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[Terbs]

Hi all................ I'll give a brief outline of the problem.
To reprogramme the tills at the Centre, I have to connect serial to serial (DB9 pin). Most laptops nowadays do not have a serial port. I have tried convertors but none work (played around with ports, etc) Till will only recognise serial direct.
I have a small very very old laptop with a serial, and the till recognises it. However, this laptop only had 16mb ram so I can't put Windows XP on it. It currently has Windows 98 loaded, but when I install the Till programme, I get error messages about MC42.dll:6749 missing. I have googled, and this seems to be a windows 98 problem. I have tried getting this file from my comp and loading it, but no go still.

Right....I have now been given an old Gateway 5300 laptop, 256 mb ram.........but....it only has a floppy disk drive. I stuck an external drive on...it wants usb drivers. Tried a flash drive, same result. Questions are...............
1....How the hell do you put programmes on a laptop like this.
2....If I buy a female serial to serial cable, and plug to my computer, will it be recognised, could I transfer files, and is there a way of loading windows XP on to it.
3....It has an internet port (not ethernet) If I attatch a cable to my BT 3 Infinity hub (there is a grey socket spare next to the yellow ethernet sockets). Would it be recognised to download files.
4....If all else fails, has anyone got an old working laptop with a serial DB9 socket with a cd/dvd fitted. Not too bothered about cosmetics, it will only be used a couple of times a year. Willing to pay (was looking on fleabay up to £100, but did not want to be ripped off) After enquiring about a laptop to a seller, he said he had an old IBM with CDrw and XP I could have for £50 +postage. Sent my details, never heard a thing back

Tearing hair out terbert

[Gaffers]

I have q couple of old laptops with serial and cd drive.  I'm home later this evening, remind me then

[Plomien]

you could use a usb cd/dvd drive

[Terbs]

you could use a usb cd/dvd drive

Nothing plugged into the usb slot works. It always calls for drivers !!!!!!!!

Guffer .....noted, thanks

[Martian]

1....How the hell do you put programmes on a laptop like this.

Back then it was invariably via FDD.

2....If I buy a female serial to serial cable, and plug to my computer, will it be recognised, could I transfer files, and is there a way of loading windows XP on to it.

Forget XP on a machine of that spec, it isn't going to happen.
You can't use a direct serieal to serial cable for data transfer, but you can use a program such as Laplink with the appropiate cable to transfer data to the laptop HDD

3....It has an internet port (not ethernet) If I attatch a cable to my BT 3 Infinity hub (there is a grey socket spare next to the yellow ethernet sockets). Would it be recognised to download files.

No, that port on the laptop is a dial up modem.
You could upload the data you need to a server somewhere and then create a dial up connection on the laptop to download it again though.


PS

You could also take the HDD out of the laptop and attach it as a slave to another machine and then copy whatever drivers are required to it so that when Win 98 asks for the USB drivers or whatever you simply point it in the direction of the folder you copied them to.

[dbug]

1....How the hell do you put programmes on a laptop like this.

Back then it was invariably via FDD.

2....If I buy a female serial to serial cable, and plug to my computer, will it be recognised, could I transfer files, and is there a way of loading windows XP on to it.

Forget XP on a machine of that spec, it isn't going to happen.
You can't use a direct serieal to serial cable for data transfer, but you can use a program such as Laplink with the appropiate cable to transfer data to the laptop HDD

3....It has an internet port (not ethernet) If I attatch a cable to my BT 3 Infinity hub (there is a grey socket spare next to the yellow ethernet sockets). Would it be recognised to download files.

No, that port on the laptop is a dial up modem.
You could upload the data you need to a server somewhere and then create a dial up connection on the laptop to download it again though.


PS

You could also take the HDD out of the laptop and attach it as a slave to another machine and then copy whatever drivers are required to it so that when Win 98 asks for the USB drivers or whatever you simply point it in the direction of the folder you copied them to.

Windows 98 never won prizes for USB compatability!!
I use an old laptop with serial port for Vx code reading - it had a cdrw, win98se and low memory/small hard drive.  Fitted bigger HD, upped memory to 512Mb, installed XP - works well all for £20 off ebay all in!!    If OP looks hard enough he will find a bargain one!!

[dbug]

Look here . . . . .

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VERY-VERY-CHEAP-2GHZ-LAPTOP-DVD-CDRW-512MB-RAM-WIFI-40GIG-/120866238911?pt=UK_Computing_Laptops_EH&hash=item1c243071bf

or here . . .  .

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CHEAP-FUJITSU-1GHZ-LAPTOP-WiFi-DVD-PLAYER-LIGHTWEIGHT-30GB-HDD-/120866231900?pt=UK_Computing_Laptops_EH&hash=item1c2430565c

HTH 

[Terbs]

Thanks for links