780 Software Question

[gralston73]

Does anyone know of any programs that will control the BC780XLT via a USB connection?

 

[ka3jjz]

Scan Control sells a USB kit, and I think BuTel does, too.
Both of these have Yahoo groups; Scan Control has a dedicated one, while there's a dedicated ARC780 group as well. You can find these links on the BC780 wiki page

73s Mike

 

[Al42]

Does anyone know of any programs that will control the BC780XLT via a USB connection?

Uniden has basically 2 control protocols - the 996/396/246/330, etc., and the older "bank" type scanners - of which the 780 is one, so anything that will control any of the older ones should control the 780. (Uniden publishes the communication protocol for all the scanners, so it's no mystery.)

As far as USB is concerned, a USB port looks like a serial port to the software, so any software that will work on a serial port should work on a USB port - as long as the USB driver is fairly current.

 

[gralston73]

I had Butel's ARC780 on my old machine and it worked fine...because my old machine had a parallel port. The new one does not. I remember seeing in the ARC780 software that UBS devices were not supported, so there's no point in buying a USB adapter for the cable. More than likely somewhere down the road I'll have to have a parallel port installed if I can't find software that will support USB.

 

[Butelsoftware]

ARC780 V1.17 works fine with any USB<>serial adaptor,

Gommert
www.butelsoftware.com

 

[Al42]

I remember seeing in the ARC780 software that UBS devices were not supported, so there's no point in buying a USB adapter for the cable.

I won't try to speak for Gommert, but let me just say that "I won't support you if you're using a USB->serial adapter" doesn't mean "the program won't work through a USB->serial adapter". At least that's my feeling - at the current state, with adapters being sold with drivers that don't work at all, let alone work with scanners, I wouldn't want to be the one to have to tell a customer "the problem is with the USB adapter you bought, not with my software" - even if that was the problem.

 

[MacombMonitor]

I had some difficulty using two different Serial-to-USB converters with my BC796D/BC296D, and Butel's ARC250 software. I could program the scanners with no problems, but when trying to control them it was jumpy, not smooth. Using a true serial port was smooth as silk! Could be the converters I had were not ideal.

 

[Wicked_Too]

Listen there are two way you can use the Butel's ARC780 software to control your 780.

One:

Buy a brand name serial>usb adapter. Don't buy cheap adapters otherwise you'll end up with problems like some users. Buy a Belkin Adapter and you'll have no problems. A little pricey but I needed the portablity. Worked like a charm with no issues on my desktop and laptop. (that's what I use)

Two:

Buy a serial card and install it in you 'puter. They are fairly inexpensive no more than $15.00 which is alot cheaper than the adapter. I choose the adapter because I switch it between my desktop and laptop.

Also on another note, YOU MUST!!!! make sure your using the most up to date drivers and software. Too many times I've run into people with computer problems only to find out they've never up-dated any of their software or drivers. It's like buying a virus software and never up-dating your virus definitions and wonder why the software didn't catch the latest bug???? Then blame the software for your troubles...

Like everything else this is my opinion, use it as you see fit.

WT

 

[gralston73]

Thanks for the help. Got ARC780 to work with a USB adapter.