Older dive computer with Infrared Parallel Port

[Dr. Sleep]

1. The problem(s) with using the Aeris 300G dive computer (or any other older dive computer that uses an infrared parallel port/IEEE-1284/LPT) to communicate on a modern PC are:
   1. The software is NOT compatible with Windows Vista, 7, 8, or 10. The newest OS I could get the Aeris 300G to work on is Windows XP (even then, it helped to run the program in compatibility mode as Windows Me or Windows 98).
   2. The hardware requires a parallel port (IEEE-1284 port as LPT 1, 2, or3).

1. The solution(s) are:
   1. You must either run the software on a PC with an older OS (using Windows 7 or newer and running in compatibility mode with older OS will NOT work) OR run a virtual older OS inside a newer OS using a virtual machine. Options for this include VirtualBox (or other freeware/shareware) or Windows Virtual PC and XP Mode.
   2. Getting a parallel port in a modern PC requires one of these:
      1. USB to parallel port adapter (WARNING: most of these will NOT work b/c they only function as printer adapters). Only 1 I know can work is here: https://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~heha/bastelecke/Rund um den PC/USB2LPT/index.html.var
      2. PCI card or PCI express card to parallel port adapter (WARNING: you may need a base address shift driver).
      3. PCIe based ExpressCard to parallel port adapter (better than USB based ExpressCard to parallel port adapter).

1. Another solution is to get a newer dive computer (sad if your Aeris 300G works fine, and the only issue is dive downloading software).

 

[rhwestfall]

are you sure Win7-32-bit is not functional? I have had luck with 7/32-bit where 64-bit was a failure (including DOS based software....)on some old programs (no emulation)

I also have had luck with an old GPS that needed a parallel port for data transfer by using an adapter that was not specifically a printer adapter. I don't recall the brand...

 

[Jax]

Agree with rhwestfall.

However, this computer is running Win8.1 and I plug in an IrDA dongle and download my Sol easily.

Perhaps you could set up a batch file to redirect the input from the USBb IrDA to the LPT1 input.

 

[Dr. Sleep]

You know, you both may be correct. All of my newer PCs have 64-bit operating systems. I haven't tried Windows 7 or Vista in the 32-bit variety. That may, in fact, allow the software to load onto a modern PC. However, I think the IO memory space and IRQ signal assigned by the newer OS will be incompatible with the hardware expected (0x378 and IRQ7).