Cradle / Usb Cable Under Windows Nt4?

[Fraggy]

Pls. don't flame me for asking this  

Why NT4 in the first place? Well, 'cause my poor old laptop can't handle WinXP (233Mhz, 96Mb RAM and 4Gb HDD). NT4 is a lot better (stabler & cleaner) than win98 and I can't install Linux because I need a M$ OS for the Garmin Mapsources of my gf's GPS. So the lappie is stuck with NT4 Workstation (+SP6a).

I got another box with Linux running, but I'd like to be able to use the Z on the laptop. I know NT4 has problems with USB, so I'll forget about that (or is it possible?).

But how about the serial port?
I got a SerialoZThinCable USB. With 2 converters on my laptops serial port (SERIAL to PS2 and PS2 to USB) I can plug the usb cable from my Z into the serial port of my laptop. In theory, this should work...

But now how do I get QTopia Desktop to see my Z? With USB I had to install the USB drivers! Don't I need any drivers with a serial connection? In QTopia Desktop, I've set "PDA connection method" serial, but no go... items in synch menu stay grayed out...

Am I doing something wrong? Anybody has experience with Z on NT4?

[doseas]

NT4 doesn't officially support USB devices.  There is a company that makes an unofficial driver for USB on NT4.  When I installed it, I could then see the Zaurus using USBview.  However, the installer that Sharp provides for the sync software looks at the OS and says "Sorry, this doesn't work on Windows NT".  I never bothered trying to get around it, since I went ahead and upgraded my PC to Windows 2000.

You may want to see if your laptop can handle Win2K.  If not, perhaps a 'lite' version of Linux??

Another way to go may be peer-to-peer over WiFi...

As far as syncing over serial, I think that it can be done.  Search this board for more info on how to set it up.

[Fraggy]

I found a thread on this forum with a long list of instructions on how to get the sync to work on NT4, but it didn't work for me...

Well, I guess I'll have to use my other boxes for now, 'cause I don't wanna spend too much time on this now.

Anyway, thanks for the advice.

JM.