I could not get a USB/Serial Adaptor to work with Virtual PC 6.1 emulating Windows XP Pro. According to Microsoft, this is a known issue. Sometimes people are able to get a particular brand of adaptor to work, but sometimes only for a download or two and then they stop working. I tried Iogear and Keyspan with no luck.

The problem became worse with the Panther upgrade. Microsoft is trying to resolve the problem for VPC 7.

Unless you have a Mac with a serial port, I recommend having the use of a PC in the same room as your theatre, ideally for a week so you can program and then tweak. Even if your Mac has a serial port, the software will run much faster on a PC.

I do use a Mac. I am running OS X 10.3.4, VPC 6.0.1, using a keyspan usa19w Keyspan adaptor, I have used both Win 98 and XP. Downloads are perfect, Uploads usually take multiple attempts. Outside of the poor speed of windows it works o.k.

I see that you guys are using a USB/serial adapter. How about straight USB without going to serial? Does it work with Virtual PC on a Mac with Panther?

I just bought the MX-500 and hope to use my Mac; otherwise I will use my PC laptop.

The MX-500 isn't PC programmable except when used with IRClone. The reason the USB-to-serial adapter is needed for the MX-700 is because its connecting cable uses a serial connector.

Mike
www.SurfRemoteControl.com

The MX-500 is programmable with a USB interface with IRCLONE MX, right?

My question was, does the USB interface with a Mac running Virtual PC usable with the MX-500 and the IRCLONE MX?

I have had a bad experience using USB interfaces with Virtual PC with my Garmin Street pilot 2610 GPS navigator.

Yes, IRClone uses a USB cable, but the previous discussion was regarding the use of MXEditor, which is the MX-700's software. The MX-700 requires the use of the serial-to-USB adapter, IRClone doesn't.

Maybe someone that's successfully running the IRClone software on a Mac can answer your question, but you'd be better served to ask it in a separate thread since they wouldn't be expecting it in this thread.

I'm on OSX 10.3.4 with Connectrix VPC 6.0.2 and some no-name cheapo serial/USB connector.

It all works perfectly; far better than I ever had with ProntoEdit. You might try downloading the usb/Serial driver from here:



It's supposed to be for one product only, but I think these things oftern share chipsets.

Gwynne

Gwynne

Did you install the driver on the Mac or the vpc. I get good downloads with software for Keyspan (upn112) installed on Mac side, but I never can get a upload. When I install the drivers in vpc, I can't get anything to work. I'm using vpc 7. Any experiences on your side would be greatly appreciated.

I will share my experiences with other Mac users concerning virtual pc (vpc) and the Orion mx-editor. I am using a powerbook G4 (500 MHz) and vpc 7.01 with Windows XP. I use a Keyspan multiport replicator (UPR-112) for the serial to USB connection. I tried installing the Keyspan software on the vpc (which was the recomended way in vpc documentation); however, the software would not install. I then installed the latest OSX driver software on the Mac, and soon had good donloads. I never got a single upload to work with this setup. I also tried the USB/serial adapter on two different pcs and both uploads and downloads were perfect. This indicates the problem is not the connector. After quite an ordeal, I now have my new MX-850 programmed with nine devices and an activity page for watching Cable, OTA HDTV, DVDs, VHS tapes, and listening to the radio. All in all, the MX-850 is fantastic, and the software is great (except for uploads using the Mac and vpc). My trusty MX-500 will be delegated to a bedroom.

So, when will HTM release a TRUE mac compatible software and get rid of the serial connection!!

I tried using the keyspan USB to serial on VPv7.0 with NO LUCK whatsoever!!

I'm forced to run from one end of the house to the other since i cannont use my powerbook to do the programming.

I'm in process trying to return my VPv7 back to microsoft. Wish me luck...

Ok, I've just tried an IO gear USB-Serial connector with VPC v7.0/windows XP home running on a powerbook G4 1.5GHz 1.25GB RAM.

I have made connection...so far it worked on the VERY FIRST TIME!!

IO Gear Model Number: GUC232A

If for some reaon it starts acting flaky...i'll post again.

I have 5 Macs in the house and a junky old PC. I don't have a recent copy of VPC so I decided to use the PC to program my MX-700. It worked well but I got tired of running up and down from the office to the theater.

I borrowed a PC laptop and yanked the Keyspan adapter from my old Palm. Can't get the PC laptop to work with the keyspan adapter :(

I followed the configuration instructions on the MXEditor FAQ page but the dialog boxes on the PC laptop (running XP) are different than those referred to on the FAQ site.

Are any of you fellow Mac-heads aware of an issue that would keep me from using the keyspan adapter?

Thanks,

Rob

If that is the Keyspan pda adaptor it is not compatible, try a different adaptor

I tried, and tried to get the keyspan adaptor to work. No luck...I will be doing some extensive programming in the next day or so, therefore I can confirm the use of the IO gear usb-serial adaptor to work on my powerbook G4 with VPC7 XP home edition.

I have succesffuly, UPLOADED once and then ran out of time for tinkering.

I use my powerbook with vpc 6.1 to configure my MX-850 with no issues.

I think the key is with the windows version. I use a virtual PC running windows 98 and it uploads and downloads everytime without any problems. I did have some problems with it being flaky under windows 2000. Make sure you install the serial driver on the MAC and not in the virtual PC, then pick the serial port in the settings dialog for the PC.

I have the iogear and the keyspan serial adapters and they both work fine this way.

- Mike