3040 usb driver need help

[Mike Waite]

Hi i just got a rabbit 3040 laser
but im unable to install the usb driver.
xp finds a new usb device when i point it at the install disk for the driver
it says it is unable to find the correct driver AARRRRRRRRRRRRRR
can any one email me there driver so i can try it just incase i have a bad copy.
or if any one can help please do
regards
mike

[James Jaragosky]

Hi i just got a rabbit 3040 laser
but im unable to install the usb driver.
xp finds a new usb device when i point it at the install disk for the driver
it says it is unable to find the correct driver AARRRRRRRRRRRRRR
can any one email me there driver so i can try it just incase i have a bad copy.
or if any one can help please do
regards
mike

I am sorry to hear you are having problems with your new laser.
I have a rabbit 3040 as well, but mine came with a serial port similar to the port used by printers a few years ago. I did try to use a USB to parallel crossover cable, so I could use a newer computer to run the laser. The computer would not recognize the laser no matter what I tried. I eventually gave my kid that newer machine without the parallel port, in trade for his old xp machine that had a parallel port and the system and laser have worked fine every since. I know that this does not address your problem directly, but I wanted you to know that you are not being ignored, most of the users here have USA Built or assembled machines that come with local support. So they probably have no answer for your problem either.
My I suggest that you try the “cnczone” you will find a wide range of equipment users there.
Best of luck
Jim J.

[Dave Johnson29]

I have a rabbit 3040 as well, but mine came with a serial port similar to the port used by printers a few years ago.


Hi jAMES,

This is not a criticism, just clearing up the nomenclature for others.

The "serial port" you quote is actually called a Parallel port. They were called that as the data is transmitted simultaneously 8-bits (1 Byte) at a time in parallel through 8 individual wires in the cable.

Way back then, the technology was promoted by a company called Centronics and thus the ports were also often referred to as a Centronics port. Because data was transmitted in parallel more data could be transmitted faster than a serial port of the time.

By comparison, the Serial port transmitted data in a serial stream in one wire of the cable, as in one bit after another. This limited the maximum speed as other things came into play at higher serial speeds.

As processor speeds and compression algorithms advanced, the USB (Universal Serial Bus) came into being took over the conventional Serial port and a little later, the Parallel port too.

You can easily buy add-in Parallel port cards (ISA or PCI slot) for modern computers. They usually run about 12-bucks and will add an old Parallel port to any newer computer. You can even get a USB-to-Parallel port card for laptops that do not have ISA or PCI slots.

[Bill Cunningham]

On an old system, it probably is a serial port using both a male and a female RS232 plug.. Centronics became the new kid on the block with their different connections 1 RS232 type plug for the computer, and the centronics 8 bit connector at the printer end.. RS232 cables were quite common in the 70's and early 80's.. My first heathkit dot matrix printer and my packet radio TNC were both connected to the computer by serial rs232's..

[Dave Johnson29]

On an old system, it probably is a serial port using both a male and a female RS232 plug..


Hi Bill,

Hmmm, nope, not really. Don't want to turn this into a peeing competition, but RS-232 is a serial data transfer protocol specification and not the plug. It was generally accepted, but not required by the RS-232 spec., that serial ports used a 25-pin Male D-sub connector which was colloquially known as the RS-232 port. This pin-count was later changed to a 9-pin D-sub connector and I think that came about as laptops developed they needed the real estate wasted by all the unused pins.

The parallel port also had a 25-pin D-sub connector but it was Female so the serial cable could not be incorrectly plugged into it. The connections behind that Female 25-pin D-sub went directly to a Centronics parallel printer hardware card, which could never be called a "serial" port.

Centronics was a major manufacturer of computer printers and actually invented the parallel printer interface. The 36-pin plug was chosen for the printer as they had many, many thousands of them left over from an earlier product of the parent company, Wang (word processing fame) I think it was, or may have been Digital (DEC of VAX fame). My 65-year old memory is lagging a bit here. :)

[Mike Waite]

hi
thanks anyway
got the usb installed now
but now i need help setting up the config file in newlydraw
if any one knows of other software to use rather than newlydraw please tell it seems rather basic and very flakey
all the best mike