WinCara Dongle

doctorleela, thanks. That's really my problem. I contacted the address on the software (which I have been using for about ten years), and was told they are no longer there and "left no forwarding address". According to Google, Micant Software sells the program, but my letter addressed to them was returned by the Post Office as undeliverable! I will continue searching, but I have a feeling I may be out of luck. Anna

Please contact:

Ms. Carolyn Ramos

Toronto Homeopathics

270 South Kingsway

Bloor West Village

Toronto, ON  M6S3T9

Canada

(416) 604-0017

Carolyn is the North American rep for CARA and should be able to help you.

CompUSA and many other computer hardware & accessory firms sell a device that will convert a USB plug into a Parallel plug.  It's called a USB to parallel converter.  Go to Google and search for "USB to parallel converter". Be sure to include the "quotation" marks.

Hope this helps.

I too have an older dos program which I use a dongle that plugs into my LPT1.  I also bought a laptop which only has usb ports.  I recently bought a "USB TO SERIAL DB25 DB-25 FEMALE PARALLEL PRINTER CABLE" via e-bay.  This allows my dongle to plug into the same type of port that was on the back of my old computer then into a USB port.  This dongle is discontinued by the manufacturer.  If I get a new usb dongle from them, I would have to switch to a newer windows version of the program which I don't want to (I still deal with other businesses that only use the dos version). I have tried to plug a printer into the opposite end of the dongle to see if the cable works (and it does) but when I try to launch the dos program, I get a " You have not installed the dongle" message.

What I need to know from anyone is, how do I assign a USB port to make it a LPT1 port?  I figure if I make it a LPT1 port, it should recognize the dongle.  I think this might help both Anna & I in getting this dongle thing working.  Bt.w. Anna, if this can be made to work, just copy & past "USB TO SERIAL DB25 DB-25 FEMALE PARALLEL PRINTER CABLE" into e-bay & you will get a Hong Kong seller that sells this for $2 plus s&h.  I will keep testing the responses.  Then hopefully we can get back to enjoying our olf but faithful programs. 

The problem for users of Software with Parallel Port dongles comes up more and more frequently as computers are developed which no longer support parallel ports .

USB to Parallel adapters are not a solution . However for Laptops there are PCMCIA Card adapters which will allow the computer to recognise the Parallel Port Dongle [CPD ] - they are rather expensive -- around 100 US Dollars --- but they do replicate a genuine Parallel Port .

For Desktop users there is a cheaper solution -- that is to add a PCI Parallel Port to the computer -- these are around 30 US Dollars --- this does necessitate opening up the case of the computer -- which is a job that might require a little bit of experience with computers .

Both of the above solutions are far cheaper than having to buy an upgraded programme with a USB Dongle [ CPD ]