AAAHAAA! USB LaserBee is here!
After my initial disapointment of my laptop not having a serial port, I began to wonder if there was a way to USB this rig. I had a couple of ideas, and also emailed Jerry of J.BAUER Electronics. Well a quick as usual response was recieved this morning with the good news. Turns out by simply attaching a USB to RS232 adapter to his laptop, worked just fine! So of course after reading this, I boogied to my local Canada Computers and picked one up for $15. Needless to say I now have a working LaserBee on my laptop!
You have to first install the LaserBee software / meter appz, then install the USB software that comes with the USB to RS 232 cable. When finished the instal, hook up the meter via ;DU-S-B ;D and open the meter program. Go to CONFIG. and under communication select (in my case) PORT- COM 3, thats it.
The port you have to select is dependant on which USB plug you use. If you plug it into a different USB port you will have to sellect a different port under communication. The CONFIG. option allows up to 8 different ports to select from. I did this by trial and error until I hit the one that worked. You will know if its not the right one by an error that appears when you click run. Jerry also mentioned that you can see which port its plugged into, IIRC, by browsing your device manager, or PC properties.
My recomendation for this unit continues to increase, and are currently availible. To also note, Ihave only tested this unit with WinXp Pro, and I believe Jerry is running his in the shop on a Win 2000 machine.
Here-
http://www.bauer-electron.com/eby/eby1wlpm.htm (where I picked up mine)
here-http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=160253688806 (Current ebay listing)
Remember, the data logging kit is a little extra, the one on ebay doesnt include this option unless requested. Your best bet is to contact him through the website and go from there.