I have an old PP2 and I really don't want to buy another burner. I've used it with 98 and XP but now I'm up to Vista. I bought a USB to parallel port adapter but when I fire up the PP2 software it gives strange errors. Anyone gotten it to work? Thanks.

Good question. I've done the same thing you did but I'm using Windows 7 and get the same stupid errors. I'd like to know if there is a fix out there.

Go to the PPII site and you will see that the unit will not work with serial/parallel port adapters to usb. You have to get a new unit or use an old laptop that has the necessary port. Or you could go to moates.net and get a burner he sells for like $90. It only does three chips but they are the only ones that matter.

Yeah, I emailed xtronics and the guy said "it won't work, but a new one". Which is pretty lame, since with very minimal effort I'm sure they could update it to work. How many of the old PP2's are out there and becoming completely worthless for lack of a tiny piece of code? I know my old win98 machine is barely functional at this point. Maybe I could try to get XP going on it at least, but I'm not sure if it would take on such an ancient machine...

It seems to be more of an OS compatibility problem, than a third party code problem. Vista and 7 seem to be very different in the way they use ports or even what ports are available.

The rest of the computer peripherals suppliers have gone to USB, firewire and a couple other formats, and have all but dropped serial and parralel ports, so would the DIY tuning industry also not follow suit, especially when the PC suppliers are forcing the change?

Let us rise up against the man and fight for our piece of code My old laptop got fried and I shouldn't have to buy an old one just to get PP2 to work. They should upgrade their code or whatever needs to be done just like I upgraded my laptop.

I think you're going to have to take on Microsoft then.

Let's look at it another way, you're willing to update part of your hardware but not the rest?

Like buying a new car, that requires a different set of wheels, than you had for the previous car, are you going to buy adaptors, just because you "shouldn't have to change the wheels"?

Yeah I know I was playing around.

I was able to get someone to remove Vista and add XP. I was told by my "help desk" at employer Vista should have worked. But it clearly did not. At that time I was using Tunerpro and Prominator and winALDL.

We used USB to serial adapters all the time at work. That was on XP, but I find it hard to believe that Vista fundamentally disallows their use. I'm sure software can be written to use USB adapters. And a parallel thing can only be easier because the real time aspect is removed. Vista recognized the parallel adapter I connected, but the PP2 software freaked out when it couldn't find some .sys file it was expecting.

I'ts pointless to complain though I guess, xtronics has no incentive. I'll just tune with my Ostrich and then bust out the ancient laptop to burn the prom.

Thanks for reminding me. I also needed a parallel port to "card" to produce a real parallel port with Prominator. I now use EBLFlash and life is better. I hear Dell will sell lappy with XP. Does a net book work for our tuning needs?

Vista was by design a "line in the sand", actually, and it was meant to kill off a lot of legacy support. Windows was just becoming unmanageable, even for Microsoft, due to backward compatibility issues.

So they tried to make it something of a clean slate...

Funny, actually, I had a problem with (of all things) the software that launched and timed the CO2 cars in our Middle School Science dept. It worked great under Windows 98 via the printer port, but once we upgraded to Windows 2000, it threw the whole system into seizures. So I had to keep at least one functioning Win98 box in a closet, just for that purpose.

RE the netbook idea- it will work great if you have a USB programmer, but I've never seen a netbook with a COM port or printer port. So again, maybe if it has XP and you have an adapter... Otherwise, ask friends if they have an old Windows 98 laptop in their basement somewhere you could borrow.

The problem I had with using an "old" laptop(I had one w/98) is that the aftermarket replacement battery I bought appeared to fit but did not. It was intemittant. Fortunately they allowed me to return it. Plus batteries are dam expensive. As is a RS 12 volt adapter. I ended up spending $399 for new lappy as all was well. Fortunately I could write it off. Since I no longer have a need for parallel(FlashEBL) I am a happy camper.

I read an article on a website, it might have been on Instructables I don't recall for sure, where a guy opened the battery case on his laptop and bought the same batteries as in the case and soldered them in and put the case back together. He saved big $$ by doing it this way. Just in case you come up with another use for that old laptop.

Windows 7 has a virtual PC mode called XP Mode SP3 and it's free VMWare.
See http://www.screencastcentral.com/public/yt3724.cfm
Once you install XPM and get it running you can install the applications you need to run. You don't even have open XPM to run an app just open the app from all programs under XPM installed apps.

I am also in the same boat as everyone on this issue. I still have a very old Win98 laptop, that can run the PPII just fine. I only keep it around for just that. The PPII has lots of chip options, so I keep it running. But i do need to update it, since cannot run the new version of Tunerpro on it. And the laptop is so old the USB 1.0 port is useless. I need to get up to date.
But I did pick up a Moates Burn1 used, and it does the one chip that I need. Also cannot use the Extreme ALDL connector, until i get a new laptop.
My desktop is a Dell with Win XP, and Xitronics told me the same thing, my PPII wont work with it, need an on-board parallel port. Wanted me to buy the new $350 PPIII, with USB support. They told me to sell my old PPII on Ebay!