Sony ICD-R100 recorder in windows XP
 

I have a Sony ICD-R100PC recorder that I purchased in 1999. The recorder comes with a data cable (parallel port) and some software (Win95/98) that allows you to download the voice files (*.ics) from the recorder onto the computer. I can get the software to "work" under Windows ME. I can also get it to "run" under Windows XP by changing the compatibility mode settings back to Win95/98/ME. However, I was unable to download the files form the recorder in XP, it's as if the computer didn't want to see the recorder was connected. I tried it on other computers and I got the same problem. So, I figured the compatibility wizard wasn't enough to overcome the fact that the Sony PC Link software is too old for today's standards. My question is, has anyone ever tried to mount the recorder as a storage device? Many years ago I used to have an external hard drive that plugged into the parallel port. I wonder if there's a way to mount the recorder file system locally, through the parallel port. There probably isn't but I thought I'd give it a try. It would be nice if it were possible because transferring the files would be a lot faster than having to sit there and wait for the recording to play into the audio input ports of my soundcard so I can record it into digital format. I have already contacted Sony about this and, as I suspected, they say the software will NOT work in XP, there is no USB-data cable available, and they don't believe they will be working on that any time soon.

Thanks in advance for any assistance you may be able to provide. :cheesy:

Re: Sony ICD-R100 recorder in windows XP
 

"I feel your pain" :cry:
I spent 400 bucks on that gadget.
It won't work on W2000.
All they have is a software update which assumes the previous, bundled version is correctly installed. Sigh.
Got no decent tech answer from them.
Me, I'll never buy anything else from Sony, ever.

Re: Sony ICD-R100 recorder in windows XP
 

http://www.beyondlogic.org/porttalk/porttalk.htm

I've just managed to get the extremely dodgy Visual Basic Sony ICD-R100 software to work under Windows XP for the first time, thanks to the piece of software linked to above... The procedure is

a) Install the dodgy software, using XP compatibility mode
b) Set up the icd-pclink.exe to run under XP compatibility mode
c) Use the allowio.exe from the porttalk package to give the dodgy Sony software access to the parallel port:

c:\> allowio.exe icd-pclink.exe \a

It is shameful that Sony haven't rewritten this software to use the NT/2000 HAL. It'd just be a case of tweaking the Visual Basic source a very little bit - lazy so&so's... or perhaps they want to sell some of their new ICDs?

Re: Sony ICD-R100 recorder in windows XP
 

Make that allowio.exe icd-pclink.exe /a

Re: Sony ICD-R100 recorder in windows XP
 

A major part of the problem is not entirely Sony's fault. It turns out that there are no interrupts assigned to the parallel port under NT/2000/XP, so the software chokes because the hardware interface is not as expected. See: http://www.lvr.com/parport.htm -- this is also why CPU usage rises sharply when using a parallel-port printer, as opposed to a USB interface. Deprecation has its price.

Re: Sony ICD-R100 recorder in windows XP
 

No, absolutely. They should have released an update though - their failure to do so makes me extremely wary of their hardware's longevity in general where it depends upon Windows drivers...

Also, while checking out what the s/w actually does, it became clear that some of the more minor incompatibilities stemmed from the author's decision to hardcode the names of certain registry settings that he writes and checks, rather than going through a guaranteed API - this is partly why I described it as dodgy.

Re: Sony ICD-R100 recorder in windows XP
 

jutl, everything is great. Under XP - my ICD was connected, i can play msgs on ICD, but if i would like to tranfer files from ICD to computer, i have got an error - Run time error 6 - Overflow. What can i have to do? Can you help me?

Re: Sony ICD-R100 recorder in windows XP
 

I managed to install the PCLink software in XP Compatibility mode and set it up to run in XP Compatibility mode. I also downloaded/installed the I/O Port device Drive software from PortTalk. When I run the following:

c:\>allowio.exe c:\Program Files\SONY\ICD-PCLINK\icd-pclink.exe /a

the ICD-PCLINK software starts up. The I get the dialog box to
"please connect IC Recorder to PC. then press the OK button."

I connected the IC recorder to the parallel port, then clicked OK.

I then get the error message:
"Could not communicate with IC Recorder. Make sure that the cable is connected properly."

Do you know how I can get past this error? Thanks.

Re: Sony ICD-R100 recorder in windows XP
 

I managed to install the PCLink software in XP Compatibility mode, set it up to run in XP Compatibility mode, downloaded and installed the I/O Port device Drive software from PortTalk. after running
c:\>allowio.exe c:\Program Files\SONY\ICD-PCLINK\icd-pclink.exe /a

I got the following:
"please connect IC Recorder to PC. then press the OK button."

and after connecting the recorder I got the following :
"Could not communicate with IC Recorder. Make sure that the cable is connected properly."

could anyone help in solving this error?
Thanks.

Re: Sony ICD-R100 recorder in windows XP
 

I'm not familiar with command lines and such. is "c:\>allowio.exe c:\Program Files\SONY\ICD-PCLINK\icd-pclink.exe /a" the exact commandline you put into the target or run box? I tried putting that in but it said c:\>allowio.exe was not a valid command. i also tried putting the command in w/o the >, but instead that just ran the allowio program without icd-pclink program starting up. Im frustrated with Sony right now :cry: and any help thats given would be appreciated. I think im on the right track :confused:

and btw, yes i was able to install icd-pclink w/ the latest patch from SONY.