Strick

I want to be able to tune my PCM. What is a good (not expensive) laptop computer for tuning ECMs and PCMs? How much do they cost and what else would I need to buy to hook up to the Vette?

drcook

It all depends on the software and the interface, based on what year car you have. I just went through this.

1. when was the tuning software written ? does it work under Windows 10 ? 8 ? 7 ? or does it need Windows XP ?

1a. can it run under XP compatibility mode if it needs XP ? does the version of windows that is on the machine run XP compatibility mode and does it run it well without crashes ? it is one thing to crash on a document, another to turn the car's cpu into a brick.

2. does the physical cabling/interface need a serial port connect ? USB ?

I had bought a supposedly new old stock Dell D830. It turned out to have problems and when I opened it up to put in new memory sticks, there was too much dust on the cooling fan blades to be new. The vendor had been sold a bad unit, and promptly refunded my money.

I just bought a refurbed Dell D630. It seems the D830 might have issues. The D630 I bought has a 80 gb SSD drive (no moving parts, good for driving around in the car for datalogging) 4gb of memory and is coming with WinXP Pro. It has serial as well as USB, a 1 yr warranty and only cost $225.00 delivered. It also has a new battery and there are lots of parts available.

I might even build myself a backup using this one as a guide once it gets here. I can start with a lower cost used unit and swap in a new motherboard, cpu case lid with hinges, a new screen if needed etc as I have built lots of desktops for people/myself.

There is one left as of last night. If you are interested, hit me with a PM and I will give you the eBay link, assuming it is still there. The selling has an impeccable rating.

The most important detail to consider is that the laptop / car interface maintains absolute integrity so that you don't kill the car's processor by dropping the connection in the middle of an update.

There are folks here running some interfaces on a Win10 machine with success, it all just depends.....

Strick

After reading your reply, I have a little shopping to do.

I have 3 LT1s to work with, a 92, a 93 and a 95. At least I don't have any OBDIIs.

Any links to the tuning software and hardware (cables and stuff)?

I'm an Apple guy so getting something from the "dark side" will be interesting.

MatthewMiller

The 92 and 93 C4s will have the old-style, 12-pin diagnostic port. For the 95, you will have the newer 16-pin ALDL port, which was in preparation for the OBD2 requirement. As you probably know, they didn't actually implement full OBD2 until 96. For your 95, I recommend Tunercat. You can get the "Y" version of the kit that has cables for 12-pin and 16-pin.

As for a laptop, you don't need a lot of power or anything fancy. Tunercat is not new at all. In fact, it was designed with XP in mind all those years ago. It can run on 7, but they don't seem to guarantee it for 10. I bought the Jet DST program for my 96 OBD2 PCM, which is really just Tunercats for OBD2. I dug out an old laptop that I had stopped using, loaded a fresh install of XP on it, and the program is very happy.

drcook

This is what I just purchased last night after I received the refund for the bad Dell D830.

I also have the Jet DST system for working with my '96.

The guy has a high 100% positive feedback rating.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Laptop...IAAOSwECZUpJ4h

Here is a link to TunerCats site that talks about how to get it running under 7,8 or 10.

http://www.tunercat.com/Docs/Windows...er_Install.pdf

Hopefully, with you being used to the Apple interface, this makes some kind of sense to you.

Strick

The second link looks very promising as I can follow that. So it's off to buy a laptop.

Strick

After a quick look in Walmart, I need to catch up on what to look for in laptops. None said anything about Windows XP or what operating system they use. So, it's off to "boob tube" to see what I can catch up on.

drcook

Most laptops that you will find at a commercial store are going to ship with Windows 10. You might, I repeat might, find one with Windows 8.

Windows XP is end of life and is no longer supported. Windows 7 is on the tail end of support.

Probably most of the newer machines are all 64-bit software and architecture (I quit following architecture when I sort of retired, at age 52, now 61 but that is a long story, so I am out of date on the newer machines).

The Dell D630 I posted a link about to is a business class machine, has a 1 year warranty, is pretty robust, has a solid state drive (SSD) ie: no moving parts so good to travel around in a car using data logging software.

There are plenty of parts on eBay to have them repaired. There are docking stations to allow you to hook it up to a bigger monitor and keyboard if desired, etc.

The software that is used for our cars was all developed back in the XP days. You don't need the laptop to browse the internet (it will with Chrome of Mozilla Firefox).

A newer machine (Win 7/8 depending on the internal architecture) could be set up to be a dual boot machine with the disk split into 2 partitions and have a choice of booting into XP or what, but if you are not familiar with Windows products, you would have to have someone do that for you.

The other option is running under Windows XP compatibility mode like I posted the link above on how to do it.

The problem with doing that is if you go to far forward on the hardware, there won't be drivers available to load XP if you had a dual boot machine built.

My opinion, and others can jump in, is that you are better finding a refurbed, older machine with a warranty that will still run XP (at the most 7 and XP on a split partition)(or run the tuning software under XP compatibility mode) but in order to run 7 for talking to the internet, and XP for talking to the car(s) you will need to learn Microsoft's architecture to be able to get files, documents off the web on 7 (7 still has support) [I am typing this response on a Windows 7 desktop machine that I built, and it has supported versions of Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, anti-virus software, etc still available].

