USB or Serial cable?

[sherlock]

What is the best cable to use for the vagcom and other 3rd party OBD 1 +2 software. either serial or a USB, also I have a serial to USB conector which I use for a PDA as another option I am just wondering as I have one laptop with just USB which runs XP and an old Win 98 laptop with a serial port.
Thanks in advance for your replies.

 

[simonwjones]

As most new laptops dont come with serials posrt your best bet is to go with the USB version, to give you some future proofing

Usb to serail adaptors tend not to wotk with Vagcom leads

Simon

 

[madvw]

the gendan cable i bought has a usb connection. However, inside it still contains a USB-Serial interface, so you're still getting a serial interface anyway.....

apparently, most third party interfaces are not true USB ones - only the official ross tech ones are.