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VE Panther 40" vinyl cutter serial only...

blackicefx

New Member
I purchased a 40" vinyl express Panther vinyl cutter about a year ago. Due to school, I've had to put my signmaking on a part time basis, using simply my 15" roland and a 15" summa. (This of course limits the size of the jobs I could do!) Well, now the semester is nearly over and I have dusted off my Panther for full time use. However, the VE Master+ software that I use has a USB security dongle and per the vendor is only licensed/configured for the Panther to connect via a serial cable... The problem is, the laptop I just purchased does not utilize a serial port. I tried a converter (serial to usb) but it doesn't seem to want to recognize the Panther. The vendor is telling me that I would have to buy a security dongle that is configured for a usb port. Does this sound right? Am I stuck or can I get around this?

Thanks,
Matthew
BlackIceFX

I know there was a previous post regarding something similar but it didn't touch on the security dongle not recognizing a usb connected Vinyl Express vinyl cutter.
 

blackicefx

New Member
sorry to double post, but the security dongle for usb usage costs $299 and I'd really like to avoid having to purchase another dongle...
 

stip

New Member
Try turning off the firewall on your computer. I tried 3 different adaptors and the only problem was my firewall was interfereing with my VE Master software. Now all 3 adaptors work fine, I have 2 extra now if ya need one.
 

John G

New Member
USB to serial adapters are known to be problematic with dongles and other devices that really want to talk directly to the serial port (and not through a software bridge).

The easiest way to work around the issue is to give the dongle exactly what it wants - a real serial port! You don't mention whether your laptop has a PCMCIA or ExpressCard slot, but check out the links below. One of them should do the trick for you, and at a price a heck of a lot cheaper than a new dongle.

PCMCIA = http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839104008

ExpressCard = http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839150003
 
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