Add or Remove Programs entry for FTDI USB Serial Converter Drivers. This is a driver pack that allows USB ports to be used to connect to Serial bus devices with a USB - Serial adapter cable.

Two ports not enough for your parallel hacking needs? Believe it or not, we’ve also seen a quad USB-to-serial adapter that you can put together, though it’s a considerably more complex circuit.

[Ted] has demonstrated using a common USB to serial adapter as an SDR transmitter. That’s right, using the cheap little UART adapter you’ve almost certainly got sitting in your parts bin right ...