I don't know what happened to the last Subject line :)

Dear forum,

I had to let you know about an easy to use USB chip from FTDI, FT8U232AM (www.ftdi.co.uk). It is as easy to use as the MAXIM MAX232 and can communicate at up to 920K baud (RS232) and 2000K baud (RS422/RS485). I have not used it yet but plan to when it becomes available in a couple of months.

Simply connect the Rx and Tx lines to the chip and use the supplied Windows drivers and you have a USB connection. It looks like a virtual serial port to the computer. The price is around $4.00 in quantity. Cheaper and easier to use than EZ-USB by Cypress and PDIUSBD12 by Philips.

Disadvantage: doesn’t communicate at USB speeds. But for applications like mine (data acquisition) easy connection to a computer for our customers is more important than speed. After designing using RS232 for 10 years I know what pain finding a free serial port for a lot of customers is.