USB to Serial Hardware configuration for e740.

This solution was found by Alx (user of Brighthand forum). To get any serial device connected to your e740 you will need a USB to Serial Cable and the USB Expansion Pack from Toshiba. I'm recommending to use the Aten USB to Serial DB9 converter because I have prepared a little utility to do the registry changes needed for this cable.

Here is what you have to do:

1) Download and uncompress in you PC this file.

2) Copy the USBSER.ARM installation CAB to anywhere on the e740

3) Click to run. Once finished there will be USBSER.DLL in the WINDOWS directory and some entries added to the Registry.
4) Download and uncompress in your PC this other file.

5) Copy the u2s_aten.vb to anywhere on the e740. Click to run. If you get an error saying that you don't have any application associated with .vb you will have to install the runtime files.

6) Soft Reset

7) Plug in cable, if it asks for driver just type in "usbser.dll" (without the quotes) and OK. If your cable matches then alls fine. If the enter box comes back again, thats fine! Just click cancel and get out of there.

Second solution

Another possible solution can be found here  and is a Serial Adapter set for e740 (3 IN 1)      
Combination of PTU1 and USB2S in one package:
1. USB Host Adapter Cable for e740
2. USB>Serial Converter for PC
3. Combine the above two to give you a Serial Adapter for e740
Connects to PC serial cable (original or otherwise) of GPS.
External modem and other serial devices.

Note: This company provides the drivers needed for this configuration. I have received reports from users saying that this solution works very well with Toshiba e740.

Third Solution

Thanks to Joel McLaughlin for sending me this solution:  "Keyspan's USA19QW High Speed Serial
Adapter is now supported on the e740. It even said that on it's Package!
Only thing....driver is not on the disk. After almost a week of talking with
support, I now have a driver! I will copy you the e-mail and link below:

Requirements:

* a serial device with WinCE compatible software
* Keyspan USA19W or USA19QW
* WinCE v3.x
* NEC MobilePro 330 or
Toshiba e740 (with Expansion Pack w/ USB Host)

1. Download the appropriate drivers for your WinCe device:

The drivers for the NEC MobilePro 330 and the Toshiba e740 can
be found at:

http://keyspan.com/support/wince/USA19W/usa19wce1_SA.zip

2. Once the file is downloaded, expand/extract the *.zip file to
access the USA19W/QW WinCE v3.x driver. This file is a *.dll
file. IMPORTANT! Please note the name of the file as you
will need this later in the later in this installation.

3. Disconnect the Keyspan serial adapter from your PDA if
it is currently connected.

Toshiba e740 users: also disconnect the Expansion Pack
(w/ USB Host) from the e740 if it is
currently connected.

4. Using ActiveSync, copy the Keyspan *.dll file to the */Windows
directory on your PDA. 'Synchronize' your PDA and then
disconnect the PDA from your USB cradle.

5. Connect the Keyspan serial adapter to your PDA's USB host port.

Toshiba's e740 users must connect the Expansion Pack first and then
connect the adapter into the Expansion Pack.

6. Look on your PDA. WinCE will ask you to enter a name for the Keyspan
device/serial port.

IMPORTANT!!! PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!!!

Enter the name of the Keyspan *.dll file without '.dll' on the end.
For example, if the file is named 'USA19WWinCE.dll', enter
'USA19WWinCE'

7. To test the adapter, open WinCE's dial up networking screens. You should
see that you have a new COM port. This is usually COM1. You may also
see 'USA19WWinCE' as a selection.

Also, I would add a soft reset after the sync. I followed this and it just
works."

Another solution

Recently I received an email from one of the visitors of this page asking me for an advise and unfortunately I could not help him. But, after a few hours I received another email from him telling me what was the solution that he found. Here is his email:

Hi Frank,

Well, I found and checked carefully that discussion. First, this is a year old discussion, so I am not positive posting something will be useful.
 

Second, all that questions were about how to hook up a GPS. My goal was to create a general serial port, so I can use external modem or cell phone as a modem or whatever else. I was right about tweaking registry. I took a risk and I got it working. Now I have a general serial port and I can use my cell phone as a wireless modem.

Everything what I did was just copying all settings for the "Hayes Compatible Modem", renaming this to "USB Serial Port", changing "COM1" to "COM4" (COM4 was not used anywhere else in the registry) and finally "soft reset" PDA. Now I have an entry for "USB Serial Port" in addition for
IrDA and Hayes entries. I am not sure, I did this 100% correct but it works and did not brake anything else so far.

Feel free to add this to your web page (if you find this useful).

Tank you anyway,

- Vitaliy  Kholyavenko
 

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