Dell Laptop for Embedded Work

Hi:

I'm considering to buy a Dell Precision M90 laptop to replace a regular 
PC on a cart that was used to wheel around and program various embedded 
devices.

The new laptops of course don't offer old-fashioned ports like parallel 
and RS-232.  Well, some have serial, but the M90 doesn't.

I will be getting the docking station which *does* have a parallel and 
serial port though, so it should be just fine.  There is also the option 
of USB->RS-232 converters.  But the dock's parallel port will be 
critically important to work correctly.

I will need to connect to the following devices:

Atmel STK500 (RS-232) and JTAG-ICE (USB/RS-232)

Spectrum Digital eZdsp 'F2812 (parallel)

Xilinx Parallel Cable IV (parallel)

In the future there will likely be a USB JTAG Emulator for the 'F2812, 
and perhaps I'll upgrade to a better Xilinx cable.  Also will probably 
get into some Xilinx FPGAs and 3rd party development boards, but just 
need to be sure I can work my present tools.

Anyone have any serious problems with Dell laptops for these or other tools?


Thanks for input.



-- 
Good day!

________________________________________
Christopher R. Carlen
Principal Laser&Electronics Technologist
Sandia National Laboratories CA USA
crcarleRemoveThis@BOGUSsandia.gov
NOTE, delete texts: "RemoveThis" and
"BOGUS" from email address to reply.

Hello Chris,

> 
> I'm considering to buy a Dell Precision M90 laptop to replace a regular 
> PC on a cart that was used to wheel around and program various embedded 
> devices.
> 
> The new laptops of course don't offer old-fashioned ports like parallel 
> and RS-232.  Well, some have serial, but the M90 doesn't.
> 
> I will be getting the docking station which *does* have a parallel and 
> serial port though, so it should be just fine.  There is also the option 
> of USB->RS-232 converters.  But the dock's parallel port will be 
> critically important to work correctly.
> 
> I will need to connect to the following devices:
> 
> Atmel STK500 (RS-232) and JTAG-ICE (USB/RS-232)
> 
> Spectrum Digital eZdsp 'F2812 (parallel)
> 
> Xilinx Parallel Cable IV (parallel)
> 
> In the future there will likely be a USB JTAG Emulator for the 'F2812, 
> and perhaps I'll upgrade to a better Xilinx cable.  Also will probably 
> get into some Xilinx FPGAs and 3rd party development boards, but just 
> need to be sure I can work my present tools.
> 
> Anyone have any serious problems with Dell laptops for these or other 
> tools?
> 

I don't know how their docking stations work but I'd be suspicious. 
Programmers often bit-bang the parallel port directly and that typically 
doesn't work if they chose to simply convert USB-parallel in the dock 
station.

My suggestion would be to pay a little more and get a laptop with a 
genuine parallel port.

-- 
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

"Chris Carlen" <crcarleRemoveThis@BOGUSsandia.gov> wrote in message 
news:eev1s101dh2@news3.newsguy.com...
> Spectrum Digital eZdsp 'F2812 (parallel)
>
> Xilinx Parallel Cable IV (parallel)
>
> In the future there will likely be a USB JTAG Emulator for the 'F2812, and 
> perhaps I'll upgrade to a better Xilinx cable.  Also will probably get 
> into some Xilinx FPGAs and 3rd party development boards, but just need to 
> be sure I can work my present tools.
>
> Anyone have any serious problems with Dell laptops for these or other 
> tools?

Coincidentally only today I was discussing using a Spectrum Digital XDS510PP 
on a Dell with someone. They were unsuccessful with three different PCMCIA 
card parallel ports, and they did not have a 'proper' port replicator. By 
'proper' I mean a real hardware parallel port appearing at 0x378 on IRQ7.

I suggested some workarounds that I have used very successfully on Toshiba 
laptops for the SD JTAG PP emulator and await the reply. These include 
moving the phantom internal parallel port to somewhere else (eg, 0x278 or 
0x3BC) and sometimes having to hack the .inf file that comes with PCMCIA 
parallel port adaptors.

