New Laptop

Hi all,
I am in search for a new laptop with an RS-232 port. The only one I found on the market is HP Probook 650 G1. It comes with pre installed windows 7 or 8. I want to make it dual boot in order to use windows XP as a second operating system since a have a lot of old software that will not work with Win 7 or 8.
Anybody has experience if this is going to work? Anybody tried this?

Have you tried the WinXP Mode Virtual Machine that comes with Win7?

In regards to the RS232 port...
You can also use a USB to RS232 adapter.
This one from Automation Direct is very good.
http://www.automationdirect.com/adc/Shopping/Catalog/Communications/USB_Connectivity/USB-to-Serial_Converters

I would suggest not to look for a laptop with a physical serial port (those are almost impossible to come by these days), but to choose the best laptop you can afford by other parametes (CPU, memory, storage, screen, weight etc.). There are some USB-to-serial converters that have a good reputation being able to work with most demanding serial comm applications. One I know is Omron CS1W-CIF31; it is a bit pricey but works.

As far as VM goes, I would suggest looking at Oracle VirtualBox - it is free and worked for me great. Did have some problems with VMWare not recognizing some USB devices.

Thanks all, well since I found this laptop with an RS-232 I prefer to get it. My question mainly is since windows XP is not supported by Microsoft anymore will it work on this laptop?
LadderLogic, which operating systems you are using with Oracle Virtualbox?

The issue will be trying to find Windows XP drivers for all the hardware. Almost all newer PCs manufacturers do not support Windows XP, so you can't download the drivers from their website. If you are lucky, you can find the drivers from each hardware companies website and they MAY have drivers available for Windows XP. A big hurdle will probably be SATA controller drivers, because if i remember correctly, Windows XP expects you to load them off a floppy drive unless you do a lot of creative modifications to the installation media. The whole process is a huge headache.

You are much better off installing Windows XP on a virutal machine using either VMware Workstation of Virtualbox. New hardware is supported and no rebooting required. Fast, easy, and simple. Dualbooting is a thing of the past.

If the new laptop has Windows 8.1 64 bit, you need to get the PROFESSIONAL version and the new type of VM called HyperV.

GEOFRA said:

LadderLogic, which operating systems you are using with Oracle Virtualbox?

Click to expand...

My host system is 64-bit Win7. I run 32-bit XP under VM in order to be able to use QuickDesigner.

At some point you will need to upgrade the equipment and get away from DOS or find another option, have you tried DOSBox ? it works very good for most DOS applications

We have also sold 10's of thousands of USB cables that work very good and they work with DOSBox

At some point you will need to go for a upgrade, Windows 10 will be out next month and you may want to look at compatible options

GEOFRA said:

Hi all,
I am in search for a new laptop with an RS-232 port. The only one I found on the market is HP Probook 650 G1. It comes with pre installed windows 7 or 8. I want to make it dual boot in order to use windows XP as a second operating system since a have a lot of old software that will not work with Win 7 or 8.
Anybody has experience if this is going to work? Anybody tried this?

Click to expand...

Don't forget the possibility of a docking bar, or what Dell calls a Legacy Port Adapter. You need to search for them, but they are available.

I use USB to RS232 adapter with Windows 7, just has a problem with some PLC TOSHIBA. in others case i very good.!

You can buy a Siemens M4 PG with xp and a com port.

Expensive, but if you have a lot of siemens stuff and your company is paying it can be worth it.

Aabeck said:

If the new laptop has Windows 8.1 64 bit, you need to get the PROFESSIONAL version and the new type of VM called HyperV.

Click to expand...

Hyper-V would be a real PITA to use in this kind of setup. It's geared more for servers and IT enviroments than Desktop VM' Enviroments.

Using Virtual Machine for Win XP
Has anybody tried it and it works ok regarding the serial port?

LadderLogic- Do you use any serial port and it works ok with virtualbox? Can you tell me more about your setup? You bought a laptop with windows 7 and you installed virtual box and the win xp?

Helliana -you are right about drivers. This is what worries me too

jdbrandt- At the end of the day win XP on a newer laptop together with windows 7 or 8 seems to be a more difficult problem to solve that the serial port as such

At least with vmware player com-port works pretty well (both computer's own real com port and usb to serial adapter, you just need good usb to serial adapter, there are lot of discussion of working models here)

On vmware you can connect ports directly to virtual computer so real windows don't even mess around with data. Same for serial port. From setting you can route com port for virtual windows or directly connect usb ports/media to virtual pc. (at that time you can't use them with real windows)

Same method maybe is availabe also with virtual box?

With windows own virtul pc I had some problems with communication with com-ports and also with ethernet. Communication worked, but traffic crashed down pretty often and only fix was rebooting virtual pc software, so I use vmware player now.
(Crashing communication was not funny when you were at site and you are trying to download program to plc)

Searching in oracle site I have seen the following

VirtualBox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product

Sorry for my ignorance but how do I know if for example HP Probook 650 is one of these types?