Is there any difference between RS232 and EIA232?

Ricardo Zuniga

 

Ricardo, RS232 and EIA232 is exactly the same, in fact RS means Recommended Standard and EIA is the nomenclature of ANSI and IEEE.

 

> Is there any difference between RS232 and EIA232 <

Yes and No.

EIA is the group who defined it and they now desire "credit" by asking you refer to the RS-232 standard as EIA/RS-232E (for example).

But it often imples a subtle difference (I hope).

When I say RS-232 (or see others say it), I think this means the general family of things claiming to be EIA/RS-232 of any generation but perhaps
bending a few rules.

When I say EIA/RS-232x (or see others say it), I think this means a specific thing compliant to one of the 5 (?) generations of EIA/RS-232A to EIA/RS-232E.

For example, you shouldn't rightly talk about EIA/RS-232C at 115k baud, as that's not supported per the spec. However, saying RS-232 at 115k baud is better since you're not claiming 100% compliance.

regards

Lynn August Linse, Senior IA Application Engineer
15353 Barranca Parkway, Lantronix Inc, Irvine CA 92618
[email protected] www.lantronix.com
Tel: (949)300-6337 Fax: (949)453-7152