers available on their web site.

After much wasted time I was finally able to get this cable to work. After a search I found the drivers in the download section at hiti dot com for a CS-320 card printer that uses the same kind of usb to serial controller. However, I was close to giving up so this cable (as many of the reviewers apparently did) so this cable came close to being absolutely useless to me. Installing a cable should be easier than this and for that I fault Sabrent for their lack of communication / transparency and as well for their non-support for older versions of their product. And that's why I gave this only two stars.

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Product Description:
The Sabrent USB 2.0 to DB9 Serial Adapter connects your USB port to the Serial RS-232 port. It is designed for connections to cellular phones, PDAs, digital cameras, modems, or ISDN terminal adapters through your USB port with up to 1-Mbps data transfer rate. Since the adapter uses no IRQs, it is perfect if you need many serial devices attached to your PC. It converts a standard 9-pin serial port to USB, and provides a 96 byte buffer for each upstream and downstream data transfer. This adapter employs full speed USB communication and is bus powered.

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