Serial to USB PORT

Here's a question I had from a relative.

"Many of the new laptops don't have serial ports anymore. I still need a serial port to transfer text from my REALLY old slab laptop. Is there a way to fake a serial connection through a USB port? I'm sure they sell serial-usb adapters. But how do you convince the computer that you've established a serial (terminal) connection?"

Can't he simply buy a USB to Serial port adapter, connect it to the old laptop with the serial port and transfer his data to another computer that has a USB port?

Your help is appreciated as usual.

JimU

 

Serial to USB port search.

http://www.google.com/search?as_q=&num=20&hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=Serial+to+USB+PORT&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=lang_en&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&safe=images

USB to serial search.

http://www.google.com/search?num=20&hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=ISO-8859-1&as_qdr=all&q=+%22USB+to+serial%22&btnG=Search&lr=lang_en

Google to the rescue again. Bazza