Computer Opinions for Running Saber, Sytems Saber RSS? HELP!

[skiman1]

Hi There,

I know this question must have been asked a million times, but my eyes are weary from going to "Batlabs University"...

I have Saber I's, II's and Systems Sabers and would like to get a computer that will work with the older RSS for these radios. Before I go and buy the software from Moto, I would like to get some straight dope and some experience on what others are using for computer hardware. I've read the newbie guide here and stuff on repeater-builder.com and for the most part have seen 286, 386, 486 16-25Mhz being reccomended and seemingly the ONLY option, but then I see others post with some using a Pentium I - 133mhz or a 486 100Mhz, I even thought I saw a Pentium II in one post being used to program Sabers, it can get very confusing.

I have a Thinkpad 755C (486 75Mhz) and dont want to get the software
and start making bricks, I can buy bricks at home depot a lot cheaper

Also what is the going price for Saber and Systems Saber RSS?

Thanks for you time!

Steve

[HLA]

i use a pentium 366 ibm thinkpad for sabers with no problems. i also have a compaq 1240 that does them with no problems.

[skiman1]

Thats good news! I was also looking at the compatability matrix on this site and it seems some of the other info is a little obsolete. Seems like my Thinkpad may do well after all.

[kb0nly]

Your Thinkpad should work fine with the latest versions of RSS for the Saber and Sys Saber. The earlier versions wouldn't work on faster machines.

[kb0nly]

I just noticed you asked about price..

There was just a thread where this very question came up last week, i looked up the prices for both.

RVN4051F Sys Saber RSS $257.62
RVN4002K Saber RSS $310.00

That's what my MOL account shows as of today.

[skiman1]

Very Cool...From my snooping around it seems that the latest Saber and System Saber version will even support Pentiums? I assume its the clock speed and disabling CPU cache ability seems to be the real issue.

Steve

[kb0nly]

Yep, the older versions had the clock speed issue like most older RSS packages. The latest Saber RSS works just fine on faster machines that i have tried it with. Just remember to boot up with pure DOS, not a windows dos box or some crap like that.

What you can also do is make a bootable floppy with the RSS on it, or if you have a CD-ROM on that computer you can make a bootable CD and put all the RSS on it. The only problem with doing that is if you want to save codeplugs, which of course is always a good idea before making changes, you will have to set the archive location to either the floppy drive and toss in a disk to save, or set a location on the hard drive, but then of course the hard drive has to be FAT32 since the dos won't be able to do anything with a NTFS partition.

Of course if you just want to make that 75Mhz computer a dedicated RSS computer, the best way to do it, then just put Dos 6 on there and install your RSS.

[skiman1]

Thanks for the great info, that machine will a dedicated machine for RSS when I'm done, I now have to make sure it works, its been a while since I turned it on! Once I make sure it works, I think I'll give MOTO a call.

What do you guys think of aftermarket RIB boxes?

[AEC]

Aftermarket RIBs work fine most of the time, I have two I bought from Kawa on Ebay a few years back and they are happy with everything I've used them on; from all Genesis models to Jedis and Sabers as well as 'Tracs etc...all good.

Many of the imported 'ribless' cables do NOT appear to have as good a reputation though, best bet would be to steer clear of those unless you know a specific cable will work with your setup.

Of course, you'll never go wrong with a genuine Circle-M R.I.B, but then again, the majority of aftermarket RIBs are almost as good and far cheaper as well.

I wonder if the new Circle-M interfaces come with a DNA sample pack these days?

[ka3ola]

The IBM is a window's 95 and the Gatetway has window's 98 has a 333mhz processor....I was just messing around with the gateway on one of my Radius M100 with the codeplug and it keeps saying it is overlaying and please wait, I'm sort of new at this but ehat the heck doe's overlaying mean? Mike
Ka3ola

[AEC]

The IBM is a window's 95 and the Gatetway has window's 98 has a 333mhz processor....I was just messing around with the gateway on one of my Radius M100 with the codeplug and it keeps saying it is overlaying and please wait, I'm sort of new at this but ehat the heck doe's overlaying mean? Mike
Ka3ola

I've never had the 'overlaying' message show up, so that's new to me, but when running even the PII systems with 'Tracs, I get stack overflow errors and integer errors, they don't like 'faster' computers.

As for Sabers, I use both an older IBM 360CSE and a Compaq LTE5300 and never have troubles, but with the Compaq, I had to disable the IR port and the associated IRQ as well before it would function.

The IBM was essentially plug and play with everything.

Stay away from MoSlo as it is useless and many times ridden with CMOS viruses as well, but in reality, MoSlo is just garbage and does nothing of value on later model computers, like 99% of the PI-PII+ machines.

'286-'486 machines should be perfectly fine for the Radius/Maxtrac line, as well as many portables, Sabers included.

The faster machines are not well suited to the older RSS that is DOS related though as timing loops in the RSS can cause programming/reading headaches often, though not every time, so you have to pay attention during those cycles more than usual.

[kb2cxj]

I have about 13 saber's .. saber 1's saber 2's saber 3's... I use a little tinny 486 dx 75 mhz HP note book running windows 95, with 16 meg's of ram, with a third party rib and I haven't had any problems. works great. I won a lot of 7 of them off ebay for 60 bucks. needless to say, I now have a life time supply of note books to program my saber ht's with.. the only thing I do is click restart the computer in dos mode. then when I am done I just type exit an windows restarts. I have 5 or 6 different ver rss pgm's. they all run perfect in dos mode on a 486 dx 75 . I also am new at programming saber's ,,, you wont find any bricks here. the only thing I need and wish I had is the manuals for the rss. from what I understand there are rss options you can't find in the help files. WARNING !! WHEN WRITING TO THE RADIO HIT F6 KEEP RADIOS ORIGINAL TUNING VALUES... IF YOU HIT F2 YOU WILL HAVE TO RE ALINE THE RADIO.. good luck 73's kb2cxj radio New York