I’m in short of USB ports! When I bought this laptop I knew it hadn’t enough USB ports for Field Day. I need four but only have three. Keyboard, mouse, WinKey and CAT should find their way into and out of the laptop. I have an old USB hub that came with some other device I have already ditched. This works for the mouse and external keyboard. I have an old ‘no brand’ USB-to-serial dongle. I plugged it in and soon Win10 told me it’s good to go. Finally I plugged in a Prolific dongle, vintage 2007-2008 or so. Couldn’t get it to work. Of course, what is the fun in everything working right away without a hitch?
In the true spirit of overconsumption, the Prolific site advised to throw away a perfectly good device and buy a new one for factory support with the new Windows versions. Actually they didn’t talk about what to do with the old, they focused on trying me to buy their new products. Like hell I will! Google disclosed tons of people having had this problem. Soon I learned that the key to success is to NOT download the latest drivers which seem to be deliberately bogus – why else print a red guidance to buy a new one? Apparently I had to install the older version. Luckily the guy offering this solution on his blog, also provided the download for these older drivers. Soon after that Windows told me the Prolific dongle is also installed and ready to use. I hope Windows is right… Testing scheduled after the coming weekend… Stay tuned (but please don’t tune on top of me).