PC for programming Motorola GP300

[Maxxer]

Hey,

I've recently bought a Motorola GP300 Selector 5 and a programming cable.

I've already read the batlabs programming primer and I wasn't that pleased when I read that I need such an old pc for programming a 2way radio. But I've also read somewhere that the RSS software for the GP300 runs with newer computers too. The only question though is HOW new... my normal desktop pc is probably way to fast (AMD 2,4GHz) so do I really need a 486 machine running on DOS? Or is there maybe some other way? I basically just want to programm new frequencies and power output... can I achieve this with selector 5 somehow?

If not, how much do those 486's cost nowadays? I could imagine that they are very cheap...

Sorry if my questions sound a bit newbish, I'm quite new to radio programming.

[ledzep11]

Yeah, you really need to use an old computer for most, if not all of the old dos based RSS. I have an old 486 20MHz laptop I use, and it seems to do fine for most. I also have an old IBM Thinkpad that is a pentium 100MHz - it also works well for programming. My experience has been that computers with clock speeds much higher than that are unreliable for use with RSS. The software may run, but weird things may happen.. I've seen the RSS say "radio programmed ok" and the radio actually was not prog at all! Or even worse, you may covert your radio to a parts unit...

[wavetar]

The information on Batlabs is a bit outdated. Many of the RSS packages were eventually re-written to be compatible with Pentium class computers, which makes them much more compatible with more modern machines. In fact, we have a sticky on the subject:

http://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=52894

There are also many threads detailing people's various experiences with using faster machines for programming. If you do a search for "pentium compatibility matrix" you'll find many of them. One of the more detailed threads is here:

http://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.p ... ity+matrix

The big issue many people run into is using older, non-pentium compatible versions of RSS software they've downloaded off the internet, instead of obtaining the latest & greatest available.