Batboard

[ Hi Everybody,
I have a Polaris Programming Cable for Saber style radios. Are there cables compatible with non Polaris type RIB Boxes or do they only work with Polaris RIB Boxes ? Im having a hell of a time with it.
Thanks Bryan[/b]

Your cable should be built to work with any rib. Tell us what the problems you are experiencing and then we can go from there.

Polaris cables will work with any RIB box.

Although the Polaris cable should work with any RIB box, here's a word of warning about their cables.

The Polaris units are for *programming* only! I acquired one from another party for the Waris handhelds, and it works great for programming - but the cable doesn't have the Boot Control line in it, so you can't use it for flashing purposes!

Their response? Something along the lines of "Flashing isn't programming, is it?"

In response to the original poster, are you attempting to use the cable for a "regular" analog Saber on an ASTRO Saber? There are subtle differences between the Saber cable and the ASTRO Saber cable.

Well Im trying to program a VHF SYSTEM SABER. The problem is I cant get it to read nor write to the radio. The RIB Box is a Motorola Knock Off which I just bought off Ebay. I believe that either the RIB Box is DOA or My computer a pentium 300 laptop is too fast even though I run thru DOS with MOSLO any suggestions ? PS I know the radio is good Ive programmed it in the past with others equipment and I know the cable normally works because we used it with a polaris rib box on another Saber.
Thanks Bryan

A 300 MHz computer is too fast for a Saber, and my experience with MoSlo is that it doesn't work. Get an old 386/486 laptop somewhere. I have an old IBM Thinkpad 486/100 that will program ANYTHING!

The problem with Polaris Saber cables is the way you have to align the bracket which holds the pcb to which the pins are attached. You have to make sure the pins are making proper contact. Their bracket is a POS.

Their earlier cables were pretty good, but the Saber, Visar, and P1225 cables are a POS, IMHO. I took their P1225 cable and interfaced it into a charger to make a slide in programming stand.

Get a new or used genuine Batwing or a Monty cable. You won't be sorry.

Also, a Polaris RIB WILL brick a Saber. Was lucky I could recover it with my trusty Sandy Ganz RIB. This is the only RIB besides a genuine one that I trust.

Usally the Saber RSS require a slower computer depending on the paticular computer, maybe as slow as 10 mHz 286 is required.

Most of the aftermarket/clone RIBs have serious design problems that show up on the Saber, HT1000/Jedi series ports.

Some am/clone RIBs can be modified to work properly, but NOT all..Even the Motorola RIB can give you fits due to some of the same poor engineering and design.

MoSlo just "clogs" the processor making it appear to be slow. It does nothing for the timing of the RS232 communications, which is where the real problem is.

The fastest machine that I have successfully written to a Saber from was a Pentium-S @133MHz (Actually I am using it to make this post right now). Now I use a Zenith Data Systems 386-25 notebook computer just for programming. It is very stable and of the same vintage of the Saber RSS.

IIRC The Systems Saber RSS was revised as late as 1996. Does Anybody know if the more recent versions had the timing routines optimized just like the Maxtrac RSS?

The following is a link on the Batlabs site as an 'alternate to moslo'
http://www.firmware.com/support/bios/cacheoff.htm
I haven't tried it myself, but perhaps it will help.

Yup, I agree with the above....you need:

a slower computer, 386/486 vintage would be reliable
factory rib box (we all eventually switch to them, well most of us)
9v battery for rib with 9v adapter backup/source
quality programming cable

just one other thought, you do have your COM port setup in your RSS to the right port?