USB Ports & the Keyspan Adapter

Current Macintosh computers from the original iMac, to the most recent towers and  PowerBooks do not have conventional serial ports. These computers now offer a USB port, or "Universal Serial Bus" port.  While the USB promises better plug-and-play and much more speed, there are many hardware and software products today that expect traditional serial ports and cannot use these features 

Information follows on a third party product from Keyspan, the "Keyspan USB Serial Adapter". This series of adapters create one or more conventional  (serial) ports and perhaps an additional port. X-Rite has tested for compatibility with our DTP41, the DTP22, Colortron II's, and with the serial versions of the DTP92 and Monitor Optimizer. These tests were performed with ColorShop 2.5. and 2.6.  X-Rite found no problems and therefore offers the Keyspan as an orderable part (SE108-USBSERA or SE108-USBDB9) for this purpose. There are more than 100 different third party software applications that interface to X-Rite instruments. It is believed that the Keyspan USB Serial Adapter may well bridge the Serial/USB gap for many of these products, but will have to be tested with each to insure compatibility. 

Note: With each change in the Macintosh operating system a new driver for the Keyspan seems to be required. Before any other troubleshooting begins it is advised that you check for the latest driver and compatibility information on the  Keyspan web site. One further troubleshooting note is to always connect the Keyspan to the computer itself, and not an external USB hub. Keyspan has found that external USB hubs are not all created equal and recommends the direct connection of their adapter.

You may also wish to review the related help documents listed to the left.