S7-226 to WinCC Runtime comms???

I have a S7-226 and want to use port O and run a cable from there to my PC that will have the WinCC Flexible advanced runtime application running. I tried using the RS485 PPI/USB siemens communicator but I guess Siemens said that won't work. They said it has to be their PPI RS232 communicator. Would I need a RS485 to RS232 converter to take the signal from the PLC then convert it into RS232 then because my laptop does not have a RS232 port I would need to convert it to USB??.

This problem is only tempory becuase in a week or so we will be getting a ethernet module for the PLC. What other solutions could I use?

Thanks for all your help.

Scott

The USB PPI communicator should work fine to communicate between a PC running WINCC FLEXIBLE and a S7 226. The PPI RS232 has the additional capability to download / upload applications from the newer HMI panels, however, for establishing communications between PLC and PC both the rs232/ppi and usb/ppi should work.