Im new here, a quick question.

[Jugglerguy]

Hi im trying to get into building robots and im using the build a robot for $50 tutorial, and im new to it so I was wondering, at the part where you have to program the robot it says I need a Serial Port. What is it and where would I probably find it on my computer?

[Steve Joblin]

It should look like this... http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ladyada.net/images/minipov3/Serial_port.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.ladyada.net/make/minipov3/software.html&h=982&w=1310&sz=280&hl=en&start=9&sig2=iXoHnBuwZolnELYdXOEpLg&um=1&tbnid=EKmhMBs37z1EkM:&tbnh=112&tbnw=150&ei=Xlc8SP3YKajmigHsl_nECA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpc%2Bserial%2Bport%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us%26sa%3DN

If you are using a laptop, or newer PC, it may not have one as they are becoming obsolete due to USB.  If you don't have one, you can always use a USB-Serial Cable which will allow you to use your USB port as a serial port.

[Jugglerguy]

Yeah I don't have one of those. Where would I be able to get a Usb-Serial converter cord?

[Steve Joblin]

go to www.google.com and type "usb to serial" and press the "Google Search" button.

[benji]

by the way
once a friend of mine baught a "usb to COM" card for his laptop and it worked with a serial mouse but couldnt program a microcontroller using ponyprog

[Steve Joblin]

It is possible... there are many devices out there with lots of different drivers... best thing to do is some research as to success that others have had (same operating system, same IDE, same microcontroller etc.