Ok i have been using auto tap on my brothers lap top wich has the right size port on the rear of it to hook it up works no problem. Got a new lap top wich has the bigger connection i went to Radioshack and go the addapter to go the smaller one so it would plug in. Does not work. All the newer lap tops do not have the right connection so what addapter is every one using.

 

I think the 'bigger' port you are refurring to is the LPT1 or printer port. I dont think you can use that one. What you will need is a USB to Serial adapter OR a Serial PC Card that goes in your expansion slot. I would recommend the latter as it seems to be the better solution for us that dont have the Serial ports. I'm in the same situation as my laptop doesnt have a serial port either.

B&B needs to seriously think about using USB for their next hardware upgrade... it cant be that hard to prgram for..

 

Why do you recomend the Serial PC Card over the USB adapter? I have the same problem and I just purchased a $39.99 USB adapter. However, I have not used it yet. I plan on using this adapter for EFI Live and LS1 Edit. Thanks for your response.

 

timing is critical. some of the hack jobs on coding don't jive with the usb converters. Of course, most ASICS to talk to obd-II protocols support usb nowadays so its a matter of telling the coders to get off their ***** and making a USB version natively.

usb supports more baud rate flexibility anyways. No need to translate or bit bang to get the 41200 or whatever it is.

If the usb serial port don't work, blame the software designers, not the hardware

 

OK, I know i'm a newbie when it comes to this stuff, but i'm having trouble decoding your reply. Can any harm be done if I try to use the USB adapter?

 

You won't harm anything using the USB converters. They don't always work. Part of that is USB has longer delay times (according to Keyspan) but considerably faster throughput than serial. The longer delay times are what cause some issues. These issues can be on the driver side (maker of the usb converter) or on the program side (efilive, autotap, ls1-edit, etc). Anyway the keyspan converters are really good. The usb can also be hit or miss depending on the laptop you are using (cheap brand laptop usually crappy drivers and hardware). Not all drivers/hardware are created equal.

 

It's because the your going through the HAL (hardware abstraction layer) in 2k/nt/xp to the usb driver to convert into a serial signal. In a o/s like XP, you've got other things going on as well. Your stacking layer upon layer upon layer of crap together .Like pancakes, they are not all made by the same people, so there may be inherent unknown flaws from (AUTOTAP -> XP -> HAL -> USB PORT -> SERIAL port emulator/interface -> Car interface ->car obd-II).

When maybe the designer was thinking/building the software for:
(Autotap -> Win98 -> serial port -> Car interface -> Car obd-II).

You've got a few different hands involved in the first example, and well sometimes the hardware/drivers just dont jive as they would in a perfect world.

The solution would be of course, switch to USB, since every known laptop on the planet comes with it today, and natively support USB to the interface.

Some of the baud rates used to comm the GM ECU are not naturally support by the serial port baud rate selections, this means there is some jury rigging going on for say LS1edit to talk to the ecu, or a hardware conversion device (most likely a pic/atmel) to convert the baudrate. Whereas USB has more variable baudrate choices than just (9600,19200,38400,57600,115200), when the ECU might be looking for 41200 or whatever variable baud rate the newer obd-2 protocols define.

Many obd-2 protocols are not truly baud rate specific. They may indeed speek in time domain, and various objects in the OBD-II CAN bus can speak at different rates when produced by different people. A radio may talk a little slower than the ecu, so if you are scanning that the protocol may need to inherently count the spacing, or timing between bits to truly understand whats coming from it. Protocols always allow for some timing variance, as does the RS232 protocol.

My guess is that some of the cables are not as adept at translating the current protocols as others. Many asics exist now that would allow direct USB -> ASIC -> CAN bus, so thats why i'm saying , hey, dump the serial port method, upgrade to the usb direct asic, pic/atmel, and make use of its enhanced abilities.

I have to plug in an extra "Extender" on my vaio sony superslim to have a serial port, thats lame, when my laptop weighs only 2lbs and this adapter adds another 1/2 lb. It's bout 4-5 years old now, and has had usb since day one. I think its street value is about $200 now. Given that you can buy new laptops as low as $500 with pimp *** configurations from non-brands.

Time to end the old serial port, put it to pasture.

but thats just my opinion, i've never programmed the ls1 ecu, so what would i know.

 

Ok so what do i need to get and where can i find them (radioshack, best buy, Comp usa) Thanx for the help

 

I use a Radio Shack brand USB to serial adapter and it works fine for me. The PCI card method would probably work in almost everyone's laptop b/c it "simulates an actual serial port" (reguritated from early posts) and therefore allows a trouble free connection. Issues with that would be the card coming out or getting pulled out and the cost would most likely be higher.