So, I gave all the suggestions a try, and I think I've narrowed it down a bit. I tried the new laptop (with the adapter) on the one RC, as well as our 2002 FIRST RC. Neither worked. I still got a "No BASIC Stamps Found" message. I tried the old laptop on the OCCRA RC, and it worked just fine. This leads me to believe it is either an adapter problem or a problem with my laptop. Any ideas on this?

Has this problem been resolved yet?

I ask because yesterday 810 bought a nice new Toshiba laptop (1905 - Sxxx, the one with xp home). it's an amazing machine, except for the fact that the battery is a bit small for the computer :p, and the fact that there is no serial port. i was hoping to use a USB --> Serial adapter, but if that doesn't seem to be working, would a parallel --> serial work? we also have a firewire port, but beyond ipods, i've never seen firewire used :).

Another possible solution would be to simple replace the rs-232 ports on the RC/OI with USB ports, as all current laptops have USB. granted, if your's doesn't, this presents another problem, but it seems more and more people have USB, not serial (i don't care about the speed advantage, just to be able to program the robot). i'm not sure how well that would work, but we can hope, no?

The problem with USB on the RC is that the BASIC stamp doesn't understand USB signalling. The programming port (I think) interfaces DIRECTLY to the BS2sx via pin 16(?). This is why the same port can be used for both debugging and programming. If InnovationFIRST moved to USB, they would need to put a USB->Serial adapter in there anyway and the entire PBASIC IDE from Parallax would have to be redone. I'd offer to do it, but I don't have any knowledge of USB programming under any environment. Besides, there are still a lot of teams out there with Win95, which doesn't support USB (and don't say OSR2, as even that only sometimes works!).

Yes, it would be cool. Unfortunately, I don't see it happening any time soon. But then again, InnovationFIRST did take down all the regular RC documentation...

parallax USB-RS232 adapter
 

Go to parallax.com and search for USB. They sell an adapter, which they claim works, for $23.00. Whether it will work with the IFI controllers, who knows.

Re: parallax USB-RS232 adapter
 

Since the programming port on the RC goes directly to the (Parallax) BS2SX's pin 16, Parallax's USB/RS232 adapter SHOULD work.

For the people w/o serial ports, Radio Shack (used to at least) sell this adapter that plugs into the printer port and then you can plug a serial cable into the end of it.

well, my dad found a website that sells an adapter for 20 bucks (i don't have it on me at the moment). would that work, or would i have to fork over the extra three bucks and get the parallax one? :p

Icky. My guess is that the laptop won't work after the adapter is bought. I have no solid ground to stand on, but Toshiba's track record aint good around here. I used one to code last year, and something was wrong with its serial port so that i would have to unplug the RC after I loaded the program. It was a small nuisance until I needed to debug... Also, my dad's toshiba (different from previous computer i complained of) had an odd problem with it. Occassionally it would BSOD and wouldnt reboot unless i pulled the power and took the battery out. My dad was teaching a group of toshiba engineers ( he does statistics for businesses ) and they told him that his particular model had 2 clocks, which may have been a fraction of a cycle out of sync, causing a processor level fubar-ing. Sorry if i offended any toshiba fans, but I just wanted to give a heads up from my experiences.

I still haven't solved my problem. Let me know what you come up with. I've got a few things I'm going to try after Christmas, but I probably won't have any answers until then.

try looking at this (top item)

http://www.parallax.com/search_results.asp?txtsearchParamTxt=usb&txtsearch ParamCat=ALL&txtsearchParamType=ALL&iLevel=1&txtse archParamMan=ALL&txtsearchParamVen=ALL&txtFromSear ch=fromSearch&btnSearch.x=1&btnSearch.y=13