Fonix USB to RS232 Commuications Link

Currently there are two methods of communications supported by Frye,
RS232 and USB. We will also be supporting ethernet in the future.
 
The legacy RS232 method is directly supported by the Fryers driver and does not
require any additional software (other than the application software itself).
An available RS232 port on the computer is also required. Some of the newer 
computers, especially laptops, no longer support RS232. The solution for this is
to use a RS232 to USB bridge.

USB has become a new method for communicating with attached equipment. 
The Fryers driver allows for a USB connection by using a USB to RS232 bridge.
For older equipment that is RS232 based, this requires the purchase of additional
hardware that adapts the RS232 connector on the Fonix instrument to a USB connector
on the computer. These packages come with their own drivers to provide the 
USB to RS232 software bridge. As long as the package provides proper RS232 support
for the bridge, the software supplied with the USB adapter should work fine. 

In order to maintain an easy to implement and compatible programming enviornment,
the Fonix communications driver (Fryers32) uses a COM port link to the Fonix 
instrument regardless of the method of communications hardware used. 
This generally requires additional bridge software to connect the communications 
hardware used to the Fryers32 driver. The bridge software is provided with
the USB to RS232 bridge hardware.

In future Fonix instruments, we will be providing USB connectors on the instrument 
so that the additional RS232 to USB bridge hardware is not required. 
For the new USB systems, we will be providing the RS232 to USB bridge software to 
interface our USB with the Fryers driver.  By doing this, there are no other 
changes needed to existing software. You only need to install the supplied bridge 
software. Newer Fonix applications like WinChap will install the bridge software 
automatically.

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