It all comes down to what you want to do. Stand alone machine that only needs to access the internet occasionally, then a refurbed XP box is fine for you. If more internet usage is needed, a refurbed 7 box with the appropriate ports (you need to find out about/educate yourself) on serial ports, USB etc as to what the interfaces need as I have said before.

Just going to Walmart and buying a laptop or even Best Buy could turn out to be a waste of money or terribly expensive if the tuning software crashes while updating one of your cars.

WVZR-1

You won't find anything likely desirable on a shelf and shopping for comparisons I'd say difficult. Were it me I'd shop for whatever OS the software choice 'hints' best. Newer ain't necessarily better.

I believe I'd shop older ThinkPads by IBM/Lenovo. There's a very good support source for older ThinkPads, parts are readily available and a very easy DIY for most maintenance/service.

Take a look at something older like maybe a T60. A T60 does XP and also W7 very well. You could actually do XP on a drive and W7 on another. drive. Drives are easily swapped. A T60 has a 'serial port' if a vendor suggests it's best. Some might.

I have a T60 that in it's day was considered the 'performer' - it has a very strange screen issue that I've overlooked for years it functions 100%. It's actually a retiree and if you wanted to try before buy I'd have no issues. I use it occasionally to just monitor a UPS. I have XP and also W7 for that machine. My T60 is a 14". I might even have a correct 12V Invertor for it.

This T60 has a T60P motherboard and a few modifications. T60's or T60P's on W7 are performers - ain't light but a very pleasant experience.

drcook

that is why I bought the Dell D630 that I put a link to. $225.00 delivered. 1 year warranty from a seller with 1000's of good reviews with a feedback rating of 100%, a 80 gb SSD drive installed , 4GB of memory with Win XP Pro.

I tend to shy away from electronics or anything that can fail (like a laptop) from Craigslist. you can get one like I bought from eBay that has intermittent startup issues and is failing but you won't have eBay standing behind the sale. the seller will have it running when you go to see it, but by the time you get it home and try to fire it up, well you bought it "as-is" and as-is your money is gone.

I went to a local PC shop and tried to keep my business local, told him what I wanted and all he could come up with was a 15 year old machine with a 30 day warranty. the folks on eBay are getting machines that came back from business leases, are refurbed and then wholesaled off to resellers.

you have to be careful of the USB adapters. when I was looking into the Jet unit in the last month, Summit Racing was running off old information and saying it needed a serial port. I contacted Jet about a serial to USB and they told me explicitely what to use, but that they had switched to USB years ago.

of course that is of no concern to the OP, but other folks might need to know.

WVZR-1

I've nearly always considered Dell as a likely having been someones 'beater' - An IBM/Lenovo most likely got very good care from at least it's original owner. I'll admit though a few of us kept D430 Dells around just for 'toss arounds' because they were 'light'. I maintained I think 6 for years - still have a couple.

I sent one of my T60's to Poland last year to a buyer.

drcook

I had a heavy duty Dell that work supplied for a while, it was pretty decent. I did software development/support on it.

I agree a plain old consumer grade Dell is on the cheaper side. The D630's/830's are pretty heavy machines

I have no experience with the other ones.

QCVette

I also have an older IBM that works fine.

Because mine was so old, I went for a replacement/backup and found one I like.

I got an ACER netbook. It is a small, light PC but has no internal floppy or CD/DVD. They have internal hard drives of various sizes. I was not happy with the compatibility with several programs so I formatted the hard drive and did a clean install of Windows XP. I found the few missing drivers online and everything works well now. It connects to the car just fine and I also find I use it whenever we travel since it is such a small laptop and with wireless it connects to the internet easily from many locations. I liked it well enough I bought a second one.

There are a lot of good choices.

Good luck.

vader86

You're going to be better off buying an old laptop, refurbishing that and maybe upgrading RAM, and then installing XP yourself.

If all you need is the OS and no antivirus it should be fast.

JimLentz

Another option is a laptop with a new operating system running XP as a virtual machine.

drcook

All the above all of us have told the OP is true, however we must keep in mind (myself also as I catch myself writing in terms that relate to Microsoft/Intel/etc based hardware/software) that the OP said:

So unless the OP is very well versed in Microsoft software and how to make it all work, the simpler and less problematic we make it for him, the less chance he will hurt his car.

allout1

I have a 1996 and have been looking at the jet programmer what's the best operating system to run that programmer

drcook

Absolute best ?

In my opinion, Windows XP Pro. Solely because that is what it was developed on (or possibly its older brother NT being the software it was written on). If you read the installation instructions, it talks about setting the software up to run under Windows XP Compatibility SP2 (System Pack 2) mode.

I have it running on this machine (a Windows 7 Pro installation) under SP2 compatibility while I play around with it. Before I changed it (after installation) the software occasionally would crash.

Others here have it running on laptops with newer Windows versions than XP.

Read this:

https://jetchip.com/wp-content/uploa...This_First.pdf

allout1

Gotcha thank you for that extra info

MatthewMiller

I agree with all this. I have run it semi-successfully on Windows 7 in compatibility mode. On 10, it occasionally shuts down, even in compatibility mode. I run it on my XP laptop and it's perfect.