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Originally Posted by Nomake Wan
This is driving me nuts. I've got a 92. My laptop with serial on it has a dead battery and no brick so it's out of the running (would cost over $80 to get it charged), which leaves my [other] laptop which only has USB. If someone can find me a relatively cheap way to connect this to my car, I would be way more than happy to test it out.
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As Phil suggested, a USB to RS-232 adaptor will do the trick.
Here's another one -- costs a little more but shipping is cheaper. Same place has another for $9 + shipping. You will find many more if you search the net.
You may also be able to find a +12V adaptor for your other laptop for less than $80. CompUSA just closed a bunch of stores across the US and probably had some (but it's a bit late in the game for them). This kind of thing frequently turns up in the clearance bins at the office stores. Also try eBay and your local Craigslist -- people kill their laptops and sell (or even give away) the still-perfectly-good power adapters and other accessories they no longer need.
I've been looking for a free laptop to use for this kind of thing. Doesn't matter if it has an old, slow processor or a battery that no longer holds a charge. It just needs enough horsepower to run a comm program. I actually want this to hack TiVos, but it would work to talk to ECUs too.