I thought serial ports and RS-232 technology were obsolete?
This is a common perception that is definitely incorrect. When you use a serial to USB cable, you also install drivers to make that USB connection look like a standard RS-232 port within your computer. Your application software will be looking for a serial port (COM1, COM2, etc.) for data input. Your PC application will not know and does not care whether that serial port was a standard serial port on a PC or whether it was created by the USB drivers. They all look the same. RS-232 communications is a very cost effective and efficient method for transmitting data at speeds up to 115.2K baud.
