Moving to XP

[Phill Fenton]

I’ve found XP does not run some older software. I use casmate and discovered XP does not recognise the dongle! Whereas with signlab 5, XP does recognise the dongle. It depends on your software.

[Alan]

Some software problems can be overcome by using the ‘Compatibility mode’ in XP.
By using this feature you can run older software as if it were running under 95, 98, NT4 or 2k.

Alan

[DLG]

Hi Graham,
I also have been running XP without any major problems. I did however need to download XP drivers from Roland site for the PNC5000 and just recently for the PC600.
Regards
Dave

[Doug Edwards]

Xp will not run toolpath (for win 95-98) for my AXYZ router. I thought all I would have to do was install Toolpath on XP using win98 settings, but not so simple as AXYZ have told me the router control box needs to be modified by their engineers to run from XP, apart from that all other programs seem to run fine in XP
regards doug edwards

[Lorraine Buchan]

Gray, my D500 works fine on XP usinf flexi sign.

I think the D500 is a lot older than yours, i run it off the serial port

[Henry Barker]

I believe that Summa plotters now run from USB as well or that was the case awhile after I bought mine which is now 3 years old.

[Lorraine Buchan]

I did notice that with my Acer Laptop Gray, Maybe there is a converter out there, like changing parallel to serial, but for USB to serial?

The new Summa D50 runs off USB, but i think there is a software compatabilty isssue with USB too

[Kevin Flowers]

Gray
i have run my Summa D60 on USB via flexisign and XP operating system. You can purchase a adapter which is usb to serial Belkin are the people just search for belkin on the net and you should end up at their site.

Kevin

[RayW]

Hi Graham, Signlab 5 and 6 will work with XP ok anything earlier will not. If you have a dongle number that ends with H you will also need to download a new driver for that (HDD32.exe) you can get this from http://www.CADlink.com but you need to register first if you have not already done so. *Have your dongle number handy* Some of the newer plotters will run via USB from SL e6. And you can use the usb/ parallel or serial converters from 5.0 also.

Ray

[J. Hulme]

But don’t forget you’ll need to register a new user name and password
every time on the cadlink website as they can’t even suss out a decent log-in system.
Yet more amateurs.

[Kenneth N]

Hi Graham,

My first post here at uksignboards…

You can run the D60 w/o problems with XP. This plotter has both USB and serial (com) connection. For use with SL v5 I suggest you use a serial cable. These can be of greater length than a USB cable and SignLab v5 does not very easily support USB ports (though it should be possible).

There is a small software called Summa Cutter Control (SCC) which you can use if you want to go USB. (Download from http://www.summa.be or locate the CD that came with the cutter.) The procedure to cut is a bit backward but it works.
1. Enable the Queue in SCC. Select the location for queue files.
2. Set SL (SignLab) to cut to file and to the folder SCC listens to.
3. Cut.
— Make sure SCC is running before you attempt to cut…
— “Get Media Size” from cutter will not work.

However, I recommend serial connection. Can be tricky to set up for novise users but is usually very reliable. We have customers using +20m cable length using thick cables.

Best of luck.

PS. For the Swedish guys here at uksignboards and my UK friends, I will move to another company in the near future. More details will follow… DS.

Kenneth Nilsson, tech support, TEXTMAN AB, Sweden

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

From one Aussie to another !~!
I’ve been stuck in a rut with XP, and old habits die hard- I still like win98!
The worst problem I’ve had, and trips to MS help & usergroups etc have not solved is in some directories, it locks the properties so that you can’t save a file. You can go & reset the properties to be able to save them (uncheck ‘read only’) and APPLY, AND THEY’RE STUCK AGAIN.
This is something I don’t have a fix for- especially in flexi. I can save as an AI file, then reopen it as an AI file, but it won’t let me access the directory if I want to safe it as a FS file.
Also, I can’t get Explorer to open up in the same place you left it in, last time you shut it down.
And I don’t like it’s automated questions/options when you put a CD in or go to do something….makes me seem grumpy!
It’d quick to boot up though! It still hangs & crashes, & doesn’t like my canon scanner D2400UF.
Maybe it’s just me!
Good luck.