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Since my old laptop has crashed I was wondering if it is possable to use a usb to serial converter to connect the programming cable to the computer.I was also wondering if anyone new of a good laptop for programming as I need to purchase a new one thanks alot

firefighter13669 wrote:Since my old laptop has crashed I was wondering if it is possable to use a usb to serial converter to connect the programming cable to the computer.I was also wondering if anyone new of a good laptop for programming as I need to purchase a new one thanks alot

Depends on what you are programing. Some people have had luck with the converters others have not. Personally I would find a laptop with a real serial port, I don;t want to take a chance or bricking a expensive radio. They are still out there.

If you are needing to program older equipment, with RSS (DOS Based) which I assume you are, I would suggest finding a old 486. That is the preffered platform used by most here on the board for RSS programming.

Take a look at the this thread http://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=52894 It is a sticky at the top of this forum. It will give you some information that may help you in your decision.

If you are buying a new computer, serial ports are very hard to find on laptops.

I have a 17" widescreen HP pavilion laptop that has no serial port. I thought it would be nice to put the Astro25 CPS on this machine. I could do that if I had USB programming cables, but I already have the serial ones.

Reported results for USB to RS-232 converters have not been encouraging so I decided to go the other way.

I ordered an RS-232 Cardbus [PCMCIA's new name] card. It installed in a minute and works fine with the latest CPS.

It cost about 20 bucks shipped to my door.

I had tried a RS-232 PCMIA Card on a older laptop and personally had some issues. It may have been the laptop. I will have to try it one another machine now that I hear someone else is having luck with it.

xmo wrote:If you are buying a new computer, serial ports are very hard to find on laptops.

I have a 17" widescreen HP pavilion laptop that has no serial port. I thought it would be nice to put the Astro25 CPS on this machine. I could do that if I had USB programming cables, but I already have the serial ones.

Reported results for USB to RS-232 converters have not been encouraging so I decided to go the other way.

I ordered an RS-232 Cardbus [PCMCIA's new name] card. It installed in a minute and works fine with the latest CPS.

It cost about 20 bucks shipped to my door.

Depends on the converter. I use a USB-serial adapter on my ThinkPad T60ps all the time... no problems with any of them. I think it's a Belkin product - the unit is manufactured by ATEN.

In the spirit of pedantry, CardBus is not PCMCIA's new name. "PC Card" is PCMCIA's new name. Cardbus refers to an extension first seen in PCMCIA v5.0 which presents a 32-bit, 33Mhz PCI bus in a card form factor and allows bus mastering. Cardbus cards also have different notching on the front - this is why you can't plug any of the Aircards into the MW520, whereas you can with the MW800. To confuse things further, now you also have to deal with ExpressCard in either 34-pin or 54-pin incarnation, which is a PCI Express (PCIe, not to be confused with PCI-X) bus and also has USB 2.0 on the connector. ExpressCards are not backward compatible with PC Cards in any way.