Keyspan has what they call a USB PDA Adapter for $39.

It gives you a DB-9 connector from a USB port.

See [Link: keyspan.com] for details.

Anyone know if this should do the trick for the Pronto given RealPC and a B&W Mac G3?

If so, I think I'll be ordering a Pronto pronto.

Also, please let me know if there's any other similar products out there.



(P.S. The existence of the PDA Adapter at a price like this is the very reason I don't understand why Phillips wouldn't make the Pronto USB-standard. The software is so simple, given a decent programmer using Codewarrior (or even RealBasic), the software could easily be cross platform as well. The cost to Phillips would be negligible.)

I am using a Keyspan USB to Serial Adapter, with a mac Din-8 to DB-9 adapter attached to the Philips Pronto Cable. This works fine on a B&W G3 and SoftWindows 98. It does not work with Virtual PC.

The USB PDA adapter should work fine also, since it's basically doing the same thing that I am, and is cheaper too....

Brooks

I can feel my wallet lighten already.

I've emailed Keyspan and Insignia (I own Real PC) with essentially the same question to see their take.

I'm emailing Phillips next....can't hurt to ask about a USB version with cross-platform software, eh?

I am interested in purchasing a Pronto and have a Mac with Virtual PC. I noticed several posts that mentioned Virtual PC does not work. I assume this means that you cannot download the Pronto to the Prontoedit running in VirtualPC. Could anyone tell me what it is about VirtualPC that does not allow the Pronto to work correctly?

Thanks

I'm personally very glad that the pronto isn't USB only. I have no USB port on my computer and even if I wanted to put a four port card for $40 it wouldn't work on my OS (NT).

Serial while not optimal is a standard that most everyone has at their disposal.

It basically comes down to some kind of sync problem with the serial port and virtual PC... you can use vitual pc to setup your ccf, and then download to the pronto with a terminal program such as zterm....

it's much easier with softwindows 98 though... works perfect....

Brooks

RE: NT without USB

I understand your point.

However, there's got to be far fewer NT users without built-in USB than even MacOS users.

Consider that NT sells at a rate much less than MacOS, and most/all systems it sells on will have USB ports on the motherboard.

Either way, unless Phillips changes their mind, we know how it is......

Does anybody know if SoftWin 98 will recognize USB ports on a PCI card?

(I am using the Keyspan USB PCI card on my beige G3.)

Has anybody made a succesfull connection on an "old G3" (read: tower 300mhz) with SW98 and the serial port?

Rainer