Re: K3: latest Prolific drivers for the KUSB

Posted by lstavenhagen on Apr 08, 2010; 2:48pm
URL: http://elecraft.85.s1.nabble.com/K3-latest-Prolific-drivers-for-the-KUSB-tp4870058p4871555.html

Generally, no, unless you're having a specific problem with it it's best to leave it be.

The hazard of upgrading is breaking a previously working configuration - i.e. the old bugs get replaced with new bugs. This is particularly true of Windows because it's such a nightmarish and expensive platform to develop for - both the API/ABIs and the dev tools are extensively changed from version to version in both gross and subtle ways. It takes a very adept developer to keep track of the changes - he or she has to be rich too because of the cost of endlessly having to buy the dev tools over and over again. .NET levels this a little bit, but even there you find wholesale changes that can really take some digging to find and can really make life tough on you (i.e. the way asynchronous handling of the standard streams for Process objects was pretty much redone in .NET 2.0 and on and on).

For good designs like MacOS X, this isn't as big of a deal, but even there you want to exercise some conservatism (i.e. the wierdness with the recent 64 bit prolific driver release).

My mottos are:
If it ain't broke, that don't necessarily mean it ain't broke.
But if it truly ain't broke, don't fix it.

73,
LS
W5QD