If the port replicator is a Dell unit designed specifically for the laptop 
and does _not_ simply replicate parallel ports via a USB port, then you will 
probably be OK. Forget it if it's a USB-type replicator.

Good luck, Howard 

In comp.arch.fpga Joerg <notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:

> My suggestion would be to pay a little more and get a laptop with a 
> genuine parallel port.

PCMCIA Cards might be another option...
-- 
Uwe Bonnes                bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de

Institut fuer Kernphysik  Schlossgartenstrasse 9  64289 Darmstadt
--------- Tel. 06151 162516 -------- Fax. 06151 164321 ----------

Hello Uwe,

> 
>>My suggestion would be to pay a little more and get a laptop with a 
>>genuine parallel port.
> 
> PCMCIA Cards might be another option...


Yes. Although I was cautioned by TI that the MSP430 JTAG programmer 
might show some quirks if I did that. In the end I switched all tools to 
USB.

-- 
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

Joerg wrote:
> Hello Chris,
>
> >
> > I'm considering to buy a Dell Precision M90 laptop to replace a regular
> > PC on a cart that was used to wheel around and program various embedded
> > devices.
> >
> > The new laptops of course don't offer old-fashioned ports like parallel
> > and RS-232.  Well, some have serial, but the M90 doesn't.
> >
> > I will be getting the docking station which *does* have a parallel and
> > serial port though, so it should be just fine.  There is also the option
> > of USB->RS-232 converters.  But the dock's parallel port will be
> > critically important to work correctly.
> >
> > I will need to connect to the following devices:
> >
> > Atmel STK500 (RS-232) and JTAG-ICE (USB/RS-232)
> >
> > Spectrum Digital eZdsp 'F2812 (parallel)
> >
> > Xilinx Parallel Cable IV (parallel)
> >
> > In the future there will likely be a USB JTAG Emulator for the 'F2812,
> > and perhaps I'll upgrade to a better Xilinx cable.  Also will probably
> > get into some Xilinx FPGAs and 3rd party development boards, but just
> > need to be sure I can work my present tools.
> >
> > Anyone have any serious problems with Dell laptops for these or other
> > tools?
> >
>
> I don't know how their docking stations work but I'd be suspicious.
> Programmers often bit-bang the parallel port directly and that typically
> doesn't work if they chose to simply convert USB-parallel in the dock
> station.
>
> My suggestion would be to pay a little more and get a laptop with a
> genuine parallel port.
>
> --
> Regards, Joerg
>
> http://www.analogconsultants.com

You can get an IBM Thinkpad (I have a P3 1.13Ghz T23, very happy with
it). These laptops have very good reputations. The newer models (T60)
seems to have dropped the parallel port for the extra vent. But if you
don't mind a used/slightly older model you can pick up the Thinkpad T42
which has a parallel port. Also considering that my ol' T23 was
released in like 2001 and is still working without any defects is
amazing! Built like tanks these laptops are. 

-Isaac

I use a dell with docking station for Parallel Cable IV. It works but for
some reason you can't undock when the parallel port is used for anything. I
had to manual diasble the parallel port in the bios to get a clean undock.
So I pitched PC4 and went with a USB cable.

-Clark

"Chris Carlen" <crcarleRemoveThis@BOGUSsandia.gov> wrote in message
news:eev1s101dh2@news3.newsguy.com...
> Hi:
>
> I'm considering to buy a Dell Precision M90 laptop to replace a regular
> PC on a cart that was used to wheel around and program various embedded
> devices.
>
> The new laptops of course don't offer old-fashioned ports like parallel
> and RS-232.  Well, some have serial, but the M90 doesn't.
>
> I will be getting the docking station which *does* have a parallel and
> serial port though, so it should be just fine.  There is also the option
> of USB->RS-232 converters.  But the dock's parallel port will be
> critically important to work correctly.
>
> I will need to connect to the following devices:
>
> Atmel STK500 (RS-232) and JTAG-ICE (USB/RS-232)
>
> Spectrum Digital eZdsp 'F2812 (parallel)
>
> Xilinx Parallel Cable IV (parallel)
>
> In the future there will likely be a USB JTAG Emulator for the 'F2812,
> and perhaps I'll upgrade to a better Xilinx cable.  Also will probably
> get into some Xilinx FPGAs and 3rd party development boards, but just
> need to be sure I can work my present tools.
>
> Anyone have any serious problems with Dell laptops for these or other
tools?
>
>
> Thanks for input.
>
>
>
> -- 
> Good day!
>
> ________________________________________
> Christopher R. Carlen
> Principal Laser&Electronics Technologist
> Sandia National Laboratories CA USA
> crcarleRemoveThis@BOGUSsandia.gov
> NOTE, delete texts: "RemoveThis" and
> "BOGUS" from email address to reply.

