Strange days indeed - most perculiar

Has anyone tried using Toolkit with an IBM T61 laptop? I have had reports of info getting mangled in the save to network process. Medling with the USB to serial settings has so far proved fruitless. Any help, suggestions etc appreciated

 

Dont know why its doing it but I would suggest that you get away from USB to serial convertors all together. Instead, get a PC Express Serial adaptor, this byasses the USB root hub and gets rid of all the nonsense that goes with it. I have been using this faultlessly since early last year on a Vista based laptop.

My card is an Apiotek and can be seen at

http://www.apiotek.com/Global/Product/Add-on_Card/EC-0008.htm

Hope this helps.

Simon

 

it is only the T61 having a problem? programming the network from other computers works fine?

If it is only failing when programming the network I would be worried about the network being marginal rather than the laptop. What does the diagnostic software say?

also define "mangled" what is the observable behaviour?

But this sort of analysis you have been doing for years UncleSam. A capture of the serial output to the PCI would also tell a lot about what is happening.

 

UncleSam, there's overtones of Beatles in your thread title, are you suggesting there's Bugs?

 

Only one Beatle Dunc (the only one that really mattered - by now he's riddled with bug and worms) the lyrics are post Beatle.

Ritcho,
The 'networks' in question are training boards and yes other PC's would communicate ok, The 'mangling' involved setting up a GUI with say 'bedroom light' as the Group on a Switch and say Dimmer as the function and after downloading it to the unit finding 'Kitchen Light' in the Group field and Bell Prees as the function.

I forwarded an e-mail with more details to Cliff, hopfully he will come knocking on your door

 

Got your email, have replied, but thought I would past it here as well for posterity.

It certain seems as the USB specifically on the T61 is giving grief. This may be because of an internal device connected to the USB. A lot of laptops nowadays use the USB for their internal modems, bluetooth device, smartcard readers, memory card readers etc...

Try downloading and running USBView ( http://www.ftdichip.com<wbr>/Resources/Utilities/usbview<wbr>.zip ). This will show you all USB device connected and to what internal hub they are connected. You might find that different ports on the laptop are connected to different internal hubs. It would be worthwhile disabling these internal devices (if any) to see if that makes a difference.

If you can't get the USB to work, using a PCMCIA card may be the fall back position. Unfortunately using the new USB PCI probably won't help as that is just a RS232<->USB convertor internally and functionaly identical to what you are already doing.

 

coo coo c'chew

Thanks for the info Richo, we tried the USB PCI and that, so far, appears to work fine. We will continue to test and post any results/conclusions. We will also investigate PC/MCIA to serial converters etc to identify working combinations, though they come at a cost, for the training boards we could simply swop the PCI's out to USB versions but the limited lead length for USB's strikes me as a bit impractical for on site use - anone have any practical experience of that?.

 

You should be able to use USB, especially non-usb-powered devices with up to 5 metres of USB cable length.
There are also USB 1.1 to Cat5 adapters that you can buy that can extend the USB distance alot further, although I'm not sure if this would be necessary for your application.

Darpa

 

Seriously, just follow the suggestion above, no more problems because it goes directly onto the PCI Bus. No USB nonsense to get around at all.

 

I've been using the USB PCI and PAC with my T61 with no problems. Haven't tried the RS-232 version with a USB-serial converter.

As mentioned by Darpa, the USB 2.0 spec limits the cable length to 5m. If you need practical onsite, why don't you carry a $50 wireless access point and use a CNI? Then you can walk around the entire site with your T61 in hand (provided its not a prohibitively large site!)

 

I'm running a Lenovo T61 and I can program C-Bus units just fine, using a Dontronics USB <-> serial converter & RS232 PCI, USB PCI or the serial port on the docking station & RS232 PCI.

Lenovo also sell a Serial/Parallel drive bay adaptor that replaces the normal CDROM drive on the side with a Serial and Parallel port instead. I've got one coming. If I remember I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Newman, how old is the T61? In the email I got from Uncle Sam he said it was only the newer ones, the older T61 worked fine. (Say 6 months old, although I'm not 100% sure the cutover age).

 

My T61 is 4 months old. Bear in mind that, like lots of Lenovo products, the model number T61 is a fairly broad sweeping number in terms of the actual products it covers. There's lots of variables within the T61 series.

 

Thinkpad Serial/Parallel Port Bay Adapter works perfectly.

P/N: 40Y8122

 

The story so far

Amber, the PC card solution works but expence (not for me as I am rolling rich of course) is a disincentive for our customers.

Richo, the USP/PCI works fine

In our situation (providing C-bus training to the USA) we need to be able to recommend attendees bring suitable hardware to do the course, They don't want to spend too big on hardware that they may not use in the future if they find C-bus is not for them so the relativly cheap USB/serial were perfect once 232 serial ports started to disapear I suspect tha the long term fix is to change the training boards over to USB/PCI's.

We have tested the USB extension cords up to 6m with no issues so I am more comfortable about that.

On the Tech Support side we need to be aware of the situation (and I suspect with the way PC's progress we may increasingly see situations with this on future IBM models and those of other manufacture) because even if the training goes ahead ok with their current computer it may become an issue when they upgrade their PC.

 

UncleSam, The PC card costs less than ?20, its not a big layout and some of the USB serial adaptors cost more than that. HoHum, horses to water and all that

 

Bargin

Amber, they have come down in price big time then as when we looked a couple of years ago they were >AUS$100 where as a (typical say DonTronics - OZ equiv to Radio Shack) USB was around AUS$20

I will take another look at them and price them over here