computer for pluging into the ZR-1

[phrogs]

Anyone know of a good old lap top I can use for this purpose?

Im just not sure of what to buy I have a nice prgram and all the cables to do the work just need the laptop.

jp

[XfireZ51]

Which scantool do you have? I would get a laptop that supports USB and serial port if possible. I like the Dell 600m for that reason. XP capable but still supports a serial port.

[phrogs]

Ill have to get home and verify which program it is.

Ive had it for a while and just havent used it

[guinnessdood]

Anyone know of a good old lap top I can use for this purpose?

Im just not sure of what to buy I have a nice prgram and all the cables to do the work just need the laptop.

jpPhrogs...go out and find an old 486 laptop. As long as it has a RS-232 port it should work just fine. No need for a speed demon machine to do this kind of work. You should be able to pick one up for $100 or less. I have a 486 laptop in my garage for all of that kind of stuff...it's an old Dell...but the brand should make ZERO difference.:thumbsup: :cheers:

[ShawnZR-1]

I might have an old LT laying around here that I can ship you. The only problem is, the battery is likely dead. If you have an inverter, you can plug it into the car and power it that way.

[phrogs]

I might have an old LT laying around here that I can ship you. The only problem is, the battery is likely dead. If you have an inverter, you can plug it into the car and power it that way.


Inverter I take it this is something I can find on ebay or something?

[kenthompson]

Yea, or Home Depot, or Radio Shack, or Fry's, or Circuit City.

You won't need over 100 Watts of power, probably won't need over 75 watts.

My Intel Centrino laptop will run on 100 watts. The old Dell I use to record on my car is an old pentium III with 256 MB of ram and a 30 GB HD. Works great.

[XfireZ51]

phrogs,

Here's the one I use Works great. You really can't rely on a laptop battery when you're scanning for longer than 20-30 minutes.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2194431&cp=&sr=1&origkw=power+inverter&kw=power+inverter&parentPage=search

[ShawnZR-1]

That inverter will work but it's a little overkill. I use a little 75 Watt inverter that plugs directly into the cig outlet. Something like this:

http://www.invertersrus.com/inv75w.html

BTW, you never mentioned which software you are running. I doubt it will need a lot of processing power but the LT I'm thinking of probably won't run anything over Win98 :)

[XfireZ51]

Shawn,

I am using a Micron V1000 Transport LT and found that it was causing a smaller inverter to "clip" and overload. I found having 2 outlets very useful.

[ShawnZR-1]

Shawn,

I am using a Micron V1000 Transport LT and found that it was causing a smaller inverter to "clip" and overload. I found having 2 outlets very useful.

Oh, I agree, the little inverter I have is only used for the diagnostic laptop (old Pentium 200MMx). Plenty of power for that.

I also have a 350 watt and a 1200 watt for specific purposes! ;)

[Aurora40]

As people had asked, the key issue may be whether you need a serial port, or can use a USB port. If it's serial, almost no laptops from the last few years include a serial port. So you'll need to find one that does. There are probably Pentium and maybe PII/III notebooks with serial ports still.

If it's USB, probably any notebook that has USB would be fine, as USB didn't appear until the Pentium days. For a while I used a PIII-333MHz notebook to datalog with TTS Datamaster. It worked just fine, though I could not both record and show the data live, or the record rate would drop to ~3 frames per second. Without displaying simultaneously (and who can look at it while driving anyway?), it would pull the full 9-10 fps. I don't think the ECM can respond any faster than that.

[XfireZ51]

As people had asked, the key issue may be whether you need a serial port, or can use a USB port. If it's serial, almost no laptops from the last few years include a serial port. So you'll need to find one that does. There are probably Pentium and maybe PII/III notebooks with serial ports still.

If it's USB, probably any notebook that has USB would be fine, as USB didn't appear until the Pentium days. For a while I used a PIII-333MHz notebook to datalog with TTS Datamaster. It worked just fine, though I could not both record and show the data live, or the record rate would drop to ~3 frames per second. Without displaying simultaneously (and who can look at it while driving anyway?), it would pull the full 9-10 fps. I don't think the ECM can respond any faster than that.

Aurora,

The display rate is usually configurable. The ECM typically spits out data at a rate of 17fps. The earlier C3 ECMs like the 7747 was at 1.5fps. YAWN!
The Dell 600m or Latitude 620 is a Centrino based LT with Serial as well as USB support. If your LT doesn't have the Serial port you may need, there are PCM cards for the available slots. I've not had good luck with Serial to USB converters like the one from Radio Shack.

[phrogs]

Well for the conection i have on my cable I need a serial port this is one reason I can not use my current laptop, But Id like to have a lappy for garage abuse cause I know ill drop it one of these days!

[DaveK]

You can get an adapter for USB to 'old style' serial (USB - Universal Serial Bus). Try tigerdirect.com

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=166218&CatId=447

or cables online

http://store.yahoo.com/cablesonline/usbtoserrsca.html