Just a suggestion about the upgrade kit at the store

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Just a suggestion about the upgrade kit at the store
Posted on: 05.02.2009 by Granville Cerullo
I know that the new kits are coming soon, I believe it would be an interesting option to be able to buy a bundle with the right cables. People are having random issues with cables they bought from sites (a lot of people are buying that mono price cable, but i've read posts with people buying them at radioshack, etc)..

So have some sort of optional bundle with the cable could be an interesting option. For people not in the United States, it would also be even more interesting simply for the fact that sometime, packages are held at customs for reasons while others makes it without problems. I buy lots of techstuff online, and it happened quite a few times that I would receive a piece of hardware one day, but I would end up having to wait 2-3 days (if not more :eek for that oh so important cable/additional part to come in from another site.

Just my two cents.
Hyman Vredenburg
26.02.2009
Originally Posted by midifidler
They are coming.....
wwoooooooo hooooooooooo !

18.02.2009
Originally Posted by eangolde
That being said, finding one USB to serial that works, figuring it out and selling that seems to be a reasonable alternative. We can look into it.
that would be awesome. i would buy one...

18.02.2009
Originally Posted by Lost_Motion
You can get a PCMCIA serial card for the same amount as the usb to serial adapter. It's 100x more reliable. I use one for another application.
.
Almost every problem we have experianced with these are becuase of the USB to serial cables. They introduce 2 variables which can be very hard to nail down:

1) the com port

2) the drivers

I personally had trouble with them as well and had very irregualr luck but with a serial to serial it works perfectly, every single time without a hitch.

That PCMCIA card sounds like a good option as well but the com port might still be a problem.

That being said, finding one USB to serial that works, figuring it out and selling that seems to be a reasonable alternative. We can look into it.
DjMAX MONTANA
14.02.2009
Originally Posted by gfocus
Ean, I believe you overestimate the failure rate of the usb-rs232 cables. I assume that most of your customers upgraded via adapter because most of them are using notebooks. It's not that hard to find a working adapter. I picked up the cheapest one and had no problems (apart from driver issues). Most of them are based on the same chip anyway.
Driver issues ARE a problem. One of the most common USB/RS232 chipsets is made by Prolific, and it is hit and miss with this company. They've also had very documented issues with other i/o bridges, like their Firewire, USB boards, drivers, firmware, etc.

If you bundle a 3rd party cable that may or may not work out of the box, you're only asking for trouble in terms of people coming to you for support of this cable/drivers that you didn't make.
Sasha Alexander
10.02.2009
Originally Posted by eangolde
we can work with people on customs charges- in terms of selling a reliable USB to serial cable? Thats a tough call- did anyone actually find one?
Ean, I believe you overestimate the failure rate of the usb-rs232 cables. I assume that most of your customers upgraded via adapter because most of them are using notebooks. It's not that hard to find a working adapter. I picked up the cheapest one and had no problems (apart from driver issues). Most of them are based on the same chip anyway.
Hyman Vredenburg
08.02.2009		funnily enough, i was just about to post something like this....

I'm in the UK - last time, i ordered some black knobs and the black SE overlay it with fast track delivery it cost me almost $90 (in bristish money, just over
Granville Cerullo
05.02.2009		I know that the new kits are coming soon, I believe it would be an interesting option to be able to buy a bundle with the right cables. People are having random issues with cables they bought from sites (a lot of people are buying that mono price cable, but i've read posts with people buying them at radioshack, etc)..

So have some sort of optional bundle with the cable could be an interesting option. For people not in the United States, it would also be even more interesting simply for the fact that sometime, packages are held at customs for reasons while others makes it without problems. I buy lots of techstuff online, and it happened quite a few times that I would receive a piece of hardware one day, but I would end up having to wait 2-3 days (if not more :eek for that oh so important cable/additional part to come in from another site.

Just my two cents.
Hyman Vredenburg
26.02.2009
Originally Posted by midifidler
They are coming.....
wwoooooooo hooooooooooo !
Madelyn Dunmon
19.02.2009
That being said, finding one USB to serial that works, figuring it out and selling that seems to be a reasonable alternative. We can look into it.
I would be interested, too. Did any people had success with these USB adapters - and if yes, with what brand and model?