Hi Chris,

Chris Carlen wrote:

> I'm considering to buy a Dell Precision M90 laptop to replace a regular
> PC on a cart that was used to wheel around and program various embedded
> devices.
> 
> The new laptops of course don't offer old-fashioned ports like parallel
> and RS-232.  Well, some have serial, but the M90 doesn't.

I use "the world's most expensive parallel port" (TM) - a Quatech SPP-100 in my
Dell Laptop.  Paying $200 for a PCMCIA interface + voltage drivers is painful,
but the thing works just fine with the Xilinx tools.  You do need to override
the ECP base address, there's an environment variable you can set.  Google
comp.arch.fpga's history for this topic, you'll find it discussed at length over
the years.

Regards,

John

Chris Carlen wrote:
> Hi:
> 
> I'm considering to buy a Dell Precision M90 laptop to replace a regular 
> PC on a cart that was used to wheel around and program various embedded 
> devices.
> 
> The new laptops of course don't offer old-fashioned ports like parallel 
> and RS-232.  Well, some have serial, but the M90 doesn't.
> 
> I will be getting the docking station which *does* have a parallel and 
> serial port though, so it should be just fine.  There is also the option 
> of USB->RS-232 converters.  But the dock's parallel port will be 
> critically important to work correctly.
> 
> I will need to connect to the following devices:
> 
> Atmel STK500 (RS-232) and JTAG-ICE (USB/RS-232)
> 
> Spectrum Digital eZdsp 'F2812 (parallel)
> 
> Xilinx Parallel Cable IV (parallel)
> 
> In the future there will likely be a USB JTAG Emulator for the 'F2812, 
> and perhaps I'll upgrade to a better Xilinx cable.  Also will probably 
> get into some Xilinx FPGAs and 3rd party development boards, but just 
> need to be sure I can work my present tools.
> 
> Anyone have any serious problems with Dell laptops for these or other 
> tools?
> 
> 
> Thanks for input.
> 

I've currently got a Dell D400 which although it has a serial port, does 
not have a parallel port.  The docking station does have the parallel 
port and I have used without any issues for the entire 3 years I've had 
it.  When I'm away from my docking station I've used a Quatech PCMCIA 
card to get the parallel port interface and that worked pretty well for 
the most part, though not as seamlessly as the docking station since it 
took a little bit of monkeying around to get the right driver.

A co-worker of mine has the M90 (or maybe M70?) and I know he does work 
through the comm port on the docking station and I haven't heard him 
make any complaints.  In fact, he's been quite happy with the 
performance of his laptop.  It runs Linux through VMware faster than his 
old desktop could run it natively!

By the way, USB JTAG emulators for TI DSPs have been out for quite a 
while.  A good low-cost emulator for c2000 DSPs is JTAGjet from Signum. 
  Spectrum Digital also now sells newer versions of the eZdsp with a USB 
interface rather than the parallel port interface.

Brad

Joerg wrote:

> I don't know how their docking stations work but I'd be suspicious.
> Programmers often bit-bang the parallel port directly and that typically
> doesn't work if they chose to simply convert USB-parallel in the dock

The dock stations I've seen are generally adapters to buffer the super
I/O chip in the laptop.

Super I/Os still have legacy ports in them.