Batboard

I use an old Toshiba laptop (286/20mhz) to program my radios. It works fine except when programming a Astro Saber or XTS codeplug it is unbearably SLOW...
My question is can I safely program the codeplug using a much faster PC (using the DOS window), copy the file to disc, load it into the laptop and program the radio with out worry of corrupting the codeplug?

Thanks in advance for all replies.

I have used current machines to program the Astro series. You really only need the old slow machines for the x9000's, and like radios of that era. You should be safe with a P300 with the Spectra.

I wouldnt use the DOS window to programm. Your better off just using the slow computer. I use an old toshiba satellite with WIN95, and yeah, its slow programming, but id rather it be slow than have a very expensive paper weight.

To answer your question, yes. You can certainly read the radio with your slow computer, save the codeplug to a disk, and then use a modern fast computer to modify the codeplug. You can modify the codeplug in DOS or in a DOS window. It makes absolutely no difference to the codeplug. It's only when physically reading/writing to a radio that it's an issue. You can then use your slow computer to write the codeplug to the radio.

As far as the Astro RSS is concerned, it should work fine on any modern computer, regardless of processor speed, even for reading/writing radios. Assuming there aren't other hardware issues such as FIFO & improper UART COM ports. This is straight from the Motorola "486/Pentium Compatibility Matrix" on MOL. The Astro DOS RSS works like a champ on my DELL latitude P4-1.7GHz laptop, as does any other RSS written after approx February 1996 (also confirmed in the compatibility matrix).

Todd