While many of the new spectrophotometers on the market today are equipped with a USB cable to connect to the PC, most of the older models still use a serial communications cable to communicate with the PC. USB to serial adapter cables can bridge the gap for those PC's that do not have a serial port installed on their PC. There are many such devices available, but not all work well with the high demands of data transfer of a color spectrophotometer--especially not on a 64-bit PC.
Color QC and Matching Blog
Using OnColor color matching software with a USB adapter - 64 bit PC
Tags: OnColor, USB adapter, Windows 7, color matching, color spectrophotometer
Using a USB Adapter to Connect your Spectrophotometer to OnColor
When you buy a new PC these days, it typically doesn't come configured with a serial port. This once standard type of port has been replaced by USB ports. However, many spectrophotometers still use serial communication and are supplied with a serial cable to connect to the PC. Then how are you supposed to connect your spectrophotometer to the PC if ti doesn't have a serial port? The solution is to use a Serial to USB adapter cable which allows you to connect your color computer via a USB port.
Tags: OnColor, USB adapter, color computer, color spectrophotometer
Connecting your color spectrophotometer to OnColor with a USB adapter
Many color instruments and spectrophotometers in use today come with a serial cable to connect and communicate with a computer. However, serial ports are a thing of the past and very few PC's come with a serial port as standard configuration these days. While you can always install a serial port, an easier way to connect to the PC is to use a Serial to USB adapter. This is a special cable that plugs into the serial port output of your spectrophotometer on one end and plugs into a USB port on the computer on the other. This circumvents the need for a serial port on the PC.