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Author Topic: Mac User Needs Advice - Buying a Windows Computer Michael Voiland Expert Film Handler Posts: 219 From: Naperville, IL US Registered: Aug 2009 posted 11-06-2010 12:42 PM                     Go to Google type DFS eBay Dell offers off lease laptops on eBay for a bargain. I would look at a latitude d610, 20, or 30. They all have serial ports all the D series should the 510, 20, and 30s are good to.  |  IP: Logged System Notices Forum Watchdog / Soup Nazi Posts: 215 Registered: Apr 2004 posted 03-30-2012 11:11 PM                 It has been 510 days since the last post.  |  IP: Logged Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 03-30-2012 11:11 PM                     Okay. Thanks for all the input. I inherited an older Dell Latitude - probably one of the ones Brad recommended but I don't recall the model number. IIRC, it's from the D series. Anyway, the important thing is that it has a COM port and I'm able to get things done. New Question: Are there any devices with setup software that does not play nice with Windows 7 ? This laptop currently has XP installed on it. In other words - should I stick with XP?  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 03-31-2012 12:37 AM                     Yes stick with XP. It just works. If you want pretty, bubbly things, use your Mac.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 03-31-2012 02:23 AM                     Windows XP is pretty solid. The downside is the "drop dead date" on support (last time I checked) is April 8, 2014 -about 2 years from now. No more security patches, bug fixes or anything like that. Probably not a bad thing if you use an old XP-based notebook merely to connect via RS-232 to certain pieces of gear. But it's a different matter if it is connected to a network or God forbid the Internet. I'm sure Microsoft would love to drop support for XP like 2 years ago. The problem is too many business and home users still use it on computers connected to the Internet. So they've had to push back the drop dead date for XP support repeatedly. For all I know the 4/2014 date might not hold. At some point everyone will have to move on from XP. The OS is not being sold on any new computers. Old computers eventually die via failure of a critical part that cannot be replaced. Moving to Win 7 isn't all that easy, especially the 64-bit version. The XP user will find a lot of older software just won't run. The "Professional" and "Ultimate" versions of Win 7 have the XP compatibility mode, but anything running in that mode loses the advantages of 64-bit operation.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 03-31-2012 03:18 AM                     quote: Bobby Henderson At some point everyone will have to move on from XP. The OS is not being sold on any new computers. Dell offers it.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 03-31-2012 03:34 AM                     XP: Best Windows OS out there..  |  IP: Logged Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 03-31-2012 06:06 AM                     quote: Bobby Henderson I don't know the exact cut-off in terms of cable length but at a certain point you have to go to RS-485. We have had to use RS-485 on a few message centers where the customer insisted on having a hard line run from the computer to the sign, but didn't want to spend the extra coin for a fiber optic connection. Some of that savings gets spent on surge protection from lightning strikes. The official limit for RS-232 is 50 feet, but in the days before network connectible printers I've driven them about three times that distance at 19,200 over four-core unscreened burglar alarm cable. RS-422 is the differential version, which can go much further, but I can't remember the figure. It specifies Voltage levels etc., but not connector types, and I don't think flow control, which would be done in software at a higher level. It's just a means of getting fairly small numbers of bits from one place to another; it can reach a few Mb/s over short distances. Many other interfaces use RS-422 at the physical layer, including RS-485 which is a multi-drop bus which allows several devices to be daisy-chained, we have it at work for the entrance barriers; the security server talks Ethernet to the first barrier controller, that talks RS-485 to each of the other controllers, and the controllers talk some sort of point to point serial, I think it's RS-422, to the barriers themselves and the contactless card readers on them. I think AES/EBU digital audio, uses RS-422 at the physical layer, can anybody confirm this?, as do several of the digital lighting control systems. IP over Ethernet to a controller, and then some sort of serial to whatever is being monitored and controlled is very common, and USB is almost never used for this sort of thing. The distances involved are typically greater than USB can handle, and the data involved are tiny.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 03-31-2012 08:02 AM                     I have a new Win7 laptop...I like it in many ways and it is really fast (fast boot up too) but it definitely does NOT work with everything XP does so as a tech I would have an XP computer at this point if I had only one (I still have my trusty XP machine too). Mind you, more and more are programs are working with Win7 just fine and even optimized for it...Dolby offers 64-bit versions of their programs, for instance.  |  IP: Logged Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 04-01-2012 05:59 AM                     Okay - XP it shall be. Thanks for the advice! I've run RS-232 over 100-ft. I like to be in the cinema when I create the lighting presets. That calls for a very long cable. Fortunately, it works. BTW, the laptop I inherited is a Dell Latitude D520.  |  IP: Logged Carsten Kurz Film God Posts: 4340 From: Cologne, NRW, Germany Registered: Aug 2009 posted 04-01-2012 07:30 AM                     Yes, DELL still builds Laptops with serial Ports (some only on docking stations), and you can also get a used one with XP dead-cheap from ebay. I have a nice small D430 with a dockingstation offering all imaginable ports on it, a 'real' RS232 among them. DELL Latitude D630 and D830 have real RS232 as well. I remember the D830 coming with either XP or WIN7, so, that specific model has proper drivers for both windows versions and might be a good choice to buy. - Carsten  |  IP: Logged

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