GS15+ USB to Serial

[Jen Goodwin]

I have a new laptop and in hindsight, I guess I really should have got a desktop. But, now that I have it, I do not want to give it up!
Problem is the USB to Serial cable that is hooked up to my GS15+ isn't working properly. Although it does communicate with the plotter, it will not finish off multiple cuts. Right now, for instance, I have 1000 decals that I printed 500 up. It will go and cut 10-12 of them at a time and then stop. Then I cannot delete the job from the GQMgr without fighting with it. My workaround at the moment is setting only 12 of them to cut, sending to the plotter, and then when it finishes I delete those cuts in Omega, designate the next 12 and send that. At this rate I should have these decals cut sometime next week. LOL!
What is causing this? Can I change a port setting or something to get more information through? Something??
I have Omega 3, Windows 7, 64 bit, USB to Serial and a headache.

 

[Fred Weiss]

What happens if you save it as a SPL file and then print and cut from that?

 

[Jen Goodwin]

I will let you know, that is what I was planning on doing right now.

 

[Jen Goodwin]

Same thing. Actually, I only got 4 cuts that time.

 

[idsignsil]

I recently upgraded to Omega 4.0 and Win 7 64 bit. Had the same problem with my HS-15+. I know it is a different plotter, but I had to buy the USB to Serial that Gerber specified from them. I bought one from Radio Shack that gave me the exact same problem, it would start to cut, cut a few, beep, and then nothing. I bought the USB to Serial from Advantage Sign Supply and have not had any problems since. Of course since it is from Gerber it is about twice the price of the one from Radio Shack, but it works.

 

[Jen Goodwin]

I wouldn't mind paying for a cable that would work, but I am not thrilled to have to upgrade. How much was the cable...and what is the difference between a cable from Radio Shack (or I got mine from a local computer store) and the one that Gerber sells?
If I am not mistaken, Tony T mentioned somewhere one from Sewell, but the longest one they have is 6 ft. I think mine is 8 ft.
How long is the one from Gerber and would that make a difference?
And...would I have to supposedly upgrade to Omega 4 to get it to work, or would the cable alone work?

 

[idsignsil]

The cable I got from Advantage is a Giga Ware brand. I had never heard of it before either. It is 6' long, and I did have to go get a longer serial cable. As far as working with Omega 3.0, I am not 100% sure but I think it would. From my understanding with talking to the tech at Gerber when I was having problems, it is Win 7 64 bit that is the reason for that particular USB to Serial. If you call Gerber I am sure they could tell you, but they may charge for the support. I would try a company that sells Gerber first. The folks at Advantage were nice to me.

 

[Jen Goodwin]

Thanks! I'll look into it.

 

[idsignsil]

I forgot...the cable from Radio Shack is what the Omega 4.0 manual suggested when I got the new software. After fighting it for a couple of days, I called Gerber and they said that was no longer a "Gerber Tested & Certified" usb to serial, because it did not like
Win 7 64 bit

 

[Jen Goodwin]

I looked up Giga Ware and that is what Radio Shack sells. ?? For substantially less than the Gerber cable. Is it the same thing....or just made by the same manufacturer?

All said...does anyone know what the difference is? Why does one work with Win7 64 bit and not another? If I downgrade my Windows 7 to 32 bit, will it eliminate my problem?

 

[Jen Goodwin]

I wonder if this would work using my old serial cable:

 

[Tony Teveris]

The problem with any USB to Serial cable is in the driver. Windows has programming functions that we use to communicate with the cutters via the computer's COMx: ports. When you install a USB to Serial a virtual COM port is created and "should" function just like a normal COM port. The problem we have found is that many cable manufactures to NOT support the full set of Windows communications functions and thus the cutting sometimes stops working.

With Omega 4 we qualified and procured a large number of USB to Serial cables to insure any changes in the drivers or cable electronics would not effect Omega.

If you can still find this (since Cables Unlimited went out of biz) this will work with Omega 4.0 - Cables Unlimited – USB 2.0 to RS232 Serial Adapter (USB-2920)

The same goes for the USB to Parallel cable we offer, lots of testing to get something that worked.

 

[Jen Goodwin]

So even if I buy the $100 cable, it won't work with Omega 3?
It would be great if Gerber would offer some sort of fix for 3.0 users rather than require a (or should I say A-N-O-T-H-E-R) $500 upgrade and a $100 cable. I mean, right now, the equipment that I feel I pay through the nose for is pretty much useless unless I go back to my old computer or spend $600.
That does not make me happy. Not that I don't love you, Tony, and you have helped me out immensely in the past - but Gerber is wearing on me.

 

[andy]

I feel your pain Jen!

We've just upgraded to a new Win7 64 bit system and were disappointed when we realized all the additional upgrades & hardware required.

Mine is a desktop, but one thing I was told was that Win7 64 won't play nice with anything less than Omega 4.0 SP1.

As for the serial issues....I'm about to install 2 serial ports for our plotters (GS15+ ; HS15+) but have yet to come up with a solution short of buying the $300+ Gerber parallel to usb cable. I've got a $30 one here which I'm going to try anyways, but most of the answers to my thread said they didn't work very well.

http://www.signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85092

Hope you get it figured out!!

Pat;

Do you know the Baud rate and data parity settings for your plotters? If you're going to add PCI serial ports you'll need these values so you can set your ports correctly.

Before you go to far down the line of software upgrades and fancy USB cables have you considered a more low tech solution?

We have a pair of serial only plotters in our workspace... these are currently running of a pair of refurbished Dell optiplex machines which came with win XP preloaded and maxed up to 4GB of RAM. Including everything bar the monitors both these machines cost less than the $300 cable you are struggling to justify purchasing.

Although these machines are old school 32 bit machines running an obsolete windows OS they run the plotters perfectly without missing a beat. Connected to our mixed Win98/ XP network you can sit at a higher spec design PC and simply fire off cutting files to various pieces of hardware simply by dumping the files onto the desired PC's hard drive.

Your 64bit Win7 machine will make a superb design station but I'm afraid it's pretty much wasted as a hardware controller.... your plotters are serial only which means they will probably be limited to a maximum baud rate of 9600. With this inherent data limit it doesn't matter how high spec your PC is the plotter will process the data stream in it's own sweet time no matter what.

If you've got an WiFi internet connection already all you need is a few USB networking keys and you've got a multi station design/ production network for a bargain bucket price.

 

[Malkin]

Hi Jen,

I am sorta close by (Augusta) and have a similar setup. (HS15+ running on Omega 4 and Win7 64bit with Gerbers USB to Serial cable)

If you would like to come by (maybe with your plotter?) to check things out or test it may help answer any questions about what you need to purchase.

 

[Jen Goodwin]

Thanks Malkin! Apparently Omega 4 with the Gerber USB cable is the way I need to go to continue to use Omega. Right now, though, I am setting the file up in Flexi to see if I can print and cut it through that program instead. Wish me luck. If that doesn't work, until I can upgrade, I will just have to hook my plotter back up to the old computer and cut from there if I have to. I suppose it's not Gerbers fault.

 

[Malkin]

Good luck!

It would certainly be nice if Gerber found ways to make every combination of stuff work together, but not particulary realistic.

 

[Jen Goodwin]

Well there. It took this issue to get me to figure out how to print and cut from Flexi. It worked!!!!!! YEAH! Runs the whole cut. Prints pretty sweet too, although setting up the file to print out of Omega is MUCH easier; I am sure I will get used to Flexi's way though 'cuz it works.

 

[Malkin]