I also suffered through a Compaq Presario. Never bothered to call them, but it took them 6 months to finally resolve their bios problems and proprietary software problems (the little check for software updates). The do post their updates on the web, so you can keep up with their fixes. After they finally got their system to the point that it was releasable, it worked ok. They refused to support Windows 2000 Prof. The reason primarily was that they were unable to answer the questions that it presented to their technical staff and they did not have drivers for some of their peripheral cards.
The only help I can offer is for Windows 2000, although Windows 98 is similar, and your system probably came with that wonderful operation system XT (slightly glorified Windows 2000). Most bios' allow you to turn off the plug and play (very unreliable in a real time environment anyway). The biggest problem you will have is getting the COM ports worked out properly since the Compaq only comes with one or at most two com ports. It is easy to build a simple box to take the DTR line and key a transistor (or Opto-isolator) for keying the xmitter for cw and taking the RTS line and keying the Push to Talk line - all off of the same com port. Unfortunately DX4WIN does not yet support the Push to Talk line in CW and the WinPSK plug in does not allow the PTT to be on the same com port as the radio. They do support using a LPT port for that, but that is way too much trouble to use a LPT port when you are also using a printer on that port. So I had to use two com ports to do these functions. I also use WriteLog and it DOES allow you to use a single com port for PTT, Radio Control, and Keying the Xmtr in CW mode. DX4WIN is really a very easy program to start up. It allow you to use a TNC for the packet input (recommended) and also use the Internet Connection through the RTTY screen by setting the com port in preferences to TCP/IP. Strange, but it works really well. I do not run RTTY with DX4WIN (no TNC for that mode), but use MMTTY and soundcard with WriteLog. It is possible to run MMTTY with DX4WIN, but it is a hardware solution using a couple of extra com ports to interface the two programs. Clean if you have them to spare. I am already using six com ports now. Don't know what program you have been using for logging, but the first order of business should be to import your old log files and then check very very carefully that you have the correct country count as you thought you had for each mode and band. The reason is that many of the old countries will not come across correctly since the assignments have changed in recent years. For instance my Okinawa was a KA1 which is now a USA call area. The same is true for many other countries if you have many old ones, you need to check your logs very carefully. Once you get everything imported correctly, the program does a very good job of keeping up with DXCC submittals, countries worked, qsl's sent and received, etc. Good luck with your new DX4WIN program. I am sure you will never regret your investment in this program. Wendell Wyly W5FL -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2002 9:25 AM To: dx4win@mailman.qth.net Subject: [Dx4win] Getting dx4win up for the first time. Now that I have my Compaq Presario running correctly. I'm going to install dx4win for the 1st time. This program seems complex. I will be interfacing the CI-V with an IC-765. How or what should I configure in dx4win? Any pitfalls I need to look for? I will be mainly working SSB, PSK31 and some CW. Regards, John K1JEB _______________________________________________ Dx4win mailing list Dx4win@mailman.qth.net http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/dx4win