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CAD program dongle vs. Acer laptop
X-posted to:
comp.sys.laptops alt.comp.hardware microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware, Greetings, I've been given a brand-new AMD-based Acer 5044WLMi laptop with WinXP. My work requires that I use a certain DOS-based CAD program which uses a dongle attached to LPT1. This dongle is seen properly by the same CAD program running under WinXP on a Pentium-based desktop where the motherboard has a built-in parallel port. The laptop has no parallel port, but must be given one through a PCMCIA parallel card. These are not cheap. We purchased a Quatech SPP-100. It works just great, but the CAD program refuses to see the dongle no matter how we tweak the settings in WinXP. (In fairness, the vendor did say there was no guarantee the SPP-100 would work the way we needed.) I know WinXP prohibits direct access to the hardware, something parallel- port dongles seem to need, but that does not seem to be the problem here. The CAD program makers refuse to support this version of the program any more; they want eveybody to upgrade. We are, therefore, on our own. I'd be very grateful for any ideas before we go buying any more PCMCIA cards. -- TeGGeR® |
#2
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CAD program dongle vs. Acer laptop
You are either going to have to update your CAD program or install it (the
DOS version) on a dedicated "older" computer and maintain that computer for your CAD program. Windows 98se would seem like a good choice here. -- Regards, Richard Urban Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User (For email, remove the obvious from my address) Quote from George Ankner: If you knew as much as you think you know, You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew! "TeGGeR®" wrote in message ... X-posted to: comp.sys.laptops alt.comp.hardware microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware, Greetings, I've been given a brand-new AMD-based Acer 5044WLMi laptop with WinXP. My work requires that I use a certain DOS-based CAD program which uses a dongle attached to LPT1. This dongle is seen properly by the same CAD program running under WinXP on a Pentium-based desktop where the motherboard has a built-in parallel port. The laptop has no parallel port, but must be given one through a PCMCIA parallel card. These are not cheap. We purchased a Quatech SPP-100. It works just great, but the CAD program refuses to see the dongle no matter how we tweak the settings in WinXP. (In fairness, the vendor did say there was no guarantee the SPP-100 would work the way we needed.) I know WinXP prohibits direct access to the hardware, something parallel- port dongles seem to need, but that does not seem to be the problem here. The CAD program makers refuse to support this version of the program any more; they want eveybody to upgrade. We are, therefore, on our own. I'd be very grateful for any ideas before we go buying any more PCMCIA cards. -- TeGGeR® |
#3
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CAD program dongle vs. Acer laptop
On Thu, 19 Oct 2006 22:52:42 +0000 (UTC), "TeGGeR®" wrote:
X-posted to: comp.sys.laptops alt.comp.hardware microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware, Greetings, I've been given a brand-new AMD-based Acer 5044WLMi laptop with WinXP. My work requires that I use a certain DOS-based CAD program which uses a dongle attached to LPT1. This dongle is seen properly by the same CAD program running under WinXP on a Pentium-based desktop where the motherboard has a built-in parallel port. The laptop has no parallel port, but must be given one through a PCMCIA parallel card. These are not cheap. We purchased a Quatech SPP-100. It works just great, but the CAD program refuses to see the dongle no matter how we tweak the settings in WinXP. (In fairness, the vendor did say there was no guarantee the SPP-100 would work the way we needed.) I know WinXP prohibits direct access to the hardware, something parallel- port dongles seem to need, but that does not seem to be the problem here. The CAD program makers refuse to support this version of the program any more; they want eveybody to upgrade. We are, therefore, on our own. I'd be very grateful for any ideas before we go buying any more PCMCIA cards. I think you are going to have to upgrade the software or downgrade the machine. The way that LPT-connected pass-through dongles work is that the software sends information to the port without strobing, and the dongle responds when a key byte sequence is seen. This is why they (in theory at least) don't interfere with through traffic to the printer or other downstream device such as a scanner. Whether a PCMCIA card is capable of supporting this same functionality is doubtful, as it would really be expecting the "normal" sequence of: ..load_data_port ..strobe ..wait_for_ack ..load_next_byte etc and I'd be prepared to bet that any other port-replacements (eg using USB or Firewire) would be spectacularly unsuccessful. |
#4
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CAD program dongle vs. Acer laptop
TeGGeR® wrote: work requires that I use a certain DOS-based CAD program which uses a dongle attached to LPT1. This dongle is seen properly by the same CAD If you are not in the United States (where DMCA prevents fair use of the type I'm about to describe) then your best, and only long-term solution, is to find a crack for the program in question. I have a similar situation with a compiler at an old workplace. Moral for impressionable souls reading this thread: Don't allow your proprietary data to be locked up in someone else's copy protection. |
#5
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CAD program dongle vs. Acer laptop
TeGGeR wrote: work requires that I use a certain DOS-based CAD program which uses a dongle attached to LPT1. This dongle is seen properly by the same CAD If you are not in the United States (where DMCA prevents fair use of the type I'm about to describe) then your best, and only long-term solution, is to find a crack for the program in question. I have a similar situation with a compiler at an old workplace. Moral for impressionable souls reading this thread: Don't allow your proprietary data to be locked up in someone else's copy protection. |
#6
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CAD program dongle vs. Acer laptop
