Re: Ram getting even worse

From: Jason Bleazard (dml@bleazard.net)
Date: Wed Aug 30 2006 - 07:54:07 EDT


Terrible Tom wrote:
> I want to buy a scan tool... I looked through the books at work today
> breifly, and I can pick up some professional shop style equipment but
> for almost $400. Thats a leeetle more than I can afford. Does anyone
> have any suggestions for an alternative? Jon? What software program
> did you use on Adams Dakota back in 2002, when he had problems? I
> don't have a Wintel platform computer I can use however. ALmost
> thought of buying Bill Whites laptop - but if I'm going to drop $200
> for that plus software - I may as well buy a full fledged scan too...

The software can be had for free. It might not be as pretty as the
expensive software, but it should work well enough to get the job done.
Do you know anyone who would let you borrow a laptop? Seems like you
should be able to rent one somewhere, but I've never noticed.

What OS version do you run on your Mac laptop? http://www.scantool.net
shows freely downloadable software for OS X. The hardware is $140, and
they now have a native USB version so you wouldn't need a serial
adapter. They sometimes sell these on eBay for a few bucks cheaper, but
I don't see any of the USB version right now.

There's a cheaper version on sale for $75:
http://www.scantool.net/products/index.php?cPath=8_1 (if that link
doesn't work, start from http://www.scantool.net and look for single
protocol scanners). These only support one protocol each, but if you
only ever want to use it on Chrysler products it would work. It's
bigger and clunkier than the other, and is serial only, so you'd have to
pick up a $13 USB adapter.

There's also software for Linux, but I'm guessing you don't want to
re-load your laptop. You can boot off of a Ubuntu live CD without
touching your hard drive and install new software in the temporary
environment it creates. Just remember that you'd have to re-install the
software every time you re-boot.

Stretching even further for ideas, I see there's also software for Palm
Pilots. Old Palms can be picked up for fairly cheap. No idea if the
Palm software has all the same features, though.

-- 
Jason Bleazard  http://drazaelb.blogspot.com  Burlington, Ontario
his:  '95 Dakota Sport 4x4, 3.9 V6, 5spd, Reg. Cab, white
hers: '01 Dakota Sport 4x4, 4.7 V8, Auto, Quad Cab, black



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Sep 01 2006 - 10:07:45 EDT