On June 10, 2018 at 19:13, Ernie Gilman said...
I'm downloading an installation file from the Trendnet site. It's named the PL-2303 from Prolific Technology. And the icon in Printers and Devices is labeled "Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port (COM6)."
This is a new concept to me. I believe that, in the past, a particular connection point on a computer could be named different COM numbers. That is, the COM port numbers were not static. They were assigned. I could be wrong, too!
If you look at a diagram of the computer, the comm ports are numbered- AFAIK, those numbers go with the port and aren't assignable.
AMEN BROTHER.
I don't understand this:
Uh... it didn't work before because it had not arrived in the mail, nor had I plugged it in. Let me back up -- I had a Keyspan USB to serial adaptor that worked for several years, and in fact used to be called the only one that ALWAYS worked. When I tried to use it on my present computer, I thought it had worked with a Pronto TS1000 but then I could NEVER connect to an MX-850.
You wrote "I've got one that worked for years. It's not working." in the original post. That's what I was referring to.
So I bought the Trendnet. When I worked out installation by using the correct USB connector, I was not able to identify its port number. You have to have a port number for the MX-850 Editor to work. I was able to find its port number where I didn't expect it, under "Unspecified" in Printers and Devices.
So you say "because it didn't work before," that's your reason for changing it. But the first time it worked I was able to find that it was set as COM6, so that's what I set it to... and NOW, after having it work, I ask "Why bother to change the port number?" Can you respond to that? Thanks.
That's the life of the MX-850 programmer. It's always been a bitch, and I never use that word.
How do you do updates on the small computer? Is it so sold that it has a serial connector, and incidentally can't run anything newer than XP? How does all that work out?
No, it's from 2015- it was used for a cell phone kiosk display and it's made for graphics. I called the manufacturer and he said they're just made to work reliably because display companies really hate when hardware fails- they take their business elsewhere very quickly. I updated the OS to Win10- I didn't reformat and install from a disc, but personally, I prefer Win7Pro, which is what it came with. It has a nice audio card, S/PDIF port inside if you want to add a jack somewhere and it has a nice processor, enough HD and RAM to do a lot. I put one in a cheap briefcase with a wireless keyboard/Logitech Unifying USB plug, some cables and the power supply- it's in the van for whenever I need it. It has several USB ports, HDMI, Serial, 5 analog audio outputs, VGA and DVI ports.
What model is the computer? When I needed to know the port assignments for my Dell, I googled the model and found a manual that showed the names for each port.
