New laptop

My HP, thankfully, has a real serial port. Does not have a floppy but that does not worry me as they are unreliable at the best of time. Much prefer a swizzle stick (USB drive). I will never buy a laptop without a serial port again.

Make sure you have XP Pro not Home. Home is a pain in the backside. Pro allows you a lot more latitude in setting up networks etc etc.

The last Dell I bought finished up in the garbage bin quite frankly, so did the last IBM. Had an NEC - absolute bomb - garbage bin also.

sirhiss2 said:

Anyone have any problems with PCS7 or step7 with an XP environment?

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I dont have PCS7, but I have Win CC Flexible and STEP7 on XP SP2. Works OK.
I even have several Rockwell softwares on the same PC despite others saying that they have difficulty living next to each other.

But that doent guarantee that someone else may have problems with STEP7 and XP.
Are you experiencing problems then ?

BobB said:

I will never buy a laptop without a serial port again.

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Yep, thats my motto!

I run everything you mentioned except the Siemens on the same laptop at XP SP2 with no problems. The S7 will likely run as well but one thing I would mention is you suggested that you might run PCS7 for S7-300 programming. Unless something has changed in the last year PCS7 can only be used for S7-400. The Simatic networking can also affect your machines ability to reside on a some domains but I am not sure how. I have friends that work for Siemens and they cannot connect to their own office domain if they have PCS7 installed. You likely will not have any problems with it unless you work at a large company but if you do have problems you may have to set up another boot just to run the Simatic software.

I agree with getting a serial port if at all possible. A USB floppy will work fine for the odd case where you might need one to install activations and licence files.

'notebooks strikes back' again... i've bought an HP6120 (top model from this line) the only brand around not deficient of both RS232 & LPT together, under WinXP everything works fine, ... but i also have to service plenty of REALLY OLD plc sw created in MS-DOS programming tool and this is the problem... RS232 is not usable under ms-dos or w95, even if HP sells them with freedos too... so beware if need something else then XP

I keep my old laptop in a drawer, to service the really old stuff.

Unless something has changed in the last year PCS7 can only be used for S7-400.

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I'm doing it right now with a lab full approx 10 PLC's all S7-300. S7-315-2dp's. The s7-300 series is almost the same as the 400 series. Minor differences from what i can see. both are 32 bit. 300 series have 16 bit cards where as 400's have 32bit cards. For example the 300's 1st remote rack I think starts at 32. so 32.0-32.7 and 33.0-33.7 can be terminated to the outside world but 34.0 - 35.7 can't. In the 400's they can. Plus the 400's are faster processers and have a few extra features. PCS7 works like a charm. The only thing I can't do is creat a HMI on my remote display. Havn't figured that out yet. Yet! I'm still working on that. I think PCS7 don't allow for that yet.

Unfortunatly I have no choice. I have to go with a DELL. I'm thinking the d820. Any objections? Concerns?

But that doent guarantee that someone else may have problems with STEP7 and XP.
Are you experiencing problems then ?

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I havn't tried it yet. All the desktop computers are dual boot Win NT and 2000. 2000 for my rockwell stuff and NT for my siemens stuff. It's a pain in the butt! I don't want to do this with the laptop. besides we are soon going to get some new desktop's and XP comes standard. I was speaking with siemens and they suggested that I may have some trouble with PCS7 and XP but they have a new updated PCS7 that will work. I think i getting lead down the garden path as they say. Their should be a patch or something if their are problems? I would think.

I don't want to have to purchase all new software again.

cheers

sirhiss2 said:

I havn't tried it yet. All the desktop computers are dual boot Win NT and 2000. 2000 for my rockwell stuff and NT for my siemens stuff. It's a pain in the butt! I don't want to do this with the laptop. besides we are soon going to get some new desktop's and XP comes standard. I was speaking with siemens and they suggested that I may have some trouble with PCS7 and XP but they have a new updated PCS7 that will work. I think i getting lead down the garden path as they say. Their should be a patch or something if their are problems? I would think.

I don't want to have to purchase all new software again.

cheers

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Dont bother with dual boot, as you state its a pain in the butt!

If your laptop has enough memory and hdd space then try VMWare, I use workstation but player is now available and free although i havent tried this so sont know if it is up to the job.

You can have a WinXP machine with Win2000, DOS, Win98 all installed and running at the same time!

About the requiremnt for a serial port.

The requirement for a real serial port depends on what you are working with.
For many PLCs, operator panels, VFDs etc. a USB-to-serial adapter will do.
I know it is the case for AB DF1, Siemens HMI panels and most VFDs with USS protocol because I work with these.
If you work with AB DH485, then there is a 1747-UIC adapter for USB, or the PCMK card (PCMCIA).
If you work with Siemens S7, then there is the PC-adapter USB, or the CP5512 card.

If you have an old PIC or a serial PC adapter, then maybe you should consider to ditch them !

I dont know about other PLC types, but for sure the requirement for a real serial port is not allways mandatory.

Other things I would demand on my next laptop in stead:
1 GB RAM minimum.
Onboard DVD.
Onboard Wi-Fi.
Other than that I go for a standard laptop of a reputable make with no frills. Before I had an IBM, now it is an HP. They tend to last 2-3 years on average.

1 GB RAM minimum.
Onboard DVD.
Onboard Wi-Fi.

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Agreed with the above points - I have those and a real serial port. I also have a Wi Fi setup to my Omron PLCs - the unit on the PLC plugs straight into the serial port and picks up it's power from the serial port. The computer end plugs into a USB port and the whole thing becomes a wireless serial port running at 115kbaud. Really marvellous.

Some of the older PLCs do not supply the 5 volt at the serial port. I have a 240VAC/5VDC adaptor to power the device and where there are generators and power out situations a home made converter from 24VDC to 5VDC. This is really great as one can walk around with the laptop in hand and not have to be concerned with 100 metre serial cables or big footed electricians and plumbers falling over ones cables.

My local siemens distributor's engineers have D810's. I assuming here, but I would expect that they work well with siemens products.

sirhiss2 said:

Unfortunatly I have no choice. I have to go with a DELL. I'm thinking the d820. Any objections? Concerns?

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I'm also leaning towards the 820. It offers pretty much everything I need...true serial port, 1280x1024 resolution (with an upgrade), external floppy, CDRW/DVD burner, etc.
Pretty expensive, but it will get the job done.

I realize this was originally created for games but I do not see why it would not work for PLC programs.

http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/news.php?show_news=1

It creates a DOS environment to run your dos programs in. I have yet to try it out myself but it has gotten good reviews so far.

Oh, and as far as the "real serial or die" crowd, you need to start planning for the inevitable. The 9 pin serial port is definitely on its way out. USB is by far much better.

I have to give Automation Direct a pat on the back here with the design of the CMore. It has an USB progamming port. How sweet is that?