leeS2

pic below
im going crazy here, its a garmin gps unit with a download lead, only the lead doesnt fit my laptop, ive tried a block of connectors to plug it into the serial port but the software cant detect the unit, it seems my laptop is crap as most computers have this socket, pc world told me i cant convert the lead to usb etc, the only socket that looks familiar has 15 pin and the lead is 9 and there both male type connectors i think

at first i thought its easy just get a gender converter, but like i said above the lead is 9 pin and the socket 15 pin, i can plug it in to the serial port with 3 different connectors ( cost me £20 so far) but cant get it to work, had the exact same prob with my mobile phone (same lead end)



the lead ontop of the laptop is the one i wanna connect, the port that looks the same is a 15 pin



[Edited by leeS2 - 3/1/2003 3:35:21 PM]

leeS2

cool the replys sound positive, but im not to well educated in computers, the big pink connector ive already tried, using an array of connectors to get it to fit and it cant detect the unit

[Edited by leeS2 - 3/1/2003 3:40:03 PM]

Hanslow

The red port on your 'puter is a parallel port and the blue one is a VGA out for connecting to a monitor.

As suggested, get yourself a USB to 9 pin serial converter and you should be sorted.


[Edited by Hanslow - 3/1/2003 3:40:25 PM]

XT

Your computer doesn't have a COM port. You have to go to a computer shop and get a COM --> parallel adaptor and then you'll be able to connect it to the pink output. Try maplin's

Mice_Elf

PC World wouldn't know a motherboard if you stuffed it up their left nostril.


What you have there is a parellel port and you CAN get a small adapter to convert it to USB. I personally have a computer shop just near to me where I get all my bits from and wouldn't even entertain the idea of asking the numpties in PC World if they have anything, so unless you look in their shops, I'm not sure where you could get one. Maybe jungle.com...





[Edited by Mice_Elf - 3/1/2003 3:45:04 PM]

Mice_Elf

You need an adapter. 9pin to 25 pin adapters can be bought.

Are you certain that the port on your laptop works?

XT

did you fit the drivers of the device that you want to connect? if yes, go to the options of the program you want to use and there must be an option where you choose the connection port. This would probably set to COM1 or COM2, if that's the case, change it to the parallel port.

leeS2

xt the software has a auto detect and with it all plugged into the big pink port it cant detect it.

so what you guys are saying is i can get a connector to plug the lead into a USB port???

XT

if that's the case, then get a COM to USB adaptor as the other guys told you. Sorry i couldn't help.

rjs1000

http://www.easysync.co.uk/rs232.htm#us232

something like this....

rjs1000

the one at the top would be fine... But before you buy it phone them and check... (better safe than sorry)

rjs1000

or
http://www.netshop.co.uk/usb232.htm
or
http://www.netshop.co.uk/f5u103.htm

leeS2

thanx guys just ordered one online

now all i need is me scooby problem solved and ill be a real happy bunny

ps for all scooby gurus the post is in the technical section

Belf

I've written software that reads data from garmin gps'. They transmit text based data to the serial port and as such don't need any drivers to make them work. All that is needed is for the software to parse the stream of text coming in from the serial port. The only way you'll get it to work is if you can find some usb or parrallel adaptor that includes a driver that presents the data from the gps as a virtual comm port.

leeS2

belf are you saying ive just spent another £25 quid for nothing???
pls tell me no

but by what your saying it wouldnt even of worked if i did have the socket that fitted the data lead

Chelspeed

You also have to set the GPS up to send the right data. It's in the setup menu, find that - press menu twice on my GPS, then find interface and select Garmin.

leeS2

ok got the usb serial lead, plugged it in still cant detect it, came with a cd, cant get anything to work, cd has files for different aplications as below
Model No. & Description
-------------------------------


No. Model No. Description

1 UBRJ4 USB TO Fast Ethernet Converter

2 UCR1A USB MMC/SD Card Reader

3 UCR2A USB MS Card Reader

4 UCR3A USB SM Card Reader

5 UCR4A USB CF Card Reader

6 UCR5A USB 7 in 1 Card Reader

7 UCR7A USB 7 in 1 Card Reader(Internal)

8 UIDAA IrDA Wireless Connection

9 UK032 USB Electronic Hard Disk (32MB)

10 UK064 USB Electronic Hard Disk (64MB)

11 UK128 USB Electronic Hard Disk (128MB)

12 UK256 USB Electronic Hard Disk (256MB)

13 UK1GB USB Electronic Hard Disk (1GB)

14 ULKB3 USB Link Cable

15 UN1BE USB TO Parallel Printer Cable

16 UN7B2 USB TO USB Network Cable

17 UN8BE USB TO RS232 Cable

18 UP1AA USB 2.0 PCI Host Card

19 UPDA3 USB TO PDA Palm III

20 UPDA5 USB TO PDA Palm V

so i click on one to install etc, and click on xp( has different for xp and 98 etc)

but says cant find program to open it with etc and askes me if want to search net etc

so i tried pluggin in and lettin the system tell me found new hardware on usb, so it tries installin itself etc from cd but it then says its not digital etc??? basically i still cant get it to bloomin woirk!!!

rjs1000

17 sounds best!

rjs1000

i would have thought it would works like this:

1) plug in adapter to USB port
2) xp should find new hardware (i.e the adapter), say have disk & find the driver (if it can find drivers of the disk - run the cd install program before step 1)
3) xp sets up the adapter & u plug in the gps device & off u go

leeS2

that was my thinking too, but cant get it to instal, says somin like windows needs to know whats file created it or somin, open with???? or searxh the net for it

leeS2

tried lettin windows detect again, started installin and it came up with:

The file Serp2pl.sys on USB-serial cable diskette is needed, in other words it cant find it on the cd?? its askin me were to locate it

rjs1000

which one did u order?

Ive got the one from netshop coming maybe tomorrow... Im using it to connect a phone to a laptop but ill let u know how it goes...

rjs1000

search your HD and CD for the file i guess - use START button then search...

leeS2

um dunno i only saw one on there, and yes was from netshop

Shark

Given the number of mod threads on at the moment, why hasn't this been moved?

David

leeS2

sorted dunno how i done it but its workin