Quote Originally Posted by myself




- I'd just buy a networking cable / plug it in ( to the computers' networking port ) / & give it a go .
- One may need to reboot ( if the Behringer was powered up last ) for the hand-shaking to start up between the two units .

- A company that I do work for has one of these DCX units ( & I now have the software ).

So ;

- I'll borrow their unit later next week and give this theory a test ( if Ash wants to wait ) .
Quote Originally Posted by me again
Well Okay, I suppose that a bit of caution is warranted .

WARNING KIDS : DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME !!!!

- FWIW ; I did a bunch of Googling yesterday on adapting the RS-485 protocol to a cat5 connection / without coming to any firm conclusion
Well I did borrow a DCX2496 and after much dialogue with some PC gurus I did connect the DCX to my laptops RJ45 networking port with a networking cable .

Guess what ? My computer didn't blow up / unfortunately , as expected by this point , my computers' networking port does not do double duty as a RS485 serial port ( which would have been too easy ).

My next attempt at a connectivity solution worked like a charm ( well, after a couple of hours of driver installation madness ) .

This solution was to break down and go buy a USB to Serial RS232 converter .

This is the little fella that I bought from TigerDirect here in Toronto .



- I got it for $14.00 ( $5.00 less than list ) .
- It comes packaged with a 24" USB to USB extension cable / which is just long enough to get the DCX up and running .
- I now need to buy at least a ten foot USB extension cable to ever use this setup, live on a gig .
- The pictured unit ships with the USB to Serial emulation drivers on a mini CD .
- Installing the included drivers is where I ran into my problems . My laptop doesn't have a tray type DVD player / it just has one of those slot-loaders ( where one slides the CD/DVD in until it disappears and you hope for the best ).
- These slot-loaders will not load the mini CD ( I tried ) .
- The solution was to use another computer with a tray loading DVD player and then copy the mini-discs' drivers onto that computer, to then burn a new full size install disc ( all in all a real PITA ). Or one can copy this onto a USB memory stick .
- Copying the minidisc contents onto a USB memory stick, only sort of worked for me / most likely because I was copying PC contents ( from DVD player through an old MAC onto a USB memory stick / it's a wonder any data made it through ) .

cheers <>

PS : the DCX software works as it should / and offers a few good ways ( for the inexperienced user ) to damage their speakers .

Maybe another warning is in order :

WARNING KIDS : TRY THIS AT YOUR OWN PERIL !!!!