Just got my first TurboGrafx-16!

[Tupin]

Well, I'm getting a TurboBooster pretty soon. Then I will get the PCE Pro, I think I have the cables necessary already. I have a serial to USB cable plus a DB-9 male to DB-25 male converter.

Those who have the PCE Pro, are you satisfied with your purchase?

Of course, it won't hurt to get some common US games even after I get the PCE Pro. 

[Tupin]

After looking around a bit, I found out that the adapter I'm using thinks that I have a serial port, would it still work? It could connect physically to the card. Oh, and about the USB, does it need to be plugged in to a computer for it to function or is it like a charger?

[Tupin]

More questions:

1. It says to install Dreamwriter 1.4 and then update to 1.5. How exactly am I supposed to do this?

2. I can get a list of games, the American games are the only ones where it says how big they are. The Japanese games just show up as 0k.

[Tupin]

Never mind, figured both out. I'm guessing I can use the "US Region" box to make all games, including Japanese ones, run as normal on an American system?

Oh, and 1.5 gives me an error that says "NT Port Driver could not start. Something wrong!!!!", but 1.4 doesn't. Anyone have any experience with getting one of these things to run that can shed some light on the subject in general?

[Tatsujin]

PCE pro is for little girls.

[Tupin]

I don't exactly have a very deep wallet, so I figured it be good for me. 

[Arkhan]

I don't exactly have a very deep wallet, so I figured it be good for me. 

hes only kiddin'

[Tupin]

Aware. 

I'll get to you on that TurboBooster soon.

[Arkhan]

Aware. 

I'll get to you on that TurboBooster soon.

word

[Tupin]

Okay, so could I use a cable with a USB connector on one end and a DB-25 male connector on the other end? The cable is actually a male DB-9 to USB with a male DB-9 to male DB-25 converter on the end. Would this work? Dreamwriter has an option to use 2F8, which equates to COM2, which is what my cable is recognized as.

Would this work?

[nat]

IIRC the cart you're trying to use needs a parallel port connection to load ROMs. The USB converter you have is USB->serial and as such won't work. Serial and parallel are two extremely different protocols that are incompatible. This is not always understood by some folks as both standards use DB-25 connections that are identical in appearance. If your computer doesn't have a native parallel port you're SOL unless you buy some sort of expansion card that adds a parallel port, if they even make such hardware anymore (doubtful).

EDIT: I stand corrected. A quick Google search indicates that there actually ARE USB->parallel converters out there. As for whether or not this would work for the Tototek cart in place of a real parallel port..... Your guess is as good as mine.

[Tupin]

Ah, so one like this+ a "switchbox" cable?

http://www.amazon.com/Parallel-IEEE-Female-Converter-Cable/dp/B0034XB7E8/ref=sr_1_38?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1270515795&sr=1-38

Both are on Amazon, and both are cheap. Almost time to purchase the card... 

[nat]

Now you've got the idea!

EDIT: Not to be a buzzkill, but reading this page indicates that an integrated parallel port on the motherboard is required. This is because apparently you need to be able to set the port to EPP mode via your computer's BIOS. This implies that a USB->parallel converter does not have this option. I don't have any first-hand experience with the Tototek flash cart so I can't confirm or deny any of this, but this would seem to back up what I've heard in the past (that an integrated parallel port is necessary).

[Tatsujin]

why did they designed the tototeks flash cards data transfer so difficult and with required hardware, just a monority owns nowadays? why not a simple USB port?

we're not in the 80s anymore, where IEEE & co were the ne plus ultra!

[Tupin]

Looks like I'll have to get an old PC out...

At least I can use any USB port to power it, but what sense does that make? If it can power it, it can receive data from it. I think that was one of the points of USB!