martin_bg:
I was doing shopping the other day and came across this thing, bookmarked it as it looks promising. Give it a try
Unfortunately Google translate wasn't able to decipher the Chinese download page for the datasheet.
I was hoping for a drop in replacement that would present a real or simulated serial port to the PC so the Arduino programming IDE would be able to talk directly to the Arduino.
The picture on Ebay only shows a single device, rather than two connected back to back. That isn't to say that it won't work, but it doesn't say that it will either.
I did some more research and found some 'industrial' style RS232 extenders but these cost $150+ each.
Ironically the cheapest netbook computers are about $330, so it's almost cheaper to buy one and co-locate it with the Arduino, then use 'remote desktop' from my desktop PC to the netbook and run the Arduino IDE on that. Not very elegant.