18.02.2009
Originally Posted by eangolde
That being said, finding one USB to serial that works, figuring it out and selling that seems to be a reasonable alternative. We can look into it.
that would be awesome. i would buy one...

18.02.2009
Originally Posted by Lost_Motion
You can get a PCMCIA serial card for the same amount as the usb to serial adapter. It's 100x more reliable. I use one for another application.
.
Almost every problem we have experianced with these are becuase of the USB to serial cables. They introduce 2 variables which can be very hard to nail down:

1) the com port

2) the drivers

I personally had trouble with them as well and had very irregualr luck but with a serial to serial it works perfectly, every single time without a hitch.

That PCMCIA card sounds like a good option as well but the com port might still be a problem.

That being said, finding one USB to serial that works, figuring it out and selling that seems to be a reasonable alternative. We can look into it.
Adolf Hit
18.02.2009		They are coming.....
DjMAX MONTANA
14.02.2009
Originally Posted by gfocus
Ean, I believe you overestimate the failure rate of the usb-rs232 cables. I assume that most of your customers upgraded via adapter because most of them are using notebooks. It's not that hard to find a working adapter. I picked up the cheapest one and had no problems (apart from driver issues). Most of them are based on the same chip anyway.
Driver issues ARE a problem. One of the most common USB/RS232 chipsets is made by Prolific, and it is hit and miss with this company. They've also had very documented issues with other i/o bridges, like their Firewire, USB boards, drivers, firmware, etc.

If you bundle a 3rd party cable that may or may not work out of the box, you're only asking for trouble in terms of people coming to you for support of this cable/drivers that you didn't make.
Jose Crawmer
14.02.2009		You can get a PCMCIA serial card for the same amount as the usb to serial adapter. It's 100x more reliable. I use one for another application.

For example:
http://www.usbgear.com/computer_cabl...85%2C538%2C464

You can get something similar on eBay for $15-20.
Sasha Alexander
10.02.2009
Originally Posted by eangolde
we can work with people on customs charges- in terms of selling a reliable USB to serial cable? Thats a tough call- did anyone actually find one?
Ean, I believe you overestimate the failure rate of the usb-rs232 cables. I assume that most of your customers upgraded via adapter because most of them are using notebooks. It's not that hard to find a working adapter. I picked up the cheapest one and had no problems (apart from driver issues). Most of them are based on the same chip anyway.

10.02.2009		we can work with people on customs charges- in terms of selling a reliable USB to serial cable? Thats a tough call- did anyone actually find one?

Personally I am asking everyone to just use serial to serial- because it works perfectly every time with no strange behavior. Anything else is impossible to support without more feedback and help from the community.
Hyman Vredenburg
10.02.2009		usb aside.... i just wanted to know on my next order - could the item be declared as a gift, just so customs dont charge me half through the nose to recieve me wonderful djranking gifts?
Adolf Hit
08.02.2009		It will probably work on Vista 64, hard to say for sure though, the upgrade software utility is provided 'unsuported' by Renasas so they while they release updates to try and fix bugs etc they dont have any real motivation to ensure reliable operation over all OS, and serial hardwware etc
Madelyn Dunmon
08.02.2009		yes, buying a USB cable will double my costs, too but I unterstand that of course, and hope I'll manage to ugrade the firmware with such a cable while being booted into windows. One question: does that matter which windows version you are running? Because for now, I have only Vista Pro (64bit) on my bootcamp partition. Does that work with that Version, too? Another option could be trying in XP while running VMWare.
Adolf Hit
08.02.2009		Sorry designing the USB into it would make this product double in cost, to Dj ranking s, and to you the customer.

And upgrading via OSX is simply not an option as the software is windows only and we have no control over that.
Madelyn Dunmon
08.02.2009		yeah, USB connector would be very nice .... and the ability to use it on a mac pro (booted in Windows or using VM of course)
Hyman Vredenburg
08.02.2009		funnily enough, i was just about to post something like this....

I'm in the UK - last time, i ordered some black knobs and the black SE overlay it with fast track delivery it cost me almost $90 (in bristish money, just over
WrthKDs .
06.02.2009		= putting an USB-serial converter right on the PCB?
Adolf Hit
05.02.2009		Hmm this reminds me of a cunning idea I had while baked a while ago - I should look into it...

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