Can my old JP1 cable be adapted to my new PC's ports?

[skillethome]

Hi.

I bought a JP1 cable about two years ago (maybe a little more) to upgrade my URC-6131. It's a 25-pin (serial?) type -- two rows of pins. I've since gotten a new computer and just realized that I have no way to attach this JP1 cable. This newer Dell laptop only has USB and VGA (15-pin) inputs.

Am I hosed?

Thank you ...

[Capn Trips]

Hosed? no. But you need a new cable. You have a parallel cable which cannot be made to work via any other connector on your PC, so you either need to buy or build a JP1 USB cable.

[Evan_s]

Since he has a laptop he'll probably need to build a JP1 usb cable.

A quick search at newegg showed only one pcmcia parallel port card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6839158008 and it was 50 bucks. Couldn't even say for sure if that would work either.

[underquark]

This newer Dell laptop...

Buy or build a new cable (unless you've got a docking station). Don't go down the route of thinking that "the cable costs more than the remote" - it's still value for money. It's USB only, by the way; you can't interact with a remote via the VGA port (though I'm always willing to be proved wrong).

[Capn Trips]

This newer Dell laptop...

I know, I know - I just responded to the subject line. Nobody calls a Laptop a "PC" . I deleted any reference to a PC parallel port card. Sheesh.

[underquark]

Didn't mean to lay it on so thick, Capn . I was multitasking and hit the send button later than Evan s. Never mind, at least we won the rugby against Portugal today . (Although we were the first side they have ever scored a World-Cup try against ).

[Capn Trips]

Did you see South Africa pummel Samoa?!

[underquark]

That's because most of the good Samoans play for Kiwi teams.

[javier]

Since he has a laptop he'll probably need to build a JP1 usb cable.

A quick search at newegg showed only one pcmcia parallel port card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6839158008 and it was 50 bucks. Couldn't even say for sure if that would work either.

I have bought a $17 PCMCIA Parallel card and it works with my URC-8910 JP1 remote.
Because there are a lot of cards with different chips, look for a card with the MCS9805 chip inside.
This is the link for the card that I have bought:
http://cgi.ebay.com/110533099643

When installed, go to device manager in your PC and look for memory I/O resources of your new LPT device. I had to change the address 378 on IR.EXE associated to LPT1 for the new FFE8 of the new PCMCIA card.
If thist is not enough to get the card working, try to change the port configuration (interrrupt, Plug&Play legacy) on the Port Configuration tab of the card properties in device manager.

Good luck.

[cauer29]

Since he has a laptop he'll probably need to build a JP1 usb cable.

A quick search at newegg showed only one pcmcia parallel port card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6839158008 and it was 50 bucks. Couldn't even say for sure if that would work either.

I have bought a $17 PCMCIA Parallel card and it works with my URC-8910 JP1 remote.
Because there are a lot of cards with different chips, look for a card with the MCS9805 chip inside.
This is the link for the card that I have bought:
http://cgi.ebay.com/110533099643

When installed, go to device manager in your PC and look for memory I/O resources of your new LPT device. I had to change the address 378 on IR.EXE associated to LPT1 for the new FFE8 of the new PCMCIA card.
If thist is not enough to get the card working, try to change the port configuration (interrrupt, Plug&Play legacy) on the Port Configuration tab of the card properties in device manager.

Good luck.

PCMCIA and PC-Card are the older standard for laptops. You'd be hard pressed to find a current model laptop that still has such a slot. The new standard is called Express Card. It's a little smaller, but there are at least a few Express Card to Parallel port cards available. They tend to be more expensive and I don't know if they will actually work for JP1, as JP1 requires direct control of the hardware, whereas some parallel port adapters don't allow that, as they're really meant for connecting to an actual parallel port printer and as such, don't need perfect hardware emulation.

A.A.