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Reviews For: Prolific

Category: Interfaces, Radio to computer, amp, rotor, coax switch, internet

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Review Summary For : Prolific
Reviews: 2MSRP: Varies
Description:
USB to RS232 Adapter
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0023
KD7RDZI2 Rating: 2019-03-15
It had been working since ages Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Maybe I miss the point of the previous review. I have one I believe genuine Prolific since at least 15 years. No issues at all. Currently working under Linux.
AA7BI Rating: 2019-03-15
Hit and Miss Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Of all the assets we as hams can draw upon, this single product is likely to be the one that has produced more swearing than any other. It's a simple subroutine that keeps this little device working, and yet, after all these years of progress in computers, it is comparable to starting a Model A with a crank.

The issue is complicated by the fact that the Prolific chip has been counterfeited many times over in cheap production. Prolific wants top dollar and openly works at keeping fake products (mostly from China) from functioning. The only problem is, in the process, owners of legitimate Prolific products often find their adapters no longer work. Isn't that nice? In the last three Prolific upgrades, my Prolific products ceased to function altogether and I spent hours in the rollback, reinstalling and trying to prevent any further upgrades.

In my inventory I have 4 Prolific adapters and 2 Chinese programming cables which employ the counterfeited chip. They all function about the same....aggravating as heck. Any day now you could wake up and they suddenly have ceased to work. Naturally there's always some ham who's an "expert" to patronize the poor Prolific user with the same old story: You don't know what you're doing and haven't got the right driver, and you're not holding your mouth right. I built my first computer in 1976 (the size of a kitchen table) and have been licensed since before then. If something doesn't work, maybe, just maybe, it's not worth a darn?

The situation is further complicated by a certain virus we routinely refer to as "Microsoft". Isn't it strange how easily USB adapters are set up in Linux? One uses "MiniCom" to identify the device and then enter your user-name for permission. That's it! Forever and ever! There is never any problem getting Prolific or the counterfeit adapters to work under Linux. We need to identify the junk in this hobby so we can enjoy it more rather than pulling our hair out (if any) working with products that need to be openly vilified and rejected!

My extremely charitable disposition leads me to give this product a "1", only because there isn't a rating for "crap".

Good luck with this junk, Pilgrim....It will, sooner or later, bite you in the shorts!