I have run into the "no serial ports on this laptop" phenomenon quite a few times myself. But I will tell you that I actually prefer it that way. I use the modern USB to Serial bridge type cable and have what I consider to be a superior solution over the old-style built in COMM port. If you look around this type of cable:



... can be purchased in quantity for a low price. I bought the one pictured for about $5 plus shipping at eBay. You could get yours here: USB serial RS232 converter adapter

Using such cables is convenient becasue of the ease of having 6 or 7 ports if needed, the cables are small and flexible, baud rates way higher than 115200 are feasible, and the host end applications software is no different than that written to talk to a built-in COM1 or COM2.

Michael Karas