In SX Microcontrollers, SX/B Compiler and SX-Key Tool, g_daubach wrote:

Dan,

my version of COMDLG32.OCX is 6.0.84.18 (at least, this is what the Windows file property dialog reports). Instead of ungeistering your version, and installing the new one in the Windows\System32 directory, I suggest to copy my version into the folder containing SXSim. To my knowledge, OCXes, and DLLs are first searched in the executable path, and next in the Windows paths. This would keep your oringinal COMDLG32.OCX intact, in case it is needed for some VB5 applications on your machine.

The SX-Key IDE is a bit tricky about add-ons. Whenever it is launched, it checks if the SX/B compiler, the associated help file, SXSim, and its doc file are there. When it finds an older version, or no file at all, it automatically installs the missing/newer files which are appended as ressources to the SXKEY.EXE file. You are right, it would be a good idea to also install the required ActiveX controls, and I'm pretty sure that the next version will do that. For now, the recommended workaround should help.

Nevertheless, while the SX-Key IDE installs add-on components, it should not crash, and it normally does not. I did this on my machine (Win XP, SP II) quite often w/o trouble.

While running debug/walk, the IDE, and the SX-Key hardware communicate via the COM port used to connect the SX-Key. I don't know the exact Baud rate, but to my knowledge, it is relatively slow, so there should be no "bottleneck" effects. Nevertheless, some users reported that changing the FIFO size of the COM port driver, or turning it  off completely, did help (but this was with older versions of the IDE) - you might give it a try.

You might also check with Task Manager if there is another process running on your machine "eating up" a remarkable part of the CPU time. Task Manager would also help you to see if there is more than one instance of the SX-Key software or SXSim active. I found this happen sometimes when using Win ME, but never under Win XP. Nevertheless, it's worth a try.

Looks as if we are in a similar business. Currently, I'm making most of my income with SX-related (fortunately, this now means with Parallax-related) projects. My first SK-Key was one of these devices which came with the short serial cable attached to the Key (not that bad - took away mechanical stress from the Key). In the meantime, my business seems to turn from "small quantity/high margin" into "large quantity/(hopefully still) high margin" :-) .

---------- End of Message ----------


You can view the post on-line at:
http://forums.parallax.com/forums/default.aspx?f=7&p=1&m=80628#m81565

Need assistance? Send an email to the Forum Administrator at forumadmin@parallax.com

The Parallax Forums are powered by dotNetBB Forums, copyright 2002-2005 (http://www.dotNetBB.com)