question regarding lpt port

Hi all:

I am very ashamed to ask this. My laptop does not have com ports. None. I think that comunicating with simatic s7 plcs can be achieved with the LAN ethernet card but i saw the cable and it was very expensive. So, i wonder if there is some way to comunicate with some sort of adapter via the mpi cable using the lpt port or a pc card or something that is not as expensive as the ethernet solution. Out of that the Dell seems fine. This does not look good.

Any advice will be greatly apreciated. Thanks in advance

I know I know, not clever of my part.

HG

use 'virtual RS232C-prot' in USB. Vivanco Serial Usb twin tower modul.
It works my HP/Simatic S7 world.

Siemens have just released (or is about to) a new MPI/DP converter that connects via USB.
It will communicate at up to 1.5Mbaud.
It requires Win 2K or Win XP.
Price: Around € 3000 (less than half price of the CP5511).
Catalog number: 6ES7 972-0CB20-0XA0.

JesperMP said:

Siemens have just released (or is about to) a new MPI/DP converter that connects via USB.
It will communicate at up to 1.5Mbaud.
It requires Win 2K or Win XP.
Price: Around € 3000 (less than half price of the CP5511).
Catalog number: 6ES7 972-0CB20-0XA0.

Click to expand...

My price list shows 675 € for CP5511/PCMCIA-card
6GK1551-1AA00 + cable.
Jesper have there 1 zero too much in your price ?

OOPS

hey, only one small zero was wrong, and zero means "nothing" so there wasn´t anything wrong at all

I didnt have trouble using the MPI cable/converter with a Belkin USB adapter #F5U103:
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProd...t/USB/LaptopPo...Products/PCLaptops/Adapters/

It surprised Siemens support that Simatic Step 7 worked with XP though, they just recently released a version for XP.

I lost my MPI cable/converter so bought the CP5511 since it was absolutely necessary for me to connect to me multiple S7-300's we have.

There is also PCMCIA serial port cards.

http://www.quatech.com/shopquatech/products/prod347.asp

How much is the 6ES7-972-0CB20-0XA0 in US $?

1 Euro is not far off parity with 1 Dollar

Thanks a lot

Thank you all for your quick and kind responses. Just after posting this i found an usb adapter in the same site where i intend to buy the mpi cable. More than 600 bucks is a bit too high for my Mexican budget. And local Siemens distributor in my town (well the distributor is in Tijuana and I in Mexicali) offers the mpi cable at 751 dlls.

So i had to search for other options and found an mpi cable that sells for some 205 euros. I guess i should go for what Rsdoran suggested in Belkin site, or to buy it along with the cable from the same guy. Prices are very similar.

I thought i had messed up, but seems to be now a normal situation getting rid of the RS232 ports on laptops.

Regarding compatibility, i saw this win sps software demo i downloaded did not seem to have issues under xp home. Will try to add more small programs (as much as the demo lets me) to see if i find a glitch.

Thanks to all again. Reading you all...

HG

Another option maybe cheaper

I have a DELL Latitude with no serial ports and my work around is using the standard DOCKING Station. It works like a champ and is not to awful expensive if bought USED. Look around it may pay off.