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Stamp and Laptops — Parallax Forums

Stamp and Laptops

clydeclyde Posts: 2
edited 2005-03-28 19:49 in BASIC Stamp
Heres my delema.· So i got this laptop, but it lacks the serial port.· I bought the targus replicator thingy.· It's a box that hooks up to the usb port and have an out for for serial, paraller, ps2, and more usb ports.· So I hook up my Stamp2 but it doesnt show up when i run indentify.· I double checked everything, still nothing.· I hooked up the stamp to my desktop machine (that has a built in serial) and worked fine.· Then I hooked up my external modem to the replicator, just to see if·the replicator·works properly, and it does.· So both the Stamp and the replicator seems to be working fine, they just dont like eachother.· Any ideas on how could I fix that problem?

Comments

  • allanlane5allanlane5 Posts: 3,815
    edited 2005-03-25 17:59
    The BS2 BOE has been shown to work perfectly with the KeySpan 19 USB to Serial adapter, and the FTDI USB to Serial adapter. Other adapters work on a hit-or-miss basis.

    I don't know about the Targus adapter -- usually Targus is pretty good. What can happen is the vendor takes shortcuts with the RS-232 'handshake' signals. Unfortunately, the BS2 uses the DTR signal to reset the device -- and that's one of the handshake signals the vendors don't support very well.

    If it is adjustable, you could disable the FIFO (if any) on the Targus serial port.
  • dandreaedandreae Posts: 1,375
    edited 2005-03-25 18:05
    The BASIC Stamp editor is very passive, so if you have other software that uses a port the BASIC Stamp won't work.· You'll need to make sure that you shut down any software that uses a port.



    Dave

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    Dave Andreae

    Tech Support
    dandreae@parallax.com
    www.parallax.com

    ·
  • man_in_planetman_in_planet Posts: 1
    edited 2005-03-25 20:45
    I Had the same problem once.

    My Laptop is Toshiba Satellite .
    First I though that my COM port was damaged . but I remember ,I've read
    something in the manual (Homework BS2) ,that some laptops are not suited
    to work with the BS2 interface. It seems that Laptop COMs are configured differently that the desktop ones.

    I tried the same BS2 On my desktop and it works fine.smile.gif
  • Steve JoblinSteve Joblin Posts: 784
    edited 2005-03-25 20:50
    Yes, I have had similar problems on both my laptops. As suggested, make sure that all other programs are off. I have to turn off my Palm Pilot and even my wireless network to get it to work! Run MSCONFIG to see what programs are being loaded into memory when the computer is turned on. You would be surprised at what can be running in the background that you don't even know about!
  • lightsoutlightsout Posts: 22
    edited 2005-03-26 05:10
    I use a "IOGEAR" brand USB-to-serial adaptor·on my laptop. Works great icon13.gif, purchased at a B.B. store.·
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 1,023
    edited 2005-03-26 15:10
    Hi All,

    With many of the Toshiba laptops you have to disable the FIFO buffer to get the serial port to work correctly with the Basic Stamp. This one stumped me for a while with my older Toshiba.

    Jonathan

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    www.madlabs.info - Home of the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Robot
  • clydeclyde Posts: 2
    edited 2005-03-26 17:55
    Well, thx for all the replies everyone. Im surprised to get that much response. Anyhow, yeah, so heres the scoop after me tweeking around. I updated the driver for the replicator form targus' website, i checked the com ports, see if anything else was using it.Turned off the FIFO buffer. Now this is what i get when i run identify. With the stamp power off, i get loopback yes, and echo yes, no device type(as it should be since it is off), with the stamp turned on I get loopback yes, and echo no, and also no device type. I'll play around some more, but if it doesnt work I will get some different usb-to-serial thingy.
  • Jon WilliamsJon Williams Posts: 6,491
    edited 2005-03-26 18:40
    If you're going to buy a USB adapter for your BASIC Stamp, PLEASE buy the FTDI model that we recommend. We've been through this headache a thousand times and we know that the FTDI works -- several customers have punished themselves (and sometimes this forum through endless "Why won't my Brand X adapter work?" rants....) by purchasing something outside the FTDI recommendation. Save yourself a lot of trouble; get the FTDI USB-to-Serial adapter cable.

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Jon Williams
    Applications Engineer, Parallax
    Dallas, TX· USA
  • GadgetmanGadgetman Posts: 2,436
    edited 2005-03-28 19:49
    I have another Targus USB adapter, 'Mobile mini port replicator'(mod: PA082) but this one with just Serial/parallell ports and an USB link port.
    (The USB cable is hidden under a cover )

    Mine will not work with my BS2p, any PalmPilot I have(I have a lot, from the old 5000 to the Zire) or any of my Psion PDAs...
    No matter what I do, I can't get it to work, and according to what I hear from fellow Psioneers, neither can anyone else.

    The only reason I haven't junked it is that I need the parallell port sometimes...
    (Whenever I need a colour print and am too lazy to pop by the office and use the lasers there. B/W prints I do on my USB enables laser printer smile.gif

    Targus makes good cases, but electronics? nope...
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