TeGGeR® wrote:
The laptop has no parallel port, but must be given one through a PCMCIA parallel card. These are not cheap. We purchased a Quatech SPP-100. Hmm, I' ve used the SPP-100 on programs where I was almost sure that it wouldn't work and it did (http://www.macraigor.com/raven.htm). Yep, they cost around $100. I bought a laptop with a parallel and serial ports specifically because I knew that I'd need to use other programs that require direct access. You did make sure that you had the SPP-100 set to standard mode, with EPP not enabled? It also could be that the Quatech isn't providing a high enough voltage on the pins to power the dongle. Remember, the dongle draws power from signal pins, not a very kosher thing to do. I've seen this problem with the Rainbow brand parallel port dongles with certain parallel port chips. The parallel port manufacturer often uses the minimum voltage specified by IEEE 1284 (2.4V) in order to reduce EMI, and the dongles don't like this, even though the parallel port meets spec. You might try measuring a logic high on one of the parallel port control lines and on one of the data lines. If it's 3.0V or so, then you should be okay. If it's the minimum (2.4V) then that may be the problem, and it might be worthwhile to try a different brand of PCMCIA card, preferably the oldest one you can find, and PCMCIA, not CardBus (or whatever terminology you like to use)! The other problem I saw with dongles is when the parallel port chip tri-states the outputs between bytes. The way the dongle works is that the software is using one of the eight data lines as a strobe, and the other seven lines for data, but never uses the strobe. This is why pass-through works on dongles, the printer never sees the data sent to the dongle, because the strobe is never toggled. The dongles don't like the data lines to be tri-stated, though there is really nothing illegal about tri-stating them when the port isn't in use. Look at "http://www.transdigital.net/info.htm". They do offer a money-back guarantee. |
#7
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CAD program dongle vs. Acer laptop
SMS wrote:
TeGGeR® wrote: The laptop has no parallel port, but must be given one through a PCMCIA parallel card. These are not cheap. We purchased a Quatech SPP-100. .... snip ... The other problem I saw with dongles is when the parallel port chip tri-states the outputs between bytes. The way the dongle works is that the software is using one of the eight data lines as a strobe, and the other seven lines for data, but never uses the strobe. This is why pass-through works on dongles, the printer never sees the data sent to the dongle, because the strobe is never toggled. The dongles don't like the data lines to be tri-stated, though there is really nothing illegal about tri-stating them when the port isn't in use. If that is the problem why not add pull-up resistors to the port output lines, with an external supply (maybe 3 AA cells). About 4.7 k per line should do, for roughly 5ma max per line battery drain. It can all be implemented in a small box. -- Chuck F (cbfalconer at maineline dot net) Available for consulting/temporary embedded and systems. http://cbfalconer.home.att.net |
#8
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CAD program dongle vs. Acer laptop
SMS wrote in
: TeGGeR® wrote: The laptop has no parallel port, but must be given one through a PCMCIA parallel card. These are not cheap. We purchased a Quatech SPP-100. Hmm, I' ve used the SPP-100 on programs where I was almost sure that it wouldn't work and it did (http://www.macraigor.com/raven.htm). Yep, they cost around $100. I bought a laptop with a parallel and serial ports specifically because I knew that I'd need to use other programs that require direct access. All the ones available to me had no serial or parallel ports. You did make sure that you had the SPP-100 set to standard mode, with EPP not enabled? There's no setting in Device Manager that would allow me to do this. I tried changing all the options available except the I/O range. snip Look at "http://www.transdigital.net/info.htm". They do offer a money-back guarantee. I've emailed them, thanks for the link. I also found this place: http://www.safe-key.com/ They have a utility on their Web site that will read the data on the key. I have run that utility and sent them the data file. According to Safe-Key's tech support, the dongle in question is highly sensitive to timing. Thanks to all for their help. Hopefully this will get resolved successfully. -- TeGGeR® |
#9
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CAD program dongle vs. Acer laptop
CBFalconer wrote:
SMS wrote: TeGGeR® wrote: The laptop has no parallel port, but must be given one through a PCMCIA parallel card. These are not cheap. We purchased a Quatech SPP-100. ... snip ... The other problem I saw with dongles is when the parallel port chip tri-states the outputs between bytes. The way the dongle works is that the software is using one of the eight data lines as a strobe, and the other seven lines for data, but never uses the strobe. This is why pass-through works on dongles, the printer never sees the data sent to the dongle, because the strobe is never toggled. The dongles don't like the data lines to be tri-stated, though there is really nothing illegal about tri-stating them when the port isn't in use. If that is the problem why not add pull-up resistors to the port output lines, with an external supply (maybe 3 AA cells). About 4.7 k per line should do, for roughly 5ma max per line battery drain. It can all be implemented in a small box. On 1284 compliant ports, there should already be pull-ups. The instance of this problem was with some weird SuperIO from some low-end Taiwanese semiconductor company. You didn't see many in the U.S. except on no-name motherboards because they didn't have a license to use the 16550 UART, |
#10
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CAD program dongle vs. Acer laptop
TeGGeR® wrote:
I also found this place: http://www.safe-key.com/ They have a utility on their Web site that will read the data on the key. I have run that utility and sent them the data file. According to Safe-Key's tech support, the dongle in question is highly sensitive to timing. Which brand of dongle is it? |
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