I have a legacy-free sony vaio notebook (SRX77... very small, very light, very cool). For xmas I had one thing on the top of my list... a USB to serial converter. I haven't tried it on the innovation first controller yet, but I own a basic stamp and I have successfully programmed it. I bought it off
www.usbstuff.com/serial.html. It's the blue one close to the top of the page. Only $40.