vB Easy Archive - Terminator Dongle: How Dies It Work?

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Terminator Dongle: How Dies It Work?
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Posted by: skagen

A question regarding the "terminator dongle" that is supposed to unlock SE phones. I want to buy this but I can't quite quite figure out what kind of connectors I'd need to make it work.

. The PC's available to me are:
- an old laptop with only serial connector
- a new laptop with ony USB connectors

Will any of these work or are there adpaters that I will need first?

Posted by: Dazultra2000

You need both parallel and USB for it to work.

Posted by: PhillyemtT3

Get a USB to Parallel adaptor, you may be fine. Never used one, so it's just a guess sinse ^ he said you need both.

Posted by: Dazultra2000

The parallel is for data to/from the phone, the USB is to power the whole dongle (and the phone it seems as well)

Posted by: hehehhehe

Quote:

Originally posted by skagen
A question regarding the "terminator dongle" that is supposed to unlock SE phones. I want to buy this but I can't quite quite figure out what kind of connectors I'd need to make it work.

. The PC's available to me are:
- an old laptop with only serial connector
- a new laptop with ony USB connectors

Will any of these work or are there adpaters that I will need first?

I am waiting to receive a dongle, I have the same laptop situation as you but fortunately I also have a desktop with both ports. I am pretty sure you need both ports on the same PC (if USB was only used for power, why would there be programs like DIV USB needed for newer phones?).

Instead of the USB to parallel port route, why not get a PCMCIA USB adapter for your old laptop (it has to have at least WIN98 for USB) for $18-$25 ? For adding a parallel port, all I have seen are those converters that give you a connection to a printer but not actually a port you can plug the dongle into - and they are $30+ anyway There are also pcmcia parallel port adapters but they are very pricey.

Posted by: Dazultra2000

The reason DIV USB is a USB software is because USB is less troublesome and easier to implement. and, as a bonus and for this reason also, it is found on pretty much all modern laptops!

However, it is also extremely expensive, so DIV USB gets hacked so it will work through a parallel interface using a USB wrapper called userport. This takes the signals that were designed for USB and converts it to a parallel signal for the terminator dongle.

However, as the phone needs power to be switched on by the computer, the USB interface provides it, for this purpose. I think the dongle also needs power itself, so that's why you need both.

Posted by: skagen

So where can you buy this DIV USB and how much does it cost? DO you buy the hardware and software separately?

Posted by: Dazultra2000

DIV USB costs a small fortune compared to a terminator dongle.
I think it runs at around £320 ish including the software license.

So you'd be better off going with the terminator.

Posted by: hehehhehe

Just so you know, I was never recommending the real DIV USB (well, maybe the modified one for use with userport if needed). I always figured you need to go the terminator route (so add usb to your old laptop with parallel port).

The regular DIV is pricey too (a little more than half of DIV USB). Do a search, you just might find the software (DIV USB or DIV 8.4) for free

. You might also get software when you buy the dongle. Just don't buy from ucables.

Posted by: gq_fuzion

pm me for div usb

Posted by: hehehhehe

Remember the rules. No PM spamming (I just got one). You're also not supposed to have advertisements in your sig.

Posted by: skagen

Well I just ordered a terminator cable and a USB-to-parallel adapter for the laptop. I have downloaded the Div 8.4 and the DIv USB 3.1 with Userport, so I'm just wiating for the hardware to get here and we'll se if that setup works.

BTW, I did find PCMCIA-to-parallel adapter as well, but that costs like $80 and the USB-to-parallel adapter was a mere $9, so I went with the USB one......

Posted by: hehehhehe

Does the USB to parallel adapter you ordered provide a female D-sub 25 connector (what dongle needs)? Most of the cheap ones I see all give the funky IEEE interface. Just checking...

Posted by: skagen

I'm not technical enough to understand those terms but the usb-to-parallel adpater I got is this exact type, from this guy:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...item=3470513438
Is that what you're talking about?

Posted by: Dazultra2000

You're going to need an adapter cable for that one I'm afraid. That is the funky IEEE connector mentioned above, which is used pretty much only on printers.

What you need is shaped like it would fit into that adapter, but with actual holes for the pins on the dongle to slide into, not contact points as seen on that adapter you have there. A way to see what you need is to take a look at a serial port or a monitor connection. Now make the connection longer by adding a few more pins, and there you have what your connection should look like!

Good luck!

Posted by: skagen

Two questions:

1) The adapter I am looking for would in technical terms be specifically called a ____ to ____ adapter?

2) If the USB portion of the Terminator is used only for power, could I just run the operation off my old laptop that has a parallel port, BUT plug the USB portion of the Terminator to the newer one, just for the juice?

Posted by: Dazultra2000

1) USB to Parallel (NOT USB to Parallel Printer)

2) In theory yes, that should work fine...but it would mean running 2 PCs (but don't hold me to that) :P

Posted by: skagen

Quote:

Originally posted by Dazultra2000
1) USB to Parallel (NOT USB to Parallel Printer)

I know that of course, but you've been mentioning male, female and various terminology of the types of ends. That's the specifics I was asking about so I don't end up buying another wrong adapter. Thanks for your patience BTW.

Posted by: MoeSzyslak

for USB, if the end is a regular shape, (a rectangular shape), it's "A" it's usually where you connect to the computer. If the end is a smaller like a square shape, it's a "B", usually connects to the peripherals. And then there is a extra tiny type shaped as a little trapizium, for the small size peripherals such as a digital cameras.

if the end has pins sticking out, it's a male. If it has holes, then it's female.. (don't ask me why, but it's how they are named).

So in your case, i think you need a USB(A, male) to Parallel (female).

Posted by: skagen

I know what USB is - that's not what we are talking about.

In the post I am asking about (dated 03-26-2004 11:20 ), he was telling me was that I would require another adapter from the terminator parallel point to the parallel point of usb-to-parallel that I have bought. So I am trying to get the exact specifics of what that is.

I got in this mess in the first place because someone in thebeginning of this thread told me to go buy a USB-to-parallel adapter, without mentioning the exact type - or telling me that there are different types of parallel connectors. So I'd rather get a very exact spec before I follow any more advice of buying this or that adapter again.

Posted by: hehehhehe

You can't really blame someone else for this "mess" (it's not that big of a deal anyway). It's not like you didn't have the information in front of you, it's that you didn't listen to all that was said. It's too bad you didn't listen to me...

I already pointed out to you that the majority of USB-to-parallel adapters had the wrong parallel port end for your use. That's why I recommended a pcmcia ethernet adapter, I didn't see a cheaper solution.

As for a USB to parallel adapter, it's not that technical after all. You just needed an adapter that really replicated a parallel port on a PC, not a cable that plugs into a printer (which I already mentioned).

Tell us your results from the the two pc method if you try it, I was going to try it out but I realized my current laptop did have a parallel port and my dongle works fine.

Posted by: goofrider

Quote:

All you want to do is unlock you phone, right?

Consider all that trouble you're having, I think you are much better off getting a serial service/unlocking cable and unlock using a log credit.

It's a serial cable, it only unlocks your phone, but it's a lot easier than using DIVLPT + Terminator dongle.

If you're not the tech-savvy type. you can possibly screw up your phone usin DIV. There's no reason to using DIV + Terminator unless you want to upgrade your firmware or you're unlocking more than a few phones.

Posted by: skagen

I am unlocking and flashing many phones - so no I wasn't interested in buy any "logs" or whatever that is. I wanted specific detailed infromation on something that I had decided to do.

And as you can see from the dates before your post, this thread is old news - its been done for a couple weeks now.