my question is about 8051 serial communication. please let me know which chip is commonly used with 8051 to communicate with standard RS232 equipment like PC.

Also i have seen tutorial in which author has used resesters between data transmit pin on COM port of PC and data receive pin on 8051 which limits current from 12V to 5V and Transmit pin of 8051 is directely connected to PC data receive pin. i want to know is that a safe approach to follow in any commercial product or its wise to use a standard RS232 chip between 8051 and other commercial equipment.


thanks
Shahzad