I had to ditch my top of the line work sony vaio to get a lower specified dell so that I could have a serial port. I cannot do without a serial port - I use it all the time to connect my console cable to routers and switches at work.

Even mid range switches these days still only allow transfer of the base image to the switch/router via XModem - and as an average base image is around 6MB this can quickly become frustrating. Of course if you dont make a mess of the flash in the first place you can tftp the IOS etc through a standard RJ45.

You can get usb to RS232 DB15 convertors that work fine, weve used them for our comms where customer has bought anew lappy with no serial.

Hmm sorry to hear about the interview but hang on in there. It took me 8 months and 20 interviews before I got offered my current job.

I dont know that I have or havent got the job yet.
Its an internal job, so I dont really lose anything if I fail.

Good luck on the job!  I had an interview on Wednesday and am hoping to hear back from them soon.  I answered all but one of their technical questions correctly and managed to get the "broken" PC up and running within a couple of minutes.  

I recieved something in the mail saying that one job I had applied to has already been filled.  The thing is that I dont ever recall applying for the job it mentioned, so I think my wife is applying me to jobs that she thinks I am qualified for.  :?

She probably knows what you are capable of better than you do

of course if you dont like her doing it then you could do the same back :mrgreen: